The Shape of Faithful Love | Free at Last Week 8
The seventh commandment calls us to become people of faithful love. Marriage is its clearest expression, but not its only one. God is forming people whose promises can be trusted, whose relationships are marked by loyalty, and whose lives reflect the steadfast love God has shown them.
Why Are You Still Looking Up | Easter Week 7
The Ascension teaches us to stop looking somewhere else for the fullness of life with God and begin recognizing the reign of Christ already present here, even in what remains unresolved.
Altar of Peace | The Altar Week 6
“So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it, ‘The Lord is Peace’ and to this day it stands…” The altar is a point of departure where we swear allegiance to one God and part ways with another.
Redeeming Worship | Follow the Lamb Week 4
“I looked and there before me was a door standing open in heaven and the Voice I heard speaking to me said, ‘Come up here…’”. Despite the controversy over worship in the Church today, there is no confusion in heaven. Here, in what some call the center of Revelation, is an open door with an invitation to join the worship already in progress. When we join the worship of heaven it redescribes the world as we know it. It re-interprets all that is happening and empowers us to be faithful in the present age.
In Jesus’ Name | The Church Week 9
Abiding in Christ is the source of all true courage. In Acts 4, Peter and John show that when believers draw their strength from Jesus, they can face anything. The Spirit who once empowered them now empowers us to live and speak with fearless humility in Jesus’ name.
Right Side Up | The Beatitudes Week 1
The Beatitudes are not commands to achieve but radical declarations of blessing that reveal the Kingdom of God, where the overlooked and broken are already favored.
The Middle | Signs Week 4
The healing of the official’s son. What happens in the space between our requests of God and his ultimate action? Long before anyone knew of the miracle of healing that happened in Jesus’s second sign, the miracle of faith emerged.
Against the Wind
In the midst of a storm, we navigate more than govern. We discern more than decide. So what have we discerned for the direction of our Church?
An Enduring Gift
Our understanding of the gift of the Holy Spirit is often incomplete. What does the Spirit make possible, not only through deliverance and relief, but also through sustaining and enduring our present realities?
The Benefit of Doubt | Easter Week 2
Doubt has long been perceived as that which separates us from Christ. But in the Easter narrative, we see doubt as a regular, recurring, and formative part of the journey of faith. Ultimately, Jesus’ response to such uncertainty leads to the highest point of confession in John’s gospel and models for the church how we, as Easter people, should embrace seasons of uncertainty, ask the difficult questions, and welcome those who are still in search of the risen Christ.
Get Together | Pathway to Discipleship Week 3
Throughout the gospel accounts, crowds of people encounter Jesus. Intriguingly, in Mark 10, many of these meetings with the masses are followed by Jesus’s further engagement with only a few—his trusted small group of disciples. What conversations did Jesus save for this more intimate setting and community? And what role can this kind of meeting together play in our own formation as we seek to follow Jesus?
Where God Should Be | Advent Week 3
One great surprise about God revealed in Jesus at the incarnation is God’s vulnerability. God is not confined to safe or polished spaces. Instead, he enters our mess. He shows up in “places God isn’t supposed to be,” exposing himself and entering our realities, messy as they might be. To this end, we don’t have to leave our own vulnerable states or situations to find God. He meets us there. He joins the struggle with us, making himself vulnerable right alongside us.
The Fruit of Grace | Community of Faith Week 7
Generosity is typically understood as activity–described by actions of charity or through things we give away. But Paul describes generosity as something deeper: a responsive expression of the gospel itself, a disposition of our souls, and the means by which we allow God’s sanctifying work to continue in and through us.
The Hard Work of Hope | The Prophets Week 8
Once in the waiting room, Zechariah’s prophecy called Israel to the hard work of hope. But hope is more than wishful thinking or passively waiting for the world to change. Hope is the call of God to have faith in his promise, always preparing for the ultimate fulfillment of his promises, while actively partnering with God in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.
Misunderstood Gifts | Easter Week 7
Jesus promised his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit following his departure from them. And while the gift was delivered, our understanding (or misunderstandings) of this gift of God may impact our reception of the gift and the Spirit’s impact in our lives.
Godspeed | Lent Week 6
In the establishment and execution of his covenant with Israel, God was anything but efficient, at least by human calculations. What if our fixation with getting through the desert to the Promised Land comes at the expense of knowing God in deeper and more significant ways. What if in our relationship with God, the journey through the wilderness is just as significant as the destination?
Every Drop Counts | Elements Week 8
Jesus promised his followers that “rivers of living water (that would) flow from within them,” referring to the gift he would impart to them in the Holy Spirit. In remembering our baptism, we remember that just as water channeled into the desert brings the promise of life, so we are God’s channels, called and equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring life into even the most barren places in our world.
A Reconciled Response | Week 4
In a world filled with suffering, we’re often tempted to go searching for the cause of such trials and hardships. But Peter’s instruction to the first century church encourages looking beyond reasons for why suffering exists and emphasizes the significance of how we respond to such difficulties in this life. Such a perspective change impacts our witness, our ability to cope with life’s challenges, and influences our understanding of the temporal nature of suffering.
The Challenge of Submission | Week 3
Submission is a required and formative action in the Christian journey: first to God, then to one another, and even to the authorities placed in leadership over us in this world. Peter’s instruction for submission to the first-century church was born out of his own experience of being formed through submission as he walked with Christ. Such instruction continues to guide and form us today.
Chosen | Week 2
The same Spirit who empowered Jesus as the Son of God, empowers us to be “the children of God.” The “Spirit of holiness (who) appointed the Son of God in power” (Rom. 1:4) also appoints us toward the same end.