WiebeCast

The Vengeance of Mobs, not God

Why would the crowd try to lynch Jesus in Luke 4:14-30 when he will not invoke the vengeance of God in the announcement of his good news?

How does this connect to social media frenzies today?

Preached at Exchange Community Church on Jan 27, 2019.

 

Prodigal Son

The prodigal son is only one of the three characters in this universal story of brotherly rivalry and a scandalously motherly father.

Preached at Exchange Community Church on July 8, 2018.

The Forgiving Victim

The resurrection of Jesus stands at the heart of whatever it is that we call Christianity. What does it mean that the one who was unjustly murdered at the hands of a mob was raised by God, and that this risen victim comes towards us in forgiveness?

Atheism for Lent

We give up all kinds of things for Lent. This year, what about letting Marx and Freud help us to give up god?

Preached at Exchange Community Church in Winnipeg on March 25, 2018

Turn the Other Cheek

Does Jesus advocate passive acceptance of abuse? How can we love our enemies?

I explore Matthew 5:38-48, and how it could be a foundation for creative nonviolent resistance.

Spoken at Exchange Community Church, February 4, 2018.

Creation Stories

What if there was a different way to look at the creation story of Genesis that didn't merely fall into the "myth vs fact" or "religion vs science" debates? What if creation stories were deeply true, but not in the way we usually think?

Spoken at Exchange Community Church on August 6, 2017

The Binding of Isaac

Does Genesis 22 describe a terrible God who makes awful demands? Should you obey whatever you think God is telling you to do, no matter how awful?

Spoken at Exchange Community Church on July 9, 2017.

Incarnational Feminism

Prior to Christ's incarnation as the man Jesus of Nazareth, God did not have a sex. Jesus says things like, "if you have seen me, you have seen the Father." Does this mean that followers of Jesus are doomed to reinforce the patriarchy?

Preached at Exchange Community Church on December 17, 2017

Did God Kill Jesus?

If God kills God's own son, then maybe we can be violent when it's really important, too. Or, does the cross change everything about our understanding of God and ourselves? This talk draws on the mimetic theory of René Girard to transform how we might understand the cross and violence.

Is God Violent?

Does God command genocide, sometimes? Maybe God used to, but isn't doing that any more, hopefully? 

Does this even matter?