The VUE Church Podcast

George explores friendship as a vital aspect of growth and learning in the spiritual life through the words of Jesus, a Rembrandt painting on the prodigal son's return home, and a poetic spin on the meaning and value of friendship to our everyday lives and relationships.SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERINGThis new kind of Father refuses to own us, demand our submission, or punish our rebellion. Father God is one who respects our freedom, mourns our alienation, waits patiently for our return... Sr. Sandra Schneiders, Jesuit School of TheologyThe dynamic of friendship is almost always underestimated as a constant force in human life. Friendship is the great hidden transmuter of all relationship: it can transform a troubled marriage, make honorable a professional rivalry and become the newly discovered ground for a mature parent-child relationship.   David Whyte

Our world is changing. It is slowly moving away from many years primarily focused on rationalism and science. Science has given us extraordinary progress in many areas, including our brains. However, room is now being made once again for the other parts of life and other ways of thinking — for music and art, emotion and spirit. When we join the advancements of our rational minds with the deepening experience of our hearts, we have the gift of an enlarged human consciousness and perspectives that are vastly more expansive and deepened.   Alexander John Shaia, Heart & Mind

Belief is intellectual assent and agreement with the doctrinal propositions of faith. Experience exists prior to and drives belief. Experience gives birth to belief. It's hard to "believe" in God if belief isn't naming something in our lives, something we've felt, sensed, seen, or intuited.  —Richard BeckThis, then, is faith; God felt by the heart, not by reason.Blaise Paschal Love all of God's creation, both the whole of it and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love animals, love plants, love each thing. If you love each thing, you will perceive the mystery of God in things. Once you have perceived it, you'll perceive more and more of it every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an entire, universal love... Fyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov

Pronoid is the opposite of paranoid: it is the conviction that everything is conspiring to support you, delight in you, and help you along. This is how divine love works in our lives.SLIDES GEORGE READ Love is not some small minded ideal that we bypass on the way to weightier theological principles. We will spend the rest of our lives learning to love more passionately, intimately, intentionally, and transformationally. There is no higher call.—Jayson D. BradleyBelieve in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.  —Rainer Maria Rilke

In this teaching George honors moms by celebrating the image of God we experience through them and find in the scripture. We are made in the image of God which is embodied in both male and female. It seems though that the masculine images have dominated our thinking, and in many ways, to the exclusion of God's expression of the sacred feminine. If God is Spirit, then God both transends and includes both male and female attributes. SLIDE GEORGE READ:LOVE IS PHD-LEVEL CHRISTIANITYLove is not some small minded ideal that we bypass on the way to weightier theological principles. We will spend the rest of our lives learning to love more passionately, intimately, intentionally, and transformationally. There is no higher call.-Jayson D. Bradley

George began a series on Rhythm and what it means to know God as the source of our lives in which 'we live and move and have our being.' In this teaching, we looked at Pope Francis and the Apostle Paul in Athens, and how they examplified the same gracious posture we see in Jesus and that which we hope to embody ourselves.SLIDE GEORGE READWe are at the forefront of a new reformation, one that is freeing the Christian faith from the sinful structures of patriarchy, racism, classism, many phobias and exploitative forms of mission and evangelism. The new reformation is all about the emergence of a generous, hospitable, equitable form of Christianity that heals the wounds of the world. I believe much of the work for the church in the years ahead, is that we must focus on healing the wounds inflicted by Christendom so that the beauty and inclusive goodness of the gospel can be heard and seen and experienced. —Elaine Heath, Duke Divinity School

Resurrection Sunday: We are living in a world in the midst of rescue—God is redeeming, restoring, and renewing everything. Even broken things can be made new again and sometimes they can be made even more beautiful. From atoms to galaxies and from galaxies to our anxieties…Christ holds it all.SLIDES GEORGE READ“I find the concept that fractures in our lives can be redeemed and leveraged for good deeply moving. All things, even broken things, can be made new again, and sometimes they can be made even more beautiful. And they need not be hidden, in shadows or in shame. None of this means that people, if they had a choice, would endure the blast furnace of pain and loss, of trauma and shattered lives. It means only that even out of ashes beauty can emerge.”  —Peter WehnerA cosmic mystery of immense proportions, once seemingly on the verge of solution, has deepened and left astronomers and astrophysicists more baffled than ever. The crux is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe seems to be missing.  —William J. Broad,  physicist

Jarrod Morris - On this Palm Sunday we talked about the last week of Jesus‘s life and looked at ways that we could do more than just look like Jesus, but be like Jesus in our community and world.

