Podcasts about Coolidge Corner

In this Christmas Day drop, we're talking about Coolidge Corner, the neighborhood in Brookline with the most urban juice. Guest Rebeckah Orsatti talks me through Town Meeting, JFK, and the municipality's wild parking restrictions. A soft pretzel tray livens up any party. And turns out there is a Philly Pretzel Factory location in Revere! Brookline's turkey art. Have feedback on this episode or ideas for upcoming topics? DM me on Instagram, email me, or send a voice memo.

Dan and Ellen talk with Andy and Dee Hall, co-founders of Wisconsin Watch. Wisconsin Watch was launched in 2009 as the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. It's nonprofit and nonpartisan, and it has grown a lot over the last 14 years. Andy is retiring on December 31 of this year, and is helping the new CEO, George Stanley, with the transition.  Dee Hall, co-founder and former managing editor of Wisconsin Watch, is also moving  on, and is now editor-in-chief of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom with a clear mission: Floodlight investigates "the powerful interests stalling climate action." Floodlight partners with local and national journalists to co-publish collaborative investigations.  The What Works podcast will resume after the holidays, and Dan fills listeners in on events surrounding the launch of our book, “What Works in Community News,” which is coming out on January 9. We'll be talking about the book that night at 7 p.m. at Brookline Booksmith in Coolidge Corner in Brookline, MA.  Ellen has a Quick Take on Signal Ohio, a well-funded nonprofit news startup in Ohio. It's expanding into Akron. We've worked with a Northeastern graduate student, Dakotah Kennedy (no relation to Dan), on this podcast. She is now a service journalism reporter for Signal Cleveland. For more reporting on the media meltdown of Akron's Devil Strip, check out Dan's story here and a NiemanLab story here. 

Two local cinemas have announced a team-up, raising money to keep the film rolling. WBZ's Madison Rogers reports.

A "Bring Your Own Bottle" bar. It's a bit of an odd concept, but it's about to open in Brookline. WBZ's Madison Rogers reports.

Inside this Episode with Mitch Hampton My very first familiarity with Todd Berliner comes from a single book: his book on 70s movies, “Hollywood Incoherent”. Although my incentive to read this was partly due to ongoing research for my own book, there were many things I found intriguing about Berliner's book. Only gradually over time did I begin to realize that my commonality with him was wider than interest in 1970s cinema: we also tended to look at movies and, most generally art, in very similar ways - ways we were fortunate to get into in this episode. Like all my favorite scholars Berliner gets "inside" of what he discusses, rather than distract us with relatively irrelevant or unimportant material. I enjoyed talking movies with him during this episode and it certainly brought me back to the days when I was around "haunts" like the Brattle, Film Forum, Coolidge Corner, or even the days of Cinema 5 and 16! I hope the audience enjoys listening to this episode as much as we did creating it. Professor Berliner's Bio Todd Berliner, Professor of Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, teaches film style, storytelling, and aesthetics and American film history. He is the author of Hollywood Aesthetic: Pleasure in American Cinema (Oxford University Press, 2017), Hollywood Incoherent: Narration in Seventies Cinema (University of Texas Press, 2010), and many articles and book chapters. He was elected a Fellow of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image in 2010 and currently serves as a board member. Professor Berliner was the founding chairman of UNCW's Film Studies Department and the recipient of two Fulbright Scholar awards, including the Laszlo Orszagh Distinguished Chair in American Studies. He holds a master's degree and doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. Links to Todd's beautiful work: http://people.uncw.edu/berlinert/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mitch-hampton/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mitch-hampton/support

Support the Boston Art Book Fair today! Mark your calendar – Boston Art Book Fair 2022 IN PERSON November 4-6 Boston Art Book Fair, at Boston Center for the Arts! More info here, including exhibitor and programs lists, and link for tickets to our can't miss Friday night, Nov 4 preview party. Show notes: Oliver and Randi talk with Yng-Ru Chen, founder and CEO of Praise Shadows Art Gallery, a hybrid space that opened in Boston's Coolidge Corner neighborhood in 2021. The gallery serves as a lively space for exhibitions by emerging and mid-career contemporary artists, a retail space for art books and more affordable works made by artists, and a platform for mentorship for young talent in the Greater Boston area. Their work is local, global, and virtual. When: Interviewed Sept 22, 2022 The journey: Tattly Temporary Tattoos Tina Roth Eisenberg/Swissmiss The Guerilla Girls Snark.Art NFTs Eve Sussman, 89 Seconds at Alcázar 2004 FairChain Nicole Wilson, Ötze project And all kinds of candid advice and insights into how to be–and keep being–in the arts.

Kim and Brian go back many years when Brian's partner worked with Kim at her store in Coolidge Corner in MA. Kim sits down with drummer Brian Viglione to discuss the sex toy market from a man's point of view. Brian chats about how past sexual experiences have helped him realize how to better pleasure his partner and offers up some good advice.  Brian has drummed with the Dresden Dolls, The Violent Femmes and Radio King. You can check out his socials @BrianViglione and website Brian-Viglione.com Product review this week is the Eve's G-Spot  Thumper. Be sure to listen to the podcast to get the special promo code, and our sponsors are Cal Exotics, Magic Wand, Nasstoys. https://www.patreon.com/KimAirsGrandOpening  http://www.cameo.com/kimairs http://www.OnlyFans.com/KimAirs

