Zao MKE Church

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?

Brief

The Bible can sometimes feel overwhelming, so you might be surprised to know that some of the books of the Bible were originally written in less than 300 words.

 

In the next sermon series that starts this Sunday, we’re going to take a look at some of the shortest books of the Bible to see that those short, yet potent, messages are.

 

What was so important to get across that these writers only used 300 words to say it?

Naked As We Came: Perfect Parent, Perfect Child

Every new parent thinks their newborn baby is perfect, right? Well God thought that about you at the moment of your creation, and unlike human parents, the shine never wore off. Sometimes we talk about God as the "perfect Father" - but what if God thinks of you as the perfect child?

Naked As We Came: Trust

What does it mean to trust in God? Do we trust God with the vulnerability of a newborn baby? Should we?

 

In faith spaces, we often take for granted the idea that trusting in God is important, but in this episode we'll unpack what we mean by trust and whether trust, even in God, must be built in relationship.

Naked As We Came: Surrender

We come into this world through irresistible forces of movement and change. Through our lives, we learn to resist change. What if we released our resistance and surrendered to the flow of creation?

Naked As We Came: Suffering

Try as we may, we cannot avoid suffering - for ourselves or for our loved ones. What does the suffering of the innocent tell us about humanity, creation, and the nature of God?

Naked As We Came: Delight

“The joy of the lord is your strength” - Nehemiah 8:10

 

When we arrive on this earth, everything we take in everything with wide-eyed wonder. What if that’s a feature we aren’t supposed to age out of? Though many of us wear cynicism like an armor, the call of God is to earnest joy and delight wherever we can find it. An attitude of delight us vulnerable, but also gives us strength for the beautiful life we were born for.

Naked As We Came: Unashamed

"Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there" - Job 1:21

 

We are born naked into this world - unashamed, vulnerable, and ready to be loved. Through the worries and wounds of our lives, we acquire shame, emotional armor, and a fear that we are unlovable. The love of Jesus calls us to return, naked and unashamed, into the embrace of our loving God. Join us this Sunday as our pastors return from parental leave and reflect on what it means to be born and born again.

How To Come Back

Guest sermon by Rev. Hannah Kardon

We aren't the first people to, in fits and starts, begin to return to old ways of life after a long and traumatic disruption. A few thousand years ago, the Israelites under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem and The Temple after seventy years of exile. From them, we can learn a bit about what is needed to make a new life out of rubble, to remember and re-build what we've lost, and find strength to change all the things that weren't so wonderful in the first place. This Sunday we spend some time with God, Nehemiah, and one another, to see where we might go from here together.