Shows / COOS Love Podcast
Episodes
COOS Love PodcastEveryone Means Everyone
In the lead-up to our recent election, candidates from both parties talked about enacting policies that would help every American and supporting legislation…
COOS Love PodcastThe Saints We are Becoming
What does it mean to be a saint? Perhaps it has less to do with being exceptionally good and more to do with learning to receive the goodness of God. Scripture…
COOS Love PodcastLife is Difficult
We all know that life is difficult, but rather than wishing it were easy, Jesus leads us to embrace the difficulties of life. Every situation, even the hardest…
COOS Love PodcastBelonging Means Home
Jesus tells us to give to God the things that are God’s, and that means us. We are created in the image of God and are made for God. That doesn't mean we don’t…
COOS Love PodcastLove Unites
Love is the energy that brings all things together into unity. Love is the raw force that brings atoms together; love is the power that draws people into unity…
COOS Love PodcastWhat Does the Kingdom Look Like???
What does the kingdom of heaven look like, and how do we recognize it in our own world? Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet challenges us to wrestle with…
COOS Love PodcastAn Ending Isn’t Always the End
We assume we’re pretty good at recognizing endings, a relationship, a job, a chapter of our lives. And when something comes to an end, we tend to assume we…
COOS Love PodcastGod in the World
Jesus saw signs of God’s presence in the world around him, and he embodies God in his very self. The Incarnation assures us that God is not just “out there”…
COOS Love PodcastLove Beyond Self
Jesus calls us to love like he does, by emptying ourselves of self-centeredness. That is a daunting task. We cannot forcefully overcome our self-centered…
COOS Love PodcastWhat Story Do You Tell Yourself?
We all tell ourselves stories about ourselves, narratives that define our sense of identity. Many people tell themselves stories of how they fail and mess…
COOS Love PodcastEnough for Today
The Israelites complain. The vineyard workers complain. And, I admit, I complain too. Beneath our complaining, though, there is often fear—the fear that there…
COOS Love PodcastFace the Light
As the recent commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks highlighted, we live in a world that can feel very dark and depressing. But just as the…
COOS Love PodcastForgiveness Without Limits
Jesus teaches us that we are to forgive continually. That is often a process that demands prayer and patience, but it leads to freedom and more abundant life…
COOS Love PodcastMore God, More Energy
While we might be tempted to see ourselves as isolated beings, we are actually part of a greater reality. Our soul, our true self, is intimately one with God…
COOS Love PodcastLove Is Not on the List
What if love isn’t another thing to accomplish, but something woven into everything we already do? When we remember that we are created in the image of God and…
COOS Love PodcastLife is Learning
We are here to learn how to love: to love God, to love other people, and to love the world we live in. Sometimes that learning is joyful, and sometimes it is…
COOS Love PodcastTo Do . . . or To Be?
Many people like to make to-do lists, and Paul’s letter to the Romans offers a formidable one, which includes persevering in prayer, being patient in…
COOS Love PodcastHere’s the Keys—Go Open Some Doors
What if you’ve already been handed the keys? Not keys to decide whose in our out, but keys that open doors to hope, healing, reconciliation, and love. God’s…
COOS Love PodcastHave Mercy
God desires to show mercy to everyone. Mercy is simply God’s unearned love, acceptance, and relief. The only thing that can prevent us from receiving mercy is…
COOS Love PodcastWrestling with God
When life is hard, we may find ourselves wrestling with God as we work through feelings of fear, pain, anger, and despair. But struggling with God is a way of…
COOS Love PodcastLooking for the Gorilla, Finding the Kingdom
We often become so focused on what we're looking for that we miss what has been right in front of us all along. Jesus' parables invite us to see the kingdom of…
COOS Love PodcastWaiting in Hope
We don’t like to wait, but God has created a universe where waiting is part of the normal growth process. We are all being formed over time into the people God…
COOS Love PodcastEmily's Farewell Sermon
The Rev. Emily Fisher bids farewell to Church of Our Saviour. Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 31:00) Read the sermon HERE Connect with Church of Our…
COOS Love PodcastGod is Our Safe Place
Today’s main point at Summer Celebration, our annual VBS here at COOS, was “God is Our Safe Place.” We want to instill in our children a deep sense of God’s…
COOS Love PodcastA Different Way to Carry the Weight
Jesus' invitation to the weary is more surprising than it first appears. Rather than removing every burden, he offers us a different yoke—a different way of…
COOS Love PodcastTrust
Life is often hard for people, but our faith assures us that life in this world is good and meaningful. All that we experience here is preparing us for even…
COOS Love PodcastExpansive Love
Baptism initiates us into a life of expansive love. While the love of family and friends is beautiful and crucial, we are led by the Spirit to grow in love…
COOS Love PodcastWhen We Love God Most, We Love Best
The words of Jesus can sometimes surprise us, especially when he calls us to examine what holds our deepest loyalty and love. Yet beneath these difficult…
COOS Love PodcastTime Teaches
Psalm 19 tells us that “one day tells its tale to another,” which is a beautiful way of saying we are part of an unfolding story. In that story, there are…
COOS Love PodcastIt IS Your Job
When Jesus looks at the crowds and tells his disciples "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few," he doesn't form a committee or take a vote, he…
COOS Love PodcastMeditation: Praying Oneness
Prayer can help us deepen our experience of our oneness with God and with all of creation. While intercessory prayer and petitionary prayer are important and…
COOS Love Podcast“You Can’t See the Dirt in Me”
Jesus calls sinners to follow him because this is what God does. God sees past our sin and sees how capable we are of love and goodness. This is the mercy of…
COOS Love PodcastPractice Oneness
The Holy Spirit makes us one with God, other people, and the whole of creation. Awareness of that unity is a gift, but there are things we can do to open…
COOS Love PodcastThe Trinity: What Difference Does It Make?
