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 homesick. The second reflected on one of the lectionary texts for this Sunday in which hope is found in the midst of separation and distance.
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, click here.
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 encourage each other to be intentional this week.
See the google doc we created at the end of the message.
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: this is an upside down way to live. The call is not to perform, but to be present. To go away to a solitary place, shut the door, put away the pretense and open ourselves us as best we can to the grace God always offers us.
Here’s a link to the google doc we created together: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OPPDSyg7gSbvMyNt-6GNAjjaD-khWtrtyVaS9eN3Qo0/edit?usp=sharing
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) and then mention a few notes to finish up.
If you’re giving this a listen, we invite you to add to the google doc. What did you notice in the passage, especially around partnerships? And…what partnerships are currently in your life, or do you feel called to form?
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 is a link to the google doc we created.
And here is the link to the blog post Chris references from Nadia Bolz Weber.
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.
Our first week in a series on our core values takes a look at Liberty — a commitment we have made to practice humility, proximity and curiosity when we encounter those who we disagree with, dislike or are different from. Here’s the google doc we created together.
Our final Sunday in our series. Together, we look back at the series as a whole, and consider three themes we see in the collective of characters.
This week, instead of focusing on one or two biblical characters, we’re looking at 28. Most of these folks, from Romans 16, are never mentioned again in the biblical text, and yet this passage (Romans 16:1-16) helps to remind us of how God calls us to live, and how that might differ from the current of our culture.
Guest preacher Deborah McCreary invites us to consider what Shiphra and Puah’s story may have to say to us today.
Elliot leads us through the extremely short, and often overlooked book of Philemon – inviting us to ask what Onesimus, Philemon and Paul may have to teach us about our vocation.
After considering the ‘After-Times’ in the month of May, we pick up a series we started in April: Faces of Our Faith. This week, we look at Priscilla and Aquila. They are only mentioned in four places in the NT – and yet their story instructs and challenges us for what our lives might look like today.
We begin a new series this Sunday which invites us to look at a number of biblical characters who are often overlooked. Their stories, although obscure, are instructive for our lives.
Discerning our vocation can be aided by considering a unique intersection. Where does our deep gladness, the world’s deep hunger and the work of God’s Spirit intersect? We explore this together by looking at Luke 10 and the sending of the 70.