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit MosaicBoston.com.Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. If you're new or visiting, we'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card in the worship guide, or the connection card in the back. You can grab it, fill it out, and if you leave it at the welcome center, we will give you a little gift in return and also get in touch with you over the course of the week. There's also a digital connection card in our app. If you didn't know, we have an app. And then also, either in Google Play you can download, or the Apple App Store, or there's also the connection card on the website.With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy word? Heavenly Father, we thank you for grace. We do not deserve it. You, the great God of the universe, you created us, and you rule and reign over us. And every single one of us rebelled against you. We are all insurrectionists, and you can meet out your judgment at any time you choose. And yet, you, the loving, merciful God of the world, you're long suffering and you're patient with us. You create a way for us to be redeemed and forgiven, a way for us to be given amnesty, and you sent your son, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and you, the great king of the world, you stooped down, and you became a slave. You became a servant. You took on human form, and you obeyed every single tiny degree of God's will. You obeyed the law.And then you went to the cross to bear the judgment, the wrath that we deserve for our law breaking. And you died, and you rose on the third day, and you ascended. You're sitting at the right hand of God the Father. And you're offering amnesty to each one of us. We just trust in your work on the cross. If we just ask for forgiveness and you offer us friendship with God, if we reject it, Lord, your word tells us that we will become a footstool for your feet as your enemies. I pray that every single person hearing this word today will accept the amnesty, accept the mercy and enter the kingdom of God. I pray, Holy Spirit, come and regenerate hearts. And for those of us who aren't Christians, I pray today, give us a grand vision of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, as the King of Kings, and the King has given us marching orders to go and share the gospel with everyone. And I pray that you'll continue to bless us as we do that and continue to bless this church. We pray this in Christ's holy name. Amen.We're going through a sermon series that we're calling Bomb Psalms. It's through the psalter. Bomb, because it's anointment. It's anointing for our souls, and we need it. Our parched souls need this ointment. We desperately need the anointing. We're also calling Bomb Psalms a word play because they're like bombs. They drop down onto our false categories of God to give us a bigger picture of who God is. For many of us, God is too small and we are too big, and God wants us, our vision of him to be expanded. Today, we're in Psalm 47. The title of the sermon is God is King.Many of you are in positions of leadership. Many of you have studied leadership and read many books on leadership. What makes for a great leader? Perhaps it's the ability to communicate a vision. Perhaps it's the ability to execute on that vision. Perhaps it's the ability to manage people. One of the greatest quotes I've ever read on leadership is by Steve Jobs who said this. He said, "Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do." It's why at your job, you have a manager, and that's why at your job, you get paid because you wouldn't do that for free. "Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could." And I love that quote. I love that.The greatest leader who has ever lived, and this isn't even debatable, is Jesus Christ. Today, over two billion people all over the world pay homage to Jesus, even nominally. They would say, "I'm a follower of Jesus Christ." Two thousand years after he lived, Jesus Christ is, hands down, the greatest leader to have ever lived. He's the greatest of all time. How did he do it? It took him 36 months to turn the world upside down. How did he do it? He took 12 guys, 12 regular bros working regular jobs, four fisherman, small business owners, a guy in finance, or finance, depending on where you are. What's the difference between finance and finance? About 300k a year. You had a zealot.You just had all kinds of people. He brings these guys together, just goes up to them and says, "Follow me," and they do it. And they don't just follow him for three years. He dies, he's resurrected, he ascends to heaven, they keep following him for the rest of their days proclaiming Jesus Christ, all of them martyred except for the Apostle John. He inspired them to follow him, to live for him, to witness of him, to die for him. Jesus, how did you do it? Did he just force them? "I'm the king of the universe. I force you to follow me." No, that's not how he did it. He served them. He led with service. He led with sacrifice. The King of Kings came to serve. And that's how he inspired them.Matthew 20:25-28, "But Jesus called them, the disciples, to him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave, come on, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many.'" Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords came as a servant. He came as a slave. He served them. He saved them, and this is how he inspired them and gave them the greatest vision for their lives. Don't live for yourself. Don't waste your life. Live for the King of Kings. Serve the King of Kings. That's when you life really matters.At the root of the word inspire is the word spirit. And Jesus Christ, through his gospel, he saves us. And then when we believe, he inspires us by sending us the Holy Spirit. And that compels us, the Holy Spirit, He compels us to serve Jesus. He saves us, and now we become slaves, but we're willing slaves. We're also doulas. St. Paul would call himself, "I'm a doulas of Jesus Christ. I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. I'm a servant," but he's a benevolent King who loves me. Therefore, I'll do everything that he calls me to do. And also, my king is God the Father. So my King adopts me into his family, and where God reigns, there is Shalom, and we submit to him when we do it willfully. When we choose to obey, that's when blessing comes into our life and blessing comes into the world.That's what we're talking about today. Psalm 47, it's an enthronement psalm. Would you look at this incredible text with me? "Clap your hands all people. Shout to God with loud songs of joy, for the Lord, the Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the world. He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God! Sing praises! Sing praises to our king! Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted."This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points. First, God is King over everything. Second, therefore, sing to the king. And third, all creatures of our God and King first. God is king over everything. Whenever you study any text, you're going to look at the context. First the literary context, and then the historical context to really understand what's going on. The immediate literary context is that this psalm is wedged between Psalms 46 and 48, and the three together emphasize the mighty works of God on earth as a king.Psalm 46 concludes, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth, the Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress." So God is king, and he is our fortress. And Psalm 47:7-8, our psalm, same theme, "For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne." Psalm 48 continues the same theme, verses one and two, "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, his holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the Great King." And then Psalm 48:10, "As your name, O God, so your praise reached to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. God is king over everything, everything and everyone."A lot of people hear that you're a Christian. "Oh, you're a Christian. Oh, that's tremendous. What do you do on Sunday? Oh, you're going to church. Oh, that's great. I do yoga on Sundays. You do Jesus, I do yoga. You do Jesus, I do golf. You do Jesus, I go to the beach." God is in the category of preference. That's what you prefer to do. And the psalms say, "No, no, no. It's not about preference. It's about reality. It's about truth. You like it or not, God is king over every single person. Every single person, you either reject him, rebel against him or you submit to him. Say, "Yes, God, you are my king." God is king over everything. That's what the text says, Psalm 47:2, "For the Lord, the most high, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth." Psalm 47:7, "For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm." Psalm 47:8, "God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne."To whom is this addressed? To Jewish people? To Christians? To Americans? No. Look at Psalm 47:1, "Clap your hands all people. Shout to God with loud songs of joy." God is king over every single person. Doesn't matter where you're from. It doesn't matter who raised you. It doesn't matter why you're in the city. It doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter what your age is. It doesn't matter where you go to school, where you graduated from, how many degrees you have. It doesn't matter where you work. It doesn't matter how much money you make, how much money you have, what kind of house you live on, what kind of condo you live in, what kind of apartment you live in, what kind of closet you live in. It doesn't matter what you drive. Doesn't matter what car it is, what scooter it is, what bicycle it is.None of that matters. God is king over you, and it doesn't matter if you like it. God is your king. Did you get a vote? Nope, just like you didn't get a vote to be alive. God is your king. He's king over you. God is king over your money, over your relationships, over your mind, over your heart, over your hands, over your feet, over your eyeballs, over your ears. God is God over your gender, over your genitals, over your reproductive organs. God is God over your time, your desires, your dreams, your wishes, your hopes. God is king over everything. How does that make you feel? And whatever that feeling is inside, if it irks you, if you bristle against it, that's a good sign that you are not in good standing with your king. So you need to repent, you need to lay down your arms and accept the amnesty that he is offering you.And once you do accept that, you are to revel in that truth that God is your king. You should be pumped about it. All of the enthusiasm that you can muster, that's what should well up in your heart, all the joy, everything. God is my king and he forgave me. He allows me to be in his kingdom as a citizen forever. Praise God. Some of you take for granted that you live in the United States of America. I do not. I do not take my citizenship for granted because my family comes from the former Soviet Union. And we're here for a reason, because it was terrible back there. In the former Soviet Union, everyone thinks socialism is tremendous. We can have a conversation after about what real socialism looks like.Everybody got paid the same amount, 200 Rubles. Everybody got the same terrible education. Everybody wore the same clothes because that's the only clothes you could buy. Everyone had the same food. Everybody lived in a little tiny studio in the Khrushchyovka, the ugliest buildings ever built. They were all nine stories with no elevators. And if you want to take a shower, the whole family had to go down into the basement, into the communal shower. So people didn't shower that often. So that's why once in a while, once a month, the whole family goes into a sauna together, the banya. Oh, don't get me started about that.So I am here for a reason, and every day I thank God that I am in this wonderful country. I do not take my citizenship for granted. Jesus Christ offers us entrance into something even greater, the Kingdom of God. And that right there should pump us up that God is our King. So Psalm 47:5, "God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of the trumpet." The historical context of this psalm, we talked about literary context. The historical context, this is an enthronement psalm. This is a people that were subjugated to a terrible king. That king is overthrown and now a great king has come, a king who rules with love, a king who rules with perfect justice and a king who loves his people. This king has come, and they are enthroning him with a coronation ceremony. And he comes up with a shout.The historical context of this psalm mostly likely is when David brings the ark of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David, to Jerusalem, to make it God's dwelling the place. The Ark of the Lord was the sign of God's presence, and here's the historical context, 2 Samuel 6:12-15. Verse 12, "And it was told King David, the Lord has blessed the House of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God," because of the Lord's presence. