During this season of Lent, we are entering into a conversation at the Branch about vocation. One way to think about vocation is to consider the ways that your every-day-ness (your routines, relationships, perspectives, experiences, gifts, etc.) intersect with God’s intentions for the world. When we look at Jesus’ life this is what we see: […]
https://anchor.fm/the-branch In our final week of this series we look back on the last four weeks and consider an idea that makes all the others possible: I need you.
One of the most destructive voices in our lives is the voice of shame. Shame tells us that we’ll never be enough — that there’s no way we are worthy of love. If people only knew the real us… The Scriptures speak to us not with a voice of shame, but compassion. In a story […]
This week we look at Acts 15 and 1 Corinthians 18 — windows into how some of the first Jesus followers navigated disagreement. This is a critical topic today as our handling of disagreement, both personally and societally is dysfunctional at best. Where do we need to grow so that disagreement becomes a transformative opportunity?
Showing up is an incredible act of strength. To show up as we are, with what we have, takes great courage and vulnerability. And…and…showing up is what is required to grow, heal and be changed. https://anchor.fm/the-branch/embed/episodes/Stories-of-unexpected-Strength—Week-1-ep80h0
Strength is typically through of as muscle and grit — it leads to success — it’s powerful and bold. And while that is true, this view of strength is one-dimensional. What makes a person strong is more than muscle or a superior intellect. Strength comes in unexpected ways; ways our world may even tell us […]
Let’s be honest. We’re tired. Tired of the pandemic. Tired of separation. Tired of division. Tired of hate. Or to come at it from another angle: we are in desperate need of strength. But strength is a funny thing. The word carries with it images of sculpted physiques and unflappable personalities. We tend to think […]
Join us for an evening of music, reflection and candle light. Worship begins at 7pm — you can log in as early as 6:50 using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/864871555 We look forward to seeing you!
Week 4 of our Advent series
Week 3 of Advent brings the theme of joy, something that has often felt in short supply this year. The lectionary text (Luke 1:39-55) invites us to consider how joy might find its beginnings in anticipation of what is to come; in faith and trust in a promise made.
Those who dream God’s dreams not only heed the call to stay awake (week 1) but also to prepare the way. We look at Isaiah 40 and Psalm 85 (two of this week’s lectionary texts) and then reflect together what it might mean for us to make straight a highway for God.
The first week of Advent brought a Sunday filled with the art of A Sanctified Art and the lectionary texts of Mark 13 and Psalm 80 as we focused on the need to stay awake through the practice of lament.
Advent: coming, arrival As we read the stories about Christ’s first coming 2000 years ago, we discover a host of characters who received, discovered, and responded to God’s dreams for the world. In some instances, these dreams were literal, coming while they slept. Other dreams were discovered in the course of everyday life. Each time, […]
We’ve been talking a lot about love – love of our neighbor, love of enemy. This week we consider love from a different angle, viewing as a creative force for redemption. What would it mean to love creatively? What new, innovative ways do we need to think about love?
Those we disagree with — those who offend us — those who are our ‘enemy’ — create great discomfort, unease and even hurt. And it seems quite human to try to avoid these things when they arise; to do our best to wall ourselves off from the discomfort. But what would happen if we did […]
During this week we consider how we might work to find commonality — a transformative work that can lead us to greater compassion for our enemy/other, and even the possibility of collaboration.
This week we lean into Luke 10:25-35 and Christena Cleveland’s book, Disunity in Christ, to consider the ways we categorize each other, how it causes so much damage, and a possible alternative as we work to live into God’s new humanity.
Last week we considered our shared identity as a starting point for loving our enemies. This week, we build on that identity by considering the call to humility. What does humility look like? What might we do and say if we embodied humility more greatly?
A new series begins this week. Together, we’re asking questions and seeking answers to how we can embody the new humanity that Christ set in motion through his life, death and resurrection. We’re not sure there’s anything more relevant or important in our crazy, hostile and divided world. Ephesians 2:14-15 and Genesis 1:26-28
Our final week considering Matthew 11:28-30. Today we ask ourselves what it would look like to more closely walk with, work with and watch Jesus in order to learn his way and put on his yoke.
