United Church Gatherings: Recent Episodes
Trevor Grindle
The world is filled with possibilities that we have yet to consider. Doubts can either push us towards opening our mind towards what is possible or they shackle us to the status quo. Jesus opens our minds. He invites us to see into the beyond, doubting together what we see, inviting us together into a beautiful new reality.
We’re told that doubts are bad, that they destroy our faith, that they push us away from God, and leave us feeling empty and alone. But what if doubts are actually good? What if doubts actually press us closer to God? What if this journey, if taken together, can actually lead us into beautiful, wide open spaces of possibility?
Lectionary Text: John 20.19-31
The beloved community was forged in a crucible of fear. It began with tears, locked doors, and doubt. And yet Jesus emerged from the grave, revealing a new world of hope and possibility in front of us. The resurrection changes everything, and together we help each other see a new possibility just beyond the horizon as we follow after this resurrected Jesus.
Lectionary Text: John 20.1-18
This week Eunice invites us to take a look at John 12 and the triumphal entry. Jesus calls us to follow him, which goes beyond just listening to what he says, but also doing what he does.
Too many times over the course of our nearly three year existence as a church, we have been called together in unity and in love to denounce hatred and an insidious form of white supremacy that is present and active within our culture and given safe harbor within white evangelicalism. Enough is enough. May we forge a new and better path forward where all are truly welcome and all are truly invited. Christ have mercy.
Text: John 12.20-33
This is our 53rd week a part. 53rd week since we have met together in person. 53 weeks. It’s a lot to take in, a lot to realize and recognize, a milestone that feels like a weight of grief and pain that we’d just rather ignore than truly understand. There is so much that has happened in this season that we need to mark, that we should mark, that we can bring into the light of the day and know that while the days have been dark, the light is still winning.
Text: John 3.14-21
How many times have you risked it all only to see it blow up in your face? How many times have you taken a huge leap, hoping and trusting that the person on the other side was going to catch you like they said they would, only to find yourself falling flat on your face? Were they worth it? What did you gain in the end—your own personal ROI? The Christian life is like that. A giant leap of fidelity where betrayal seems to lurk around the corner. What will you gain by jumping in?
Text: Mark 8.31-38
We’ve each found ourselves in the proverbial wilderness before: a season and place of trials, troubles, tribulations. We often cry out into the seeming void, “Where is my rescue?” The season of Lent is a season marked by the wilderness, of intentionally placing ourselves in that space—because there in the wilderness, we can find life.
Text: Mark 1.9-15; [Rf: Luke 4.1-13]
Are you listening? What do you hear? So often we spend our time talking and talking, creating more of a monologue with God, with Jesus than actually participating in the act of listening. What does listening have to do with transformation and change? How does listening well create new worlds and environments for us to walk into and experience?
Text: Mark 9.2-9
What are you doing with your life? What are the actions and ways of being that define who you are? Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, “Action is truth.” The actions that you engage in reveal the truth of what you truly believe down to your inner core. What truth(s) are you revealing with your life? What do you truly believe?
Text: Mark 1.21-28
The moments of our life are filled with ups and downs, lefts and rights, circles and standing still. Life is is fraught with moments of decision both big and small. These moments are not only demanding but they determine the life we live. What will you do with your dash, the collection of moments between your birth and death, the moments that make your life what it is.
Text: Mark 1.14-20
It’s okay to be skeptical. It’s okay to find yourself filled with questions as you explore the mystery, waiting and hoping for the truth to be revealed. It’s a longing curiosity, a perpetual inquisitiveness that always centers around the question: Is it true? This is the journey of faith that we are all on. This is the tension and the question we all sit with: Is it true?
Text: John 1.43-51
It’s a new year and nothing has changed. We sit reaping the consequences of what has been sown into the fabric of our lives and our society for generations. This story is not new, but there is an overwhelming love that has come to light the way through and illuminate our path forward.
Text: Mark 1.4-11
What do you hope for? What sits at the core of your heart? What do you hope for? Finding hope in the midst of the darkness is hard. Finding hope in the midst of our despair is seemingly impossible. Yet, here we stand at the precipice of hope and hope, has a name.
Text: Luke 1.26-38
It’s been a year. And in the midst of the turmoil, the strife, the ups and downs, we are weary. We cry out for rescue, and we anticipate the moment of the coming King. Our Lord and our Saviour. In Jesus’ birth we see a God who put on flesh, a God who stepped down out of heaven to join us in this world, and to say, “I’m here now. I’m with you. I’m on your side.” This is the God whom we place our hope in, this is the God to whom we cry out to; the God who comes near and comes to our rescue. Cry hope.
