Paradox Redlands Podcast

Pride & Penitence

What if your disability isn't a punishment — and the healing you need isn't a cure? As Paradox wraps up its Pride series, guest speaker Christian Barrera-Sandri brings a deeply personal message connecting Psalm 38's "penitent's plea for healing" to the overlapping experiences of queerness and disability. Drawing from his husband's 20-year journey with diabetes, his father's kidney transplant and ongoing fight for disability justice, and his own unexplained seizure episode, Christian challenges the idea that illness, disability, or queerness are signs of God's punishment — and points instead to what Jesus actually offers: not a magic cure, but a restored community. 🔑 What we cover: Psalm 38 and the ancient question: "Is this my fault?" John 9 and Matthew 9 — how Jesus responds to those seeking healing, and to a community that gatekeeps who's "worthy" of it Why queerness and disability are overlapping, not competing, spectrums of human experience HIV/AIDS as a present reality, not a relic of the past, in queer life and disability conversation Shalom: the Old Testament concept of healing as peace, justice, and belonging — not just physical cure Whether you're navigating a chronic illness, loving someone who is, or just rethinking what healing really means, this message invites you into a more honest, more compassionate picture of community. Paradox Church | Redlands, CA paradoxredlands.com | @paradoxredlands #PrideAndPenitence #Psalm38 #DisabilityTheology #PrideMonth #ParadoxChurch #FaithAndDisability #LGBTQFaith #ChristianSermon #Healing #Shalom #InclusiveChurch #RedlandsCA #SundaySermon #ChurchMessage

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That the Works of God Might Be Seen in Them

1w ago00:23:31Tap to summarize

"Who sinned, this man or his parents?" That's the question that opens John 9 — and it's a question that still gets asked, in different words, about anyone whose body or identity doesn't fit the frameworks we're handed. In this guest message, Esther Loewen — a licensed marriage and family therapist and former pastor — walks through three places where the story of the man born blind in John 9 echoes her own experience, and the experience of many trans people today: being treated as a puzzle to solve rather than a person, the holiness of embodied transformation, and the demand to testify again and again before being believed. Esther shares pieces of her own transition story and ends with a question for the whole church to sit with: if God were doing something sacred in the life of a trans person, would you be able to see it? 🔑 Why John 9 "rhymes" with trans experience — from suspicion, to interrogation, to exclusion 🔑 The difference between Side A, Side B, and fully affirming approaches to LGBTQ+ people in the church 🔑 Why physical, embodied transformation can be an act of faith, not a failure of it 🔑 The role of personal testimony in Christian faith — and why it deserves to be heard before it's judged 🔑 The closing challenge of John 9: would you recognize the works of God if you saw them? Wherever you find yourself in this conversation, we invite you to listen with an open heart. This message is for anyone wrestling with identity, belonging, or what it means to be fully seen. Paradox Church | Redlands, CA paradoxredlands.com @paradoxredlands #JohnChapter9 #TransFaith #ParadoxChurch #RedlandsChurch #AffirmingChurch #LGBTQFaith #ChristianityAndGender #InclusiveChurch #FaithAndIdentity #ProgressiveChristianity #ChurchSermon #SeenByGod

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The Great Commission

3w ago00:41:50Tap to summarize

Pastor Craig Hadley gave this sermon on Saturday, June 6, 2026

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The Sheep and the Goats

Jun 100:42:26Tap to summarize

Pastor Craig Hadley gave this sermon at Paradox on Saturday, May 30, 2026.

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The Parable of the Vineyard

May 2400:30:43Tap to summarize

Pastor Craig Hadley gave this sermon at Paradox on May 23, 2026. Is the Kingdom of Heaven fair? In Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable where workers hired at different hours all receive the same pay — and the ones who worked longest are furious. Pastor Craig unpacks why Jesus intentionally describes heaven as "unfair," and why that's actually the most liberating news you'll ever hear.

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