Podcast
The Search for Living Prophets
Hosted by Marc Maxmeister · EN
A series for activists who want to work for change in a spiritually grounded, healing-transformative way. Inspired by sermons from Christian leaders, universalist ministers, mennonites, UMC, and other liberal religious voices.
65episodes
Episodes
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Rob Hardies – A train through Trumps America (2017)
Sep 25, 2017Tap to summarizeRev Rob Hardies of All-Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Washington DC shares an open letter to his 5-year old son. Journeying from San Francisco to Chicago on the day after the violence in Charlottesville, a gay dad and his multiracial son board a train for a trip across Trump’s America. Why? In part because his son loves trains, and in part because he wants to understand the America that will shape his family, his church, and their future. Part of a larger theme of sermons answering the tough question of how we live with people who don’t share our beliefs or our values. http://ia601505.us.archive.org/33/items/08-27-2017-Rob-Hardies-Train-Trump-America/08.27.2017%20A%20Train%20Through%20Trumps%20America.mp3 Download
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Holy Ground – our land in the image of God who is, was, shall be
Sep 21, 2017Tap to summarizeUnitarian Universalist Megan Lloyd Joiner speaks about America of 2017. A nation just beginning to become the vision set out 200 years ago in documents. An invitation to create a world that offers everyone hope and joy. The original name for God, YAHWEH, is a conflation of the Hebrew words for “I was”, “I am”, and “I shall be.” And like this God we worship, we must commit our lives to a world of promise. The Black Lives Matter is a battle for the soul of our nation. And it is part of living our faith and our values in worshiping a God that is still becomming what He is… through us. https://archive.org/download/20150719Rev.MeganLloydJoinerHolyGround1/2015-07-19_rev.MeganLloydJoiner_holyGround.mp3 Download
Transcribe →03.03.23 Coalition Of The Willing.mp3
Jul 19, 2017Tap to summarizeOn March 30 and April 6, our candidate for associate minister will preach. You can meet the candidate after church and throughout the week. On April 6, we will vote on whether to call the candidate. Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 10:50am: The Coalition of the Willing — Rev. Robert Hardies http://s3.us.archive.org/03.03.23-Coalition-Of-The-Willing-349psi/03.03.23CoalitionOfTheWilling.mp3
Transcribe →03.03.16 Smooth Stones.mp3
Jul 19, 2017Tap to summarizeWe’ve heard a lot of talk this week about a so-called "coalition of the willing." But the coalition that Rev. Hardies speaks about would work to break down the barriers that divide the human family, locally in our neighborhoods as well as in our ever-shrinking and more complex global village. Sunday, March 16, 2003 at 10:50am: ‘The Smooth Stones of Liberal Religion’ — Rev. Robert M. Hardies http://s3.us.archive.org/03.03.16-Smooth-Stones-h3t9vs/03.03.16SmoothStones.mp3
Transcribe →I will be who I will be
Jan 16, 2017Tap to summarizeThe God of Possibility and the Possibility of God How would our understanding of God change if we took the season seriously and understood God not as the cause of all things, but as the possibility in all things? Repeated at the 11:15 service. Quoting Rob Hardies: God says to moses, a slave, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out. And I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land. A land flowing with milk and honey.” This is one of the most important passages in the bible I think. Testimony to a compassionate and a liberating god – a god who exercises a preferential option for the suffering and the oppressed. … But then god throws Moses a curve ball. He says, “I can’t liberate the people on my own. The most I can do is help. So I am going to send you, Moses. You go back to the people. You organize them. You take them to Pharaoh and say to Pharaoh, ‘Let my people go.’ I’ll lend you a hand, but it is up to you.” … Moses isn’t buying it. He says, “God at least you’ve gotta give me a sign. At least give me your name.” This is the dramatic high point of this story. Back then, you have gasped at this. You just don’t ask God his name. People are hanging on their breath. They are saying, “Is God going to smite Moses for his impertinence?” God answers him: God says to moses, “אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh)” (HWH / YAHWEH). This is what you are to say to the Israelites. Ehyeh has sent me to you. Now, the meaning of those 3 Hebrew words is one of the most contested mysteries in the entire bible. YHWH in almost every authorized translation, those words read “I AM WHO I AM.” Ehyeh is the first person singular of the verb to be. Asher is relative pronoun that can mean “that”, “who” or “which.” But there is a complicating factor here. In biblical Hebrew there are only verb tenses that you can have. The perfect tense that refers to actions that are already completed, and the imperfect tense that refers to actions that have not yet been completed. It refers to actions in the future. Ehyeh is the imperfect form. Almost everywhere else in the bible where Ahyeh is translation not “I am” but “I will be.” Which means the most plausible name for god is “I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.” It’s kind of radical for God to name God’s self in the imperfect tense. It upends all the things we were supposed to believe about God. That God was eternal and unchanging and the all-powerful cause. I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE suggests God is somehow not complete. Not fully formed. It suggests that God is still becoming, that God is a God of potential and possiblity. God is saying to Moses don’t think of me as the all-power cause of your suffering or of your liberation, but as the ever present possilibty of your liberation, even in your darkest hour. What if we were to see God in the world as present in the world not as the all-power cause of all things, but as the ever present possibility within all things? The god is dwelling within us and amongst us, in this very moment, luring us, helping us imagine what is the greatest possible outcome of his moment, of this hour right now? What is the next step in our lives towards justice, or love, or truth? Download http://ia601201.us.archive.org/13/items/07.12.09-The-God-Of-Possibillity-And-The-Possibility-Of-God-52vt8w/07.12.09%20The%20God%20Of%20Possibillity%20And%20The%20Possibility%20Of%20God.mp3
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