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David, with all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.The ark of the Lord is finally where it belongs, in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, and where they bring the ark, that's when Solomon builds a temple, and there's the Holy of Holies. Bu for now, we see that God's presence is back. How does David feel about God's presence being back in Jerusalem? David is pumped. He's rejoicing. He's rejoicing so hard that he starts dancing. And how does he dance? He dances with all his might. What does that dancing look like? When you have to try to dance, that means you're terrible at it. He knows zero moves, just the typical white guy. I got joy, but I don't know how to express it, but I'm going to express it anyway. Linen ephod, I don't even know what that is. So he's dancing. He's worshiping God with everything that he's got.How do the people around him react? Well, scripture tells us that his wife wasn't really happy about that, his wife Michal. Look at 2 Samuel 6:16-23. "As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart." Uh-oh. "And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burn offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts and distributed among all the people the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat and a cake of raisins to each. Then all the people departed, each to his house, and David returned to bless his household, but Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, 'How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of the servants, female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself.'"And David said to Michal, 'It was before the Lord who chose me above your father and above all his house to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord, and I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes, but by the female servants of whom you have spoken, I shall be held in honor." And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death." There's a lot going on in that text, especially in terms of a marriage, marital relationships. We're not going to deal with that now, but what's going on is, David danced to the Lord. And the scriptures say, it's very clear that God approves of David's emotion and disproves of Michal's concern for dignity.That's why it says this, she didn't have a child, that God didn't bless her with a child. That's the commentary in the text. She had a concern for dignity, a concern for decorum. "This isn't how God is worshiped. God isn't worshiped with dancing. God isn't worshiped with emotion." And for the same reason, for the same concern for dignity, that, for many of us, is the same reason why we worship the way we do, why we're so stoic in worship. And I'll just share from my own experience. I grew up in a Russian Baptist church in New England, in Rhode Island. If you know anything about Russians, they don't really show emotion. New Englanders, even less emotion. Russian Baptists in New England.You could never clap. That was a sin. That was a grave sin. You can't clap in church. You can't do it because some people might think you're clapping for them, and they might get proud. So no clapping. No emotion at all. My dad taught me, we are like oaks. You worship like an oak. You just stand like an oak tree. I remember I was at a Russian pastor's conference, and one of the pastors said, "Hey." He was asking a guy on stage in a question and answer. He was like, "Hey, I got people raising their hands in my church. What should I do?" And the guy from on stage, he said, "You should lower the ceiling fans." Just savage. Savage.I'm not saying you got to be dancing like David and worshiping. We're in Boston. I understand. Some of you have Catholic backgrounds or Orthodox backgrounds, Presbyterian, the Frozen Chosen. David worshiped with all his might, and many of us, whatever might we have, our mights vary. Some of us have a lot of might when it comes to worshiping. Some of us have a little less might. I'm saying, whatever might you got, worship with all of it. If you are frozen chosen, and you worship like an oak tree, just give me a little momentum, a little movement, just a little bit. There's got to be emotion. There's got to be emotion when you worship. This is the command, that you sing, that you sing.And this is point two, therefore, you sing to God. "Clap your hands all people. Shout to God with loud songs of joy." Shout, sing. Why do we sing? Why do we sing? We sing when we're happy. We sing when we're in love. We sing in Fenway Park. I remember, when I got married, my wife Tanya and I, 15 years now we've been married. And for our 15th anniversary, we went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic because that's where we went for our honeymoon. And I remember at our honeymoon, my wife looking at me. She said, "I've never heard you sing. Do you sing?" I was like, "Oh, yeah do I sing!" And back then, the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? came out, and they had the Soggy Bottom Boys. And I had that soundtrack. I had the CD of it. I used to listen to them in my car. I love that soundtrack! And I'm not going to sing it now, but I started singing so loud. And I was singing everything I got.Then all of a sudden, I hear knocking on the wall like boom, boom, boom because it was 7AM, and you don't sing at 7AM in a resort when people are asleep. When do we sing? We sing when we're happy. We sing when we're in love. We sing in adoration, and that's what's going on. We are to sing. We are to worship God. The same phrase about clapping your hands and loud shouts, same language is used twice when kings are coronated in Israel. 2 Kings 11:12, Joash is anointed King of Judah. "Then he brought out the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. They proclaimed him king and anointed him. They clapped their hands and said, 'Long live the King.'" When Solomon was anointed king of Israel, 1 Kings 1:39-40, there's "Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, 'Long live Solomon,' and all the people went up after him, playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy so that the earth was split by their noise."The earth was split by their noise. Fenway Park, I live in Coolidge Corner. Fenway Park, when there's a home run, and the whole stadium erupts, it's like 38,000 people, I can hear the noise. This is what's going on. Split by their noise. It's a party. It's an inauguration. We have inaugurations of the president, but half the people are happy, half the people are despondent. Imagine an election where everybody votes for this king. This is what's going on. Everybody is happy, and they shout, "Long live the king!" They're not just wishing the king a long life. They're saying for as long as the king lives, as long as I live, I am a subject. You are my king. You're not just the king. You are my king. You are my sovereign ruler.Psalm 47:5, "God has gone up with a shout, and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." People are rejoicing. They're shouting. They're clapping. When do we clap? We clap in a sign of appreciation or congratulations or gladness. That's not just what's going on. Yeah, they're appreciating the king, but historical context, in ancient times, when a king comes in and he conquers a people, the people who have been conquered, they come to the throne with their swords. They lay down their swords, they open up their hands. My hands are empty, and they start clapping together that you're now our king. I am not at war with you anymore. I'm not bearing my sword against you. My sword now is yours, and I am at war with you, side by side. I'm at war for you.The king of Syria called himself a great king, the most high, the same title because he ruled over many nations. God doesn't just rule over many nations. He rules of all of the nations. And since the psalm was written and many kings have come and gone, the Assyrian kingdom, gone, Babylonian kingdom, gone, the old Persian kingdom, gone, Greek empire, gone, Roman empire. In the year AD 250, they were celebrating the Roman empire was around for 1,000 years and as they were celebrating, it was falling apart. Their military plots, dictatorship, barbarian invasion, disease, plagues, economic stagnation, civil unrest. More modern times, got the British empire, gone. Hitler and the Nazis proclaimed a thousand year Reich, gone. The Soviet Union, they were an empire for seven years, gone. And what's true of political power is also true of economic or financial power. It's here and then it's gone.In 1923, nine of the most powerful tycoons, financial tycoons that were alive back then, they got together for a meeting. If you count all of their money in 1923, they had more money, more resources than the U.S. Treasury, just vast empires. Charles Schwab was the president of the world's largest independent steel company. Samuel Insull, president of the world's largest utility company. Howard Hobson, president of the largest gas firm. Arthur Cutten, the greatest wheat speculator. Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange. Albert Fall, member of the president's cabinet. Leon Fraser, president of the bank of international settlements. Jesse Livermore, the greatest speculator of the stock market. And Ivan Kruger, head of the company that had a worldwide monopoly on the production of matches.Well, what happened in the 1920s? The great crash happened. And then what happened to these guys? 25 years later, Charles Schwab dies in bankruptcy, lived on borrowed money for the last five years of his life. Samuel Insull died virtually broke after spending time as a fugitive from justice. Howard Hobson went insane. Arthur Cutten went bankrupt and died overseas broke. Richard Whitney spent time in maximum security prison. Albert Fall was released from prison so he could die at home. Leon Fraser, Jesse Livermore and Ivan Kruger all died by suicide. The most powerful people on the face of the earth at that time. And then they're dead. And then you stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.And at that moment, you stand before him as someone who had bent a knee to him during life in humility, repented of sin, or you stand before him as one to be judged in humiliation because you rejected him sovereign reign. And that's going to be the case for every single one of us. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go, but the kingdom of God lasts forever. How do we know that God is the Most High? Verses three and four recount what happened in Israel's history when they entered the Promised Land. This is verses three and four, "He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves." God gave them victory, gave Israel victory, gave them the Promised Land, and he provided for them. He gave them a heritage. And why did he do all that? Because he loves them.This is the emphasis here. The greatest king that exists, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, he loves us. He's a king that knows me, and he knows my name. I'm not just a slave. He doesn't just force me into subjugation. He compels my heart to love him by first loving me. You ever think about how wild it is that the God of the universe even allows people to rebel against him? Adam and Eve rebelled against him. God could have whacked them on the spot. If you think about it, right now you can go out and sin. You can choose to sin. God's wrath doesn't pour out on your immediately. It's long suffering. He wants you to choose to obey. He wants you to choose to love him, and that's how he rules us. He rules over our hearts. He loves us. He's a king who loves us, and God provides and he protects as a great king. In the wilderness, he provided for Israel on the way to the Promised Land. He provided them with manna and quail and water.And he brings them to the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. And he said he put the nations under our feet. This is literal. Joshua comes in and fights against the five kings of the Amorites. He gets them, and he lays the kings down. And the leaders of the people of Israel come in, and they literally put their feet on the necks of the enemies of the people of God. He did this. God is a God who gave them victory. Because God is king, therefore sing. That's the point. Psalm 47:5-7, "God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God! Sing praises! Sing praises to our king! Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm." Seven imperatives in this psalm.First one is shout. The second one is clap, and then five times, so that you get the point, we are to sing praises to our king. We're to sing. Christians are a singing people. We're commanded to sing to our God. And we see the same thing in the New Testament. This is why we do worship, by the way, if you're new to Christianity. This is why we sing at Mosaic. It's an important part and it's a value of ours to sing and to sing loud and to sing well, hopefully, but sing loud. And I've been in ministry long enough in the city that I know a lot of us are just head-oriented. We're all about information. This happens all the time. I preach the first sermon, and people didn't do this because I'm watching, and they know I'm watching.All the time, people time their entrance into the sanctuary for the start of the sermon. And then they leave as soon as the sermon is over. This happens all the time. My response, if you do that, as I see, and so does Jesus, and then my other response is it's not just about knowledge. It's not just about information because theology, true theology, if you really understand theology, it has to lead to the doxology where you can't but worship this great God. That's why we ... Ephesians 5:17-21, "Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine for that's debauchery, but be filled with the spirit." I don't know if you've ever noticed this, then he makes a connection with singing. The same way that people get drunk and they sing, the thing is bar songs, or when I played rugby, there was rugby drinking songs. Everyone gets wasted after the game and everyone's singing.You got this group of early 20s young men singing random Irish rugby songs. Don't do that, but there's a connection between be filled with the spirit and do what? "Addressing one another's psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and singing and making melodies to the Lord with you heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." Colossians 3:15-17, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body. Be thankful for let the word of Christ dwell in your richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom and singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord, Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."The more the word of Christ dwells in your richly, the more you want to express that by worshiping Jesus Christ. We gather to worship God because he's worthy and because we ought to. Why? Because Jesus won. Winning feels good. It feels so good, even if it's something stupid like softball. By the way, Mosaic has a softball team. So if you're good, let us know. Years, I haven't done it. And then two weeks ago, my brother is like, "Hey, we're going to forfeit the game. You got to go." So I went. Then I went yesterday, too. Let