Disappointing Stories 2 (Campmeeting 2014)

Continuing our discussion of disappointment, this week we explore what happens after disappointment--the significance of the choices we make in response to overwhelming events, in response to the experience of being lost.  We talk about Rwanda, religious polarization in our society, music, heaven and what this has to do with God, faith and love.

Next week, we open the discussion further as we spend time discussing various stories that audience members share.

Enjoy!

Disappointing Stories 2

Disappointing Stories 1 (Campmeeting 2014)

Hello again.  This week we begin Thursday's discussion, picking up some questions from our discussion of the Great Controversy and exploring history.  Our main question is: how do we live after disappointment?  After loss?  After evil?  How we answer this question matter immensely.

This week we talk about the Israelites, Jesus, 1844 and Louis Riel as well as the relationship between our stories and the story God is telling.  Thanks again for listening.

Please send us your questions and comments.  We love expanding the conversation.

Enjoy!

Disappointing Stories 1

The Great Controversy Story 3 (Campmeeting 2014)

Well, it's not the end of our campmeeting presentations yet, but it is the final part of my favourite discussion.  Thanks to everyone who participated.

This week, I share my understanding of the Great Controversy and what difference that makes to our understanding of God, life and the world.  My discussion begins with the question someone asked about our freedom to choose and how that relates to God's power.  For me, the center of all of this is "God with us"--where relationships matter more than power and/or "authority."  Power can never fix a broken relationship.  Thus God has to employ other methods to reconnect with humanity.

Next week we start exploring Adventist history and how the stories we tell about our past matter to our present.

Enjoy!


The Great Controversy Story 3

The Great Controversy: Biblical Basis

Aaand we're back.  Thanks for sticking around as we're transitioning.  Dale's moved away, so we're figuring out the logistics and technical details of recording in two places at once.  In the meantime, I will be trying to write more here.  But this week, enjoy a new podcast.

After our last podcast I was talking with a friend and listener about the value of the Great Controversy as a narrative framework for understanding God, the Bible and life.  She asked about the Biblical basis for the narrative--a good question.  Admittedly, for Dale and I, this story is so much a part of our thought and life (and has been for so long) that it's difficult to try to go back to the beginning, to figure out how one might put this all together from just the Bible.  So, this isn't a comprehensive Bible study, but more a general discussion of some key points and ideas and relevant Bible passages and ideas.  We'd love to hear if you have any insights to add to the discussion.

Enjoy.

The Great Controversy: Biblical Basis

Hopefully we'll be back with another podcast next week.

The Great Controversy: The Narrative - Part 2

This week we finish telling how we understand the Great Controversy.  What has happened in the past matters, but so does the ending.  Thus we continue on, talking about the various parties involved and tracing how the story has developed since Christ.  How does a story end when the point isn't power and control?  When domination can't be the means of resolution?

This podcast is a little shorter than usual, but some of you will appreciate that.

The Great Controversy Narrative 2

The Great Controversy: The Narrative - Part 1

This week, we're continuing our series on the Great Controversy.  We figured that before we dove into the implications of this narrative way of understanding the Bible, we should outline the basics of the narrative itself.  After that, we'll see what happens.  This podcast turned out a little bit long, so it's split into two parts.  Next week will be part two.

If you've ever wondered why the Biblical stories of God are so difficult to understand, hopefully this will help.  It has helped us make sense of a great many things related to the Bible, God, life, the universe, and everything.  Actually, it ran about 42 minutes... but anywayz.  Enjoy.

The Great Controversy Narrative 1

Open Theism with Steve Mirkovich

We're finally back with a new podcast.  It was great seeing many of you at BC Campmeeting and recording a few podcasts while we were at it.  We look forward to meeting more of you at the Adventist Forum Conference coming up in September.

This week we're happy to feature a guest: Pastor Stevan Mirkovich from Vancouver.  I've known Steve since we were in junior high together.  He has wrestled long and hard with his faith and grown much in the journey--which is certainly not over.  He is recently returned from the first Open Theism conference, so we asked him to share what "open theism" means and why it is important to him.

Steve, thanks for sharing with us.  And thank you to the staff of the Lodge at Camp Hope for graciously opening a space for us to record.

Open Theism with Steve Mirkovich

We'll be back next week with another podcast.