The Meet Hope Podcast
The Meet Hope Podcast
103: Encounter Advent 1 - Jesus is The Word
What if the words you choose could transform your relationships and deepen your connection with God and others? In this special series for Advent called, "Encounter Loves Pure Light," we're here to guide you through the season with a fresh perspective and creative reflection. This week, we explore the power of language and its ability to shape our environments. Inspired by Jesus as the Word, we reflect on how our communication can foster inclusive and supportive spaces, resonating with love and intentionality. Be sure to listen each week as we interview a new guest!
NOTES:
- Sign up for Encounter emails: https://meethope.churchcenter.com/my/groups/encounter-loves-pure-light-weekly-email-reflections/conversations
- See what's happening at HOPE this Christmas:
Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.online.church! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.
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Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope. Hey everyone, welcome to the Meet Hope podcast. My name is Ashley Black and I'm happy to be here with you today.
Speaker 2:I wanted to let you know that for the next five weeks on the Meet Hope podcast, we will be doing what we call Encounter, which is a devotional that we do here at Hope. We often do them at Christmas and at Easter, and it's something that you can sign up for to get additional pieces, and we'll explain that to you in a minute. But I just wanted to make you aware so that if you're listening to the podcast and you're wondering more about it, you're not surprised. If you remember, last year on the podcast, we spent four weeks also doing Advent devotionals, and so you can go back and look at those from 2023 if you're looking for even more ways to grow in this Advent season. But this year we're doing Encounter and we're calling it Encounter Loves Pure Light, and so I will be here with Heather Mandela. Hey, heather, hi everybody. So Heather and I have been working on compiling this, together with other wonderful volunteers, and so we're going to get started.
Speaker 3:So I'm excited about our lineup. It's going to be a fun couple of weeks.
Speaker 2:I am too. So why don't you tell us a little bit about the goal of Encounter?
Speaker 3:So the goal of Encounter is to help our community to encounter God in new and exciting ways. And Advent lends itself because it really is this period of waiting right. And so in the church, we celebrate Advent as this period of expectation, this time of preparing our hearts and our minds to remember the whole reason that Jesus walked on earth, the whole reason that he arrived as a baby Jesus walked on earth, the whole reason that he arrived as a baby. And so what we do is we try to combine a wide variety of creative pieces, because our God is a creative God, right? So we look at what is there in the word that speaks to these truths, and so that would be scripture that we're looking at. And then we look for, maybe, artistic reflections, so you might find some artwork that reflects it. Or we may send some poetry, some written word that encaptures what people are trying to say or what the Spirit of God is moving in them. We'll also look at music and some favorite songs that capture the season and the themes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Andrew is compiling a playlist for us. Well, at this point, people will have it in their inbox as if they've signed up for. Encounter, but Andrew put together a playlist for us.
Speaker 3:So excited.
Speaker 2:And obviously this podcast is a part of that too.
Speaker 3:And our Sunday mornings. So each week, if you sign up for Encounter, each week on Monday you'll get an email and it will include the link to the podcast. It'll include some scripture, it'll include a reflective piece of some sort of poetry artwork and the songs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it lines up with our preaching series for. Advent which is called Jesus Is Right and every week it finishes the sentence. So we're doing. Jesus is the word, jesus is light and life. Jesus is fully God and fully human.
Speaker 3:Jesus is the Lamb of God.
Speaker 2:And Jesus is a rabbi, teacher, Messiah.
Speaker 3:There you go. I think I got all those right.
Speaker 2:I've been writing it a lot as we've been preparing. So if you watch on Sundays or you come, if you watch online on Sundays or you come in person on Sundays and you hear the message, then that also becomes like an another component of this, so everything fits together for this month, so that we are all focusing and studying and learning and growing around the same topics.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which I really love, because Advent can feel like a really Christmas. I should say, christmas can feel like a very busy, busy season. Advent, I think, often invites us to be more intentional and reflective and yeah, still, and, and. So I love that, even as we're in the busyness of of doing like christmas stuff in our lives all month long, we can remember that, like we're doing this alongside other people in all of our different places as we go throughout our week, and I just really love that.
Speaker 3:Right, for me it's this huge. It's a touchstone, you know, because it does get. This season gets crazy. And so to know every Monday I've got this touchstone and I can choose to do these things throughout the week. That I know will help center me and help keep my focus on God and help keep my focus on the kind of person and the calling that God has placed on my life in the midst of the craziness.
Speaker 2:And that's the whole goal for it, right?