Christians have different ways of talking about the death Jesus and the cross. There is a lot of action and energy around this moment in Jesus' story. In this teaching George talked about the mystery of it all while exploring the history of theories the church has held in trying to explain it.

Sarah explores how Jesus' healing presence transforms lives, not by returning to the past, but by growing into new wholeness. Drawing from biblical wisdom, the 12 Steps, and personal experience, she emphasizes taking action towards healing, rather than passively waiting for time to heal wounds. The story of the man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:6-9) illustrates how Jesus meets us in our powerlessness, guiding us toward restoration through surrender, community, and openness to help. VUE Church offers prayer, pastoral counseling, and small group opportunities to foster healing through faith and connection.For more exploration of the relationship between our wellbeing and our spiritual practices, listen to the coversation George had with Jason Adam Miller on Faith & Mental Health HERE

This is a conversation George had with his friends Seth Abram and Anna Bryant of Restore, and Jason Adam Miller of South Bend City Church, discussing how faith and mental health can be powerful companions on the journey of healing and fully living.Most of us have experienced events in our lives that require healing. It's completely normal. These experiences often call for healing journeys, where we take the time to process, grow, and move forward. Some of us turn to our faith for healing—not away from it—because it has real resources to offer us that are helpful. However, faith spaces can sometimes be places where mental health and illness are most stigmatized and misunderstood. If faith means anything, it should reminds us of our complexity and serve as a way to honor the depth and complexities of being human.We should embrace everything that's good and accessible to us—faith, science, community, prayer, rest, exercise, medicine, therapy, reading, journaling, and more—approaching life in the most holistic way possible.

Jesus is tempted for 40 days in the wilderness by the voice of diabolos to give up his God-given identity spoken by the voice of divine love. Jesus was able to listen to each of these voices and knew he was rooted in the security and peace of divine love that was deeper than any other aim or attempt at significance, meaning, or strength. It is the genius of Jesus. And of us, too, if we can come to trust it more deeply.

Lent invites us to slow down and create space for soul-searching, thoughtfulness, and reflection. Lent also wakes us up to this extraordinary, sacred, holy miracle of our existence. George and Seth Abram lead us in a meaningful and reflective liturgy, inviting people to engage in a process of penitence and healing. This practice emphasizes honesty and vulnerability—acknowledging the brokenness we experience and contribute to, which is often framed in religious terms as "sin." By recognizing and confronting the truth about how we make a mess of and break things, we create space for spiritual restoration and wholeness.

George and Jarrod wrap up the BIBLE series (for now, this is only the beginning of the conversation) by discussing some of the questions our community has asked them. We've been covering a lot of ground in our BIBLE series in very short time frames. To explore more deeply the array of things we have discussed together in community, here's a list of Bible reading resources  The church in every generation must make fresh and rejuvenated efforts to understand scripture and continue to raise questions of it in their own time and place. —N.T. Wright

Jarrod Morris-Breaking down some of the divisions among the Hebrew people in the Bible and asking what it means for us to be Jesus' disciples today.

The Bible can move us much like music does. It's ultimately not about the right answer. It's trying to get us to dance, move around with it, and participate in the flow which is all moving us toward Jesus.SLIDE GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING :"It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal."—John Paul II, World Youth Day-August 2000

 The church in every generation must make fresh and rejuvenated efforts to understand scripture and continue to raise questions of it in their own time and place.—N.T. Wright, Scripture and The Authority of GodSomeone who holds a high view of scripture approaches scripture with a deep appreciation for its history and the way God has spoken and continues to speak through it. That person recognizes both the Bible's humanity and its divine inspiration, and seeks to study it carefully in order to be shaped and guided by it.

Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.  2 Corinthians 3:2-5 The Message Bible

Jarrod Morris - Historical, cultural, geographic, and linguistic contexts matter in how we read and understand the Bible. We are going to spend some weeks exploring our relationship to this sacred book and how this ancient library of poems, letters, and stories can transform our lives and offer wisdom for a modern world. We understand the Bible as the unfolding story of humanity's growing comprehension of who God is, who we are, and what our role is in creation. It is the continuing story in which you are both rooted and invited to play a part, in our generation.

We trust the Bible as it points us to Jesus.We are going to spend some weeks exploring our relationship to this sacred book and how this ancient library of poems, letters, and stories can transform our lives and offer wisdom for a modern world. We understand the Bible as the unfolding story of humanity's growing comprehension of who God is, who we are, and what our role is in creation. It is the continuing story in which you are both rooted and invited to play a part, in our generation.

