Jesus At 2am - A Humorous, Intelligent Look At The Bible, Church History & The Life Of Faith

In this episode we come to the Bible's version of The Flood Story - a story that was told by many Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Yet the Bible tells the story very, very differently. For in the Bible, the Flood Story is about far more than a hero and some animals on an ark. Indeed, at its heart, the biblical account is the story of what it means for a holy and loving God to be heartbroken by humanity’s sin—and yet to still refuse to give up on us. From divine wrath to divine promise, the Flood narrative is the story of a God who can rage! And who can also repent and forgive. And then make promises that point towards salvation.   Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And I'd also love for you to check out Canvas! It's a wonderful congregation and there are many ways to get involved - even if you live at quite a distance. Want to follow along with the biblical texts

As we continue our journey through the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation we come to the essential element of plot: conflict. What has gone wrong? Why is God's good creation in need of salvation?  The answer, of course, is given in highly symbolic terms invoving the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and, of course, a very wiley serpent.  In this episode I’ll do my best to decode the symbolism and get to the heart of why creation is broken in the ways we all experience. Indeed, we'll look at the very nature of sin and evil as well as giving a hint as why divine love – particularly love enacted at the cross - is the only thing that can save us. Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayer

Welcome to part 1 of our series Healing Eden - a detailed journey through the grand story of salvation, from Genesis to Revelation. And as you would expect, we begin at the beginning with the creation story, indeed the two creation stories in Genesis.  But our goal is not simply to explain how the world began, but why the world began. For the creation story is a love story, told not in scientific detail, but in the mythic language of the Ancient Near East that reveals divine intention. And so we’ll uncover the deeper meaning behind light and darkness, sea monsters and sacred rest. And in the process, we’ll meet a God who speaks the universe into being with peaceful power, and we’ll find ourselves—humankind—created not by evolutionary accident, but in the very image of God so as to join God in love and creation. For a big part of what it means to bear the image of God is to join in the work of creating. We can’t create ex nihilo (something from nothing). But God has clearly given us resources from which we are

With this episode we begin an extensive and very personal-to-me new series titled, Healing Eden: The Story of Salvation from Genesis to Revelation. And the series is exactly as it sounds: a detailed journey thru the biblical narrative as I try my hardest to reveal and clarify the fundamental story the Bible is trying to tell. Despite its 66 books, written in 3 ancient languages, by a wide variety of authors and editors, across well more than 1,000 years, the Bible is trying to tell a singular story - that of God healing Eden, of setting his broken world to rights. It's a story that is about soooo much more than merely securing a place in "heaven," as salvation is not only a future event, but a here-and-now transformation in love. And if we can grasp this truth, understand this overarching story, then the whole of scripture comes into vivid focus. Not only do the individual pieces make tremendously more sense, the book as a whole takes on a life-giving freshness that will change your life. At least it has chan

Continuing our experiential examination of contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition, we turn this week to the great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo (d. 430 AD) and the form of meditation that has developed in the Augustinian school. (It's quite similar to Ignatian contemplation, but rather than seeking to place ourselves - by active imagination - into a biblical scene of the past, Augustinian meditation seeks to bring the scene itself into the present. It'll make more sense as you listen!) As with the other episodes in this series, I highly encourage you actually engage in the meditation and not just listen while driving or dining or mowing the lawn. If you do, I think you'll find the experience very rewarding, mainly by having a moment or two of actual contact with God (and wouldn't that be cool)! In the intro I mention some previous series on the spiritual life, so here are some quick links to Loving God 101, Loving God 201, Loving God 301 and 401. And I really would love to hear if this

“How can I hear God’s voice?” “Would I recognize God’s voice if I heard it?” “How do I know if a sense of call is really from God?” These are some of the key questions of Christian spirituality. And thankfully, they are some of the very questions St. Ignatius of Loyola sought to answer (and did). What we are really talking about is the practice of discernment – learning to distinguish the voice of the Lord from the countless other voices (internal and external) that fill our lives. It is to take it as a given (I believe very rightly) that God is consistently speaking – to us. And thus our work is to become skilled listeners. (This is in contrast to the common fear that God must be sought by heroic means – that God speaks only to those who have achieved some impressive measure of holiness, often by great sacrifice or spiritual rigor. It is not the case! Jesus – throughout the Gospels – is constantly seeking to be heard and understood by regular old  humans…) In many ways, the great task of Christian prayer is