Speaker 2:So if you're listening and at this point you are liking what we're talking about and you would like to sign up for the email component, you can go to our website and go to meethopeorg slash today and click on the Christmas page and there's a place there you can sign up for it, or you can look for it under our small groups page. But what I was going to say was that what the reason we design it the way that it is is that you get it on Monday and then you get to choose how much of it you engage with in a rhythm that works best for you, because we acknowledge that it's hard. Committing to anything this time of year can feel really hard and overwhelming and it can feel like one more thing that's noisy and we don't want that. Um and so like. If you are, maybe you just listened to this podcast and that's okay, or maybe you decide you want to subscribe to the email and you get all the pieces and there's only different certain pieces of it that you you are connected to.
Speaker 3:That's okay. Maybe you're a visual person and so that the pictures really jump out and grab you, or maybe you're someone who loves poetry and you can sit and meditate on those poems, you know you. This is for you to use as best you know. Invite the Holy Spirit in and and ask him to guide you through this process. It's really about you and him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's what Encounter is going to be for the next five weeks, and so now I'm going to turn it over to you, because you're actually hosting today?
Speaker 3:I am, and look who's with me it's Ashley Black, our communications director. Now, ashley, this week on Encounter, we are talking about Jesus, is the word right? And so we hear in John. I mean, john starts off like this and he just says you know, jesus is the word and the word was with God and the word was God you know, and from the beginning, right.
Speaker 3:So John introduces the fact that God spoke and creation occurred, and he uses the plural to remind us that Jesus was there through all of that and he didn't need to get his hands dirty, he didn't need nails and a hammer. He spoke, he breathed his breath.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's like an effortless to it when you read the creation story, when you read about God creating. There's like a whimsy to it when you read like the creation story, when you read about god creating there's like a whimsy to it. Yeah, you know, yeah yeah, it's such an expression of who he is, without having to, yeah, try too hard, right, it just does this ease um and I often I don't think, we often think about I think we, I think the phrase jesus is the word is a phrase we hear in church often.
Speaker 2:Sure but I don't actually think that we comprehend that it's connected to creation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I think that's a good point, right, and I think that it helps us remember how important words are, that God created with words, that Jesus healed with words, he forgave with words, right, like, words are a primary method that our creator interacts with us with, and consequently, words have merit and meaning and weight, right, yeah, which is why, as communications director, we wanted to talk to you, so you craft words yes, I do Every day.
Speaker 1:All day every day.
Speaker 2:I should note that. So every week on the podcast we're interviewing a different person. Yes, that is kind of like they're. What they do is in some way connected to the theme, right, and so it won't just be me and you every week, though I'm honored to be asked yeah it won't.
Speaker 3:No, we've got some. Really, I'm really excited. We've got some physiologists and lighting directors and some really cool people who have never been on the podcast before.
Speaker 2:So it's going to be exciting, so, but yeah, I was. So Heather asked me to be here as someone who works with words all day long.
Speaker 3:You are a word, smith.
Speaker 2:I'm the communications director at Hope Church and, yeah, I play with words all day long, but a lot of it comes down to wanting to help continually create space for people that they feel welcome and that they feel like church.
Speaker 2:So when I, when I'm working as a communications director, the place I'm working from the majority of the time is I'm thinking about people who are new to hope, have or have no background in church or faith or like. I'm always wondering about how are we saying things and how are we doing things so that anybody can feel like church is accessible to them? And so when I'm using words, I'm usually trying to think about like what environment are we creating? What atmosphere are we creating? How is what we're saying cohesive across ministries so someone can easily like, get connected and not feel confused? And and and of course, you know how is it sounding like Jesus and how is it using the vocabulary that Jesus used?
Speaker 3:And you know, I love that, I love that and I know, trust me, ashley's keeps us all in line. It is not easy. This woman has to chase us down and it's unreal. And she and how many times is it like?
Speaker 2:I like to think of it like like I'm just like I just spent a lot of time sewing us all that's a lovely way to put it Creative person. So I also come at it from that perspective that I think some people that work in communications are more logistical, maybe of a mindset, um, more like a marketing type business approach, and I definitely come at it with a more creative, artistic mindset.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Just as a background, that's the way that God has wired you Right and um, and I love that, and that's it's one of the reasons why we wanted to take a little time to talk about the importance of words, and it's exactly what you just said, right, that you work hard to create an atmosphere and an environment where people can seek God, they can feel comfortable, they can feel accepted, they can feel like he is within grasp right.
Speaker 2:Talk a little bit about that. Yeah, when you were talking, I was just thinking about. There have been times in my life where I have discovered a word for something or a phrase or something that has, like, clearly explained something I couldn't understand and when, when you find that word or phrase, it feels like it opens up like a whole new, like not world, but like door like, opens like a whole new room for you and whether it's like you learn language, about like I'm thinking about, like when I um so there.
Speaker 2:So the thing I'm thinking about right now is like there's a, there's a uh learning tool I guess we can call it out there called the enneagram and it's a it's a way to learn more about yourself and how you interact with the world, and when I explored that for myself, I learned language that I was like.