Sunday's Text: Mark 13.24-37
The ways of Jesus drive us to care for one another, especially those in need, consistently and without fail. There are seasons and times where each of us falters, where each of us is in need of care, and it is in those moments that we must rally around those in need, those in pain, those who are suffering. The Spirit of God will guide us in that care, and because of our love for one another we create a story that the world cannot deny—that Jesus is among us. This is how the church emerges.
The gospel is not about you, it’s about us. The story of the early church was about a ragtag group of people coming together, formed in the ways of Jesus to revolutionize the world with this understanding that the kingdom of God was near and that it was for all. They lived this and expressed this and it spread throughout the empire in subversive ways that changed the world.
We sure do like to simplify things, don’t we? However, sometimes we go too far and in our reduction, we’re left with an ineffective mess. We’ve done this with the Gospel… What does it look like to step into the fullness of the Gospel, a holistic gospel that can actually make a difference—thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What does it look like to be “those” kinds of Christians?
Community is not just about us, here inside this organization, this building, this system. Community is about how we function together on the outside. And as a church specifically, it is about how we work to bring a holistic restoration to the world around us. The early church, at the outset of their existence fought for justice—we’ve simply whitewashed it away in pursuit of our own milquetoast understanding of “church.”
Community is about more than just physical presence, it is about the joining together of heart, soul, mind, and strength in pursuit of Jesus and his ways. There is a beloved-ness that comes from this unity that forms a people, that shapes a people, that pushes one another together in mystical ways ensuring that you’ll never walk alone. Even in the time of COVID, there is a beloved-ness that can occur as we emerge from our isolation. There is a way forward into being the “Beloved Community” as a people who walk in the ways of Jesus, the ways of love.
God is at work all around us, making paths of reconciliation possible for us to walk into with one another, with ourselves, with him. And He’s asking us to be his ambassadors. Ambassadors of reconciliation, to help renew and restore all things through Jesus. In this time of COVID, God is still working all around us to create new modes of connection, even deeper and more beautiful than before. He is bringing about opportunities for us to step into. Will we respond?
Together, we participate in a worldwide movement of love, of grace, of peace. And through prayer, together we enter into the communal story of God’s redemptive work in and through history. Prayer orients our lives, together around what God is doing and how he is restoring creation back to himself. And prayer, sends us forth into the world together to help write the next chapter of that story.
Do you want to see the world changed? Do you want to see ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ in our day? Then we must pause and pray. Prayer connects us with the activity of God. Prayer opens our eyes and our ears to the world around us in a different way, a way that allows us to see and hear where God is at work. Prayer opens new paths of light for us to follow where the Spirit is already engaged and at work. We chase the light through prayer, and in prayer we see new possibilities emerge from the dark.
Uncertainty and fear mixed with possibility and hope; our emotional and mental state is at a fragile place and once again we are being asked to be patient. To wait. To adapt and change. The exhaustion and fatigue from this is palpable and the weight can be unbearable. How can we even begin the process of moving forward? As followers of Jesus we are a different people, a people who have a singular focus on Jesus and his mission, who demonstrate and proclaim the nearness of God’s new reality coming to life in the world around us. And it begins here, chasing the light together in prayer.
We are a sent people. A people who have been sent into the world to make a difference. “GO,” Jesus commands us with the very first word of the Great Commission. We have been commissioned, by Jesus , to go into the world to make a difference, to spread the revolutionary Gospel of love and of grace, to see the kingdom of God birthed here on this earth as it is in heaven. The forces of this world have fought against this kingdom for centuries. They have fought to maintain misogyny and sexism, racism and classism, evil forces that perpetuate a world that looks nothing like the kingdom of God. We are a sent people, armed with the armor of God to create change in the name of Jesus, in the name of love.
The church is an incubator of revolutionaries, and it is time for us to recover that as our moniker and motto. “Arise O sleeper, wake up from the dead!” Is the charge the church is given by Paul. The focus of the church is not on the church. Rather, the work of the church, the work of the people is to bring heaven to earth as Jesus taught us to pray and do. We create “good trouble” in the world around us. We help set the conditions for the justice of God to be made known through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness, and self control. The church is an incubator of revolutionaries. This is our work.
Where we go, we go together. The ups and downs, the back and forth, the sudden stops amidst the restarts, the reigning uncertainty of this season we’re facing requires adaptability. And as such, we cannot simply coast through the remainder of this uncertain reality. It is time for us as a church to adapt, to step forward and live into “new to us” ways of being the church. Where we go, we go together. And no one will do this alone.
