Bridgetown Video Podcast

Part 2 of the series "Simplicity" as part of Practicing The Way. We begin our exploration of the practice of simplicity with what previous followers of Jesus called “simplicity of heart.” It’s not enough to simplify our possessions, we must simplify around something (or someone). And what you center your life on will define who you become, for better or worse.

Part 1 of the series "Simplicity" as part of Practicing The Way. We live with a nagging sense that we never have enough – enough time in the day or money in the bank. We feel torn in multiple directions. Tired of low-grade fatigue. Behind on everything. Beset by constant distraction. We all know the cliché that “the most important things in life aren’t things” is true, and yet time and again we fall for advertising’s ploy. Is there a practice from the way of Jesus that could set our heart free from what Jesus called “the deceitfulness of wealth,” the false promise that money and stuff can give us security and satisfaction? To get free of the endless cycle of desire, and find contentment, margin, and life in the kingdom with Jesus? Yes. It is the practice of simplicity.

In times of great uncertainty and trauma, we can feel powerless, and our default tendency is to grasp for control. That is antithetical to the faith, hope and love of the way of Jesus. We end our series of pastoral words with a teaching on “holy uncertainty,” and a vision for the coming season in the confusing in-between. This coming year in the desert could be the defining moment for our church, and set the stage for our future.

The metaphor of a crucible has long been used for the role that trials play in our spiritual formation. As far back as 1 Peter, writers have used the art of metallurgy as a word picture of the potential that trials have to forge us into people of love. In this teaching we explore the idea of COVID-19 and the stay home order as a crucible for our interpersonal relationship and hear from multiple leaders in our church about navigating relationships in this unique time.

In this follow up teaching to Easter, we explore the symbiotic relationship between grief and hope, in Paul’s language to the church in Thessaly: “You do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” It’s easy to see our church and world are grieving right now, but harder to see what hope looks like in a time of the Coronavirus. But a biblical theology of hope is the fuel for our hearts in this trying time. 

For Easter 2020, we explore the writer John’s vision of the risen Jesus in Revelation 1, and Jesus’ two commands to not fear, and to look. We discover that the most basic posture of a disciple of Jesus is listening to and looking at Jesus.

From the series House to House. “We often miss what we are not focused on.”  Undoubtedly, in light of this pandemic, our focus has shifted both as a culture and as individuals. Now more than ever, our attention has become one of our greatest commodities, which means there is an opportunity before us to learn to notice what is happening in and around us in new ways. For millennia the Church has put this reality into practice through a practice called the Discipline of Notice. This discipline that calls us to engage the present, to pause and take stock of what is happening now, and to do so with a holy purpose.

From the series "House to House." The COVID-19 shutdown is a kind of involuntary desert. A time of quiet and isolation and stripping away. Yet in a culture of the “extroverted ideal,” many of us simply do not know how to be alone. In this teaching we explore a theology of the desert from the life of Jesus and consider it’s potential for our spiritual formation.

From the series, "House to House." We’re living through what the writer Paul calls a “Kairos” moment, a key junction point in time, and our response to it will determine the future. It’s long been said that every crisis is an opportunity. True. But it’s also a vulnerability. In this teaching, we explore four opportunities in the COVID19 shutdown, as well as their corresponding vulnerabilities. And we lay out a recommenced rule of life for the coming season of virtual community. 

From the series "House to House." With Coronavirus (COVID-19) being reported in the greater Portland area, local officials have placed a restriction on public gatherings. So we are excited to introduce our new church initiative called "House to House." Listen along as John Mark Comer teaches from the Gospel of Matthew about following the way of love as we seek to be a non-anxious presence in a cultural moment of anxiety, and to love and care for those in our community.