Talking with Your Mouth Full
Church: Authentic Community
A community of Christians can do so much more together than we can as individuals. Yet authentic community can be difficult to find because there are barriers to community that impede it’s healthy formation. In this message we will look at how to hurtle over those barriers to community.
Church: Welcome Mat
It’s the sideways glace that gets us into trouble. It’s a look in the wrong direction. Jesus tells a story about a Pharisee who has one eye on heaven and his other eye on a tax collector. As a result he despises the Pharisee and tells God that he is thankful he is not like that obvious sinner. Jesus tells this story because as we grow closer to God a temptation to a big ego grows bigger and bigger. How do we fight this tendency?
Family: Caring Enough to Reconcile
All of us have been hurt by somebody. Some of those wounds go very deep. We might see betrayals as being stabbed in the back. A hurt that can never be forgiven or forgotten. So as Christians how do we move on? Fortunately the Apostle Paul gives us a pathway to work through these issues.
Family: Mothers Aren’t Perfect
The National Restaurant Association reports that Mother’s Day is the biggest day of the year for restaurants. Mother’s Day is the Super Bowl for florists. Why do we need to celebrate moms? Partly because being a mom is hard work. Partly because moms gave birth to us and without them we wouldn’t be here. And partly because moms have a tendency to be hard on themselves.
Tucked Away Treasure
God chooses to place his treasure in jars of clay so the glory will clearly be his.
Listening to God: When You Hear “No”
Have you ever heard the statement, “if you have enough faith God will answer your prayer?” Yet when your prayer doesn’t get answered the way you like, you may feel there is something wrong with your faith or maybe God doesn’t exist. Fortunately we can learn from the Apostle Paul who suffered the same problem when he had a “thorn in the flesh.”
Listening to God: Sound of Silence
Some of us have faced burnout. We just don’t feel like doing it anymore. Some are tired or exhausted. Sometimes burnout and depression are so severe that we might say, “God just take my life!” We may feel like the prophet Elijah. Yet God ministered to Elijah’s burnout through the sound of sheer silence.
Dare To Dance Again
As Easter people we are called to dance our dances of freedom for all the world to see – even and perhaps especially in times of great difficulty. Dances of hope. Dances of justice. Dances of love. During this post-resurrection season let us recapture the joy of living in the beloved community and extending that fellowship through our witness to the world as we dare to dance again.
I Am…the Resurrection, and the Life
2,000 years ago Jesus was dead. The stone had been rolled in front of the tomb and the tomb was sealed. This was the end of the story for most Messiahs in the 1st century. But something different happened in the case of Jesus. It was so different that even the disciples had doubts at first. But then the astonishing truth became clear.