The tension that we carry with us every day is our separateness from one another. One of our deepest needs, at the core of our being, is to overcome this separateness and leave behind the prison of our aloneness. This is easier said than done. It requires mutual submission and mutual assimilation. This is the art of loving, faithful and continual acts that do the hard work of breaking down the walls of separation that we experience as individuals, groups, communities, societies. The art of loving moves us from separateness to togetherness, tearing down the walls of division as we go. You’ll Never Walk Alone.
My, what beautiful battlefields you are. The push and the pull, the back and forth we experience in the struggle of identity, to live from and grow into our own authentic self, this is the great struggle of being. Our struggle for identity and authenticity, the comparison games we play, and our attentiveness to critical difference push us apart, erecting walls of division between one another. We have failed to see the image of God in ourselves, and because we cannot see the image of God in ourselves, we fail to see the image of God in others. We are beautiful battlefields that have been brought together as one, in peace, through grace, because of Jesus. It is in this space that we can push and pull each other, in love, to live from your authentic self.
We are caught up in this great mystery, you and I. We are surrounded by this reality, this hope that we cannot quite grasp, that we cannot quite fully understand but we know in the depths of our being is true. The mystery of Christ permeates every pore of our existence and of this world, but often times we just miss it; we pass right by without any awareness of the Jesus who calls out to us in love, and grace, and peace. The Jesus who has chosen you as his beloved. So often we strive and struggle, we fight and claw to understand the mystery, to grasp this Jesus and hold him tightly in our clutches. But Jesus in his immeasurable grace and love simply says, ‘Come. Sit with me a while.’ He bids us to simply be present with him. The mystery of Christ runs counter to our culture, it’s not a mystery that requires efforts, but a mystery that requires us to sit and stay a while in his presence.
So many of us are overwhelmed in this season. We’re facing waves of uncertainty, anxiety, sadness, boredom, anger, fear... this is a season fraught with turmoil. It’s in these times of upheaval that we need more prayer, not less; more spiritual practice, not less; more contemplation, not less, so that we may stand in the face of uncertainty and anxiety confident in the presence of our Creator, filled with his love and mercy.
We have long sat in the historic practices of spiritual formation as a community. These concrete practices and meditations help us anchor our hearts in something deeper than the news cycle. We don’t need more content or ideas, we need to be graciously guided into holy spaces where our Creator can do what only love can do.
Why? Because we’re in this for the long haul. Without a stronger connection to God our efforts will fizzle out and fade away as our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls break down under the weight of the work. Together, let us try these practices at home. Let us sit with the holy and be guided well into The presence of God.
Isaias lives in Santiago, Dominican Republic and is both a pastor at Central Church and an award winning rapper.
So many of us are overwhelmed in this season. We’re facing waves of uncertainty, anxiety, sadness, boredom, anger, fear... this is a season fraught with turmoil. It’s in these times of upheaval that we need more prayer, not less; more spiritual practice, not less; more contemplation, not less, so that we may stand in the face of uncertainty and anxiety confident in the presence of our Creator, filled with his love and mercy.
We have long sat in the historic practices of spiritual formation as a community. These concrete practices and meditations help us anchor our hearts in something deeper than the news cycle. We don’t need more content or ideas, we need to be graciously guided into holy spaces where our Creator can do what only love can do.
Why? Because we’re in this for the long haul. Without a stronger connection to God our efforts will fizzle out and fade away as our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls break down under the weight of the work. Together, let us try these practices at home. Let us sit with the holy and be guided well into The presence of God.
Justin lives in Washington DC and is the Pastor of Leadership and Spiritual Formation at Christ City Church DC.
So many of us are overwhelmed in this season. We’re facing waves of uncertainty, anxiety, sadness, boredom, anger, fear... this is a season fraught with turmoil. It’s in these times of upheaval that we need more prayer, not less; more spiritual practice, not less; more contemplation, not less, so that we may stand in the face of uncertainty and anxiety confident in the presence of our Creator, filled with his love and mercy.
We have long sat in the historic practices of spiritual formation as a community. These concrete practices and meditations help us anchor our hearts in something deeper than the news cycle. We don’t need more content or ideas, we need to be graciously guided into holy spaces where our Creator can do what only love can do.
