Advertise on podcast: Commons Church in Marda Loop

What happens when practical kindness steps into our deepest grief? In part two of our series on the book of Ruth, Yelena follows Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth as they navigate devastating loss, displacement, and the struggle for survival in the ancient world. Walking through the four speeches that drive Ruth chapter 1, we discover how tragedy begins to invert through women taking action and surprising acts of kindness.  Naomi releases Ruth and Orpah, offering them a blessing of hesed—steadfast, active kindness that goes beyond obligation. Ruth makes the radical decision to cling to Naomi. Challenging the idea that faith requires a dramatic, instantaneous conversion, her journey demonstrates how spiritual life often begins with the quiet alignment of our lives with the people and truths we cherish. Arriving home, Naomi asks to be called Mara ("bitter"), bringing her raw, unanswered grief directly before God.  The story warns us that grief can narrow our vision and we might miss seeing hope even when it stands right beside us. The book of Ruth wants us to pay attention to practical kindness that helps us remember that we are not alone.  Scripture: Ruth 1:6-22

Grounding itself in the gritty opening of Ruth 1:1–5, Bobbi explores how famine, displacement, and compounding grief strip Naomi and her Moabite daughters-in-law of their security, family line, and ancestral home.  Rather than framing this loss as an inevitable tragedy or a call for passive endurance, the message presents Ruth as an inverted tragedy—a story where God works quietly behind the scenes while ordinary, hurting people exercise practical agency, courage, and resilience.  Directly addressing the modern ache of family estrangement and unexpected life disruptions, Bobbi urges listeners not to let painful beginnings define their identity, but to embrace deliberate healing, find hope in chosen community, and discover that what they build from the broken pieces can ultimately redeem the entire narrative. Ruth 1:1-5

In this final message of the Learning to Listen series, Bobbi Salkeld explores 1 Kings 19 to discover how nature acts as a prophetic guide through seasons of burnout, violence, and exhaustion.  Tracing Elijah’s retreat into the wilderness after a cycle of intense confrontation, we unpack how the natural world—from fierce wind and earthquakes to a delicate quiet—redirects our perspective.  By examining biblical prophecy, personal reflections on prairie landscapes, and the weight of personal burnout, this sermon demonstrates that listening to creation reminds us we are not the center of the universe, inviting us to surrender control and trust the Divine Mystery that sustains all things. 1 Kings 19:1-13

What if the Bible was never meant to win arguments?  When we're confused, afraid or disillusioned, it's tempting to treat scripture like ammunition, tossing verses back and forth until someone runs out. But that isn't how the scriptures work, and it isn't how they came to us. In this message, Jeremy Duncan walks the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) with two heartbroken disciples who know all the right verses and still can't recognize the risen Jesus walking beside them. Along the way he looks at two proverbs that contradict each other (Proverbs 26:4–5), what "all Scripture is God-breathed" in 2 Timothy 3:16–17 meant to its first readers, and how the idea of inspiration shifted from a living, life-giving breath toward word-for-word dictation in documents like the 1978 Chicago Statement on Inerrancy. From the breath of life in Genesis 2 to the dry bones of Ezekiel 37, this is an invitation to read the Bible as a conversation rather than a rulebook, and to listen for the story that restores our hope and leads us back to Jesus.

In this sermon on Hebrews 11–12:2, Bobbi explores "learning to listen to ancestors." The message reclaims Christian tradition not as a restrictive relic to escape, but as an inherited wisdom that anchors people against isolation and everyday pressures.  By examining how the writer of Hebrews reframes flawed historical figures and presents Jesus as the pioneer and finish line of faith, Bobbi illustrates how individual struggles are part of a shared, interconnected marathon where past and present believers are perfected together.  Ultimately, listening to spiritual ancestors equips us to enter fully into our own human experience, finding endurance in the surrounding "cloud of witnesses" and taking up the responsibility to live faithfully so that we, too, become good ancestors for the generations to come. Hebrews 11–12:2

In the series “Learning to Listen,” Bobbi explores the story of Abraham and Sarah being promised a son. Examining Abraham’s hospitality toward three strange travelers at the oaks of Mamre, she shows how welcoming the unfamiliar leads to a divine encounter, or "theophanic revelation."  Drawing a parallel to her own move from rural Saskatchewan to San Francisco — where trying new foods broadened her perspective — Bobbi encourages us to consider how welcoming the unknown can expand our world and unexpectedly reveal the presence of God. Genesis 18:1-15

Marking the launch of Commons Church in Marda Loop, Bobbi explores what it means to truly listen to our neighbours through the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.  Far from a moral lesson on basic kindness, Jesus’ parable invites us into an expanding vision of faith — one that moves past rigid boundaries and passive rules into active, extravagant care.  By broadening our definition of "neighbour" from those who look or think like us to anyone who needs our help, we uncover a profound truth: when we bend low to enter into the pain of others, we don't just bring healing to our community — we participate in the way of Jesus to make all things new. Luke 10:25-37

As Commons prepares to launch its new Marda Loop parish, Bobbi wraps up our soft-launch series with a look at Matthew 4 and a theology of beauty. Exploring Jesus’ call along the Sea of Galilee, the power of art, and the transcendent nature of God, this message invites us beyond transactional faith into a captivating encounter with the Divine.  Discover how recovering a vision of Jesus as the Beautiful One can heal us, shape our longings, and inspire us to build a beautiful community together.

Commons Church in Marda Loop lunches on September 20, 2026