Did you know that penal substitutionary atonement is not the original theory of atonement? Kai Ngu provides a historical overview of different theories of atonement as well as guiding principles for reconstructing a model of atonement.
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A “Dumpling” Falls from the Sky—Why not?
It is 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Peter is praying and gets a vision of a sheet full of animals, clean and unclear, dropping from the sky. Almost like a dumpling, but unwrapped. This vision leads to a cascade of events that end up transforming a Jewish sect of the followers of Jesus into a universal community where anyone, Jew or Gentile, can participate. In this sermon, Kai explains how experiences of visions like this dumpling and witnessing the Holy Spirit in the lives of Gentiles leads the Jewish followers of Jesus to reinterpret the rules of their covenant AND their scriptures to include those who had been deemed unclean.
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Kai Ngu walks us through why we are all shaped and disciplined by various institutions and contexts — the workplace, social media, the government, our families — towards becoming certain kinds of people. And while that’s unavoidable, maybe we can pause and think about who we are becoming through these disciplines, and who we would rather be. Perhaps beginning with the discipline of prayer.
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Inspired by Amos, Kai Ngu gives a sermon on the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen?” Between the options of “chaos” (bad things just happen without a reason) or “purpose” (bad things happen for a reason), Kai proposes an additional way: mercy, or grace, as a good thing that happens without reason.
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Kai (they/them) speaks about Israel-Palestine, an issue that feels overwhelming to lots of folks: What is the Christian stake in all of this? They will walk us through a historical and theological context that outlines Christian responsibility in the current oppression of and genocide against Palestinians.
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Kai Ngu speaks on a parable of Jesus on farmers and seeds, and the Hebrew Bible to show us how our Scriptures encourage us to relate to nature - land, animals, plants, stars - as persons and beings full of agency, emotion, and willpower. Understanding this animistic, and arguably indigenous, paradigm is essential towards building an anti-capitalist, anti-colonial ethos.
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