Jacob wrestles with "God." So, did this one back in 2020 - now from a totally different angle. You could say I really "wrestled" with this one this week.

A little background: Jacob's a deceiver - his life is a mess. He's on the run because his brother Esau wants to kill him 20 years after he stole the blessing. He finds himself alone on the banks of a stream - it's dark. He can't hide behind his wealth, his servants, or his family. Utterly alone in the dark when he's attacked by a stranger. How many times have you found yourself alone in the dark? Once there, how often have you battled with something you won't recognize as divine until much, much later? People have argued for millennia about what really happened to Jacob. But I don't know if it really matters. It doesn't matter because all the epic battles we face in life are on some level with God and about God. They're about God because of the questions under those battles. Who am I? Does my life matter? Who have I become? Where is God? Who does God want me to be?

So they wrestle. All night. This depiction of God isn't something we're used to thinking about. Isn't God supposed to be loving, hospitable, welcoming, inclusive? Apparently not - at least not in the ways we usually define those things. This God is wild and weird and unpredictable. This God wrestles. This is a God who wants to engage - intimately. This is a God we can throw ourselves against with everything we got. Don't know about you, but I need a God who can handle that.

They wrestle. Jacob loses and is left with a limp. But he won't let go. Sometimes spirituality is about not letting go of the God who won't let go until something good happens. Then the strangest thing happens. The stranger asks him his name.

This is the second time he's been asked this question in life. The first time, by his father. Jacob lies. This time, he gets a do over. He tells the truth. He is Jacob. The deceiver. The liar. The cheat. He is Jacob. Maybe being honest with ourselves is the only way we can begin to heal. Maybe it's only in naming the ugliest parts of ourselves that we can begin to forgive ourselves and experience the transformation God longs to give us.

Now, he is named Israel. The one who wrestles with God. That's the blessing. A new name. A new future. To wrestle is to stay close - to remain intimate with - now, we get to wrestle with God as long as we live.

June 22, 2025 "Keep Wrestling With God"

(Apologies for the late upload, this sermon was previously posted the week of the 24th but didn't process correctly the first time)

The calling of Abraham next to the calling of Matthew. I've done this before - this time we come at it from a very different angle. Change for us human beings is difficult. It's less of a point I'm making, and more of a way for us to feel something as we enter into the stories.

First let's look at the story of Abraham and Sarah's initial calling. Here we have another foundational story. And in it, faith seems to be defined as people responding to the voice of God calling them into change and uncertainty. This is interesting - since for the past 100 or so years faith has been defined as being certain about different ideas about God, Jesus, the Spirit, humanity, the Bible - etc. But here, at the beginning of the Bible, we have a story defining faith as a journey into the uncertain.

This is where the story of Matthew comes into play. He leaves his tax booth and follows Jesus. During the beginning of his journey he comes into contact with unclean people - marginalized people (ironically, he's one of those marginalized, too). And in coming into close proximity with them as he follows Jesus (loving people), I wonder if his thinking about them is changed, too.

Maybe faith is less about being certain about a set of ideas and beliefs about God or anything, really - and it's more about going, leaving, moving into the uncertain future trusting that God will be with you and that blessing is coming.

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9; Matthew 9:9-13
http://bible.com/events/49482587

August 24, 2025 "Our Call During Uncertainty"

Jesus isn't holding anything back - he's letting the crowd know what it's going to cost to actually follow him. I appreciate that about Jesus - let's get all the cards on the table!

We're going to spend a lot of time asking some questions, and these questions aren't necessarily going to be easy to answer. That's okay.

Here are the questions that will help us get at the heart of the "cost of discipleship."
1) Who is my "we"? How narrow or wide is the circle that includes "my people"? Are we willing to risk a "we" that goes beyond race, religion, gender, sexuality, politics, etc?
2) What do I think is mine? What do we hold on to more tightly than the divine?
3) What are we willing to hate? In other words, what are we willing to let go - to move beyond? Beliefs? Traditions? What source of safety and security do we trust more than the divine?
4) What version of the faith are we selling? The easy kind? Or the kind that has only one non-negotiable? Self sacrificing, self giving love?