Why? Because we’re in this for the long haul. Without a stronger connection to God our efforts will fizzle out and fade away as our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls break down under the weight of the work. Together, let us try these practices at home. Let us sit with the holy and be guided well into The presence of God.
Lisa lives Here in Seattle and serves as the University Chaplain at Seattle Pacific University.
So many of us are overwhelmed in this season. We’re facing waves of uncertainty, anxiety, sadness, boredom, anger, fear... this is a season fraught with turmoil. It’s in these times of upheaval that we need more prayer, not less; more spiritual practice, not less; more contemplation, not less, so that we may stand in the face of uncertainty and anxiety confident in the presence of our Creator, filled with his love and mercy.
We have long sat in the historic practices of spiritual formation as a community. These concrete practices and meditations help us anchor our hearts in something deeper than the news cycle. We don’t need more content or ideas, we need to be graciously guided into holy spaces where our Creator can do what only love can do.
Why? Because we’re in this for the long haul. Without a stronger connection to God our efforts will fizzle out and fade away as our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls break down under the weight of the work.
Together, let us try these practices at home. Let us sit with the holy and be guided well into he presence of God.
Jay lives in Silicon Valley. He is a pastor and an author. His recently published book is called Analog Church, available on Amazon.
So many of us are overwhelmed in this season. We’re facing waves of uncertainty, anxiety, sadness, boredom, anger, fear... this is a season fraught with turmoil. It’s in these times of upheaval that we need more prayer, not less; more spiritual practice, not less; more contemplation, not less, so that we may stand in the face of uncertainty and anxiety confident in the presence of our Creator, filled with his love and mercy.
We have long sat in the historic practices of spiritual formation as a community. These concrete practices and meditations help us anchor our hearts in something deeper than the news cycle. We don’t need more content or ideas, we need to be graciously guided into holy spaces where our Creator can do what only love can do.
Why? Because we’re in this for the long haul. Without a stronger connection to God our efforts will fizzle out and fade away as our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls break down under the weight of the work.
Together, let us try these practices at home. Let us sit with the holy and be guided well into he presence of God.
Casey lives just south of Chicago. His mission is to create a way of seeing spiritual formation that embraces and welcomes those who feel left behind: by church, by others, even by God.
Empty. We’ve all done it. We’ve allJust say “put it on United’s tab!” ourselves running on empty, nearing burnout and exhaustion. And during this season of COVID, it’s a lot easier to find ourselves in this space... but what if there was a different way of seeing the word “empty” and how it relates to the signs of life that are emerging around us? What if “empty” provided hope and joy and possibility?
Life wins. But only if we step into the tomb and confront the death that surrounds us, the death that we have become accustomed and numb to. Life wins. But only if we speak up, stand up, and fight to create the change in the systems and structures that we are all complicit in maintaining. Life wins. But only if we confront the deep seed of privilege and racism that is embedded within us all. Life wins… if you want it to.
Why are the miracles of giving sight to the blind always the most controversial of Jesus’ miracles? Why is doing good for the sake of doing good, even when it falls outside of the boundaries of social norms, always stirring up trouble? There are signs of life all around us waiting to emerge, breaking the rules of what we consider to be normal. As they emerge, Jesus continues to call us to open our eyes to the goodness that is taking place all around us here and now.
Walking on water is a good parlor trick, in fact it’s really more David Blaine-esque, but how does walking on the water bring life? What exactly does this signify and how does it reveal a new creation waiting to burst forth? The fifth miracle that John uses to explain what is on the horizon, the new creation that is being birthed before us is one of total transformation, including the physical world around us. The question we must wrestle with, is how far are we willing to go to make this new creation possible? Will you let Jesus in the boat?
The possibilities for what can be done are endless, we simply have to think differently about what we have. The fourth miracle, the fourth sign of life exposes us to the reality that we too are a part of the miracle. Jesus doesn’t do this alone. Despite how much we cannot see the possibilities, Jesus still invites us to think differently, outside of the box, and anew... and we get to participate in the wonderment.
Now is the right time to do what is right. Often times we wait for the perfect moment, or the perfect opportunity—a pandemic— to step up and make a difference in the life of others. However, Jesus shows us otherwise. Now is always the right time to do what is right. Now is always the right time to bring life, to nurture it and help it emerge in our world.
Even when you’re not looking, Jesus is still at work creating and breathing new life all around us. The second miracle in John happened when no one was looking. It was only after the fact that they truly saw the new life, the miracle that burst forth. Sometimes it takes a bit of hindsight to see exactly what Jesus is doing in our midst... and it’s no less remarkable.
