Central Church Port Kembla

Becca hosts Laura, Bekk and Kim as they share their thoughts and experiences with the motherheart of God. They share ways in which seeing God as mother has been healing, and also the ways they see God as beyond gender. This is a really authentic and honest discussion and highlights the ways each of us have an individual and unique relationship with the Divine.

The Myth of Redemptive was a term popularised by Theologian Walter Wink in 1945, in his book The Powers That Be. It is the idea that war brings peace, might makes right, and out of violence and chaos comes peace and order. We see this myth at work all throughout human history and still today in our everyday lives. We think that if we, the good guys, can just hit the "bad guys" hard enough, there will be justice. But this only perpetuates the violence, not stops it. In scripture we see Jesus' whole ministry as a push back against the Myth of Redemptive and instead shows us redemptive suffering on the cross. In this podcast, Oran looks at this myth and how it has influenced us over history, including scripture and theology.

How does Jesus' post-resurrection encounter with two people who don't recognise him speak to our own experiences of loss and grief?

Becca shared about how Jesus' resurrected body still carried the wounds from his past, giving us courage to be honest about the wounds we still carry.

The Sacrament of the Present Moment is the practice of being present and aware of God within the individual moments of our lives. This reminds us that God is everywhere, all the time, always waiting to engage us. In this message, Oran looks at how we might practice this sacrament in our daily lives, and observed the writings of Jean Pierre de Caussade and Eckhart Tolle.

This week we talk about the mysterious power of Christ’s death not as an historic event but as a real energy at work in us and the cosmos. How can we trust in death and resurrection in our own lives?

We continue with our lent series sitting with Henri Nouwen’s wisdom. This week Caro unpacks how our self worth can be stuck in what other people say or think about us. We wrestle together being honest with how we struggle with this as well as looking at Jesus and asking ourselves ‘how was he able to live from such a sense of beloved identity?’

We wrap this contemplative service around Henri Nouwen's wise words: "I'm not what I have, I'm not what I do, I'm not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God." Caro leads us in a practice that helps us ground ourselves in our belovedness and Becca shares how needing to be in control or responsible for things has been a challenge in her life, and she leads us in a practice she has found helpful in letting go. **There is a part of Becca's sharing that we have edited out as she shared some personal things she didn't want up on the podcast.

We continue with our lent series sitting with Henri Nouwen’s wisdom. This week Caro unpacks how our self worth can be stuck in what we have or do and how God invites us to live a little more from our belovedness.

This month we looked at the gift of having a contemplative posture in life.

Caro zooms out and in on this strange and wonderful account and we look at what it might have to offer us as a metaphor for our spiritual lives.

It is easy to assume that the way we read and interpret the Bible today, with our modern and scientific minds, is the way it has always been done. That the words we glean through scripture from God are the same today as they were for the early church. However, it may be surprising, and perhaps confronting, to realise that our way is a relatively young way of approaching scripture. In this message, Oran looks across seven pivotal stages of biblical interpretation throughout Christian history and discusses what we might gain from a greater hermeneutical awareness.

Walking through the lectionary texts Caro invites us to consider the trajectory of God’s presence in Scripture which ends in the high point of our bodies being the dwelling place of God. We then unpack what this means about the sacredness of our bodies and how we might listen to our bodies to hear God speaking to and in us.

It’s the first Sunday after epiphany and our texts for today have the themes of water, Spirit and birds. We read through the texts and Caro shares some insights around God’s presence hovering over all creation including us.

Caro preaches through the lectionary texts for this second Sunday in Advent and we discuss how we hold on to hope when it feels like God is slow.

In our contemplative service this month we sat in the theme of Light, engaging in an Examen and Lectio Divina to connect us to God this Advent.

Oran leads our community in unpacking the lectionary texts for this first Sunday of Advent centering around the questions of 'what are we waiting for?' and 'how do we wait?'

This month we sat with the teachings of Meister Eckhart.

Caro looks at some of the stranger details of this story including how Jesus liked to wander in ‘in-between’ places; how these men in their physical suffering had found a remarkable social healing; and how this might just be the unsexiest miracle Jesus performed. She finishes by reading a Rilke poem which alongside this passage encourages us to stay close to Jesus our Source.

How is the nature of our personal healing tied up with the world’s salvation? Becca looks at Luke 17 and what it might mean for us today.