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: Luke 14:25-35
http://bible.com/events/49489368

September 7, 2025 "The Cost of Discipleship"

Speaker: Bev Modlin
Scripture: The Book of Jonah

September 14, 2025 "What Is Your Nineveh?"

We'll start off by talking a bit about the Spirit - cuz that's where Paul starts. We are the church because of the presence of the Spirit.

Then Paul talks about how we are the body of Christ - that's the image he uses. The miracle of the human body is a complex wonder that shows us how every part is valuable, no matter how small or unnoticeable it might seem to us, especially if we feel that way about ourselves. So Paul is drawing the comparison between the human body and the body of Christ here. If you want to find community, a place to belong, a place where you fit in - this is it. The church, the body of Christ.

Then he talks about the Spirit giving gifts. ALL KINDS OF DIVERSE GIFTS. This is intentional divine diversity. 

So this is when you get the chance to think about where you might find a place to fit in - a place to use your gifts. All of us belong! All of our gifts are appreciated and needed here.

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1-27
http://bible.com/events/49496097

September 21, 2025 "Divine Diversity"

I'll focus on the phrase "foreigners and exiles" or, "strangers and aliens" to begin. We have all probably been places that left us all feeling what it feels like to be a stranger in a strange land. In the context in which Peter is writing to these early Jesus people, they felt like strangers in a strange land because of their connection with Jesus - they would have avoided cultic rituals and would have been seen as different - people would have been suspicious of them.

We definitely know what that's like. It used to be easy to give examples of this - us living in this culture. Now, it's extra difficult and weird - we now feel like strangers among our own Jesus people. This is where that video comes in. The images of violence being punctuated by the Lord's Prayer really just makes our skin crawl, if we think about the context of that prayer and who Jesus asks us to be.

So how do we make our way in this environment? Peter's answer - living stones. We need each other and together we remain connected to the cornerstone, Jesus. We need each other now more than ever in these "unprecedented times." We NEED each other.

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:1-12
http://bible.com/events/49499623

September 28, 2025 "Living Stones"

The parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge. I'll start here by comparing Jesus' parables to the stories we read to kids at bedtime. Yes, they're a lot alike. Let's have some fun with it.

This parable really does make for a good children's book. Of course, we have all kinds of adult sized questions after hearing this story. No, we may not have any answers for these questions - but I always think it's a good idea to at least ask them - acknowledge them.

Jesus says that this story is about praying and not giving up. Not losing heart. What does it look like to lose heart? Let's imagine ourselves as the widow. What happens when we pray like the widow? 

Maybe the real miracle of prayer is that it changes us - makes us into the kind of people for whom injustice is never normal - makes us into the kind of people who keep showing up in the world where and when it's most needed.

Jesus then connects this to the word "faith." Faith and prayer have a lot to do with each other, I think. Maybe faith is the jet fuel for our prayers. Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe our prayers are the jet fuel for our faith. Whichever way it goes, faith - a trust that God is NOT like the judge - faith is the thing that keeps us showing up.

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: Luke 18:1-8
http://bible.com/events/49503020

October 5, 2025 "Prayer And Faith"

Speaker: Marlin Vis
Scripture: Luke 18:9-14
http://bible.com/events/49509609

October 19, 2025 "You Are Enough"

The Psalm talks about a way - a path - to lead a happy or blessed life. Let's start by talking a little bit about a path - the movement toward living a blessed life. We'll sum it up like this: living life with the divine is a constant oscillation between emptying yourself and allowing yourself to be filled again.

Emptying yourself - when you hear the definitions of the word "sinner" and the word "mockers," do they bring to mind any particular examples in current times? Maybe some people in powerful positions? Empty yourself of yourself. Empty yourself of everyone else's will for your life - including your own - in favor of the will of the divine.

Allowing yourself to be filled. Here we reach a discussion about the "law" of God - the torah. Scripture. When you hear "quiet time," it probably brings an image of a specific practice for you, or maybe something you thought you were supposed to be doing a certain way. Yeah, that's probably not what the Psalmist meant. Scripture wasn't meant to be read alone at 5 a.m. with a cup of coffee. It was meant to be read (and in the ancient world it was only read) in community. This is one of the ways we allow ourselves to be filled.