This is for everyone. We often think of Jesus’ miracles as healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, or helping the lame to walk again. However his first miracle was for everyone, it was a great feast, a wedding banquet that didn’t end. There are 8 miracles in the book of John, 8 events that demonstrated and proclaimed the new creation that was bursting forth, the new world that you and I get to not only inhabit but help create. The party that Jesus started is open to all, and we’re only just beginning.
How does the resurrection speak into our current reality? What does resurrection have to do with our current situation? Quarantine is a difficult space, and as we continue to walk down this road, it can be hard to want to actually celebrate. But there’s something in the story of the resurrection that speaks to our current situation. Something that speaks deeply into our current reality. The Gospel of John enlightens us this Easter Sunday as together we walk a new road forward as an Easter people.
It’s hard to hold to the reality that God is with us always, caring for us, leading us, gently, and lovingly if he doesn’t actually like us. The 23rd Psalm shows us a different type of God, a God who is present with us in the ups and downs of life, who desires to show us the beauty of life amidst the pain and difficulties that we experience and that surround us. God is with you... and it’s different than you might expect.
God sees you. All of you. He sees your grit, the rough edges, the not-ready-for-prime-time parts of your being. He sees your stuff...and He still likes you, still wants to be with you, still enjoys your presence. You are seen. You are wanted. And God wants to be in your presence.
We talk so much about the importance of believing in God, that God is good, that God loves us, that God really likes us and wants to be with us and these are important and beautiful truths to wrestle with and hold dear. But what if the converse is also true. What if God believes in us, even more so than we believe in him. What if we are God’s dream for his world and his image on the earth he loves? What if God is waiting for us to become truly human, fully human? What if the ultimate hope of our existence is not found in what we want, wish for and wait for, but that we are wanted and wished for and waited for by God?
Augustine remarked, “I am a mystery unto myself!” It can be a frustrating moment to recognize and realize that you don’t quite know yourself, or—even more painfully—to have the mask of the false self ripped from your face. No matter how frustrating or painful this experience can be, it can also be liberating. You can find freedom in the unmasking of the false self, the vulnerability and transparency that it brings. It is here in these moments that we follow Jesus along this journey towards the true self.
We all have a tendency to compare ourselves to others. We tend to think that if only we were someone else—better looking, better educated, better moneyed—we would be happier. All we really need to do is be “other” than who we truly are. This is the great comparison trap—the great trap of the spiritual life. These comparisons lead us away from the true self, the person that God created us to be; ultimately denying the person God has created and desired for us to truly and fully be. This is a prison of our own making but freedom is within our grasp.
Every person has been created to reflect God’s image in a unique way; there are no duplicates. In God’s infinite creativity you are the only you there has ever been or ever will be. There are ancient ways and paths that have been utilized throughout the centuries to help us understand the depths of our being, in order to live as salt and light in this world.
We are all faced with the existential question: “Who am I?” This question reaches down into the depths of our being, wraps its hands around our souls and squeezes—attempting to choke the life out of us if we’d let it. Filled with doubt about who we are, we listen to the 5 lies of identity as they press us further into the ground. We’ll look at these 5 lies and how we can pry the fingers from around our throat and walk into the freedom of our true identity.
God has not forgotten you. In the trials, troubles, and tribulations of life, God is not only present but surrounding you with people who will walk with you. You’ll never walk alone. However, in the midst of these experiences it’s easy to find ourselves blinded by our pain and our struggles and miss those who are near. We can easily miss how God is working to pull us out of the muck and the mire, and the people who are working with him to be present.
"It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open,” said Peter [Message Translation]. This is the crux of who we are as a church and as a people. You are welcome here. You belong here. And You’ll Never Walk Alone. This requires us to continually open our arms to everyone everywhere, to show the love of Christ to all, to love with abandon, and to be a people who are open and vulnerable with our stories, our selves, and our lives. You will find no perfect people here. We are who we are, and we will walk this road together.
Lyrics to You’ll Never Walk Alone by
Gerry & the Peacemakers
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
Our God is a God of hope. Hope is grounded in a future reality not an abstract, flimsy optimism. This makes hope a dangerous thing. Hope is hope because of the trust we place in God’s reality, in his future, and the story he calls us to not only believe in but share in and birth into reality. Hope is a dangerous thing.
You are loved. God has not forgotten you. This season of advent can bring about complex feelings of hope lost and love abandoned. Painful moments that endure in our hearts and minds, closing us off to what is present, surrounding us and waiting to be revealed. This is the love that God has promised us through Jesus and the love that we are asked to open ourselves up to. Be loved. You are loved. And you are wanted. God has not forgotten you.