Prayer - as in abiding, personal contact with God - is the very heart of the Christian life. And yet for most of us, the practice of prayer is a struggle (it often is for me as well). Indeed, “How can I feel closer to God?” is probably one of the most asked questions in Christian history. And the good news is: there is an answer! Actually, there are many answers. And in this short series we will examine (and experience) three of the best: the Benedictine answer, the Ignatian answer and the Augustinian one. Today we begin with the Benedictine method of prayer, often know by its Latin name: lectio divina or “divine reading.” It is a very simple but very powerful process of praying the scriptures that can lead to us to a very intimate experience of God’s love and presence. In this episode, we’ll explore the process of lectio divina, but even more importantly, we’ll practice it together (a form of guided meditation/prayer).  (As an added bonus you’ll get a short explanation of what makes a Presbyterian a Presbyte

With this episode we conclude our short series on the abundant life – exploring what it means to live a fully human existence in a world that that can been very dehumanizing. It's a series that has taken us deep into the 10 commandments, as I’ve been doing my best to make the case that far from being a checklist of restrictions, the 10 commandments are actually divine instructions for freedom—freedom from slavery, freedom from fear, freedom from our worst impulses, and esp. freedom the false gods we are so inclined to make for ourselves (and then worship in vain!).  So today I want to go back to the beginning – to the story that started this whole endeavor: Jesus’ healing of the man born blind and to consider again what it means that God desires for us a life of abundance—full of breath, creativity, and joy. A life in which holiness not about repression, but as wholeness in love. The texts for this sermon can be found here: John 9:2-10:10 (NRSV) and Exodus 20:1-20 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able

To put it bluntly, if it’s the abundant life we seek, then covetousness has to go. Mainly because yearning for the things of others turns life into a constant competition that we can never win. Whatever we possess or achieve, we can always find someone with "more." And the tragic result is a never-ending experience of deprivation and a fundamental dissatisfaction with our life (not to mention a sense of increasting tension with others). It's an important lesson brought to us by guest preacher Erika Karimi who started out as a Michigan based podcast listener and is now an ordained elder at Canvas and a regular part of our preaching rotation! (Maybe God has plans to use you at Canvas? Stranger things have happened!!) The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:17 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contactin

In this episode we turn to – you guessed it – the 9th commandment: You shall not bear false witness. It’s instruction that – like all the commandments – seems, at first glance, very simple and straightforward: When you are called as a witness in a trial, do not give false testimony. But when we look a little deeper, we see that this commandment is filled with implications that I think are critical to explore if we are to live the abundant life – not the least of which is to recognize that in life, there will be conflict. Wrongs will be done. Harm will happen. There will be disputes that require adjudication. If life in the community of faith were easy, there’d be no need for a commandment about truth-telling. Indeed, it turns out that truth-telling is key for a healthy community. And in fact, can be very healing when wrongs have been committed. Sometimes the only justice that can be granted is an honest accounting of what has transpired. But owning wrongs goes a long way towards making repair. And yet there i

This is part 10 of our series on the abundant life as we try to figure out what it looks like – in practice – to live fully, to live richly as a human. It’s a search that has taken us deep into the 10 Commandments of all places - today to the 8th commandment and one of the most obvious lessons in life: You shall not steal. Seems clear enough: no robbing banks, no mugging anyone on the subway, go ahead pay for that pack of gum… And yet…, theft isn’t just about what we take with our hands—it’s about what we take with our power, with our privilege and sometimes what we acquire with our silence. It’s about the ways we allow systems to profit at the expense of others and about the trust we break when we misuse what’s been placed in our care. From corporations exploiting workers to governments selling out the public good, stealing is everywhere. And if we’re honest? It’s probably closer to home than we’d like to admit. But here’s the good news: we were never meant to live in scarcity, fighting for what we can get.

We continue our search for life and life abundantly, a search that has taken us to unexpected places, not least the 10 commandments – which has turned out to be far more than a list of religious rules, but a source of profound insight into what constitutes a fundamentally healthy life. Today we turn to the 7th commandment: "You shall not commit adultery." And by we I mean “not me,” in that you have here another sermon from Ian (who has really been helping share the preaching load with me, which is a huge help and a big part of my no-burnout strategy!). As you might expect, Ian’s first lesson is going to be: Don’t commit adultery. But there is much more to adultery than things sexual. I will let him explain the virtue of integrity... The texts for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:13 (NRSV) and John 8:1-11 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more ser

Today we arrive at the 6th Commandment: “You shall not murder…”  That, at least, is how the NRSV translates it. But as you’ll see, there is much, much more to the 6th commandment than not murdering someone. (Though not murdering is a darn fine place to start!) The goal, however, is to go much farther than not taking life. Rather we are to honor the sacred gift of humanness and all the beauty that is inherent to human life. That is to say: if we want the abundant life, we begin by honoring humanity - our own and that and of everyone else. In this episode I highly recommend checking out the meditation app Happier. (They are not sponsors, I have no financial stake..., it's just an app I love and think you might, too!) If you'd like to check out the biblical text for this episode, you can find it here: Exodus 20:1-13 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more ser

The 5th commandment tell us to "Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." But what does "honor" truly mean? Is it obedience? Gratitude? Or something even deeper—a call to listen, to remember, and to carry forward the lessons of love and grace?  Our world often teaches us to move fast, to leave the past behind, and to define ourselves solely by individual achievement. But the truth is, none of us walk this journey alone. We are all part of a story much larger than ourselves, one woven together by the people who have come before us and those who will come after us. Today, we’ll reflect on what it means to give weight to the past—not as a burden, but as a gift—and how that can shape the way we build a future rooted in love, connection, and abundance. The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:12 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to C

Today we arrive at the 4th commandment: "Remember the Sabbath..."  And you get a sermon not from me (which is probably good because – as you might have guessed – I’m not great at Sabbathing!), but from our old friend, Rev. Ian Farrell – who is much better at Sabbath than I am.  In this episode, Ian is going to make the case that Sabbath is not about the particular day we choose for rest, but about the attitude we carry about being a beloved child of God because of who we are, not what we do. It’s a lesson that we probably all understand at a superficial level. But letting our belovedness sink deep into our identity is a whole ‘nother matter…! If you'd like to follow the sermon text, you can find it here: Exodus 20:8-11 (NRSV). As a reminder, if you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com 

Today we continue our journey through the Ten Commandments—not as a list of rules, but as a pathway to true freedom and flourishing, arriving at the 3rd commandment: "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." For many of us, this commandment has been reduced to a simple rule about avoiding bad words or not using God’s name in vain. But its meaning runs far deeper!  The 3rd commandment is about the profound significance of God’s name, about the power of prayer and and the dangers of distorting faith for personal or political gain.  To call on the name of the Lord wrongly is dangerous business. Whereas calling upon God rightly leads us into a life of deeper intimacy, integrity, and love. The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:7 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting Kirk, simply hea

In this episode we continue our look at what Jesus meant when he said he came to bring "life and life abundantly." It’s a study that has taken us not into the NT so much, but into the Old – specifically into the 10 commandment of all places. Indeed, today we look at the 2nd commandment “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” Which at first glance, sounds like a reiteration of the first commandment – have no other gods. But I’m going to argue that this is not the meaning of the 2nd commandment at all! Rather the God of Israel wants no idols of him! And there is a very, very important reason why…and it leads back to Jesus. I’ll let the sermon fill in the gaps... The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:2-6 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Chu

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me." It is the first commandment and it sounds...rather ominous. But if we take a moment to listen more deeply, what we discover is actually a call to radical freedom! In a world of myriad deities, each with a slight power over the necessities of life, the stress of keeping each placated was never-ending (and exhausting!)...perhaps not so unlike our world today... And yet, at Mt. Sinai - after the lived experience of rescue from slavery - the God of Israel declares complete sovereignty over creation; meaning that the endless drive to keep the gods satisifed is entirely unnecessary. And the one God who calls for loyalty is the God who freely saves the objects of his perfect love. Maybe far from ominous, the first commandment is a gift of peace, hope and joy - the very heart of what it means to live life abundantly! The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 19:1-6, 20:1

We continue our look at the abundant life by turning - quite unexpectedly! - to the 10 Commandments and consider the possibility that they are not meant to be the burden we so often imagine them to be, but are rather a gift pointing us to health, life and joy. They are, after all, the first instruction of a loving God to his chosen people. Perhaps love is more operative within the commandments than threat...? (Click here to see the 10 Commandments poster referenced in the sermon!) The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 19:1-20:21 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) If you'd like to go back and find sermons and audio that Kirk presented at Canvas during his long hiaitus, simply head to the Canvas Sermon Archive. For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!  

We begin our look at the abundant life in Christ by examining what has gone wrong. Why do we find ourselves so taxed so often? Why does inner peace feel so ellusive, even though I have a genuine faith in God's goodness and love? To answer these questions we turn to the Apostle John and also to the theological work of St. Augustine and his metaphor of the "two cities" in which Christians have our citizenship. (Augustine's "City of God" is one of the great works of literature, bar none!) Join us as we explore both the theologial reasons we find ourselves caught in a world in conflict and the practical steps we can take to reclaim a life of abundance — one filled with love for God, self, and other - rediscovering the fullness of what it means to be human.  It can help to follow along visually, so the text for this sermon can be found here: John 10:1-10 (NRSV). If you'd like to go back and find sermons and audio that Kirk presented at Canvas during his long hiaitus, simply head to the Canvas Sermon Archive. If