me tell you something. Softball doesn't matter at all. Is Brian here? Where's Brian at? Oh, there he is.Brian gets up to the plate and hits the ball. He hit a dinger. I've never seen the softball fly this far. Flew. And he's round... How do you think he's rounding the bases? Stoically? No! No. He is pumped. Rounds it, and then all of us, everybody on the team, everybody's cheering. Everybody's shouting. Everyone's fits bumping. It's awesome. A lot of elation. A lot. Hey, you know what's even better than winning at softball and hitting a dinger? How about overcoming Satan, sin and death? Yeah, Jesus did that. So that's why we worship Jesus. He's the greatest victor that has ever been. He's a conqueror. He conquered our greatest enemy, and he makes us more then conquerors. So that's why we should sing. That's why we sing.The prospect of victory brings a sense of pure elation. Jesus Christ is the goat. He's the goat. Tom Brady, I love that guy. I love that guy. He betrayed us. He's not the goat. No, he's still the goat. He's still the goat. But Jesus, this is why I raise my hands when I worship, Jesus is just out there scoring touch downs day in and day out. Jesus is the most consistent touch down scorer. And he takes the ball, and he spikes it in the face of Satan on a daily basis. That's why we raise our hands when we worship. Christians should be the most joyful of all people, the most joyful, the most optimistic, the most hopeful, the most full of life, the most energetic, the most positive, the most enthusiastic about being alive.My youngest daughter is four. She turned four two weeks ago. I have never seen a kid more excited about her birthday. She woke up, huge smile on her face. I said, Milana, how do you feel?" If you've never met Milana, we speak Russian in our home. So her first language is Russian. So she speaks English with a Russian accent. I love it. It's how we programmed her. I said, "Milana, how do you feel?" She said, her whole face, she's like, "I so excited!" A little psychotic. That's a little overboard, but she was so excited all day. We went to the Franklin Zoo. That's what she wanted to do. We just had a tremendous day. And I said, "What do you want to eat?" She said, "I want sushi." I'm raising some bougee girls. I got to stop doing that.So we had sushi. She had a tremendous day. She's just excited about being alive. How much more so should we be excited about being alive, being excited about life? And not just life, but new life that Jesus Christ has forgiven us that we're in the kingdom of God. Question; what do I do... Oh, first of all, a warning and then a question. Warning; beware of replacing submission to the king with emotion. And this is why a lot of churches are wary of emotion in worship. Be wary of separating bifurcating between submitting to the king and being emotional about the king. I remember I was part of a Christian fellowship in college, and I was from a Russian background, Christian background. I didn't really express emotion.And I saw this one kid, I was just blown away by how much emotion he expresses when we gather for our meetings. And then I found out, this guy is sleeping with a different girl every single weekend. So his emotion was just fake. It's just hypocrisy. You're just acting. You're just theater. Make sure it's submission that leads to emotion. That's the connection here. Question, objection; what if I don't feel lie singing? What if I don't feel like showing emotion or clapping or shouting? What if my heart is sad or my emotions are dull? Well, obviously, there's different kinds of psalms. There's psalms or lament and sorrow, but still, there has to be an underlying rejoicing in the Lord that he's sovereign even over the situation. Jesus Christ said blessed are those who are happy or those who mourn.So it's even from a position of joy. And then second of all, this wonderful biblical wisdom, we don't worship God just because we feel like it. We worship God because God commands it and God deserves it, and we ought to. We don't sing because you feel like it. We sing because you can and you should. That's like someone who's married, husband who's married and says, "I don't love my wife." Well, you know what scripture says? Too bad. Love her. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Too bad. And you know what? Feelings follow actions.So we are to worship. And as we worship, even if we didn't feel like it, God warms up our hearts. Scripture never tells us to base anything on our feelings as to wait until we feel like it. The commandment rejoice, that's an imperative, we are to do it. We are to obey. And third, who is to sing? Point three, all creatures of our guarded king. Everybody, every single person alive. Psalm 47:8 and 9, God reigns over whom? Over the nations. "God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of God of Abraham for the shields of he earth belong to God. He is highly exalted." Shields here, he's talking about power. He's talking about influence. And what he's saying is everything that anyone has belongs to God, and he says, "All the peoples worship," whom, "the God of Abraham. The prince of the peoples gathers as the people of the God of Abraham."And here, we see the grand vision that God promised Abraham. God promises and made a covenant with Abraham. We just did a sermon series over the life of Abraham. God promised, "In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. This is my covenant with you. You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations." This is the glorious vision that people from every single tribe, race, nation, tongue, people from everywhere are to worship the same God, the one and only God, and to fulfill this mission and this vision, Jesus Christ comes on a mission into the world to be the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world, Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the King of Kings comes, stoops down, takes on human form, lives a perfect life, a perfect life of love toward God and toward people, and then he goes and is crucified on a cross bearing the wrath of God that we deserve for our insurrection against God.He dies, and he's raised on the third day as proof that the sacrifice was accepted. And now, we can be granted amnesty. We just need to ask for it. When John the Baptizer came, his message was, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." And when Jesus came after John the Baptizer, he started preaching in Mark 1:14-15, "Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying," and these are the very words, first words of Christ written in the Gospel of Mark, "'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.'" He says, "The king is here. The kingdom is here. Therefore," what do we do? You ask for forgiveness. God, forgive me for trying to be king over my own life. God, forgive me. God, I repent.And Jesus Christ forgives. Sometimes you look at all the evil and the injustice and the corruption in the world, and you wonder, Jesus, why aren't you back yet? And we should long. We should long for Jesus to come back. And he will come back, but he's waiting. He's long suffering. He's patient for each one of us to repent for each person alive to repent, but he will come back. And with every day, it's closer and closer to the second coming. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, "For the Lord himself with descend from Heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air so. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words."Christ is coming back. Revelation 11:15-18, "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. He shall reign forever and ever.' And the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God saying, 'We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations rage, but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints and those who fear your name both small and great and for destroying the destroyers of the earth."Right now, Jesus is offering you forgiveness. He's offering you his friendship. If you reject it and you die, you will no longer be forgiven or a friend of God. You will become a footstool for his feet. And we get that from Psalm 110, "The Lord says to my Lord," God the Father is speaking to God the Son, "'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.' For those who rebel against God," yeah, Jesus will put his feet on your neck and say, "You're mine." Now, you're not a child of God. Now you are convicted and condemned and damned. Hebrews 10:12-13, "And when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God waiting for that time 'til his enemies shall be made a footstool for his feet." So don't scoff at the idea of mercy. Don't be cynical. That's what the world wants to do.Accept the mercy, lay down your arms and submit to the king. Philippians 2:5-11, "Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. Though, he wasn't a form of God, did not count in quality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, doulas, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. Therefore, God is highly exalted, him and bestowed on him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father."So either we proclaim Jesus is Lord now in humility bending knee to him, or we will confess that he's Lord as he's judging us, and we're being judged in humiliation. Now, a word to Christians. Once you become a Christian, you're in the kingdom of God. You're a child of God. You're a servant of God. You're a slave of God. What's our primary goal? What are our marching orders? Why are we here? What's the mission? We see the mission in Acts 1:6-11. This is Jesus right before he ascended, the resurrected Christ. "So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'" They thought the kingdom was a political kingdom. "'Jesus, is the kingdom coming now?' He said to them, 'It's not for you to know the times of the seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and all Samaria and to the end of the earth.'"So when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud too him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white robes and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you go into heaven.'" The disciples said, "Jesus, is this the time for the kingdom?" He says, "Nope." "When's the time for the kingdom?" "I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit, and you go and you be my witnesses everywhere. And my name, my word needs to be proclaimed in all of the nations. And after that, then I will come." After his resurrection, Jesus claims that he has all of the authority.Matthew 28 ends the same way. "Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age.'" That's our job, dear Christians. Our job is to be witness, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is king, and he's offering you forgiveness and amnesty. Accept it. Be reconciled with your maker.That's why this church exists. By the way, we are in the most strategic places to be proclaiming the gospel because we got people from all nations coming here. This is why we do what we do. This is why we gather. We worship God, we testify to them, and we welcome people into the kingdom of God, repent and believe. How should it make us feel that we're saved? It should fill our hearts with joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. How should it make us feel when someone becomes a Christian? Same. When you see another person become a Christian, when a soul, an eternal soul is saved forever, that should pump us up a million times more than any kind of victory.When someone gets up here right before a baptism and shares their testimony, all of us should be just absolutely pumped. Why? Because heaven is pumped. The angels are pumped. Look at Luke 15:7, "Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons that need no repentance." So everything we do in our life, wherever you go, whatever you do, wherever you live, we should orient our whole life around this, around the gospel ministry, around kingdom work because that's ultimately what matters more than anything else.I'll conclude with this. 95 AD, according to Irenaeus, who was a friend of Polycarp, was a friend of the Apostle John, the Apostle John is the only Apostle who wasn't martyred for the faith, but he was exiled to the island of Patmos. The island of Patmos was 10 miles long, six miles wide. It was a volcanic island. There's nothing there except for rock. So he had a lot of time on his hands. And as he had a lot of time on his hands, God gave him a vision, a vision of Jesus Christ coming back, reigning and ruling. And he wrote that down as inspired by the Holy Spirit in the book of Revelation. It's a picture of Jesus sitting on his throne, casting down his enemies, casting Satan into a flaming fire of sulfur and gathering people into new Jerusalem in all its beauty and splendor, and the people that God had there and the angels and the archangels, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and they're all... What are they doing? What's everyone doing? What's everyone doing? They're singing. They're worshiping. That's what they're doing.So right now, friends, we're going to sing. I want to see, can we have just a little more gusto? I won't judge you if you don't. Just sing with all your might. That's the point. That's all I'm saying. When you see this big picture of who Jesus is, that he is your king, that he is worthy of your service and your sacrifice in your singing, you can't but worship. I'll close with Revelation 7:9-10, "And after this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb!'"Let's pray. God, you're a great king, and we acknowledge that, and we accept willingly your rule and reign in our lives. Lord, if there's any area in our life, any room that we've closed off, put a private sign, a do not enter sign, I pray, Lord, today break down those doors, continue to reign and rule in every single aspect of our lives. We love your reign. We love your rule. We love you, King Jesus, and we worship you, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Governor hints at the future of masks in the Bay State, showtimes resume in Coolidge Corner and the tax filing deadline approaches. Five minutes of news that will keep you in "The Loop."

