Northeast Christian Podcast

Unhurried Rhythms | Scripture Part 1

This week, we're exploring the Unhurried Rhythm of studying Scripture with Professor Jon Weatherly. Are there things about the Bible that put you off, that you're weighing and considering? Do you ever wonder why Christians put so much stock in Scripture?

Today we're looking at the contrast between the Bible that people imagine and put at arms length, and the "real Bible" that people of faith experience when we allow Scripture to be what it was intended to be.

Unhurried Rhythms | How to Practice Prayer

How many tabs are open in your browser right now?

How many tasks are on your mind while you also try to read this caption? Are you giving any one thing your full attention? Chances are, you're probably reading this while also attempting to do something else.

Linda Stone, a tech writer and consultant, said that, “Continuous partial attention is our new default setting.” That was in 1998. In the last 20 years, this "continuous partial attention" has only become more partial because of technology.

When "continuous partial attention" is our default, it debilitates our capacity to hear, see, adore, petition, experience, and commune with God, what Christians call prayer.

In this series, Unhurried Rhythms, we’re walking through everyday rhythms to help you live an unhurried life in the Way of Jesus. There is no shortcut to spiritual maturity, but we hope to remove the stumbling blocks of shame and intimidation from practicing spiritual rhythms.

This week, we're taking a practical deep dive into the topic of prayer. You'll learn a few tangible ways to practice prayer, and walk away with the tools to integrate this rhythm into your day.

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Catch up on the rest of the series below:

Week 1- The Way of Deformation: https://youtu.be/vmo56ytyhVY

Additional Resources for this series: https://www.necchurch.org/portfolio/rhythms/

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Unhurried Rhythms | The Way of Spiritual Deformation

God With Us | Life is Hard. We All Need Good News.

This week, we're looking back at the year in photos. 2021 was a difficult year. We all need Good News. In Luke 2, an angel says he brings, "Good News that will bring great joy to all the people." He's announcing the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, Emmanuel.

Jesus is God with us, and after a tough year, he is the good news we all need. 

God With Us | God Never Promised Your ”Best Life”

Contrary to popular Christianity, God never promised your “best life now”.

If we look to Scripture, we see that he doesn’t promise us everything we ask for- perfect health, blessing, success, safety, or resolution for all of life’s problems. He promised something better: that every promise HE makes will be “yes and amen” in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).

If we can trust that God keeps every promise he makes, what did God actually promise us? What truth can we place our hope in, and what does it all have to do with Christmas?

This week, we’re looking at the gospel of Matthew’s account of the Christmas story. What promises does God make? Who is it that we worship in Matthew’s story, and how does that change how we live our ordinary days over 2,000 years later?

God With Us | What is ”Worship”?

The idea of "worship" is at the core of the human experience. Whether intentional or not, we all worship something. The only question is- who or what are you worshipping?

We believe worship is not just one set-apart hour to sing together on Sunday morning. Worship is when you offer ultimate value to something. As Christians, we worship God alone who was revealed in Jesus, and we do it mostly through ordinary moments in our everyday lives.

To prepare for Christmas, we're walking through a theology of worship that is based on the simple and beautiful truth that God is ALWAYS with us because of Jesus- even in the ordinary moments that fill our days.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | Daily Habits

Our daily habits (whether intentionally chosen or not) create the substance of our entire lives. How can followers of Jesus practice daily habits that align our hearts and minds with his? In this sermon, Care Pastor, Melinda Gividen shares two time-tested practices that Christians have used for centuries to connect with God: Daily Office and Lectio Divina.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | When Burnout Hits

Have you ever felt like you're always behind, playing catch-up, and never "done" with your work or responsibilities? Is there an undercurrent of something in your life that doesn't feel right and never goes away?

Do you maybe even feel that way right now as you're reading this?

These are all signs of burnout.

If God and the people you're closest to feel distant, if you've lost sight of your dreams, or you find yourself a slave to the "urgent" instead of the "important", the way of Jesus offers a better way to live. In Week Four of Let's Talk About Mental Health, we're unpacking what the Bible says about Sabbath and how it can reverse and prevent the effects of burnout.

This might be the message you need to hear today, so take a break and tune in.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | Grief

Grief is more than an emotion; grief is tangible, and it does not wait to be invited into your life. The apostle Paul says in the book of Romans that followers of Jesus can "Rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know they help us develop endurance". Do we really believe this? When we experience uninvited grief, how do we grieve "well"? In week three of Let's Talk About Mental Health, Jacob Stewart offers four guiding principles on biblical grief.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | When A ”Wall” Hits and You Feel Stuck

What do you do when your world turns upside down? The unexpected job loss, the death of someone you love, the diagnosis, the divorce, the shattered dream, the betrayal? How do you respond when deep desires go unfulfilled, or you find yourself in a dryness or loss of joy in your relationship with God?

After 2020, surely all of us have experienced this kind of challenge to our mental health in one way or another. Pete Scazzerro, author of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, calls these seasons "Walls". Walls can't be avoided in our broken world, so we must decide how we will respond when they inevitably come. They have the power to damage us emotionally and mentally, but they can also have great power to grow us spiritually.

Rather than accepting secular narratives of karma, illusion, or fate when you feel "stuck" at a wall, we believe the Bible offers a response more hopeful and true. Intimacy with God and surrender to God can carry you through the wall and bring you out the other side with more maturity and wisdom than you had before.