What does it really mean to be a Christian? Is it just fire insurance for the afterlife, or is there something far more alive? In this opening message of a new series, Pastor Pat Little unpacks the biblical vision of shalom: God's dream of wholeness and flourishing for all creation—and what it means for us to be "midwives" of that new creation right now.

CHAPTERS

[00:00] - Welcome & Easter Season

[01:11] - New Series Introduction

[02:53] - What Is the Point?

[03:17] - Dallas Willard's "Fire Insurance"

[04:36] - New Creation & Shalom

[07:09] - Midwives of New Creation

[08:33] - Community Engagement Defined

[09:36] - The Formation Pathway

[12:23] - Acts 10: Listening in Action

[16:06] - Shalom Dismantles Barriers

[17:37] - Reflection: What Borders?

[18:08] - Three Listening Practices

[18:49] - Encounter at Saint Frank

[24:29] - Moments of Kinship

[25:43] - Intentional Relocation

[26:39] - Matthew 25 & The Margins

[28:39] - Closing

[03:17] - Dallas Willard — The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God

[05:35] - Walter Brueggemann — Living Toward a Vision: Biblical Reflections on Shalom

[07:09] - Michael Frost & Christiana Rice — To Alter Your World: Partnering with God to Rebirth Our Communities

[16:06] - Willie James Jennings — Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible

[18:25] - Barbara Brown Taylor — An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

[18:49] - Saint Frank Coffee, Menlo Park

[21:04] - Mary Oliver — "Morning Poem" (Dream Work, 1986)

[22:34] - Elizabeth Bishop — "One Art"

[23:28] - G.K. Chesterton

[23:28] - Gerard Manley Hopkins — "As Kingfishers Catch Fire"

[24:58] - Fr. Greg Boyle — Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship