Zao MKE Church

Betray the Empire

If we die to the things of this world, then the threats from the powers of this world hold no sway over us. How can "dying to sin" free you to live a life of rebellion and liberation here and now?

Emerge

The new life promised to us begins by leaving behind those things that bind us in death. What does it look like for you to emerge from your grave? From the closet? From that relationship that took so much life from you?

 

Wherever you are, you are called into new life. What will it take to shed your old skin and find the freedom to be boldly who God created you to be?

Trust and Believe

Who do we believe and who do we question? The story of "doubting Thomas" shows us that the truth of oppression can be believed through the revealing of our wounds. And yet Jesus follows that up blessing anyone who hasn't seen or touched the pain of others and still believes what they say about who they are and what they have been through.

 

What does this story have to teach each of us about trusting BIPOC, queer & trans folks, disabled people, and all those with marginalized identities who speak out their truth?

Built in the Struggle

Solidarity isn't an idea, its an orientation to life - and it's built on love forged in the fire of liberatory life together. Hear how the earliest Jesus communities put it all on the line, for their faith and for one another.

Give All You Can, Take All You Need

Solidarity is a radically different way to approach meeting our needs. How would our communities change if we offered what we had with bold generosity, and received what we needed and desired without shame?

Easter Sunday

From executed political dissident to risen Lord, the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has radical and revolutionary implications for those seeking liberation, justice, and hope.

 

This Easter Sunday, we reframe the Easter story in light of Jesus's context as a community organizer, the abolition of eternal incarceration (hell) and the long view of God's plan for the salvation of all creation.

Protest Sunday

Palm fronds or protest signs?

 

Modern re-tellings of Palm Sunday cast it like a parade, but the original march into Jerusalem had the vibe of a rowdy protest. Come hear more about the political theater Jesus employed as he squared off with the Roman Empire in the days before his death and resurrection.

Re-Release: Living as Resistance (Palm Sunday 2019)

This is a re-release of a sermon from 2019, recently featured on an episode of The Collective Table.

The name "Zao" is a greek word that means "to be among the living". This sermon highlights the ways that Zao as a community joins Jesus and the tradition of Jesus followers in seeking the fullness of life.

Our world is a mixture of creative, vibrant, beautiful life, alongside systems of death, destruction and oppression. At Zao, we look to Jesus and one another to fully seek life and dismantle the mechanisms of death that plague us as individuals, communities, and the world.

Lent: Bad Apples

God's love is subversive, powerful, and threatening to the systems of empire and oppression. That's why Jesus' preferred metaphors, like mustard seed and yeast, have bad connotations.

 

Jesus calls us to be modern day bad apples--ready to spoil the bunch for the kingdom.

Lent: Students of Love

Love is not simply a feeling or even a clear set of actions. It is an orientation to the world that changes everything. Following Jesus means studying the ways of love and letting it transform us into new beings.