• (00:00:00) - Introduction to Practices of Belonging series
• (00:01:09) - Recommended books: Sacred Balance and This Here Flesh
• (00:02:55) - Bonhoeffer and mutual belonging
• (00:05:28) - Welcoming vs. true belonging at Oceanside
• (00:08:07) - Setting up Nehemiah chapter 9
• (00:08:37) - Reading Nehemiah 9:1-6
• (00:12:30) - Opening prayer
• (00:13:37) - Act one: Breath prayer teaching
• (00:15:38) - Practicing breath prayer together
• (00:19:26) - Act two: History of Israel's exile and return
• (00:21:07) - Feast of Booths and collective celebration
• (00:22:52) - From celebration to repentance in Nehemiah 9
• (00:24:01) - Remembering Israel's story of rebellion and faithfulness
• (00:26:54) - Is there room for repentance in a progressive church
• (00:29:23) - Act three: Our story vs. the Exodus story
• (00:30:20) - The Lord's Prayer as our collective story
• (00:31:58) - Food, forgiveness, and deliverance from self-destruction
• (00:34:13) - Goodness and peace will win in the end
• (00:36:01) - Church as collective breath prayer
• (00:36:57) - Closing prayer and thanks

What if the simple act of breaking bread together could teach us how to build a world filled with love, peace, and joy?

In this sermon for World Communion Sunday, Jason Coker continues the Practices of Belonging series by exploring Acts 2:43–47 and the early Christian community’s practice of sharing food, resources, and life together. Looking beyond the miracles traditionally associated with this passage, Jason invites us to consider three often-overlooked miracles represented by bread: love, peace, and joy.

Sharing bread is a basic act of love. Working together to ensure everyone has what they need is how that love becomes peace on a larger scale. And embracing the incredible diversity of human experience is how we make room for joy. From Navajo fry bread and Mexican tortillas to croissants and cinnamon rolls, the beauty of bread reminds us that life is about more than simply surviving. It’s about celebrating the many ways we can flourish together.

With a powerful message about food insecurity, economic justice, human cooperation, and LGBTQ+ inclusion, Jason challenges us to imagine a faith that doesn't just talk about good news but makes it tangible, nourishing, and delightful for everyone.

Because the world is better when we share what we have, work together for the good of all, and celebrate the beautiful diversity that makes us human.

This sermon is a production of Oceanside Sanctuary Church in Oceanside, California.

Learn more at oceansidesanctuary.org

• (00:00:00) - Introduction and World Communion Day
• (00:01:40) - Reading Acts 2:43-47
• (00:04:31) - Opening Prayer
• (00:05:36) - Story: Meeting Family Over Short Rib Fries
• (00:08:07) - First Miracle: Sharing Bread as Love
• (00:09:50) - Food, Scarcity, and Violence
• (00:12:07) - Bread as a Symbol of Basic Love
• (00:14:42) - Second Miracle: Bread as Peace and Cooperation
• (00:17:38) - Humanity's Capacity for Peace
• (00:19:07) - Third Miracle: Bread as Joy
• (00:21:24) - The Diversity of Bread Around the World
• (00:23:11) - Cinnamon Rolls and the Beauty of Difference
• (00:24:11) - Bread as a Metaphor for Queerness and Diversity
• (00:25:10) - Cole Arthur Riley on Communion and the Body of God
• (00:27:27) - Gospel as Love, Peace, and Joy
• (00:29:42) - Closing Prayer and Outro

Practices of Belonging: Baptism Into a New Reality

What does baptism really mean? In this week's Sunday sermon from Oceanside Sanctuary, Pastor Jason Coker explores baptism as more than an individual spiritual ritual. Drawing from Matthew 28:18–20, he invites us to see baptism as a communal practice that immerses us into a new way of living shaped by the reality of God.

Through the story of Jesus' baptism, the ancient Jewish tradition of ritual cleansing, and the biblical imagery of crossing through water into freedom, we discover how baptism represents a movement from exclusion to belonging, oppression to liberation, and isolation to connection.

But what kind of Christianity are we being baptized into? Rather than a faith centered on power, supremacy, wealth, or nationalism, Jesus invites us into a community shaped by peace, justice, healing, provision, protection, and love. Every baptism becomes a reminder that we're crossing into this new reality together—and an invitation to help make it real in the world around us.

Join us for this week's message in our Practices of Belonging series from Oceanside Sanctuary Church in Oceanside, California.

Learn more at oceansidesanctuary.org.

• (00:00:00) - Introduction and Teaching Series Overview
• (00:01:20) - Baptism as Community Practice
• (00:02:43) - Reading Matthew 28:18-20
• (00:05:59) - Otis and the Coffee Shop Baptism Story
• (00:10:01) - Baptism as Immersion into Culture
• (00:12:24) - Jesus's Baptism and Second Temple Judaism
• (00:13:54) - Mikvah, Moral Hazard, and Solidarity
• (00:18:17) - Which Christianity Are We Baptized Into?
• (00:22:31) - Unpacking the Names of God
• (00:27:56) - What Do You Imagine When You Think of God?
• (00:30:24) - Baptism Motif Through Scripture
• (00:34:48) - Closing Prayer and Invitation