In today’s society, peace is a lot like an elusive bandit on the run from us. So many are fighting to feel whole and complete in a culture that offers very few solutions to the dissonance we feel in our souls. You would think that in the technologically advanced and progressive culture we have today, people would have found a way to invent peace. But, despite all of our incredible accomplishments we struggle to get our fingers around the rogue concept.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are the fruit of the Spirit, the beautiful symphony of the movement to which we are a part. When we all join together in display of these fruits we demonstrate a beautiful movement that shifts and flexes with the ability to change the world. We get to be a part of that. We get to contribute to that. We get to make a difference. When we all join together, we work as one painting a beautiful dance across the sky.
Generosity takes a new frame through which we view the world. It’s a move away from the perception of scarcity, that we live through a scarcity lens—there’s never enough. However this is not the story that God invites us into. He invites us into a new way of seeing the world through generosity as a people who give freely, faithfully, and fiercely, challenging us to revolutionize the world around us through the giving of ourselves and all that we are.
Rob Daniels takes us through a look at the life of Dr. King, and how his work towards justice mirrored that of Jesus. There are 5 lifelong distinctive's from the life of Dr. King that are instructive to us today that will help us look more like Jesus as we understand what justice looks like.
Love and justice are intertwined and inseparable. It is love that compels us, cajoles, and commands us, to be a part of the change in this world. As the prophet Hosea (12.6) reveals, we are to maintain love and justice as we wait on God. Justice is putting hands and feet into action to change the systems and structures at work in this world.
It has been said that our ’special sauce’ as a church is our authenticity. This speaks beautifully to a deeper connection that is forming among us, a deepening trust that has been emerging over time as we’ve shared our stories, mingled our lives together, and developed a growing love for one another. This is a core part of the church and yet this is not the whole of the church. This is not the fullness of the depth of what is possible. The true deepening of connection happens when we go on mission together. When together we step out to make a difference in the world around us, sharing and exposing the goodness, the sweetness, the love of the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ.
Distraction is a normal part of our culture. We busy ourselves with and worry about so many things and yet feel truly satisfied in our everyday lives. Our great paradox is that we are both busy and bored at the same time. This restlessness eats away at and destroys our sense of God in the ordinary life. As a result we measure our expectations of God, reducing God to something other than He truly is. Rolheiser wrote, “The God who is met in the measured expectations of our own desires and imagination dies in his own impotence and irrelevance.”
What does it looks like for us as a people to cultivate an upward life? A life that experiences God regularly, daily, moment-by-moment? How can we begin to experience a God that is beyond our measured expectations and desires, a God that expands our very imagination?
We live in a transient world, a transient country, a transient city: wandering from place to place, job to job, unrooted. Simone Weil once wrote, “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul." So how can we cultivate a rootedness here in Seattle as a spiritual practice? What does it look like for us to cultivate a heart for the city and root ourselves deeply into the fabric of the city for our own spiritual health?
"Retreat!” is that not what it sounds like to say that we must begin the work of cultivating our inner life? That to begin this work is to say that we must quarantine ourselves off from the rest of society in a monastic community or at best to begin the work of disengaging ourselves from the world. Doesn’t it feel as if a call to cultivate the inner life is a call to escape from a world on fire, keeping all the buckets of water to ourselves? To cultivate the inner life is not escapism, it is not a call to passivity, but rather to action. Cultivating the inner life is an invitation to discover the abundance of the life lived for God. It opens our eyes to the possibilities of the inner land of the invisible where our spirit can find the roots of its strength. Only there will we find the clarity of vision we need to win the daily battle that is this life, and the inner anchor without which we will lose our moorings amid the mass emotions and follies of this modern age.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."
The doxology to the Lord's Prayer occurs in only a few manuscripts but yet has some profound Biblical roots helping us to see the rule and reign of Christ in our lives and throughout the world. What does this mean for the church? What does this mean for us? What does this mean for you?
In the Lord’s prayer we’re asking God’s heart, God’s mind, God’s ways to become a reality on this earth, in our lives, in our communities, in our relationships. We are exposing our need and trusting God to meet our needs with love and care and generosity. We are asking to experience the power and freedom of forgiveness as we forgive and receive forgiveness. And then in this last statement we are acknowledging that no matter how much we want those things to be a reality, we are tempted to and do work against them. It is an acknowledgement of our limitations and a plea for God to bring us back into alignment with God’s heart, God’s mind, and God’s ways when we are unable or part of us does not want to live into these realities and this prayer.
