Bear with Me: Integrating Belief and Practice in the Christian Life

Vanessa & Andy welcome back Naomi Yeker (from our most downloaded episode of all time) and new guest Yvonne Mann. Naomi & Yvonne took the season of Lent to explore more deeply the concept and practice of Sabbath. They take some time to reflect on what they learned and give some helpful and insightful ideas for practicing Sabbath in 2023!

Resources mentioned in the show:

Walter Brueggemann - Sabbath as Resistance

Marva Dawn - Keeping the Sabbath Wholly

Practicing the Way

Abraham Joshua Heschel - The Sabbath

Ruth Haley Barton - Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and he did. The way he opens the prayer both connects us to the season of Lent and frames what prayer is and how we're to approach it.


Resources mentioned on the show:

Peterson, Bolz Weber, and Brueggemann paraphrases of The Lord’s Prayer - Here

Knowing God/Knowing Jesus Exercise from Trevor Hudson - Here

Fifty-Seven Words that Changed the World by Darrell Johnson- Here

The Lord & His Prayer by N.T. Wright - Here

Vanessa and Andy return with Bear with Me's annual Welcome to Lent Episode.

Links mentions:

Get Vanessa's Lent Guide here!

Vanessa's Blog on Lent - Blooming in the Desert

Christine Valters Paintner’s Lent 2023 Retreat/Course

"Just Lent" Devotional Recommendation by Vanessa

This is Part 2 follow up to the "Intro to Spiritual Direction" episode.

Vanessa breaks down the nuts and bolts of Spiritual Direction - how to find a director and what to expect  for fees, your first meeting and beyond.

Finally, Vanessa shares her idea of finding God at Disney while Andy looks for God in the Desert.

Links & Resources:
Here's a link to MORE LINKS for finding a Spiritual Director

Vanessa picked 7 of her favourite Advent thoughts that have been percolating in her heart and mind for this season and she shares them with us.

Resources:

• Here's a Christianity Today(!) Blog Post from Vanessa with more ideas and resources
• Vanessa's  Gift ideas for locals - Victoria Gift Guide
• Here's a link to a downloadable Advent Guide from Vanessa

What is Spiritual Direction?

What is a Spiritual Director?

What's the value? Should everyone do it?

What's the difference between Spiritual Direction and Counseling?

Vanessa tells all in this 1st part of a 2 part series.

Vanessa tells of her run ins with the Law.

Andy and Vanessa discuss the ways in which God has made known deep secrets about Himself and us in the Biblical account of the "LAW" and how the true purpose of the biblical Law might surprise us.

The Autumnal Equinox is on 6:03pm Thursday, September 22nd.

Vanessa and Andy kickoff a new "season" with another one of Vanessa's "How to" Seasonal Guides.

How do we connect with the season of autumn?

What does it mean?

How can it give us space for discernment and to listen well to what God might be saying to us through the season?

To download Vanessa's "HOW TO FALL" Guide go to www.bearwithmepdocast.com

What is the single most important qualifier for sharing who God is with others?

Andy and Vanessa wrap up the Parables Series (AND SEASON 2 of Bear w/ Me) by digging in to Jesus' requirements for being "experts" in a life lived with God.

Resources:

• The Transforming Power of Prayer - James Houston
• Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth - Walter Brueggemann

What are "Scribes Trained for the Kingdom"? Jesus says that those who know him and follow him are more qualified to speak on and teach about God's Kingdom than the academics and the religious elites. 

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

• The Transforming Power of Prayer by James Houston
• Domestic Monastery by Ronald Rolheiser

Our last episode focused on the hiddenness of God and His Kingdom and the reasons behind that. In this episode we continue looking at the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and Pearl of Great Price. How do these parables reveal how we find God and His Kingdom in our midst!

Part 1 of Jesus' Parables of the Treasure and the Pearl in Matthew 13.

One of the major themes of Jesus' parables is that the Kingdom of God is hidden. Why should this be the case? If God loves us why would he hide good things from us?

Resources Mentioned in the Show:

• The Rescue - Documentary Film

If God is communicating all the time, how do we listen for him?

Andy and Vanessa give some personal examples of what it looks like for them to pay attention to God’s presence and communication in their lives. 

Check out our new-ish website at www.bearwithmepodcast.com

What are the obstacles to God's Powerful Word in our lives?

Why does God's Word appear to be failing in the world?

What role do we play in receiving God's Powerful and Transforming Word into our lives? 

Vanessa and Andy took a look at these questions and seek to answer them by looking at Jesus' parable about the Sower, the Seed and the Soils.

