Bobbi shares a story about praying to be better at banter and how, over time, she found herself engaging in joyful conversations that exceeded her expectations. Through these experiences, she came to see banter not just as witty exchanges but as a way to connect deeply with others and even with the divine. Bobbie sums up her learning like this: "I could have easily thought that banter wasn't for me – that I wasn't good at it, and I should just let it go. But there's stagnancy in staying comfortable in a story you think you know. No, it's better to find the edges of ourselves and to push past premature endings.”

This week, we celebrate Easter and wrap up our series on the Gospel of Mark. We look at the forces at play in Jesus's trial and crucifixion, the women who needed to find their voice to proclaim the good news, and the invitational, circular way the gospel of Mark is structured to help us discover Jesus and meet him in the places we already know.

Today we settle into the realm of conflict, new perspectives, and what it means to defile one’s heart.

This week we join the disciples in the storm to reflect on our experience of meeting the divine in the moments that rock our world.

This week we look at four parables in Mark 4 and again interpret them in their connectedness. The main point was that truth is being sown in our lives even now, and we need to explore how we hear it, where we make room for mystery of the divine in our lives and how open we are to give ourselves over to the way of things and see the kingdom in the things and life cycles around us.

This week we wrap up by talking about our sixth affirmation: “We desire to participate in that renewal by following the way of Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, trusting that this good news is even better than we can imagine.”

This week we look at the third affirmation from the journal: “Because of that we have abandoned the idea of an angry, violent God in order to fully embrace the good news brought forward by Jesus.” In the sermon, Bobbi explores what it is that we want to abandon and what it is that we want to embrace and the reasons for those choices.