So in our effort to connect to the divine, we have two main resources that we pull from all the time. First there's the book of scripture, which we all think of immediately. But then there's also another resource, one that I won't spoil here, but you can think about it with us as you listen. The late great Rich Mullins has a great song about it. We're going to read those lyrics together and think about them in that context. 

Empty. Filled. To be emptied again - trees are full of grace bearing fruit for the benefit of others. Trees don't exist for themselves - they only exist to bless (give life) to creation. That's who we become.

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: Psalm 1:1-6
http://bible.com/events/49512947

October 26, 2025 "Grace Bearing Fruit"

Let's begin by talking about Paul, Silas, and Timothy. Paul planted churches and then sent people like Silas and Timothy to check up on those churches. Way too many for Paul to keep track of all by himself. Then they would then report back to Paul and Paul would sometimes write them letters back to help them. So in a way, Paul was a kind of spiritual physician giving these churches regular checkups.  

It seems as though Paul's diagnosis for the church in Thessalonica was pretty good - it was a reasonably healthy place. He points out three things that make them spiritually healthy.

1) Their faith is growing. How could he tell? Who knows?! How can we tell if our faith is growing?  Faith is less about the things we believe and more about trusting in God. That happens at ReNew all the time, as we are challenged by one another to ask questions and examine difficult conclusions.

2) Their love for one another is increasing. Again, how did he know? How do you measure that? At ReNew, we can see that happening as we share our time together on Sunday, or participate in youth programs on Wednesday nights or Sunday afternoons, or organize and attend game nights, weed the garden, etc. We have fun together and we support one another when we need it the most.

3) They show incredible resilience. How do you measure that? We live in a world where it's hard to be a person of faith - our kind don't have the best reputation right now. It's hard to believe that God is actually renewing all things. There are all sorts of reasons to doubt, to give up on faith, to become cynical - and yet, here we are. We're still here.

We may not be perfect, but this place is in pretty good health.

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
http://bible.com/events/49516294

November 2, 2025 "Increasing Our Love For One Another"

Yeah, this one's a tough one. Jesus gets all apocalyptic up in this place.  In this passage, the disciples and Jesus have just come from Samaria.  In Samaria, they would have been surrounded by people who were different from them in every way imaginable. So when they finally get to Jerusalem, they're feeling good. They're now on home turf. They see the temple and they're awestruck.

A bit about the temple. It was architecturally awesome, with large, impressive stones and the gilded walls.

But Jesus, yeah, he's not impressed. He's like, "Pretty soon this whole thing is going to be crumbled to the ground." They're looking at the same thing - but they don't see the same thing. The disciples see a picture - a symbol that God is with them on their side. They see a picture of spiritual and religious certainty and permanence. And Jesus says, "Yeah, that isn't quite true. You can't keep God domesticated. You can't keep God within anything you create." He brings disillusionment into their lives.

Disillusionment is necessary for the life of faith. That will lead us to some questions: What lies or illusions do we sometimes mistake for the truth? Who says, "I am he! I will save you!" - and why do we sometimes listen? Why do we cling to certainty and permanence when Jesus calls us to learn and grow and change and evolve? We need disillusionment - we need death, before the promise of resurrection, new hope and new life.

So how do we live when it seems like the world is falling apart? Jesus says, "Do not be frightened. Do not worry beforehand." Yeah, easier said than done. Well, we endure anyway - even when it seems like the world is falling apart. But HOW do we endure? We'll move to the table which might be the only symbol that will save us. Self-sacrificing, self-giving love. The table, where all are welcome - where we're all on the same level - where there are no hierarchies and everyone belongs. The table - where we all recognize that all of us are on the same team - made of the same stuff - in need of the same nourishment. So we receive from God that nourishment - and we participate in making sure that everyone gets that nourishment - gets what they need to live full healthy lives in the here and now. Even while we struggle.

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: Luke 21:5-19
http://bible.com/events/49519653

November 9, 2025 "And Yet, We Endure"

ReNew Community: Following Jesus to renew lives that renew the world.
UP with God, IN with one another, OUT in service.

June 22, 2025 "Keep Wrestling With God"

ReNew Ames

Related tracks