Christmas Eve at the Bellevue Community Center

Jarrod Morris invites us into some practices of joy this Advent season.

George invites us into the practice of Advent this Christmas season as a way of keeping time that forms us toward love, God, healing, and growth. The art pieces George referenced in this teaching can be found online: The Peaceable Kingdom - Edward Hicks & The Peaceable Kingdom With Two Olives - Will Bullas.

George invites us into the practice of Advent this Christmas season as a way of keeping time that forms us toward love, God, healing, and growth.

Has Christianity lost its cultural voice? If that were true, how might it be regained? Let's do some Bible 101. When the Bible speaks of church or community, it uses the beautiful phrase Allēlōn—the 'one anothers' and 'each others' mentioned often in scripture. This is what it means for people to be filled with God's Spirit.

Many of us are drawn by the beauty of Jesus' life and words. One often underrated and overlooked quality is a genuine affection for the character demonstrated throughout his life. Two words summarize that for us: grace and peace. George taught about how we can reclaim the beauty and power of these words in how we live. SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING Walk joyfully on the earth and respond to that of God in every human being. —George Fox Sometimes it's necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness. —Galway Kinnell (Poet)

The heart has its reasons which reason does not know. We feel it in a thousand things. It is the heart which experiences God, and not the reason. This, then, is faith; God felt by the heart, not by reason. —Blaise Paschal Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. —Matthew 5:8Blessing For A Soft HeartBlessed are you who see it all now—the beautiful, terrible truth that our world, our lives, seem irreparably broken. And you can't unsee it. The unruly problems, the person who wonders if any of this is worth it, all the loneliness and despair and fear.Blessed are you who glimpse reality and don't turn away. This kind of seeing comes at a steep cost. And it is a cost that you may not have paid intentionally. But here you are, seeing things clearly.Blessed are you who have worked hard to keep your heart soft. You who live with courage, fixing what is in your reach, praying about what is not, and loving still—despite difference, despite despair, despite all the reasons to shut it down.May you experience deeper capacity and glimpses of hope as you continue to see the world as it is: terrible, beautiful, fragile, enduring, and most of all good. —Kate Bowler

Jarrod Morris - compares our current political climate and upcoming presidential election to the story of Jonah. We get to see how we are supposed to act by knowing God‘s character and not through Jonah's actions.

George wrapped up our series of ‘When in Romans' teaching from chapter 15. For Paul, his entire imagination has been reshaped by Christ. So, he reinterprets everything thru Jesus naming some of what being Christian looks like.  SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING  Guiding Thoughts for this Election Season To divide the body of Christ over politics is a grievous sin. The bottom line for political parties is keeping power.  The bottom line for a Christian is love. If your political passion makes it hard for you to love your neighbor as yourself,   you may need to turn it down a notch.  Vote your conscience and conviction while accepting that other Christians will do the same and will vote differently than you. It's more important that your soul be filled with love than for your political team to win. from Brian Zahnd's Christian Voter Guide

George explores some passages in Romans 13 about governing authorities being established by God and why that might create challenges for us. God may grant and establish authority but that doesn't mean he approves of how it's being used.SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERINGNo good comes to the cause of the gospel is we are regarded as crazy dissidents who won't co-cooperate with the most basic of social mechanisms. They are indeed a revolutionary community, but if they go for the normal type of violent revolution they will just be playing the empire back at its own game. They will almost certainly lose, and, much worse, the gospel itself will lose with them. —N.T. Wright, Romans For EveryoneWe need to relativize all authority, subjecting it to the God of Jesus the Messiah, and by subjecting all law to the law of love. There is another law that is above all law. According to this law, the only thing that we most profoundly owe to one another is love. All laws are judged by this law of love. If love is the fulfilling of the law, then any laws that call us to anything short of love, are judged by the law of love as null and void. —Keesmaat/Walsh, Romans Disarmed: Targum of Romans 13Relationships move at the speed of trust: social change moves at the speed of relationships. —Rev. Jennifer Bailey

George explored Paul's claim that the power that raised Christ lives in us too (Romans 8:11) . How can we take seriously the idea that this actual presence, this gift of God's life, is with us right now? Perhaps through the sacred and holy act of breathing.SLIDE GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERINGIf whatever God has made and loves is holy, then life is holy in itself, and to live life with love and joy means sanctifying it. The experience of God deepens the experiences of life. We sense the exhilaration of existence, the unfathomable intensification of life, and the will to live. Life in the spirit is not a religious and moral restriction of life and its enfeebling reduction. It is a new delight in living in the joy of God. —Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life

When we individualize sin and weaponize it with shame, we forget that the heart of sin is a breakdown in relationship—with God, with each other, with creation. Just as the failure of one meant the failure of all, so now the life of one means we can all make something of our lives. (Romans 5:12-19). Talking about sin in a cosmic frame locates our human struggles in a bigger cosmic story, inviting us to take responsibility and live this extraordinary, sacred, holy miracle of our existence.

