Zao MKE Church

Torn: Forgiveness

Which is harder - to give forgiveness or receive it?

Torn: Return To Love

When we hear the word "repent" do we think of love? Or do we think of judgment, rejection, or even hate?

Let's take a deeper look at the idea of repentance and see if there is Good News here for us as we seek love, healing, and justice.

Torn: When Sin Goes Viral

Some sins seem to take on a life of their own as individual choices add up to systems and structures of evil. There comes a tipping point where these structures (racism, queer phobia, environmental degradation, capitalism) take on a life of their own, newly replicating themselves beyond the control of any one person. We call this corporate sin - the sins of collective or communal harm.

 

Corporate sin is a major emphasis of the scriptures, in which the prophets frequently call on whole cities to repent. So why do our modern conversations about sin always center the individual? And how are we called to repent from communal sins that feel so beyond our control?

Torn: Deadly

Why are some sins - the seven deadly sins, the ten commandments, sins related to sex - highlighted above all others? Are all sins the same or are some worse? And if some are worse, are they the ones we hear most about?

Torn: The S Word

What is "sin" and why do some of us feel terrible at the mere mention of the word?

 

This Lent, the season leading up to Easter, we'll break down the B.S. around sin (hint: it's way less about sex, drugs, & rock n roll than you might have heard), discover why talking about sin can actually give us a stronger faith, a more inclusive community, and more accountability from systems of injustice.

Brief: The Gospel by Any Other Name

What happens to the message of Jesus when it is interpreted throughout different cultures and across different times? It becomes more rich with meaning! Though there are many gatekeepers in religious community, we are called to trust that the heart of Jesus's message thrives among cultural difference - and to beware conflating Jesus with western culture or whiteness, which has caused immeasurable harm throughout history.

 

In our last sermon on this series, we jump to a slightly longer book - Galatians. We'll sit with the whole book in one setting to understand how the radical Paul who wrote this letter advocated for taking the gospel message of Jesus beyond its first home in Judaism, and how this is good news for all of us!

Brief: A Wolf With A Sheep’s Byline

"Slaves obey your masters"

"Women, be submissive to husbands"

"Be subject to rulers and authorities"

 

Wait a minute, Paul. Weren't you just upending the slave/master hierarchy in Philemon? Didn't you say that in God's household, there is no male or female?

And Paul, weren't you famously jailed and then executed for boldly building a church that worshipped Jesus, famously crucified by the state for acts of rebellion?

 

So what in the world is going on with the letter to Titus, instructing followers abandon the counter-cultural nature of the underground Jesus movement to become respectable, government approved citizens?

 

Or is this letter even written by Paul at all?

Brief: When The Bible Gets Weird

Reading the book of Jude can feel rather head-spinning to modern readers: the angel Michael arguing with the devil over Moses dead body, clouds without rain and crashing waves turning to foam, innumerable references to scriptures both within and outside of the Old Testament. And honestly, it actually gets *weirder* when you know more what the author is talking about - for instance, when you realize he's referencing the idea than angels pissed God off by coming to earth and procreating with human beings, creating a race of giant angel-human hybrids, which caused God to bring the flood and wipe out everyone but Noah.

 

So how do we make ANY sense of this? And why is it that the only verse people quote now in Jude is used against LGBTQ people?

 

Come get into the weeds, and we promise we'll all come out clearer together.

Brief: Rome Didn’t Fall In A Day

Sometimes it feels like modern day power structures (American imperialism, capitalism, the carceral state) are eternal - they have been here so long it's hard to imagine a world after them. But Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament, is here to remind us that all empires do fall, and he issues a warning against investing in the evils of a temporary empire over building the everlasting kingdom of God.

Brief: Not A Slave, But A Sibling

Philemon, one of the shortest books of the Bible, was written to urge a rich slave owner to free an enslaved man in his household as a matter of Christian duty, and to receive him home as a beloved family member - entitled to all the rights of a brother, not a slave. So how did this become a favorite text of defenders of American slavery in the 18th & 19th centuries?

 

Read it for yourself and decide among trusted community- is this book of the Bible pro-slavery or radically abolitionist?