Neil Ellingson - Gentle and Agitating - Feb 14, 2016

A continuation on our series on the beatitudes:
Blessed are the meek, and Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Aren't these in contradiction? Which is it- are we to be meek and patient and gentle in the face of a world that has hurt us and will probably do so again, or are we to be honest about our dissatisfaction with so many things? Don't tell me the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Ok! It doesn't. It lies in being both to the utmost. That's where we can encounter the joy and full aliveness that comes from God knows where.

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Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled. (5:6)

Neil E. & Tim K. - Bliss, Mourning, Comfort - Feb. 7, 2016

Root and Branch Co-founders Neil and Tim begin a sermon series on the Beatitudes.

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The Beatitudes are some of the most memorable and quoted lines from the New Testament. They distill a vision of new ways of living. They only make sense if you can see within and beyond this reality into another one - an upside-down, outside-in, bizarro reality that Jesus of Nazareth not only imagined but saw as if he were rocking contact lenses with a prescription stolen from another dimension.

This week: 
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted. (5:4)

Virginia White - Body Talk - Jan 23, 2016

Pastoral Intern (from the University of Chicago Divinity School) Virginia White on Christianity's long obsession with bodies and ways that might be helpful for us to think the about our fleshy selves today.

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Reading:
1 Corinthians 12:12-20
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 

Timothy Kim - Start Over Forever - January 10, 2016

Co-founder Tim Kim on why new years resolutions are GOOD and why each year is an opportunity for us to start over again.

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Reading:

Mark 1:4-11

4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”9 

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 

Neil Ellingson - Taking Care of God - December 20th, 2015

Co-founder Neil Ellingson on the uniqueness of incarnation, seeing the face of God in toast, and how the birth of Christ is God's asking us to take care of others.

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Readings:

Denise Levertov - Annunciation

We know the scene: the room, variously furnished, 
almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.
       Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.

But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions
courage.
       The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent.
         God waited.

She was free
to accept or to refuse, choice
integral to humanness.

                  ____________________

Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?
         Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.
More often
those moments
      when roads of light and storm
      open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from

in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
                                 God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’* 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 34Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’* 35The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born* will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

Timothy Kim - Can You See It? - December 13, 2015

R&B Co-founder Tim talks about the anxiety of waiting, the rawness of Christ, and what it might take to see God coming in the distance.

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Readings:

Matthew 3:1-3

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”[a] 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.’”
___________________________
No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor.
The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything,
look down on others, those who have no need even of God- for them
there will be no Christmas. 
Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone
to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God. 
Emmanuel. God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit
there can be no abundance of God. 

- The God We Hardly Knew by Óscar Romero

Timothy Kim - The Racial Gap - November 8, 2015

R&B Co-founder Tim talks about the sin of racism, the way it infects everyone, the way it separates us, and how we might begin to overcome it. 

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Reading:
James 4:7-10. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 

 

Neil Ellingson - Reflections on Tragedy and Transformation - October 18th, 2015

R&B Co-founder Neil Ellingson offers a real talk reflection on the complications surrounding the recent birth of his first son and being angry at a God who returns that anger. This week's passage was from the book of Job, which is a story of tragedy, questioning, theodicy, and the search for answers. 

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Reading: Job 38:1-7, 34-41

1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up your loins like a man,
    I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone
7 when the morning stars sang together
    and all the heavenly beings[a] shouted for joy?

34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
    so that a flood of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,[c]
    or given understanding to the mind?[d]
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
    Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38 when the dust runs into a mass
    and the clods cling together?
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
    or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens,
    or lie in wait in their covert?
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God,
    and wander about for lack of food?

Keron Blair - Black Lives Matter - October 11, 2015

Keron Blair, a longtime Root and Brancher by night and community organizer by day, talks about the Black Lives Matter movement, the particularity of blackness in America, and what it means to do something about racism as a church.

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Timothy Kim - Impossible Love - September 27, 2015

R&B Co-founder Tim Kim concludes the sermon series, "Could've Moved Mountains," about faith, doubt, and what it takes to move mountains in our lives. This final talk tries to make the case that it is indeed possible to move mountains by faith, but that it is so hard, it is basically impossible. If that makes any sense, you're good. If not, listen! 

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Reading:
“Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Mark 11: 22-24

The Faith of Christ - Rich Pak - September 20, 2015

This is part two of our series "Could've Moved Mountains" in which we examine faith, doubt, and the possibility of doing the impossible. In this sermon, guest preacher Rich Pak talks about the difference between us having faith in God and God having faith in us. 

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Reading:
Romans 5:1-5
5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access[b] to this grace in which we stand; and we[c] boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we[d] also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 

Mark 11: 22-24
“Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Timothy Kim - Whole Faced Faith - Sept. 13, 2015

R&B Co-founder Tim Kim starts a series called "Could've Moved Mountains" about faith, doubt, and what it takes to move mountains in our lives. This first sermon is about Jesus' teaching that if you truly believe then what you pray will happen, the difficultly of that formulation, and the differing types of faith we might find in ourselves.