Jesus didn't come to solve a problem;  he came to reveal the true nature of God as Love.  George explores Romans 5 and being justified by faith, which means trusting more and more deeply in God's grace, generosity, and love given to us before the creation of the world. Paul called this being “In Christ!” This grounds Christianity in a restorative love and freedom from the very beginning; it creates a very coherent and utterly attractive religion, which draws people toward lives of inner depth, prayer, reconciliation, and healing instead of mere sacrificial atonement.

Sarah Huffman - A revelation is the act of God communicating truth and knowledge to a person or people to show us something we did not know or see before. This is a gift from God, not something we do. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God (Romans 8:14-17).

We go to the Eucharist for this reason.  We cannot heal ourselves or overcome our wounds and divisions all on our own. So we must turn our helplessness into a Eucharistic prayer that asks God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves: create community. Our One Great Act of Fidelity, Ronald Rolheiser BENEDICTION SONG: Bind Us Together (The Porter's Gate) Bind us together within your love Bind us together within your holy love As we shared in our sorrow's We will share in your joy Bind us together in love Bind us together & be our peace Bind us together & be our perfect peace Though the tempest may rage We will rest in your joy Bind us together in peace Bind us together & give us hope Bind us together & give us endless hope Though our tears were our bread We will feast in your joy Bind us together in hope Bind us together & make us one Bind us together & make us truly one In your love, in your peace In your hope, in your joy Bind us together as one In your love, in your peace In your hope, in your joy Bind us together as one

(Jarrod Morris) Today we talked about Paul's advice in Romans on how to be a good neighbor and how to be shalom (peace) to those around us.

George wrapped up a three-part introduction to our journey through Romans by going to chapter 8 and introducing us to some words Paul uses throughout this letter. Sin, law, and death are powerful forces, but so is the Spirit which is life and peace.

Reading through just a few verses in chapter one of Romans George spent some time recovering the meaning and energy of a few words like apostle, gospel, grace, peace, salvation, and righteousness.
SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING
It isn't about a moralistic framework in which the only question that matters is whether we humans have behaved ourselves... It is about the vocational framework in which humans are called to reflect God's image in the world and about the rescue operation whereby God has, through Jesus, set humans free to do exactly that. —N.T. Wright, Paul: A Biography

True righteousness is when someone is so grounded in the love and grace of God that divine life flows through them to those around them. 



George set up our journey through the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans by beginning at the end (chapter 16). He also offered us some context to understand how to read it as ecclesiology (about the church and who makes up the people of God). Paul's point is who benefits from Jesus? Everybody! Exactly as they are. Romans is not about individuals apart from the collective. It's a church made up of people with what seems like impossible lines of difference to cross. But at the center of it all, Paul saw a love drawing us toward God and one another. Romans will be teaching us how to do the actual work of building community. SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING The earliest Jewish interpreters of the Torah were concerned that the biblical text remain a living text. This meant that it constantly had to be reinterpreted faithfully in new cultural contexts. If it was just being repeated as it had been in the past, then it was a text that no longer had a living word for the present.  —Michael Fishbane, Inner-Biblical Exegesis of Interpretation in Ancient Israel To Paul, as with Jesus, any disagreements leading to potential disunity were in direct opposition to the gospel message and its power to save all people. “The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them”  ― Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island

A brief liturgy and song to rest in God's love! Recorded in our gathering on July 21, 2024

Long Story Short is a series of conversations and snapshot clips of defining moments (struggle, growth, healing, discernment, direction, or purpose) shaping people's lives and faith. We all experience and love God in a diversity of beautiful ways. Everyone's faith is enriched when we can trust our unique path and experiences of God while recognizing the truth and beauty of another's. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal ideation. You can call 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for free and confidential support for people in distress, and prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones.  You can also visit online for more resources and support.  ⁠988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - Call. Text. Chat.⁠ ⁠American Foundation For Suicide Prevention⁠ If you'd like to talk with a pastor, you can reach out ⁠HERE

