Sunday, March 24, 5:00-6:30pm Please invite anyone who might be interested. Please register by clicking here. After spending over a week in Palestine and Israel as part of a twenty three member, multi-denominational delegation, Chris and Josh Vis will share stories and reflections from their time in Palestine and Israel. The conflict between Israel and […]
The Story of Victimization is a challenging one. It tells us that when we’ve been harmed we should let our pain define us. It’s a story that encourages us to get stuck in our pain — sometimes even fueling us to harm others while feeling righteous in doing so. But getting stuck in our pain […]
Teresa leads us through the Story of Isolation.
Teresa and Chris (from Palestine) share thoughts on the third story in our series — the Story of Purification.
The second story is one of Revolution/Revenge. It is the belief that the only way we’ll be secure and ultimately happy is if we repay pain for pain, harm for harm.
We begin a series for Lent that considers six stories we encounter regularly in our day to day lives — a series that ends on Easter, which is a seventh story of sorts. These six stories promise us happiness, security and fulfillment but rarely deliver. As we move through Lent we’ll be asking ourselves which […]
Stories help us make sense of the world and our place in it. Some stories are adopted by entire cultures (i.e. the story of the rugged American individual), while some even transcend time and place. This Lent, we look at seven stories common throughout humanity and ask: where do they show up in our lives, […]
We are choosing to be bold — to take risks, to purposefully keep a compelling vision close to our heart, and to lean into each other.
On Ash Wednesday we are marked on our foreheads with a reminder of our mortality. The same palms we raise up and wave on Palm Sunday each year are made to know the sting of death – we burn them. And the following year, in an ever-curious act, we pick up the ashes and we […]
Jesus is our example, and at every turn Jesus extends welcome to all. Those on the margins, those society considered ‘last’, those disregarded are all included. Within the community Jesus creates, we find significant difference (socio-economic, political, gender). This is by choice. Jesus chooses to include those who he knew would disagree — those who […]
Who do we want to be? Who will we choose to be? These are questions often asked at the beginning of a new year. And while related, they are not the same. We may want to be many things — or to change much — but without a choice (likely, many, daily choices) those desires […]
Who do you want to be? Who will you choose to be? These questions are related, but they are not identical. We may want to be many things, but without intention and action our desires remain just that. As we begin a new year — who will we choose to be? Who will I choose […]
On New Year’s Eve, we’ll spend our time together enjoying a brunch, singing a few Christmas carols (it is technically the first Sunday after Christmas according to the church calendar), and reflecting on the year. Bring something to pass if you’re able — it can be as simple as a box of cereal and a […]
From moving trucks to our hope for reconciliation to an inn (or house) in Bethlehem, it often feels like there is no room. No room for repair. No hope of things getting better. No space for this or that group. But the Christmas story reminds us that God is able to make room, to make […]
For the final Sunday of Advent we consider the power of song – especially the way in which it can help rekindle hope. As we sing multiple carols, hear poetry and consider what lyrics to our own song of hope might sound like, we work together to find strength and resolve to move toward the […]
As we considered last week, it is possible for joy to surprise us and show up at any moment, in any circumstance. This week, Elliott shares the story of the days following John the Baptist’s birth – a story in which Zachariah’s muteness ends and he breaks into a song of sorts — a blessing […]
“Choose joy!” This phrase has become an anthem of sorts, but is it true? Is joy something we choose? Can we, therefore, do certain things to create or manufacture joy? We look at the story of Elizabeth and Zachariah and explore these questions, working to clarify what joy is and how it arrives in our […]
Our theme this year is “how does a weary world rejoice?”. We’re borrowing that line from the Christmas carol, O Holy Night. It’s a line that holds tension and hope. Tension because both weariness and joy are present at the same time and hope because…well…weariness and joy are present at the same time. This morning […]
Teresa follows up on the conversation we had about Israel/Palestine (on 10/29) by asking the question – what is ours to do? How do we move toward wholeness in the face of so much that is wrong; in the face of constant pressure to perform; in the face of a belief that we should be […]
After our gathering we had a discussion on the current war, the decades of conflict that have preceded it and what it might cause us to wrestle with in our own lives here and now.