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Reading:
“Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Mark 11: 22-24

Liz Bajema - A History of Violence - August 23, 2015

Liz Bajema frames a discussion about the ambiguous relationship between religion and violence using examples from the bible and the slave rebellion of Nate Turner. Liz is a longtime member of Root and Branch and spends her days conducting experiments on unsuspecting elements from the periodic table (a chemist as it were).

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Readings:

Ephesians 6:10-20
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

19Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

The Peaceful Shepherd
by Robert Frost

If heaven were to do again,
And on the pasture bars,
I leaned to line the figures in
Between the dotted starts,

I should be tempted to forget,
I fear, the Crown of Rule,
The Scales of Trade, the Cross of Faith,
As hardly worth renewal.

For these have governed in our lives,
And see how men have warred.
The Cross, the Crown, the Scales may all
As well have been the Sword.

Neil Ellingson - Sticks and Stones - August 2, 2015

R&B Co-founder Neil Ellingson concludes our sermon mini-series on healing by reflecting on the power of words to harm and heal, the lessons we learn from kids who say whatever, and trite street art. 

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Readings:
Matthew 8:5-17:
When he came into Kfar Nahum (Capernaum), a centurion, a Roman officer, came near, beseeching him. “Sir, my servant boy is lying paralyzed in my house, and in terrible pain.”
And he said to the centurion,
I will come to heal him.
The centurion answered, “Sir, I don’t deserve to have you under my roof. Only say a word and my son will be healed. I am also a man under orders, with soldiers under me, and I say to this man, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Hearing him, Jesus was amazed and said to his followers,
Yes, I tell you, in all of Israel
I have found no one with such deep faith,
and I tell you, many from the east and west
will come and lie down beside the table
to eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
in the kingdom of the skies.
And other sons of the kingdom will be thrown out
into the far outer darkness.
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus said to the centurion,
Go back to your home. Since you have had faith,
let the event take place for you.
And his son was healed in that hour.

Then Jesus went into the house of Peter, whose mother-in-law he saw lying in bed with a fever, and he touched her hand and the fever left her. She got up and served him.
That same evening they brought him many who were afflicted with demons. With a word he cast out the spirits and he healed all their sicknesses. He was fulfilling the words of the prophet Isaiah:
He attended our sicknesses
and removed our diseases.

Second Reading:
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. 

Timothy Kim - Nothing Human is Alien - July 12th, 2015

Co-founder Tim Kim talks about the concept of the wounded healer and how we can be sources of healing for each other.

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Readings:
“Through compassion it is possible to recognize that the craving for love that people feel resides also in our own hearts, that the cruelty that the world knows all too well is also rooted in our own impulses. Through compassion we also sense our hope for forgiveness in our friends’ eyes and our hatred in their bitter mouths. When they kill, we know that we could've done it; when they give life, we know that we can do the same. For a compassionate person nothing human is alien: no joy and no sorrow, no way of living and no way of dying.”
-The Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen

3 May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be blessed! He is the compassionate Father and God of all comfort. 4 He’s the one who comforts us in all our trouble so that we can comfort other people who are in every kind of trouble. We offer the same comfort that we ourselves received from God. 5 That is because we receive so much comfort through Christ in the same way that we share so many of Christ’s sufferings. 6 So if we have trouble, it is to bring you comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is to bring you comfort from the experience of endurance while you go through the same sufferings that we also suffer. 7 Our hope for you is certain, because we know that as you are partners in suffering, so also you are partners in comfort.
-2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Neil Ellingson - Divine Healing - July 19th, 2015

Co-founder Neil Ellingson on the dilemma of circumcision and what that has to do with being healed by GOD.

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Kjirsten Glessner - Slow Church - June 7th, 2015

Root and Branch member Kjirsten Glessner shares her thoughts on the "slow church" movement and the ways we can orient our lives in order to build true community.

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Keri Anderson - Jesus and the Canaanite Woman - May 17th, 2015

Pastoral Intern Keri Anderson talks about a difficult text in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus' is being whack to a Canaanite woman. 

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Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly. 

Andrew Packman - Take a Rest - May 10th, 2015

Co-founder Andrew Packman on the idea of sabbath, taking a rest, and why we aren't as important as we'd like. 

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Patrick Derdall - I Hate Myself in Order to Love Myself - May 3rd, 2015

Patrick Derdall tackles one of the more confusing and controversial teachings of Jesus: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple." This sermon includes feedback, questions, and stories from the community that came up in the midst. 

Patrick Derdall is a long time member of the Root and Branch community and student at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

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Full bible passage from Luke 14: 25-33:
Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

The other two readings, from the philosophers Martin Heidegger and Charles S. Pierce are not in the recording, nor do we have the correct excerpts to put up at this time. Just imagine that they were somewhat interesting in a philosophical sort of way.