Long Story Short is a series of conversations and snapshot clips of defining moments (struggle, growth, healing, discernment, direction, or purpose) shaping people's lives and faith. We all experience and love God in a diversity of beautiful ways. Everyone's faith is enriched when we can trust our unique path and experiences of God while recognizing the truth and beauty of another's. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal ideation. You can call 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for free and confidential support for people in distress, and prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones.  You can also visit online for more resources and support.  988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - Call. Text. Chat. American Foundation For Suicide Prevention If you'd like to talk with a pastor, you can reach out HERE

Long Story Short is a series of conversations and snapshot clips of defining moments (struggle, growth, healing, discernment, direction, or purpose) shaping people's lives and faith. We all experience and love God in a diversity of beautiful ways. Everyone's faith is enriched when we can trust our unique path and experiences of God while recognizing the truth and beauty of another's. Visit Restore Small Groups Online Info about Journey Groups at VUE Church

George led us in two practices this morning: a centering prayer around love and to the table for the Eucharist. A DEFINITION OF LOVE "To love is to act intentionally, in sympathetic/empathetic response to God and others, to promote overall well-being. Possibilities for uniquely profound and redemptive acts of love become available as people unite in Christian community. Without being engaged in the practices and liturgies of the church, some expressions of love are simply not possible. " —Dr. Thomas Oord, The Nature of Love: A Theology

Long Story Short is a series of conversations and snapshot clips of defining moments (struggle, growth, healing, discernment, direction, or purpose) shaping people's lives and faith. We all experience and love God in a diversity of beautiful ways. Everyone's faith is enriched when we can trust our unique path and experiences of God while recognizing the truth and beauty of another's.

Long Story Short is a series of conversations and snapshot clips of defining moments (struggle, growth, healing, discernment, direction, or purpose) shaping people's lives and faith. We all experience and love God in a diversity of beautiful ways. Everyone's faith is enriched when we can trust our unique path and experiences of God while recognizing the truth and beauty of another's. Sarah Huffman is the Healing Arts Coordinator at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center. She is an expressive therapist and clinical chaplain who has worked in the environments of residential addiction treatment, inpatient psychiatric treatment, medical hospitalization, and hospice care. Sarah strongly believes that creativity helps the process of mental, emotional, and spiritual recovery.

Long Story Short is a series of conversations and snapshot clips of defining moments (struggle, growth, healing, discernment, direction, or purpose) shaping people's lives and faith. We all experience and love God in a diversity of beautiful ways. Everyone's faith is enriched when we can trust our unique path and experiences of God while recognizing the truth and beauty of another's.

What is a church? It is a community of people held together not by power but by love. Simply put, any notion of a church must be a fully practical church that is concerned about getting the job of love done—and done better and better. A church is made up of genuinely good people who are, from the deepest levels of their understanding and motivation, committed to promoting the good of everyone.

What is a church? Jarrod Morris-How can you talk about the beauty of the church without talking about the women of the church? For Mother's Day, Jarrod did just that, talked to us about the role of women in the church.

What is a church? The book of Acts is the very first story of the church. What is the big story of these texts and how do they still matter to us in the modern world? SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING “When we claim and constantly reclaim the truth of being the chosen ones, we soon discover within ourselves a deep desire to reveal to others their own chosen-ness. Instead of making us feel that we are better, more precious or valuable than others, our awareness of being chosen opens our eyes to the chosen-ness of others. That is the great joy of being chosen: the discovery that others are chosen as well. There is a place for everyone – a unique, special place. Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God's eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God's heart.” -Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved

What is a church? The book of Acts is the very first story of the church. What is the big story of these texts and how do they still matter to us in the modern world? SLIDES GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING The great gift of Christianity is to be united while remaining oneself. - Teilhard De Chardin The Eucharist invites us to gather as family. Nothing is an island, not even a molecule or an atom. Everything is meant to be in relationship. The Eucharist honors that. The Eucharist is meant to form us into one body in a way that takes us beyond the differences of personality, ideology, theology, gender, ethnicity, history, social status, preoccupation, privatized agenda, and jealousy. Often, it alone has the power to do this. God gives us something we couldn't give to ourselves: a common heart and spirit. The Eucharist is, therefore, both the sacrament that celebrates unity and the sacrament that cleanses us for it.   —Ronald Rolheiser, Our One Great Act of Fidelity