“Forgive and forget” is the trope we’ve been sold over and over again about the true nature of forgiveness. Articles abound in Success magazine, Forbes, Oprah.com on the 4 ways, the 8 ways, the 12 ways to 'Forgive and Forget’. This is not forgiveness. This is forgetfulness, and it does not honor your story and how you are being formed. Forgiveness is different from forgetfulness. Forgiveness is about remembering, but in the remembering an ability to wish someone well and let them on their way.
What do you need? Deep down in the very depths of your being, what do you need? This is a question that begs us to know, to truly know ourselves deep within in order to truly answer. This knowledge of self is found in a God who loves us deeply, and who wants to lovingly give us the gift of life.
What does it mean to pray “Thy will be done”? How does one actually begin to release that control and have a new vision of what is and can be despite the pain and suffering that is cascading down all around us. How can we be a people of prayer who actually pray ‘Thy will be done’? In this section of the Lord’s Prayer, Tracy Monts leads us through the text with her own story and the stories of others.
To pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is an act of vulnerability. To pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is an act of lament. To pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is an act of hope. These postures of prayer open us up to a profound new understanding of our relationship with God. May we be a people who pray in this way, and who pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come!’
Hallowed be thy name. What does it look like to sit in awe and wonder of God in prayer? How can we be a people who dwell in prayer, in the presence of God in awe and wonder, and how will that change who we are and how we see the world around us?
This revolution does not come cheap. It will cost you everything, and for some that will be too steep of a price to pay. For others, the dream, the hope, the possibilities of what Jesus offers to this world, to change this world, to create within this world, is not only beautiful but all they have. This revolution is not for the faint of heart. You will experience betrayal, unimaginable pain, suffering, and at times the loss of hope. Is it really worth it?
Death is life; a little is a lot; what goes up...: The kingdom of God is an upside down revolution. This Revolution does not work the way we would expect it to work, nor in the ways that everything else in this world “works”. It is a different way, a way that questions what has been deemed “normal” and instead turns everything upside down. All of this upside down revolves purely around love—love of God and love of others. But love of God and love of others is way more radical than we have been led to believe.
Stop, close your eyes, listen to the stories of revolution that are being told all around you. The good of what God is doing all around us. It’s easy to find ourselves frustrated or dispirited, even despondent when we look around. Sometimes we need to stop and listen so that we can refocus our eyes on what God is really up to in our midst.
“Give me a sign!” is what we always clamor for, and it was no different with Jesus. Despite what he had been doing, it was never enough. We need a sign! “Picture or it didn’t happen!” The revolution of Jesus, the insurgence that the kingdom of heaven is about, is not instagram-able. It is about the way of the cross. Of denial of the self for the greater cause of Christ.
It's easy to think that the revolution is an observatory sport; that we simply get to sit back and watch Jesus do his thing as we stand back in awe and wonder of what's happening. But that is not the case. The Revolution requires participation. It is a participatory engagement, a moment where you and I get to play. We're not spectators. We are live participants who get to create the change, and be the change.
What does is mean to have faith like a child? To see, know, understand God like a child? Is it possible to recapture this sort of faith, especially as we look at all of the children around us and learn from them and their questions? Child-like faith has nothing to do with an anti-intellectual posture, but rather a posture of curiosity and mystery mixed with imagination and wonder, which ultimately leads to awe.
The revolution is not immediate. It is still coming, still blooming, still coming to fruition. This is not an immediate revolution but one that requires a faithful presence in our neighborhood, with each other, and with our neighbors. It will not be instant, it will take time.
This revolution is for you, the underdog, the outcast, the downtrodden, the oppressed, those who have been deemed unworthy or unlovable, unlikeable or unseemly. This revolution is for you. Jesus didn’t come for those who have it all together. He cannot and will not be coopted by the power structures of our day. Jesus has come for those who are not the “desirables."
Eastertide has begun, and we live in the wake of resurrection. This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus, about his revolution, his kingdom, and its presence. Peel back the curtain and see, peak your ear to hear, and set your hands and feet in motion to join the revolution, a living, and active revolution that is already underway.
Still today life is not all rainbows and unicorns. We suffer, friends suffer, the world suffers. But as we stand closer to Christ - on the cross, at the burial, and at the empty tomb - in loss, death, and grief - we see reflected in his love the redemption of those experiences. The closer we get the clearer the image of love and redemption. The closer we get to Jesus the more tangible our hope for new life becomes.