Speaker 2:this explains me to me so well that now I feel like I understand myself better, so I can be a better human in the world with others, and so I think of that moment often as like that was a time when words meant so much to me because all of a sudden, I had language to help me feel more connected to myself and more connected to God and more connected to others, and so I think about that. When we create words in a hope, like church context is once people feel connected here. They don't necessarily need words are still important, but they no longer become like the, the first thing they need, Like they don't need the directions as much anymore. They don't need the like how do I get online part.
Speaker 2:And once they do it a couple of times and they're connected to a small group.
Speaker 2:they don't need to like figure out how to sign up for a small group anymore, Cause they know how it comes like second, and so I was just thinking about how, like, I spend a lot of time making sure that anyone's kind of first encounter with all those things um is understandable, so that so that they can become more connected and it doesn't need to be all about a foreign language that they don't understand, especially if they've never been in church before, right. So, yeah, I don't know, that's a lot of what I do.
Speaker 3:That's awesome, thank you. No, that's really important and I think that it again, all of those choices that we make really speak to the fact that we have a power in and of our own words right we create an environment around us, and our environment can be one where people feel loved, because the words and the language that we use is language that is inclusive and supportive Right, and I'm talking about in our own homes.
Speaker 2:We create this environment.
Speaker 3:Everywhere we go, we kind of like bring our own little atmosphere Right and and it is the words that we use, the languages that we use, the um people people can be loved when they're in our presence or they can be wounded, yeah, um, and they can be curious and and feel free to ask questions, or they can feel like they have to walk on eggshells yeah, because there are unwritten rules they don't understand yeah, yeah, word can, words can create space or they can shut it down completely.
Speaker 1:And that's why.
Speaker 2:I love when we're talking about Jesus is the word, and going back to God speaking creation, that God was continually making space. Yes, I just really love that image. I do too, as a concept.
Speaker 3:No, I do too, and I think that as we start to embrace that attribute of God right, as we start to recognize that Jesus is the word and he, he threw his life, his actions, his, his existence he has enabled us to make those same choices right For the people around us. So he's he has laid out the way that we interact with others to allow others to feel loved, to feel supported and connected. Yeah, and we get to make choices each day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and sometimes that means having to adjust our vocabulary Like so that would. That would be like one thing. If we're thinking about like, what can I do this week to contemplate this idea of Jesus as the word it might be, go back and read one of your favorite interactions of Jesus and pay attention to the words he chooses to use and does it line up with the vocabulary that you choose to use?
Speaker 2:You know like, or are there words that jesus uses that you are like? Maybe I should like choose that more. And intonation like, because word is also word, is written, word is also sound and yeah, like, like, sound is also loudness, but like, I'm thinking about inflection, volume there's so many things to it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, we really think. Yeah, truly. It's not just about what you read, it's about the way that we deliver it Right, because we can say I love you in a bazillion different ways it literally, and sometimes you feel loved by the. I love you and, like my children, one of my, one of the things that I do in my household, you know, somebody ticks me off. It's like, oh, I love you so much, I love you so much but I'm going to kill you.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I remember one time telling someone that I was working with in in ministry saying, uh, hey, when you text those people, you should not use a period, you should not use exclamation point, and they're like why I'm so happy to talk to them the one person told me it wasn't.
Speaker 2:I promise I won't out them, but I the one. But this did happen. I said yeah, well, the one person I know who's volunteering for with us. Um, they said that they were like oh, I don't know if he, if they want me there because they seem very excited so just like, next time use an exclamation point. You know like. But then some people I have to be like stop using the 16.
Speaker 3:I write things with 17 exclamation points and have to delete it down to three, so people don't think I'm crazy, but they get that we're excited.
Speaker 3:Yeah, everything's exciting for me, but no, so that I think that is the challenge right. So, for this week, as we, as we walk into a week and as we go into a week ahead, focusing on the fact that Jesus is the word and that God is creative in the way that he interacts and expands our knowledge, our universe, our love for him, how can we embrace that and how can it transform our purpose right? How can we choose to be more creative in the words we use this week and to change the atmosphere we're bringing with us?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and, like I said, that might be as simple as paying attention to the texts we're writing or the words we're saying to our families, like maybe, so maybe for you, like, like, being creative with your words is is, uh, just paying attention to the actual words you're using at work or at home or you know wherever, and or maybe you are a more extensively creative person and engaging in words.
Speaker 2:This week is doing some sort of creative project like writing a letter, or writing a poem or a blurb that you share with others, where you're reflecting on how Jesus is the word.
Speaker 3:However you choose to interact with the word this week, we hope that it will bring you closer and grant you a deeper understanding of how much God loves you and Jesus' desire to walk with you and know you better. As always, if you have any questions, always feel free to reach out to us at meethopeorg and we will talk to you next week.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at Meet Hope Church.