Today on Boston Public Radio: Medical ethicist Art Caplan discussed issues with President Trump’s goal of reopening the country by Memorial Day, and his reporting on how to ethically determine what kinds of medical care are ‘essentiail’ during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Jim and Margery discussed President Trump’s public reversal on his promise of shutting down his coronavirus task force.  Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory discussed the stigmas around Coronavirus deaths, and the addition of the “Comfort Zone” section in the Globe. CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem discussed the pressure from GOP members to reopen the economy, and warnings from weather analysts about this years’ hurricane season.  Lincoln Project co-founder and former New Hampshire GOP chair Jennifer Horn discussed the Lincoln Project's new attack ad on President Trump, and why the group of Republicans are working to vote the president out of office in November.  We aired live audio from Gov. Charlie Baker’s Wednesday press conference.  We opened our lines to talk with listeners about all things coronavirus  WGBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen talked about the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on smaller museums around the world, and a virtual film series from the Coolidge Corner theater on the career of Lee Grant. 

Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio from Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly Father, we thank you that you, the God of all light did not leave us in the dark, did not leave us in our own darkness. Instead Lord, that you came and you exposed our darkness through the truth of your son, Jesus Christ. And we thank you Jesus that you didn't just expose our darkness with your light, but you also showed us your love, of how much you love us, that you are willing to die on the cross bearing the penalty for our darkness.We thank you, Holy Spirit, that through you, we can have fellowship with the father and with the son and with one another because of the gospel. Lord, I pray that you bless our time in the holy scriptures. I pray that you give us grace to confess our sins, reveal where we are still in darkness, the patterns in our life that are still pulling us away from you. I pray, expose those, and as you give us grace to confess those sins, I pray both forgive us and cleanse us. And we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.So we're kicking off the year with a brand new sermon series that we are calling, Meno, Living in Light & Love. And it's a series through 1 John. The word meno is from the Greek, they coined a Greek, the original Greek that the New Testament is written in.The M, you understand, the next letter, then E, then the V is an N sound in the Greek, and then the W is an O sound, meno. So that's your Greek lesson for the day. You're welcome. So why this word? This word means to abide, to remain, to be connected to. John uses this over 20 times in his very short epistle. And the idea is that we thrive, we flourish, we live life to the fullest when we are connected to God and we are connected to God through Jesus Christ. And we remain in him by walking in light and walking in love because God is light and God is love.And this whole idea of walking comes from the very beginning of scripture where Adam, he walked with the Lord in the quiet and the cool of the garden. He had a personal relationship, an experiential relationship with God, which then was severed through sin. But then, we see glimpses of this relationship come up in the Old Testament where Enoch walked with God, Noah walked with God, Abraham walked with God.Jesus Christ comes and he calls his disciples. He said, "Follow me. Walk with me," and this is what the Christian life is. It's not just about rituals and rules, it's about a personal relationship with the god of the universe. Who wrote this epistle? It was the Apostle John, the Disciple John, one of the closest apostles that Jesus had, one of the closest disciples, he had three in the inner circle. He had 12 disciples, but three in the inner circle, Peter, James and John.And he knew Jesus, he walked with Jesus, he was an eyewitness to the miracles of Jesus and he was actually the one who reclined closest to Jesus at the last supper. He was the one to whom Jesus Christ entrusted his mother, Mary, from the cross. She is now your mother and you are her son. He's the one that actually outran Peter to the empty tomb.And how do we know that he outran Peter to the empty tomb, and how do we know that he was Jesus' favorite disciple? We get that from the Gospel of John. John wrote that about himself. If I outran the first apostle, I'd write that too. And he's like, "Yeah, Jesus loved me more than anyone else." So John is the guy who he understood Jesus' heart.Early on, he had anger issues along with his brother, James. They were called the sons of Zebedee. Jesus actually gave them a nickname, the sons of thunder. They would go into a village and the village wouldn't repent. And they're like, let's call down fire from heaven and incinerate everyone. Jesus like, "Hold on." And then actually, the love of Jesus Christ transforms him. And by the end of his life, he's called the apostle of love.So he writes as a father. He's probably in his late 80s, perhaps early 90s and he's writing to these Christians who are second generation Christians. He calls them beloved. He calls them my little children in the faith. And he writes to them with the purpose of showing them that God's word is timeless, therefore, it's always timely.They're second generation Christians and the false teachers are coming in and the world is pulling them away from the Lord by saying, "Hey, don't believe in that stuff. It's outdated, it's outlandish, it's outmoded, it's regressive, we're progressive, it's antiquated and we're modern, it's old school, we're new school."And John says, "No. I'm not even having that argument. I want to show you that this isn't about progression, it's about being outside of time, that we are people in time and we need a word that is outside of us, outside of time. We need an eternal word," and that's how he begins his epistle. This is 1 John 1:1-10. Would you look at the text with me?That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and reclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard.We proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light. In him is no darkness at all.If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.This is the reading of God's holy, inherent, infallible, authoritative word, meaning, write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Four points to frame up our time. First of all, you can know Christianity is true. Second, you can know that you're a true Christian. Third, you can show that you're a true Christian and you can show Christianity is true, and those three at the end are the doctrinal test, the moral tests and relational test and I'll explain what that means.So first of all, you can know Christianity is true. John is writing as a person who has seen Jesus Christ, has heard his words, has actually touched him, has had fellowship with him on a physical level and on a spiritual level and he understands that this is true, like you and I are true, you and I are alive. This is as true as life and death and this is really important because here at Mosaic, and this is what historic Orthodox Christians believe, that Christianity isn't just true because we choose to say it's true.It's true for everybody if you choose to believe or not, just like gravity is true for everybody, and this is exceptionally counter-cultural because we live in a day and age where the only thing you're allowed to be certain about is that we can't be certain about anything. The only thing that you're allowed to be sure about is that we can't be sure about anything. The only thing you can have true conviction about is that we can't have true conviction about anything. The only authority we're allowed to talk about is the authority that we question.So John comes in and he's incredibly countercultural. He says that you can know that this is true. You can know that Christianity is the truth from God. And he uses these words over and over. Uses the word ginosko 15 times. The word ginosko in the Greek means to observe and to experience. You observe the truth, you observe Christians, you observe the church, you observe world history and church history and you got to experience it.Oida is used 25 times, that you can know by reflection. When you take God's truth and you meditate upon it with an open heart, it comes inside your heart. Phaneroo means to make known. It's used nine times. Parrésia, confidence used four times in this epistle. And what he wants is he wants to leave us with certainty that this is true.1 John 1:1-3, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, which we have … By the way, the first time I've ever read this, eyes glare, like what is he talking about? If you separate each one of the words, you're like, "Yeah, I understand those words." But when you bring them together, you're like, "Why in the world?"And by the way, this is his introduction. I remember at homiletics class in seminary, I was told, whenever you give a speech, whenever you give a sermon, you got to give a very clear introduction that captures people attention, that shows them that you're worth listening to, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. John does none of that. He begins this epistle with a word that, that which.John, why are you doing that? Well, what he's doing is he's framing up the very central idea within a few sentences, and I'll explain exactly what he's doing, but what is the subject of this letter? What is the subject of this paragraph? He says, "That which was from the beginning," and use the word which, which we have seen, which we have looked upon, and then at the very center is a subject concerning the word of life.The life was made manifest and we have seen and testify to the eternal life, which was with the father, verse three, that which we have seen and proclaimed to you, et cetera, et cetera. He said, "This is the subject. The subject of everything I'm talking about is life." It's at the very center of this paragraph. And by life, I mean eternal life and by life and eternal life, I mean Jesus Christ who is the source of all life.Everything was created through him, flows through him. He sustains all of life. It's the message of life and the messenger of life and they're rooted in eternity. It's unchanging. It's fixed. He's saying this to show us that this truth is eternal. This isn't a truth that can be deemed progressive or regressive, this is a truth that's outside of time because God is outside of time.There's a church in Coolidge Corner, a very nice building. They have a sign outside that says, putting the progressive back in Christianity. And John was saying, "No, no. Christianity isn't about regressive or progressive, it's actually outside of time because God is outside of time." 1 John 1:8 says, that which was from the beginning.He's talking about the life, the life that which was from the beginning, Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father, but through me." Jesus has always existed. There was never a time when he was not. He had no beginning, will have no ending. The preexistence of Jesus Christ is the presupposition to the incarnation. He was before he was born.John actually talks about this in John 1:1-3 in his gospel and there too, he doesn't have a very captivating introduction, but it's theologically sound. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In the beginning was the word. The logos in the beginning was Christ.And what's fascinating is that in both our epistle, 1 John 1 and in the gospel of John, in the Greek, he doesn't use a definite article because in the Greek, there were no definite articles. And the definite article, by the way, this is English refresher from ninth grade. Definite articles are the, indefinite articles are a, and here where it says in the beginning, definite article, that's not in the Greek.So in the Greek, what it says is in beginning was the word, in beginning was word. And in 1 John it says, that which was from beginning. I'm going somewhere with this. Hold on for just a little second. It doesn't make any sense in English because we need the definite articles to make sense of it. But if you speak another language, some other language don't have the definite articles. Russian for example, no definite articles, no indefinite articles.So if you meet a Russian speaker and you're like, I have no idea what they're saying, now you know. They don't have definite articles. So if you read this text with the Russian accent, it makes all the sense in the world. That which was from beginning. Yeah, I get that. In beginning was word. Very good. If you wanted to develop the scariest accent that exists, the Russian accent, that's all you do. You just drop the definite and indefinite articles and just talk angry and there you got it.And this is all to say which beginning, which beginning, which beginning is he talking about? The beginning for us. The beginning for us was not the beginning for the word because Jesus was outside of the word. He has always existed and he comes into the world to bring the light of God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory as the gospel of John says.So in 1 John 1b and 2b, John says, "This word, which was from the beginning, before the beginning, we have heard, we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon, have touched with our hands concerning the word of life.The life was made manifest and we have seen and testify to and proclaim to you the eternal life, which is what the father was made manifest to us, that which was eternal became temporal. The infinite became finite for a while, the spiritual becomes physical and we have seen the manifestation of this word in Jesus Christ. He is life itself."Verse three, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, this word that became flesh was spiritual and becomes the flesh and now, I proclaim to you that same spiritual word through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he says three times in the first three verses, we saw the incarnate son of God. John is saying, "Why should you listen to me? What are my credentials? On which authority am I standing? Why listen to me? Is it because I have theological degree? No. Is it because I have studied the Greek? No, it's because I was with Jesus. I was with him. I've spent time with him."John said, "I've heard his voice. I know the tone, the tenor, the cadence of his voice. I know what Jesus smells like. I've seen his miracles. We feasted together. I've seen him in a mountain of transfiguration. I saw his glory. I saw him and the crucifixion on Golgotha. I saw him bleeding for us. The eternal was dying," he said.And by the way, he's not just saying this so that you can know factually that it's true, you can, because of the historical evidence, because these are true historic events, because the apostolic witness, you could know those things objectively. But John says, "No, it's deeper than that. I don't want you to just know the good news of Jesus Christ in your mind. It's not just cerebral." He says, "I want you to know it in your heart."And here he talks about the subjective evidence, which is actually objective, and when you think about, but the subjective evidence is you know deep in your heart that it's true. There's nothing more true than the fact that Jesus Christ, the son of God, died for your sins and rose on the third day for your forgiveness.He said, "I know it's true because the illumination of the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit allowed John not just to hear Jesus' voice, but to have it still ringing in his ears and in his heart. He saw Jesus, but now, he sees Jesus on a deeper level and hear what he's talking about is that Jesus Christ, the life, the reality underneath all of reality is the one who makes sense of all reality. The life underneath all of life is the one that makes sense of life.He says, "I met him and I found meaning for my life through him. I know my purpose through him. I know where I came from. I know who I am and I know where I will spend eternity because of him. The life Jesus Christ." C.S. Lewis has this quote where he talks about Christianity and he says, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else. I believe in Christianity like I believe in the sun, not because I've seen it, but because by it, I see everything else."This is what Jesus does. Jesus makes sense of every single part of our life, every single part of reality, and Jesus Christ is the only one who can truly satisfy our minds and our hearts. Why do I say that? Because we have these moments in life that you experience this moment and you're like, this is what life is all about, and they're so fleeting.These little fleeting moments when you feel alive, you've had those moments. Perhaps it's graduating from a program, perhaps victory in something. Perhaps you're on vacation, you're traveling, this is life. I want this to always be, and then like three days later, you're like, I want to go home. They're fleeting. Like the first time you experienced romance or falling in love, you're like, God, this is life. I am pulsating. I'm fully alive.The first time you get a job, you're like, this is my dream job. And then like a week later, it's just work. That's why they pay you, because you wouldn't do it for free. But it's like a thrill of victory. You won the Super Bowl last year and then every single year, everyone expects you to win every single game. Come on, let someone else win.And he's saying Christianity is true because historical evidence, the apostolic evidence, you can know all that, but it's true in your heart. When the Holy Spirit illuminates your heart, regenerates your heart, you're given a knowledge, a certainty, a conviction and you don't need physical eyes to see it, to know that it's true.Lots of people saw the historic Christ. Lots of people saw Jesus Christ come back from the dead. Not everybody believed. 1 Peter 1:8, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. He fills your heart with this joy in a spiritual level, it's inexpressible, and you see with the truest eyes that you can see the eyes of your soul.So you can know that Christianity is true. We don't stop there. John doesn't stop there because some people say knows that Christianity is true, the demons believe and they're in trepidation at the fact of God, but there's no love for God. So John says, "You can know that it's true, but then also, you need to know that you're a Christian, that it's transformed you." And this is 0.2, you can know that you're a true Christian, and this is the doctrinal test.And John does this all throughout the book, and I'll just give you these points here. But for him, the doctrinal test is that you cannot believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died on the cross for your sins and rose on the third day unless the Holy Spirit has quickened your heart, regenerated your heart, unless the Holy Spirit lets the lights go on, the illumination of your mind by the Holy Spirit, this illumination, you didn't invent, you didn't cause it to happen and you cannot undo it.The Holy Spirit has shown this light in your soul and you can't turn it off if you tried. And this illumination, perhaps doesn't prove that Christianity is true. Objectively, that's a historic evidence, the apostolic evidence, but it proves to you that you are a Christian. The most important question that every single one of us needs to answer in this life today is, are you saved?Are you saved from the wrath to come? Have you been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred in the kingdom of God's light, the kingdom of his son? Are you saved? Are you a Christian? And if the answer is maybe, this book is for you. If you're not sure of your salvation, if you're not assured that you are a child of God, this book is for you. John wants you to have this assurance.This is why he's written the book 1 John 5:13. