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As pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue to explore the sacrament of Holy Baptism, this time we'll look at how Christian practice has developed, deepened, changed, and grown over the centuries.  Along the way, we'll pick up questions from throughout Christian history about the how, when, and why of baptism, things like: does it matter how much water is used when I'm baptized?  Do I have to be a certain age, have a certain mental capacity, or be able to remember the event of being baptized?  What if the person who baptized me ends up leaving the faith or committing some terrible sin?  What about being baptized by proxy for someone who is deceased?  Why did people in an earlier time sometimes hold off on being baptized until they were on their deathbed?  All of these questions and more are up for discussion on this week's episode of Crazy Faith Talk!

In our new series exploring the sacraments, baptism and Holy Communion, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve are tracing these essential Christian practices from their rootings in the teaching and institution of Jesus through the present day.  Today we'll look at the New Testament as a bridge between Jesus' own baptism by John in the river Jordan and the many forms, modes, and practices around baptism today.  We'll look at how the early church understood baptism and why whole households were sometimes baptized all at once, and how baptism was also understood as God's gift of a new identity--like being born all over again.  Join the conversation and listen in here as we explore more of what it means to be the baptized people of God here on Crazy Faith Talk!

In a new series for Eastertide, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve will take a deeper dive into the sacraments: what they are, what they do, and why they matter.  Our series begins with a look at baptism--in particular, with Jesus' baptism in the river Jordan by John.  What is Jesus doing in the water there if he doesn't have any sins to "repent" of?  Where did the idea of baptism come from?  And what does the voice that speaks at Jesus' baptism have to do with us?  These kinds of questions start off our conversation here on Crazy Faith Talk!

In this final episode of our Lenten series for 2024, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve explore one final temptation the church faces--the lure of being the saviors ourselves, rather than pointing to Jesus as Savior.  Sometimes it's the way we want to conflate "faith in Jesus" with "being a card-carrying member of our congregation." And sometimes it's the impulse for MY church to have to do it all to meet every need: running the food bank, managing a homeless shelter, getting people job training, settling refugees, runing a children's ministry, or whatever else we might imagine.  Maybe, too, we need to own up to the times we have let our relief work in the world treat others patronizingly and belittling others because of OUR need to look like we are helping, rather than what OTHERS actually need help with.  In this week when the church focuses on God's saving acts for the world at the cross and resurrection, this conversation might just be the reality check and wake-up call we needed to remembe that we are called to witness to the Savior, not to try and take his place!  Blessings this Holy Week from us at Crazy Faith Talk!

In their ongoing series for Lent 2024, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue to look at temptations the church faces in our modern-day experience.  And this time we'll explore the temptation to fall for prosperity theology, or what is sometimes called the "health-and-wealth-gospel."  And we'll see what's missing in this approach to the faith, as tempting and popular as it might be (and as much as we might wish that the world could be simplified down to a system where good behavior or strong faith automatically is rewarded with material success or prosperity).  We'll explore how a faith that is centered on the cross of Jesus and the calling away from "cheap grace" will also mean we say "No" to the thinking of the prosperity gospel, no matter how many books it may sell or how many megachurches may lean on it.  We'll discover, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer once put it, that real grace is costly, because it will cost us our lives, but it is grace because it gives us the only true life there really is.

As we continue our Lenten series exploring the different kinds of temptations the church faces, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve take a look at the powerful temptation to become judgmental.  In the pursuit of holiness, we can end up being "holier-than-thou."  In the pursuit of righteousness, we soemtimes fall prey to being self-righteous.  And in the name of holding one another accountable, we can end up being judgmental jerks.  How do we guide, correct, and encourage one another with grace while avoiding the easy temptation to condemn anyone who thinks or acts differently from our personal convinctions or scruples?  And how do we discern the places we need to speak up or speak out against the things that run counter to the way of Jesus?  These are the kinds of questions we're raising in this week's episode of Crazy Faith Talk!