On Trinity Sunday, we explore one of Christianity’s deepest mysteries by asking a simple question: What difference does it make? Rather than trying to explain…
COOS Love PodcastSpirit of Unity
The Holy Spirit makes us one with God and each other, giving us a unity that runs deeper than feelings or our rational minds. Many mystics and others with…
COOS Love PodcastSpirit of Tenderness
Pentecost is rightly an exuberant celebration which highlights the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. But we do not want to forget that a primary role of the…
COOS Love PodcastTrust the Gift
While Pentecost often brings to mind the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, we don’t want to lose sight of the fact that the greatest gift of all is the Spirit…
COOS Love PodcastLift Up Your Hearts: Learning to Ascend
On this Ascension Sunday, we reflect on what it means to live with hearts lifted toward God in the midst of ordinary life. Exploring the ancient Christian…
COOS Love PodcastLifting Up Your Hearts: Learning to Ascend
On this Ascension Sunday, we reflect on what it means to live with hearts lifted toward God in the midst of ordinary life. Exploring the ancient Christian…
COOS Love PodcastSeek The Things That Are Above
Christ has been raised into heaven, and we who are one with Christ have been raised with him. Heaven is not a distant reality, but the Ultimate Reality we are…
COOS Love PodcastThe Point of Religion
Human beings can be religious in a wide variety of ways, but the aim of all religion should be love. This is the message the Apostle Paul gives when he tours…
COOS Love PodcastAnxiety, Part 2
In addition to seeking first the kingdom of God, Jesus also instructs us to live in the present: tomorrow will bring worries of its own, Jesus says, so today’s…
COOS Love PodcastAnxiety, Part 1
Anxiety afflicts countless numbers of people. In some cases it has biomedical causes, but always it is a spiritual malady as well. Jesus teaches that worrying…
COOS Love PodcastRecovery is Spiritual
12 Step programs have helped countless addicts to regain their lives because these programs are inherently spiritual. People in recovery develop a relationship…
COOS Love PodcastMy Burden is Light
When Jesus tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, he is not only saying that he can help us carry the pain of life that comes from illness…
COOS Love PodcastSeeing Jesus, Knowing Joy
In the resurrection stories, Jesus has to break through the grief of his friends before they can recognize him and know he’s alive. The Risen Christ can lead…
COOS Love PodcastPractice Resurrection
In this season of resurrection, we often talk about new life. Dramatic occasions often come to mind, like weddings, the birth of a child, or recovery from a…
COOS Love PodcastHe’s Not Here… He’s in Prison???
On Easter morning, the first witnesses to the resurrection are filled not only with joy, but with fear—and yet they move forward anyway. Although fear is a…
COOS Love PodcastNothing Separates Us from God’s Love
Jesus not only suffers as a result of sin, in the Passion narrative he becomes sin. He takes on the unbearable burden of human wrongdoing and lets it destroy…
COOS Love PodcastThe Story Holds Us Close
The drama of Holy Week is not just a series of ancient events, but rather the story of God being intimately close to us in all circumstances. That final week…
COOS Love PodcastHolding the Hope
When hope feels out of reach, sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is let someone else hold it for us. From the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel to the…
COOS Love PodcastThe Purpose of Worship
People have strong opinions about how to worship, but Jesus teaches that the purpose is to worship God in spirit and in truth. And we will know that we are…
COOS Love PodcastBlameless
Human beings have a natural impulse to blame others for their problems, but Jesus shows us a better way. He never blames sinners who come to him. He reveals…
COOS Love PodcastBe Kind
Jesus teaches us to love others, and that means being kind to them. Our society is filled with anger and malice, and it can be hard to practice kindness, but…
COOS Love PodcastThe Longest Conversation Jesus Ever Had
The longest recorded conversation Jesus has in the Gospels isn’t with a disciple or a religious leader. It’s with a Samaritan woman at a well. What unfolds…
COOS Love PodcastPowerlessness
While faithful living means using our gifts and taking positive actions for the sake of love, it also involves moments of feeling weak and powerless. Such…
COOS Love PodcastGo. Be transformed. The Spirit Moves!
What does it look like to say yes to the unknown when God calls you forward? Abram was changed by the going and Nicodemus by the confronting. How can we enter…
COOS Love PodcastLetting Go of Contempt
In our Ash Wednesday confession, we repent of false judgments, uncharitable thoughts towards our neighbors, and our contempt towards those who differ from us…
COOS Love PodcastRemembering Who We Are
Temptation is less about bread or power and more about forgetting who we are. In the wilderness, Jesus confronts the temptation to prove himself and instead…
COOS Love PodcastGrowing Up
Following Jesus means growing up spiritually into the loving, Christ-like people God created us to be. Lent is a time to focus on that process of growth, which…