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Do you know? Can you say with full conviction, full assurance? Yes. If I die right now, I will spend eternity with God. I will spend eternity with Christ. When it comes to Christianity, how you know that you're a Christian isn't because of the works that you've done or the works that you will do, we're saved by grace through faith.The moment that you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died on the cross for your sins and you repent of your sins, that very moment, you are a Christian because that repentance and that faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit. And if you're like, I'm not sure. This is what I recommend. I recommend you take the gospel of John and that you sit down with an open heart and you ask God, God, please reveal yourself to me. God, is this true? Is this true? Help my unbelief? Is this true?And I promise you, he will reveal himself to you because the very fact that you would do that with an open heart and desire to be saved, desire to be a Christian is already a sign that he is working in your heart. That's already a gift. And to bolster our assurance, he gives us three tests in this book and we'll deal with this sequentially over the course of the next eight weeks in this series.The doctrinal test is, do you believe this? Do you believe in the teachings, the word of God concerning Jesus Christ, the God-man and saving work? And then there's also the moral test. Now, if you are in the kingdom of light, if God has shown his light in your life, are you walking in the light? And that's a 0.3 and then 0.4 will be the relational test, so doctrinal, moral, relational.Three is you can show that you're a true Christian. You can know that Christianity is true. You can know that you're a true Christian and you can show that you're a true Christian through the moral test. Does your life show it? 1 John 1:3, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ.And then he uses that same word fellowship two more times on this text in verse six, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. So for him, light and truth are synonymous, darkness and lies are synonymous. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.Jesus is reality. The word fellowship in the Greek is koinonia. What the word fellowship means is a personal experience of sharing something that's significant. You share something that's significant. Fellowship is the deepest level of friendship. You make it faster. I remember in college one time, I went to a concert with a friend of mine, kind of a friend, he lived down the hall. And we went to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. And after that, we were in the mosh pit together. And after that, he's like, "Man, I feel like we bonded." And then I never spoke to him again. Very superficial.The deeper the thing that unites us, the deeper the thing that you share, the deeper your friendship. And the deepest thing that we can share with someone is God. Faith in God, love God, delight in God, desire to obey God. And he says, "We have fellowship with the father and with the son by the power of the Holy Spirit."And Christianity is a relationship. It's a fellowship with God. It's not just about what you do for God or what God has done, it's about you walking together with God on a daily basis. The fellowship with God, he's saying, is a relationship. And every single relationship takes effort. We're saved by grace through faith. So our relationship with God is without earning, you can't earn it, but it's not without effort.Every thriving, enduring, flourishing relationship, it takes work. And marriage, it takes work, with your children, it takes work, at friendship, it takes work, our relationship with God takes effort, and that effort is are you pursuing the light? Are you pursuing the light of God? Are you pursuing the truth of God? Are you pursuing to walk in the holiness of God?And this 1 John 1:5, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light, in him is no darkness at all. And this is really fascinating because he could have started with God is love. That's true, but he doesn't start with that. Although that's more inviting. Why not just start with God is love? God loves you, Jesus loves you, he starts with God is light.And the reason why he starts with God is light is because that's how God reveals himself. God reveals himself first of all through his holiness, through his light and then through his love. This is the revelation of God. And John starts with the person of God, not us. And the reason why he does that is because our deepest problem, every single one of us, is that we're self-centered. We are so self-focused, we're selfish.And I catch myself with this once in a while. How many times today this morning did you think of yourself? In December, I only preached one time here in Mosaic. And I got to listen to the sermons and I came to worship service and I came to every single one of the worship service and I love it. I love being here. But as I'm sitting here, I was just analyzing myself. I'm listening to a sermon and I'm worshiping and I worship for a little bit and then all of a sudden, I'm thinking about I'm hungry or it's too cold or it's too hot. What am I doing after church? Am I going to Los Amigos today?The music is not as good as usual, or this, or that. And then as I'm sitting, I'm in the presence of God. I am here to focus on God. I'm here to encounter God. I'm just focusing on myself and I'm a professional Christian. And if I do this, you definitely do this. Every single one of us, we're focused on ourselves. Before I got married, I thought I was the most selfless person. I actually told my wife early on. I was like, "You have won the husband lottery. You're welcome. You are so lucky."She has needs, but I have needs. And then we got through that by the grace of God and then we have a kid and my goodness, they are so selfish. It's all about their needs. What about mine? And here's the thing, a lot of people come to God like that and a lot of churches cater to people and allow people to come to God from a very self-centered place. You approach God and you say, what can God do for me? Why should I follow God? Why should I obey God? Why should I sacrifice for God?Yeah. If he gives a little joy, I could have a little more happiness. Can God make me happy? Yeah, I want something. Could God give it to me? Or I've got so many problems, can God solve them? And when you approach faith from a very self-centered place, it only deepens your self-centeredness and never fixes it. So John starts here and he starts with, God is light. He's absolutely holy and there's darkness within us and something needs to be done about the darkness in our hearts, about the selfish and the self-centeredness in our hearts. We need to be delivered from it.And here, the reason primarily why he does that is because we'll never understand God's love until we understand God's light. We'll never understand that when God's light shines into our hearts and exposes the sin and the vile darkness within, until we see who we are before God, we'll never understand his love. We'll never understand the cross, that the cross is the path of salvation. Why can't God just forgive me? He created everything with a word. Why can't he just say, I forgive you? Because he's holy. That's why.We'll think of the cross as meaningless or unnecessary. And also, starting with God's holiness and God's light, exposes any false claims of fellowship with God. Yeah, I love God. Yeah. I pray in my spare time. I'm a spiritual person. To whom do you pray? Do you pray to a God who is love? Do you pray to a God who sees the sin in your life?And also, starting with a God who is light allows us to understand what we truly deserve. And this is really important I think because we go through these moments in life when we suffer perhaps or we don't get the things that we expect that we deserve to get. An entitlement begins to creep in and you get something in life.You're like, I deserve so much better. I expected that I'm going to be in a different place than I am now. God's light, God's holiness shows you know what we deserve? We deserve eternity in hell apart from God experiencing the conscious wrath of God. That's what we deserve. Everything else is grace and it gives us spiritual fortitude to go through the suffering, go through trials, understanding that God is sovereign and also starting with God's holiness.When we understand this is what we deserve, but this is what God offers because the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, he offers us eternal life, he offers us forgiveness, he offers us cleansing of all of our sins, fills your heart with incredible light and love and joy and we deepen our fellowship with God by pursuing our walk in light, not in darkness. 1 John 1:6, one six I'm going to give you these three verses and just look at the parallelism.If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness. If you say, yeah, I'm a Christian, yeah, my sins are forgiven, but you're pursuing darkness. He says, "We lie and do not practice the truth." Verse eight, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Verse 10, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.And John here is writing against the false teachers who came into this community. And one of the things that they said was, you know what, it doesn't matter how you live in the flesh, in the body, all that matters is what you believe. All that matters is what you do in your spirit. And by bifurcating the spirit from the body, from the flesh, they said nothing that you do in the flesh matters. You can live any way you want.And then at some point, if you want, come to God, he'll forgive you of your sins and then you keep going to live any way you want. So your spirit is in the light. It doesn't matter what your flesh is. And John says, "That's not how it works. God doesn't just care about our souls. He cares about our bodies because we are embodied spirits. We're spiritual bodies. It's all interconnected." So God does care. And this is why Jesus comes into the flesh. And this is why we can't excuse sin by saying it was done in the flesh.And here, he says, "Walking in light and walking in darkness." What is he talking about? What does he mean by darkness? He's talking about that sinful part in our hearts that we're deathly afraid to look into. You know it's there. Everybody knows it's there. We know that there's evil, a darkness inside. Movies and books have been written, songs have been written. There's a dark passenger inside.My high school football coach, Coach Ogletree, great guy, kind of an alcoholic, and he would come to practice drunk. And I remember one time, sophomore year, I was in the varsity team and I was hanging out with some of the older students. So my coach comes to me, he takes me inside, he said, "Jan, do not go over to the dark side."And I knew exactly what he meant. Just like, you know exactly what I mean. You know exactly what I'm talking to. There's a darkness deep inside. There's things inside that we are deeply ashamed of. It's in every single one of us. So the first thing that we need to do, and what it means to walk in the light, it means to approach God and say, God, you're light. There's darkness in me, but because of the grace of Jesus Christ, because of the blood of Christ, there is cleansing. There is forgiveness.I'm going to take steps toward you as I do. I see more of my darkness because there's more of the light. I'm not running. I'm not turning away from the sin. I'm not ignoring. I'm not denying my sins. I'm not customizing truth to my life. I'm customizing life to the truth. I'm adapting my life. I'm approaching the light, not running from it.1 John 1:7, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. I love this verse because this verse shows us that despite how much darkness there is and despite how many times I fall, and despite how many times I dishonor God with thoughts and inclinations of the heart and desires that are far from God's will, when I approach him and I desire to walk in the light, there's always cleansing. There's always forgiveness.And what's fascinating is, what he's saying is that there's cleansing not just for people who are in the dark. He's not saying the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin when we're walking in the dark because we need cleansing, he's saying, even when you're walking in the light, meaning, even if you are walking with Christ every single day of your life from now on until you die, you still need cleansing.The closer you come to the light, the more exposed, the more you realize that you need cleansing. And verse nine, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What's fascinating is he doesn't just say that Jesus forgives us of our sins. He doesn't just say that Jesus forgives us of our unrighteousness, he says that Jesus cleanses us from our sins.I like that. Do you know why this is important? Because I feel this in my own heart, that as you're walking with the Lord, there are seasons where it's like, yeah, I know my sins are forgiven. I know I'm not under the condemnation of God, but I also feel like my soul is gunked up.If you think about cleansing, perhaps it's after the holidays, you just ate so much junk and you're like, I need a cleanse. I need to fast. I need to become a vegan. I need to do something. I need a cleanse. Something like that happens on our souls. The best shower that I ever experienced of cleansing is from a long trip. You take a long trip, like you're traveling back from Europe, couple of planes, and you go home, that first shower.Airlines know this. If you've ever flown Lufthansa, they give you that little warm towel. You're like, thank you. I had no idea how much I need it. I'm disgusting. We need cleansing. What he's saying is, yes, our sins are forgiven, but dear Christian, you still need cleansing. So where in your life do you need cleansing? Where in your life is there a darkness? Where in your life are you mired in sin? Perhaps a pattern or habitual sin that's pulling you away from God? Perhaps strongholds, secret sins, dark secrets.And he says, come to God. Come to God, confess your sins and he is faithful and just to cleanse you and to forgive you. Christ didn't die to make us comfortable sinners. And 0.4 is you can show Christianity is true. And this is verse three, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And that's fascinating.John with you? Yeah, he's talking about himself. He's talking about the apostolic witness. You can have fellowship with the apostles. What does he mean? Where's John right now? Well, he's dead, but his body would turn into a corpse. But where's John right now? He is in the presence of God. He is already experiencing eternity with God, but he's saying you could have fellowship with God the father and God the son, vertical fellowship.And as you do, you can have a horizontal fellowship with Christians from before you and Christians that come after through this faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's a fellowship with the father, son and the Holy Spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse seven, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another as well. So we don't just have fellowship with God, we don't just have fellowship with Christians before us, the Christians after us, we have fellowship with Christians who are here now.Do you have fellowship with Christians? Do you have fellowship with brothers and sisters? Because God is your father. Not just friendship, but a fellowship. Now I'll say, look at the connection in verse seven. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. What's the connection there? The more we pursue God's light, the more we pursue to walk with God. The more we want to spend time with God's children.The farther we walk away from God's light, the less of a desire we have to spend time with God's children. I've seen this over and over and over where the first sign that someone is walking in the dark, is walking away from the Lord, is they walk away from community with other brothers and sisters who have the Holy Spirit.So we are to pursue fellowship. We do that in Mosaic through our worship services and our community groups. We pursue fellowship with one another, fellowship that's deeper than friendship. Can you be friends with unbelievers? Yes. Can you have fellowship with unbelievers? No. You can't have the deepest form of connection, intimacy, spiritually speaking.2 Corinthians says, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, but what fellowship has light with darkness? And what we try to develop is light in terms of sharing what's going on in our lives and sharing our failures and our fears and our flaws and our faults. Sin is like mushrooms. It grows in the dark. So we expose those areas to our brothers and sisters and we repent to God and we also confess to one another.James 5:16, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed and the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. So John says, "The eternal life has come. We proclaim it to you and as we proclaim it to you by grace through faith, you believe in it. You have fellowship with God and we have fellowship with one another and it leads to joy."And that's verse four 1 John 1, we're writing these things so our joy together may be complete, may be full, may be satisfying so you can know that Christianity is true, you can know that you are a true Christian, you can show that you are a true Christian by walking in the light and you can show the world that you are a Christian, that Christianity is true through your love for other Christians. That's what Jesus said. The world will know that you are my disciples because of your love for one another.This time, we're going to transition to holy communion. Three things in the holy scripture are called the body of Christ Jesus' physical body, the church which is the body of Christ and also the bread at communion, the bread and the wine are called the body of Christ.The reason why we celebrate communion is because Jesus told us, "Do this in remembrance of me." We come to holy communion with contrite repentant hearts. Who's the welcome to take part in communion? Anyone who repents of sin. If you are a Christian who is unrepentant, we ask that you refrain. If you are not a Christian and you haven't repented of sin, if you have not believed in Jesus Christ, we ask that you refrain, but even if today, you repent of your sins, say, "Jesus, I confess my sins, there's so much darkness inside. Please forgive me," he forgives you instantaneously and you're welcome to partake.The usher is going to hand out the elements. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ that's broken for us. The cup symbolizes the blood of Christ that was shed for us to cleanse us from sin. Once you receive the elements, please hold onto them until everyone has received them and then we'll partake together. Would you please pray with me?Jesus, we thank you for the gospel and we thank you that you didn't just give us words of light and words of love, but you brought both together and both your love and your mercy and your justice and your holiness come together on the cross where, Jesus, you connect us with God, the father. By grace, through faith we can have fellowship with you, fellowship with the father and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.We want to take some time now to confess our sins. They are many. All too often, we do not love you as you ought to be loved. We don't love neighbor as self, we're too self-focused. Lord, right now, we ask that you ensconce us in your presence, clothe us in your presence so that we focus on you and turn our gaze to you and to the cross of Jesus. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen.

