Root + Branch Church

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

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

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

Co-pastor 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. 

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

Co-pastor 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. 

Reading: Job 38:1-7

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?

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.

Timothy Kim - Impossible Love - September 27, 2015

Co-pastor 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! 

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. 

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. 

“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

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

Co-pastor 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.

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).

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 - Drink the Blood - August 16, 2015

Co-pastor Neil Ellingson: 

This week we turn to the Lectionary, which saves us from the crippling anxiety of having always to decide what to talk about on our own. Every week there are readings from the Older Testament (or the Book of Acts), a Psalm, a reading from the Epistles or the Book of Revelation, and a reading from the Gospels. So there's still some room to choose your own adventure. This week the readings are all related to wisdom or food/drink or both. I decided to postpone a sermon on a prohibition against getting drunk (which is a sermon some of us may need to hear, or wished we had, especially that one night...), in favor of one exploring how to taste eternity.

Readings:

“We're always thinking of eternity as an idea that cannot be understood, something immense. But why must it be? What if, instead of all this, you suddenly find just a little room there, something like a village bath-house, grimy, and spiders in every corner, and that's all eternity is. Sometimes, you know, I can't help feeling that that's what it is.” 

-Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

John 6:51-58

6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

6:52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

6:53 So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

6:54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;

6:55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

6:56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

6:57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."

Neil Ellingson - Sticks and Stones - August 2, 2015

Co-pastor 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. 

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.