Author: Joe

Joe https://www.theawesomenessconspiracy.com Joe sees the world through a slightly skewed lens...sort of like a trout looking up through the surface of a mountain stream, trying to discern what's real from what's not. A pastor, writer, speaker, former youth leader, and fanatical fly fisherman, Joe holds a master's degree in Christian Ministry from Asbury Theological Seminary and is a provisional Deacon in the West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He and his wife Lorie reside along the Ohio River in the small town of Williamstown, West Virginia, from which they continue to launch a lifetime of adventures.

Aug. 18 Gathering: “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…”

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In Matthew Chapter 13, Jesus tells a series of parables about the kingdom of heaven. We know that’s what they’re about because they all start with “…the kingdom of heaven is like….”

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who planted seeds.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast.

A treasure.

A merchant.

A net.

So what is Jesus getting at? Who was he talking to and why? What does he even mean by “the kingdom of heaven?”

This week at New Wineskins we’ll continue our summer series on the parables of Jesus with a discussion of the “kingdom of heaven” parables in Matthew 13 and the implications for how they can inform the way we exist and behave in our world today.

Please plan to join us this Sunday, Aug. 18, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company and bring your voice to the conversation!

Happy half-hour at 6:30pm, conversation starts at 7:00pm

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Aug. 4 Gathering: The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (with guest host Kevin Malcomb!)

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In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a series of parables that have a unifying agricultural theme and start with “The Kingdom of Heaven is like….”

In the second parable in that series (Matt. 13:24-30), Jesus tells a story about the kingdom of heaven being like a farmer who planted good seeds in a field, but an enemy sowed weed among the good crop. The wheat and weeds grew together until the farmhands offered to clean out the bad stuff, but the farmer said to let both crops grow together until the harvest, when the harvester would sort the good from the bad. A little later (Matt 13:36-43) Jesus explains the parable to his disciples. And for ages since, we’ve interpreted the story as a tale of who gets to go to heaven and who gets sent to hell when they die.

But as with all parables, there is a deeper story behind the story. And this week, our own Kevin Malcomb will lead our discussion into the layers below the surface!

Join us this Sunday, Aug. 4, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company as we continue our summer series on the parables of Jesus!

Happy half-hour at 6:30pm, conversation starts at 7:00pm

July 21 Gathering: The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

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In Luke 18, Jesus tells a story about a Pharisee and a tax collector who both come into the temple to pray. The self-righteous Pharisee thanks God for all his power and influence. The tax collector begs for mercy. And Jesus uses the story to spin the difference between privilege and humility.

On the surface, we usually read this parable in the light of our own individual virtues and shortcomings. Will we be proud, like the Pharisee, or will we be humble, like the tax collector?

But, as usual, Jesus is painting on a larger canvas. His teachings are far more rarely about individual morality than they are about society and culture. The whole rather than the one.

Join us this Sunday, July 21, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company as we dig a little deeper into this familiar parable. We’ll listen to it through a couple of different translations and a contemporary paraphrase to see where Jesus may be saying something even more significant than we’ve come to expect.

Happy half-hour at 6:30pm, conversation starts at 7:00pm

July 7 Gathering: The Prodigal

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The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 is one of the most beloved stories in Christendom. In it we often find ourselves as the wayward offspring, accepted & forgiven by the doting parent while the petulant older sibling sulks in discontent.

But what if there’s another way to read the story? What if Jesus is trying to say something far more remarkable and more inclusive than we read on the surface? And what if all of Jesus’ parables have deeper meanings than we tend to plumb in our Sunday schools and Bible studies?

This Sunday, July 7, we’ll kick off a summer series on the parables of Jesus with a discussion of the story of the Prodigal. Join us in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Co. to be part of the conversation.

Happy half-hour at 6:30, conversation starts at 7:00.

June 2 Gathering: Active Nonviolence (or “War: What is it Good For?)

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If there is anything constant in this world, it’s that human beings seem trapped in a cycle of violence. Disagreement leads to conflict, and conflict leads to violence. Despite our best efforts to strive for peace, we eventually resort to violence as a means to either get our way or defend ourselves.

But we’ve been given glimmers of hope. Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, St. Francis, and a Jewish carpenter’s son named Yeshua bar Joseph have shown what an alternative to embracing violence, even as a last resort, could look like.

This Sunday at New Wineskins, we’ll take a look at MLK Jr.’s six principles of non-violence. They were the core of his work for justice and the basis for training participants in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. We’ll discuss whether it’s actually possible to embrace an ethic of non-violence and what it might look like if we did.

Please join us this Sunday, June 2, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company for a conversation around how King’s principles of non-violence might reshape our own lives and world.

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Food service & Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

Mark your calendars for June, July gatherings!

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Hello, friends of New Wineskins! We have made some adjustments to our schedule to accommodate the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and another scheduling conflict in June. Here are the dates for June and July:

– Sunday, June 2
– Sunday, June 23
– Sunday, July 7
– Sunday, July 21

Please mark your calendars accordingly, and we hope to see you at our summer gatherings!

May 12 Gathering: Celebrating Mary

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We know Mary mostly through the Christmas story…the (probably very) young virgin fiancee of Joseph Carpenter who gave birth to Jesus in a barn surrounded by farm animals after a visit from an angel, a visit with her cousin Elizabeth, and a Top 40 hit song, the Magnificat.

But there is much, much more to Mary’s story, and what she has to teach us.

In honor of all mothers, and in loving solidarity with women everywhere who are not and may never be mothers, our focus for this Sunday’s Mother’s Day edition of New Wineskins will be not just Mary’s “physical” motherhood, but what her spiritual motherhood can reveal for all of us.

Please join us this Sunday, May 12, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company as we discuss and celebrate Mary’s universal motherhood.

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Food service & Conversation Begins: 7:00pm