There are a ton of listings and open houses this weekend, over 25 posted already. Today we discuss our two favorites: - 41 Park Street APT 205, Brookline, MA 02446 (http://41park.avirealestate.com/) - 41 Addington Road, APT 2, Brookline, MA 02445 **41 Park St** BEAUTIFUL MOVE-IN READY CONDO IN AN ELEVATOR BUILDING WITH IDEAL BROOKLINE LOCATION. Featuring 2 generous bedrooms & 2 full baths, including an ensuite master. But that is just the beginning! Enjoy a large open floor plan with space for living & dining rooms. Natural light abounds in this second floor unit. Want some fresh air? Step out to your private balcony, or head up to the roof deck for great views. The association is professionally managed, has healthy reserves, and has recently completed major improvements including a new roof. No stairs are needed to enter this elevator building. Transferable rental parking is just outside, and will be pre-paid all the way through May 2020! But with a WalkScore of 91, you might not need your car at all. It’s the perfect location, just steps to Coolidge Corner, Brookline Village, wonderful schools and parks, the Longwood Medical Area, public transportation and great restaurants and shopping. Don't miss it! **41 Addington Road** GORGEOUS 2-BEDROOM CONDO WITH RENOVATED KITCHEN, CENTRAL A/C AND 2 PARKING SPACES ON A FABULOUS BLOCK. Just steps to Schick Park and a short walk from Washington Square, this beautiful home is flooded with light, and features an updated bathroom, generously proportioned bedrooms with an ample walk-in closet in the master bedroom, in-unit laundry, and 2 fireplaces. It also boasts high ceilings, gleaming hardwood floors, and private basement storage. And if that was not enough, just wait until you see the stunning view from the huge, recently renovated deck off the kitchen. This unit has been lovingly maintained, and the association is well-managed and has very healthy reserves. A gem like this does not come around often, so don't miss it! It will not last! ********************************************* Questions? Email us! info@accentbrookline.com ** Accent Realty, 617-396-3206, www.accentbrookline.com ** Avi Kaufman, avi@avirealestate.com, 617-751-1040, www.avirealestate.com Ron Scharf, ronscharf.re@gmail.com, 617-221-3122

