We’re taking the month of February to map our future together. Any good map shows you three things: where you are, where you are going, and some options for how to get there. Sundays in February will center around these three things. To begin, we took a look at a story from John 4 – […]
If you’re joining us online on February 13, 20 or 27, please use this Zoom link (click here) and read the description below. Making a map requires at least two points: where you are and where you intend to go. With all that has happened in the last two+ years, we’re taking the month of […]
Our final week in the Detour series considers the regret that can come when things don’t go according to plan. What do we do with that regret? Is it possible that regret can be a ‘call to courage and a path toward wisdom?’ (Brene Brown, Atlas of the Heart).
With the latest numbers improving and fewer isolations and positive cases within the Branch community, worship this Sunday (2.6.22) will be available both in-person at the building and online on YouTube (please note the change; here is a link). Here are a few reminders about Sunday: We will be meeting at 9:30am! As we have […]
One of the emotions we encounter when life gets detoured is disappointment. And while we may be able to move beyond some disappointment fairly easily, some disappointment carries deep pain, confusion and even shame. We consider this emotion — and what is behind it — this week as we also consider stories found in Mark […]
As challenging and disorienting as disruptions and detours are, this week we consider what opportunities detours might offer us as we take a look at the story of Saul’s detour in Acts 9.
On Sunday, January 30th, we will be meeting entirely online, using Zoom (same time: 9:30am). Here is the link for Sunday: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85627759920 We’ve made this decision based on four factors: Our local health care system is severely strained, and positivity rates are at an all-time high. A growing number of people in our own community […]
We have decided to not gather on Sunday, December 26th, but instead use that time in other ways that might connect us to God’s love and each other. We have a beautiful digital liturgy we can share with you (created by Sanctified Art). To get a digital copy, simply email chris@thebranchonline.org. This liturgy could be […]
Our tradition of gathering on Christmas Eve continues this year in person and online. Join us at our building (973 28th St. SE) or on our Facebook page at 5pm. Our hour long gathering will include music, singing, a retelling of the Christmas story and we will end by lighting candles together. All ages are […]
Our first week in Advent did not include a typical sermon, but a mixture of music, prayer and reflection. There were two main sections of reflection, both introduced by Chris. The first one set up the series, inviting us to consider what the idea of “home” might mean to us and how we might be […]
Our homes are regularly a part of our holiday traditions. But home is more than just an address or a physical structure. To each of us, ‘home’ carries a multitude of meanings, memories and emotions. And in its broadest sense, home is more than the place we live and all it entails. Home could be […]
Our final week of the series invites us to interrogate what vision we have built our lives on. We close by focusing on something as simple and stunning as a flower to help us remember who we are and what we are invited to do.
What does it mean to be blessed? And how do we experiencing the blessing Christ talks about? By accumulating power? Putting on a good face? By protecting our interest? What if openness, humility and vulnerability were the door through which we experience a blessed life? To see the google doc we created together in worship, […]
Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount with three passages that carry a similar theme: a life of faith, life in the Kingdom, is more than just lip service or idle listening. We are called to bear fruit. Which perhaps begs a question: how? How does one bear fruit? Together we consider some ideas and […]
Presence, Not Performance Matthew 6:1-18 (The Message) In the second week of this series we consider the temptation to turn faith into a performance. We can so easily try to leverage gifts like prayer and generosity for our own benefit — to gain the attention of others or the approval of God. Jesus is clear: […]
The last two years have turned the world upside down. And while in many ways this disruption has been hard and painful and disorienting, disruption can also create opportunity for us to see things in a new way. And yet, there is a longing right now to just ‘get back to normal’. To somehow return […]
Our final week looks at a core value that pushes against one of the strongest currents in modern day life.
Good news: this week’s podcast is nice and short. Bad news: it’s nice and short because only the first half got recorded. Back to the good news: the 2nd half was really just us giving time for people to reflect on Romans 16:1-15, write their thoughts in a google doc (which you can find here) […]
Week three brings us to the core value of simplicity. Yes, the world is in need of renewal; and yet, God does not intend for us to burn out as we try to be everything to everyone. Instead, we must choose simplicity. We must discern what is ours to do and not to do. Here […]
Week 2 of our series on our core values takes us through the value of incarnation. We consider what it means to be incarnational and what we might do to embody the presence of Christ in our everyday lives.
