One of the distinctive experiences for newcomers to Grace is the way we celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. In this episode, Mark and Cameron touch on the theology, but focus mostly on the practicalities of how our communion services work and why they are accompanied by so much joy.
This episode focuses on a practical question that many Christians ask: what does God want me to do with my life? What calling should I pursue? And how do I know that I’m in the right situation? Mark and Cameron discuss why, if you’re having these thoughts, the one thing you shouldn’t do without some thought is hit the reset button.
During Holy Week, Mark and Cameron have been reflecting on the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, inspired by a sermon by Dan Reed, Grace’s director of discipleship and education. According to Mark’s Gospel, after entering the city, Jesus heads to the Temple to “look around at everything.” In this episode, we ask why the Temple is his destination, and what it must have been like to look around it with the cross in mind.
When we share grace in the community where God has placed us, does that mean sharing the gospel, too? Of course it does! In this episode, Cameron and Mark talk about Grace’s approach to evangelism, and why, if you’re asking yourself how to share the gospel, it might be more important to focus on loving more rather than getting more training.
In this episode, Mark and Cameron debrief Grace’s Hearing the Music event. With help from remarks Delta David Gier made while unpacking the St Matthew Passion, they ask how music like Bach’s can inspire what we aim for in worship, and how the church should think about its inheritance of sublime sacred music.
As Grace’s journey through the Sermon on the Mount continues, Cameron and Mark tackle the complicated question of how to think about money. Jesus warns that our hearts are set on whatever we treasure, and that we cannot serve God and Mammon. But how do we reconcile the call to value spiritual rather than physical things with the reality that God created a physical world and declared it good?
What if the greatest composer in human history set the passion narrative of Christ to music? As a matter of fact, he did. In this episode, Mark talks to talks to Maestro Delta David Gier, music director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra about Bach’s St. Matthew Passion — a preview of a special event Grace will host later this month called Hearing the Music: The St. Matthew Passion.
Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek and not resist evil-doers, but in a fallen world, wouldn’t that kind of passivity open the door for evil to triumph? In this episode, Cameron and Mark put the Sermon on the Mount in its uncomfortable but essential context. They also discuss the various ways Christian theology has approached the idea of a “just war.”
It’s time for an update from Mark and Cameron on how daily worship has been going since we introduced Be Thou My Vision in Episode 50. What has it been like to use the liturgy, and what happens when you miss a day? Also, Mark recommends another book that touches on topics we’ve discussed in the past: baptism and the Sabbath.
In this episode, Mark talks to Cameron about an upcoming talk he’s going to give for Worldview Academy. The topic is “Creative Christians in a Cancel Culture.” It’s a conversation aimed at helping Christians with creative gifts think about how to make a worthwhile and faithful contribution to the world.
In this episode, Cameron and Mark talk about anger — specifically the rights and wrongs of being angry at God. As we’ve worked our way through the Sermon on the Mount at Grace, it’s impossible to ignore Jesus’ teaching on anger in Matthew 5. Yet we are angry people, shaped by a culture that puts a premium on being angry. If you’re not angry, we’re told, then you’re not paying attention. And when that anger is directed at God … well, as you’ll see, it gives us plenty to talk about.
During last year’s episode on prayer, Mark pined for some kind of “liturgy for daily worship,” a set pattern for Reformed devotion that fell somewhere between the complexity of the Book of Common Prayer and the informality of simply reading a daily dose of Scripture followed by extemporaneous prayer. With the publication of Jonathan Gibson’s Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship, has this longing been satisfied?
It’s 2022 and if there’s one thing we should have learned by now about people in the twenty-first century it’s that they have an aversion to old-fashioned commitments. Oh, and to ritual. In this episode, Mark and Cameron unpack why, despite this knowledge, Grace continues to receive members in a formal way, administering ancient vows before the gathered church. They even argue that modern people like us can benefit profoundly from this approach!
Have we finally jumped the shark? In this dog-eat-dog world, it was bound to happen sooner or later. In this episode, Mark and Cameron — both “cat people,” by the way — discuss pets (and animals in general) from a theological perspective. Why do human beings have pets? Will we be reunited with those animals in heaven? These questions are more are explored.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we observe the season of Advent, a time to reflect on our longing for Christ’s return. Like the Israelites who waited for the Messiah to come, we too are waiting for his return. In this episode, Mark and Cameron cover the basics of Advent — what it is, how it relates to the rest of the calendar, and how this time of preparation changes the way we celebrate Christmas itself.
Cameron and Mark dig deeper into the role of our emotional responses — particularly when it comes to “feeling” God’s presence. Is there a difference between feeling close to God and being close to God? Could it be that the way to draw near to God — both for those struggling for a sense of God’s presence, and for those whose faith has never been tested — is one and the same?