About one third of all of Jesus’ teachings are in parable form. Parables are illustrations, stories to “throw alongside” of life to make a comparison. In Matthew 13 Jesus uses parables exclusively to show HOW God’s hope for creation will come about. And it’s not what we might expect!

In this episode we look at the first and, in some ways, primary parable of the Sower. 3 Big ideas about this parable are featured:

1. Why is the sower so reckless with his seed? Does it reveal a God who is eager to connect with us? Might it be that God more talkative than we thought? And maybe it shows at that God’s words might show up in places we don’t expect. How would that change our approach to spirituality if we believed God was speaking to us more than we realized

2. Why does God’s Word seem to be hidden? And why does Jesus’ teaching appear to be failing? Jesus answers this question in the parable for his own time but what might this tell us about the effectiveness of Jesus’ words for today? 

3. What’s the payoff for bearing with all this apparent failure? Jesus’ story points us to a surprisingly high rate of return.

The latest instalment in our discipleship series where we look at some discipleship texts where Jesus is teaching his disciples something specific.

In Luke 6:12-16 Jesus goes to a mountain and hand picks the 12 who would be with him and get special access to the “Master” as he lives and teaches. If we’re also considered Jesus followers, what “special access” to the Master do we get and what does it look like and what can we do to take advantage of this access?

Jesus give some clues for ways to be in his presence. How does he find space for connection with God? AS we’ll see, Jesus “gets up” and “gets out”. This could be a helpful framework for our spiritual practice as well.


Resources:

• "Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry" - Article by Henri Nouwen

**CONTENT WARNING** - This episode deals with themes of pregnancy

At the beginning of her 3rd trimester, Elizabeth is surprised by a visit from her relative Mary, perhaps traveling 100 miles on foot to stay with her. But its Elizabeth who has special insight and knowledge of particular details regarding Mary’s hidden situation. Listen in with us as we eavesdrop on a moment central to the unfolding of God’s universal plan for all of creation.

Why did Mary “make haste”?

How do we enter into the “Wonder” of Advent?

Andy and Vanessa return to the scene of Mary and the surprising news.

Recorded in Advent 2020.

Check out Vanessa's How to Advent Guide

1. What’s in a name? BEAR with me - 0:00
A short bit on how we came up with the name for our podcast “Bear with Me”. We wanted to talk about this because it helps us with our big focus, which is part 2.

2. The God Bearers - 6:35
Revisiting Mary’s role in bearing God with Us and how that helps us think about the Christian Life.

3. Bearing God’s Word - 30:53
We look at the practice of Scripture Memorization as a very practical and down to earth way to bear God’s powerful and transforming Word in us.

Resources from Vanessa:

A "Releasing the Body to God" Exercise via Renovare (when thinking about being God-bearers with our hands, feet, eyes, and ears):

A book foreword by Dallas Willard on memorization

Here's my "Good Stuff to Memorize" ongoing google doc - with passages that I find either beautiful or challenging or interesting

Practices for Internalizing & Externalizing Scripture

This episode is the first Bear w/ Me episode ever recorded! But since we weren't ready to upload episodes at this time last year and it was an Advent theme, we sat on it. Until now!

Living on God Time

In this episode, we reflect on the Angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary and her surprising response in Luke chapter 1.

Part 1: "In the 6th Month" - Thinking in God Time - Kairos Time v. Chronos Time - 0:00

Part 2: "You will bear a Son" - How Does God's Kingdom Come? - 28:46

Part 3: "Let it be to me according to your Word" - How to Respond to God's Time, Kingdom & Presence - 42:18

Check out Vanessa's How to Advent Guide


Resources Mentioned:

Article: How Electric Light Changed the Night

Vanessa’s favourite books on reframing "time" as kairos time:

Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren: https://www.ivpress.com/liturgy-of-the-ordinary

Domestic Monastery by Ronald Rolheiser: https://paracletepress.com/products/domestic-monastery

Other resources to "keep time" more intentionally:

Bridgetown Church's Rule of Life Workbook: https://practicingtheway.org/unhurrying-with-a-rule-of-life/workbook

Vancouver's University Hill Congregation Christian Seasons Calendar: https://christiancalendar.squarespace.com/order

Vanessa & Andy get ready for Advent with this text from Luke 3.

Who is John the Baptist? Why is this a classic Advent text? How do we mark the time in anticipation of "God with Us"?

Who hears from God? What are the prerequisites for hearing from God? Where does God like to reveal himself?  The answers to these questions might surprise!

Check out Vanessa's How to Advent Guide