Branches. Sunday.

Mike checks in amidst our coronavirus hiatus and gives some questions for all of us to ask and ponder amidst this season of confusion and disorder.

Coronavirus has ceased our gatherings. So instead, Mike and Emily sit down for a chat that they want to invite all of YOU into for next weeks podcast. You'll here more… You can also watch our virtual service from this past week on our facebook page, Branches Spokane.

We looked at pictures of newts, we had some announcements and we heard form a wide variety of voices as we melted the category of sermon and sermonizer! We couldn’t include all of it on the podcast for copyright reasons, but we made what we could available!

Lis gave an update on Twigs! Mark gave an update from the board about finances and Branches future, thanking everyone for their faithfulness to the Branches community. Mike kicked off our lent series called Melted: Thawing the category to discover the theme. Using Galatians, Mary Oliver, many perceptions of himself, John Muir and a reference to horseradish… he talked about how we all melt into the Divine when we learn to melt away labels that are used to limit the perception of such realities.

Mike wraps up the series on deep time to talk about the little games we play within a far bigger scope. And how we can't forget the vastness of the scope…

It was more a somber Sunday as the conversation about deep time turned itself toward the topic of death. Often in our deconstruction and reconstruction of faith, what happens when we die is a question we don’t totally know how to navigate that. Through personal experience, Mike talked through some thoughts and also invited everyone into a meditation around the song No Hard Feeling by The Avett Brothers.

Our series on deep time will be a balance between form and formlessness. Last week we zoomed out, this week we zoomed in. We discussed how we can positively impact this world. And we had some guests from Faith Action Network to help with the discussion. The video played at the beginning can be found here - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/opinion/church-forests-ethiopia.html

In our kickoff to our deep time series, Mike talks about the limited scope of humanity in the grand scope of earths existence. And what that might mean in tandem to some oft quoted passages of scripture.

Mike and others talk about what their hope and vision for Branches in 2020 is.

Mike talks about the magi, power as corrupter and wonders journey toward joy.

Janeen leads us through our second week of advent by talking about peace and how we give current meaning to an old idea.

Advent has begun! Mike talked about Christmas lights, the possibility for hope, it’s counterpart despair and how, in the reality of the spectrum of life, we can and should take the time to illuminate both (and everything in-between).

Steven and Mike continue the conversation from last week about what church is, what we project onto it and how to embody a reality rather than simply believe in one.

Mike talks about how it's up to us as individuals to manifest the passions we have. And how believing in Christ can be the very thing preventing us from manifesting Christ.

Wes, Taylor, Megan and Aaron talk about what the Branches five words mean to them!

Announcements included to keep everyone up to speed! Linda gives an update on finances. Mike talks on the dangers of elevated turkey, some quotes and what a conversation with his 91 year old grandfather made him realize.

Mike discusses some of the swirl of his current season and reflects on one thing those of us who talk about everything being spiritual often forget — ourselves.

Aaron talks a bit about Branches finances and where they stand at the moment. Mike shares a poem by Ross Gay and invites everyone to mingle in gratitude as a means of breaking our hearts open for others.

Meredith gives an update from the board about Mike's role. Mike talks about a couple golf balls he found along the Spokane river and what they point toward.

Mike talked about some chili dip he buried in the backyard of a house he lived in during his college years. And how that buried chili dip and its elusiveness is representative of our ever-increasing difficulty to hear and learn and be with people and places different than our own niche ideological camps. And how the role of a Christ centered community, especially in times of polarization, is to curate spaces for people of all walks of life to eat fish and bread together.

Our Seeking the Story series concludes with some thoughts from Mike about life thesis statements, and some moving stirrings from others regarding stories they pulled from the arbor.

Mike talks about the balance of joy and pain and the world. And how negating one or the for the sake of the other, albeit a tendency, does a great disservice.

Josh Bosse, our special guest, shares a highly insightful and subversive account of the often problematic story found in genesis 3.

Lis talks about the process of deconstruction and waking up to the resurrected Christ all around.

Mike talks about Ezekiel 17, the parable of the mustard seed, and the residence of the Divine being all

Mike talks about what the word mystic means and uses some statements by Jesus as a guide.

Emily and Mike debrief Emily's time at the sacred feminine retreat and go over the beauty and necessity of a more feminine view of God.

Mike talks about how living proximally could be the story we dive into to help reorient the larger stories of injustice. The poem / video shown can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwbNL6SWS8w

Not recorded was a conversation about the injustice happening at our border. Check out the newsletter for actions steps on that. Mike talks about water and its pervasiveness and how that same way of being is a metaphor for Christ.

Lis talks about rocks, reeds and the ability to not have it all figured out. And our ability to tell stories. And a story telling God. A trifecta!

A Vampire Weekend music video stirs up conversation about where the Divine can be ushered in (hint: everywhere. perhaps especially in the stranger.) It was an interactive Sunday of walking through the neighborhood, so maybe you could do the same?! Video referenced - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwkrrU2WYKg

Mike talks about how apple trees and rocks hold the secret to what we, and everything that exists, are.

Mike talks about how we often hold on to what worked once rather than making space for something new.

Mike talks about how stories can be a tool to lure out the Christ in every thing. He also introduces our new series Seeking the Story.

Lis Kraus, our Twigs coordinator, talks about learning to remember the moments when God has seen you. She uses the story of Sarah and Hagar as the medium to her message.

Aaron talks about the Avengers and moving from differentiation to integration.

Singer / Songwriter Bryan John Appleby joins us for a conversation about unbelief and belief. He and Mike discuss how - rather than being an enemy of belief - unbelief can call out and question certain assumed tenets of belief and, in turn, allow belief to look at itself honestly and grow and evolve into new forms. Songs played in this order: The Silent Shepherd Noah's Nameless Wife … And the Revelation Sprout Praise the Void

Mike talks about an older couple he met at a Richard Rohr conference, Jesus walking on water and the value in 6 hour car rides to alien museums.

Janeen talks about the disruption we see in Mark 7 and the possibility that in the disruption of a certain way of thought, a new one can be born.

We can often feel like we need to gain and attain. But perhaps a verse in John and reality itself points us instead to abundance rather than lack.

Our lent series The Saints of Unbelief opens up with a talk about the ocean, a song called Big Blue and an invitation to skip belief or unbelief and instead arrive at presence.

We end our four part series with a BANG! Apart from some tech issues, this podcast includes many voices, old and young, chatting about generosity and belonging.

Week three of me, us, we and all is all about the we. What happens when the floodgates open and we learn of all the different perspectives and ideas of the world? New opportunity, but also the potential for cynicism. All this and more in this weeks sermon.

Week two in our series Me, Us, We and All is all about the us and ideological thought. We hear from a variety of voices about what ideology and group think has led to in their lives.

Week on in our series on the me, the us, the we and the all starts with… the me. We also explore the series from a 30,000 foot view. What do we place emphasis and focus on and how does that influence our interaction with the Divine? That's what this is about.

The conclusion of our series The Door.

Brandon shares a bit of his journey in walking through a door of deconstruction that led to a more open room housing a new way to look at the gospel.

Mike shares a bit on how the senses are doors to divine encounter. And since the service was highly interactive adds some context for those who weren't in attendance.

Mike explains how the artist Robert Irwin, John 10 / Ezekiel 34 and Rumi can join forces to help us think about the reality beyond the boundary. And also what healthy boundaries can look like.

Mike opens up the new series called The Door with sharing some of the thoughts he's had on where truth resides and how Christianity may have flipped Jesus's perspective on such things. Hint - there's a story in everything. Especially stories outside the door.

Mike talks about how the message should take precedent over the medium.