The inventory of homes for sale always dries up over the summer, and then surges back after Labor Day. We take an early look at this year's post-Labor Day surge. Is it bigger than previous years and what does that mean for the market? Also, Tour Insights. We discuss two similar 2-bedrooms for sale in Coolidge Corner, with different prices: 50 Green St APT 202, Brookline, MA 02446 50 Park St APT 21, Brookline, MA 02446 And a well-priced single-family on Corey Hill: 98 Lancaster Ter, Brookline, 02446. Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you Email us at info@accentbrookline.com ** Accent Realty, 617-396-3206, www.accentbrookline.com ** Avi Kaufman, avi@avirealestate.com, 617-751-1040, www.avirealestate.com Ron Scharf, ronscharf.re@gmail.com, 617-221-3122 And if you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review!

A quiet week for new listings. We discuss a 4-bedroom on Beacon St in Coolidge Corner. Pricing, Timing, & Preparation: does it miss on all three? Questions? Contact us! info@accentbrookline.com ** Accent Realty, 617-396-3206, www.accentbrookline.com ** Avi Kaufman, avi@avirealestate.com, 617-751-1040, www.avirealestate.com Ron Scharf, ronscharf.re@gmail.com, 617-221-3122

Many of our guests aim to fly high, but Ben Glass from Altaeros aims to fly higher than most. Literally. What started as a vision to create high altitude wind turbines has evolved into an innovation many thought was impossible – autonomous aerostats. Join us to hear about how Altaeros is putting payloads way up in the air and transforming what’s possible in clean energy and telecom. Visit Altaeros' website at http://www.altaerosenergies.com/ Also, Ben's sister's shop in Coolidge Corner at http://alliummarket.com/

May 31 - June 8, 1980 Ken welcomes back to the show TV Guidance Counselor Legend John Hodgman. Ken and John discuss dream jobs, The Coolidge Corner Theater, Vacationland, Boston, Halloween Specials, Rosemary's Baby, all night movie marathons as a kid, The Evil Dead, The Movie Loft, Friday the 13th, Dana Hersey, The Canned Film Fest, being an only child, having your own apartment in your parents' house, Weird Al Yankovic being the best, The Big Slick in Kansas City, levels of fame, Paul F. Tompkins's bit, leaving it all on the field, true showmanship, Levar Burton's secrets, Bozo the Clown, Candlepins for Cash, passive aggressive gameshow hosts, being embarrassed to be on TV, SCTV, Sale of the Century, Robert Urich, Vegas, artwork of yourself, when Flash Gordon fought the Incredible Hulk, Robert McKenzie's love of Here's Boomer, Jeff Goldblume's jazz show, Bart Braverman, Wednesdays, Happy Days, Zoom, The Gong Show, Oingo Boingo, Doctor Who, WGBX 44, You Wrote It You Watch It, Sha Na Na, the LIVE! event at the Coolidge Corner, being pressed for time, Daniel Kitson, John's Book, having a show on WMFO as a teenager, Harold and Maude, celebrity encounters, Roger Corman's love of free popcorn, The Gone with the Wind basement, Stop Making Sense, stalking celebrities, John's boat, city vs. country, why Mainers want to be left alone, phone calls from David Horowitz, snap judgement, questions for John, Ken's old punk band, becoming a writer, ukuleles, Roadrunner and standing ovations.

Dave met Daniel from France! He was in town on vacation and they bumped into each other at the Coolidge Corner in Brookline. Dave tells that story, and then the guys have a few things to say about Charlottesville, Va., and then they get into the movies. Evan starts things off with THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD (7:53), a movie he describes as “Not as bad as I thought it would be.” The guys head down under to BREAKER MORANT at 20:29, and Dave spends waaaaay too much time talking with a terrible Oz accent. Kris covers Errol Morris’ THE B-SIDE: ELSA DORFMAN’S PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY starting at 30:27. Evan takes they guys on a stroll down Amnesia Lane to CROSSING DELANCEY at 38:15, which is a delightfully sweet romantic comedy from the late 1980s. Finally, Kris and Dave cover Werner Herzog’s AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD at 48:00, which screened on Monday, August 14 in 35mm. Everyone should have access to rep theaters like the Coolidge.

On this week’s episode the guys ponder the strange variety of foods available in New York City diners before they dive into movies. Kris kicks everything off with his rundown of HACKSAW RIDGE (at 4:50), Mel Gibson’s World War II film about a conscientious objector who volunteers for military service. The first half has a delicate touch, while the second half is standard Mel Gibson, which Kris emphasizes with enthusiasm. Evan jumps in next to talk about The Boston Jewish Film Festival (at 26:57). He comments on four films playing there; two documentaries (DISTURBING THE PEACE and WOMEN IN SINK) and two narrative shorts (AND THEN, VIOLENCE, and JEWISH BLIND DATE). He discusses the things that each do well, and the reasons why they’re all worth watching. Dave and Kris close out by recapping the 16th Annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon at the Coolidge Corner Theatre (at 41:40). They share brief reactions to the films they saw there, which include SCREAM, SCREAM 2, THE FOG, THE HOWLING, CREEPSHOW, and GHOST STORY.  

Mark, program manager at The Coolidge Corner theater, joins Charles to chat about The Boondock Saints II and Mulholland Dr.

Presented by ObsessedWithFilm.com - Joining John Black and Steve Head this week is Meg Quinn, film critic with Gatehouse Media's Ipswich Chronicle. We discuss all the goodness that is Bridesmaids, the latest product from the Judd Apatow factory. And, I must say, one of his best films to date. (Thank you, Ms Wiig.)Also in this episode, we talk about the new film Hesher, starring Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, and Everything Must Go, starring Will Farrell. Meg and I aren't so keen on Everthing Must Go, but John explains why the movie is "well worth seeing, especially if you had any addictions." And for our picks of the week, we can't say enough good things about Jonathan Demme's Something Wild (1986) And we can only say a couple good things, if that, about Richard Lester's How I Won the War (1967) co-starring John Lennon.We recorded this episode at Panera Bread in Brookline, Ma, located directly across the street from the Coolidge Corner theater. As always, We tried to find a quite spot to record. Our apologies for any obrusive background noise.Visit the Post-Movie Podcast online at Post-Movie.netIntro music by Stereo Soul Future (stereosoulfuture.com)Questions? Email us at contact@post-movie.net

Presented by ObsessedWithFilm.com - Joining film critics John Black and Steve Head this week is Brian Tamm, Managing Director of The Independent Film Festival Boston. The 9th annual festival runs Wednesday April 27th through May 4th, 2011, with films playing at The Somerville Theater, the Brattle Theater, the Stuart Street Theater and Coolidge Corner.In this episode, we preview and discuss a number of films including The Troll Hunter, The Future, 13 Assassins, Bellflower, The Catechism Cataclysm, Trigger, The Trip, The City Dark, Being Elmo: A Puppeteers' Journey, Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story, Tatooine, Superheroes and Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - which closes the festival on May 4th at the Coolidge.Please visit IFFBoston.org for a complete list of films, events and tickets. This episode was recorded at Panera Bread in Brookline, Ma, across the street from the Coolidge. Our apologies for any obtrusive background noise. Visit the Post-Movie Podcast online at Post-Movie.netIntro music by Stereo Soul Future (stereosoulfuture.com)Questions? Email us at contact@post-movie.net

In which we discuss the new releases “Brothers” and “Up in the Air,” interview director Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”), ask you to consider an excursion to Coolidge Corner to view “The House of the Devil,” and bring to your attention film screenings and events in the Boston area. http://postmovie.wordpress.comFeedback? Email us at postmoviepodcast@gmail.com