This week we’ve been considering our insecurity and looking underneath the hood of our souls to see what’s really inside. Turns out, the journey of self-discovering is a sacred trek, a holy enterprise. And it can be frightening as well as releasing.

Jesus taught us to pray “on earth as in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). So if we have complete self-knowledge in heaven (1 Cor 13:12), doesn’t that naturally mean we should pray for it and work towards it now? Yes!!!!

There are key moments in our lives when we realize just how awesome God is. Maybe it’s a sunset or an answered prayer or a time of reflection on our lives, but in that moment everything is clear and obvious: God is God and we are not.

I believe that we are all on some level, prophets, women and men, and that all prophets are reluctant prophets. - Mirabai Starr

When God came to Moses and invited him to join in rescuing the people from oppression in Egypt, Moses responded by saying, ““Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ( Exodus 3:11). He just didn’t feel up to it.

Reflecting on the role of the strong women in Exodus 1, we’re inspired to think a little differently about God as well.

Over and over again, God speaks in scripture about the ways those in power have created systems that exploit those who are weaker than they are.

Yes, Jesus cared for individuals. And yet, it was so much more than that.

In the book of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah is heartbroken over the urban decay in Jerusalem.

Today we’re looking at what it means to create structural oppression - a system that does the work of oppression for those in power. Note that Pharaoh is gaining so much money and power that he builds two more storehouse cities to hold it all, meanwhile, the people of Israel are pushed further and further down.

Sometimes a poem can help us reframe an idea or see through a crack in our walls. Sometimes it takes sitting with a line or two to let it really speak to you.

Today we’re looking at one of Jesus’s big teachings on conflict. He starts off by reminding us that being religious doesn’t count for much if we’re not working out our relationships with other human beings. How does that sit with you?

Within one sentence of Paul writing about how he and Mark have reconnected, Paul writes about how another friend has ‘deserted’ him.

Sometimes friendships fall apart. We don’t handle conflict well, or there’s some sort of rupture and then we lose track of each other by not putting in the effort to recover.

There was plenty of conflict amongst Jesus’s friend group. In fact, each Sunday we stand up and say “On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread…” (1 Corinthians 11:23). Betrayal is just one type of conflict, but no matter who you are in relationship with, there will be some form of conflict.