A special announcement in the life of our church for us to pause and pray about. Come together and press forward.
Jesus stepped into this world, put on flesh, and submitted himself to our will. Humanity chose to destroy him in the past—and yet Jesus still offers himself to us today asking us, “what will you do?"
There is a way forward out of our past. No matter the trauma we have experienced, the pain we have suffered, it is a part of our story that we carry deep within our bones. And yet, God wants to pull us out of the depths of that story, allowing it to not only form who we are but push us forward into the next great chapter of our lives.
‘In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life.’ These lyrics (from Mumford and Sons) speak to the call of Scripture, the reality of the new story that has been laid out before us because of and through Jesus. It is our call, then to be instigators of this new story in the people and relationships around us.
Do you feel like an imposter? Do you feel like at any moment you’re going to be found out for who you really are? That after a few moments God is going to 'swipe left’ or even worse, ghost you? Maybe we feel that God is simply standing in wait, holding fast and tight before yanking the rug out from under our feet? What is this imposter syndrome, and what does it mean for us to isolate it, address it, and see beneath the surface to who God really is?
Our lives are filled with moments where the visible separation between heaven and earth becomes transparent, where we can actually see that heaven is near. However, we can easily miss them if our eyes aren’t open to this possibility. And when we do, we are witness to a beautiful collision!
Can you see? Can you see beyond the wall of our own creation? Have you noticed the wall actually surrounds us, that it actually encircles us? Beyond the wall, all around us is the presence of God, our true refuge, our true fortress. It is not the wall that protects us, it is the wall that prevents us from experiencing the freedom of Christ. Let us step forward with confidence into this new space, eyes open, hands open, hearts open.
Pause. Take a breath. Breathe. Breathe deeply and sit in the moment. In this space, connect with your soul, connect with the depths of your being, and allow yourself to recognize the soul. Is it sleeping? Is it weakened by the troubles and the deep concerns of this world? Is it wounded or in pain? What is the state of your soul? Wake up, O soul, awaken to the beautiful mystery and newness that surrounds us. That waits for us, that cries out for our participation. Awake My Soul!
Most apply the main point of Acts 6:1-7 as the emphasis on why leaders & pastors in the church are in need of "Deacons" so they can focus on preaching. It's often overlooked how the choosing of the Hellenistic Jews in the daily distribution was a re-distribution of power & advocacy for those in a vulnerable position which helped allow the church to grow through the word of God.
Tension can be present in our everyday relationships. This is not a new thing, but often times in our passive-aggressive culture we let things slide without confronting the issue and allow bitterness to fester and cloud our image of others, trapping them and ourselves in a world of caricature. How can we step out of the caricature?
Divisions in our culture seem to be running deeper than ever. What does it look like for a Christian and the church to bridge the divide? Is it possible? Can we be peacemakers? Can we lead in this area, or should we simply slide into the shadows? What are we to do?
We bring together people from diverse backgrounds and spiritual beginnings, confident that together we can inspire one another towards a positive engagement in this world. We experiment, we try new things, we fail, all along the way writing new stories of hope and love and justice. We are dreamers, artists, activists, and faithful friends who will not give up on who Jesus has called us to be and do together. We believe in stories and you’ll never walk alone.
We believe in the power of community, in face-to face connections, in learning from others, in knowing others and being known; that together we can do what cannot be done alone. We believe in relationships and you’ll never walk alone.
Everyone is on a journey to understand who God is, our own identity at its core, the intricacies of relationship with one another, and our own place in this world. We believe in your process, and you’ll never walk alone.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… but not for everyone. There are a great many who struggle with pain, and sorrow, and grief during this time of year and yet Joy is a central theme within the Christmas narrative. Where can we find Joy in this season?
The mysterious men from the East followed the star and discovered the place where the secret of love lay in the helplessness of a human baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes in the feeding trough of an animal. They discovered the place where God’s love came down. That is the most important thing for all people, to discover individually, in their own time and at their own hour, the place where God’s love has broken through, and then to follow the star that has risen for them and to remain true to the light that has fallen into their hearts.
The second Sunday of Advent: What exactly is the “peace" that Jesus came to bring; that was made possible through his birth, his incarnation in this world? Peace is misunderstood and even overused to the point that we’ve lost what Jesus actually came to bring… so what is peace?
The first Sunday of advent marks the beginning of the church calendar. It is a point of hope, of looking forward and seeing anew with bold expectations for what is possible, especially in light of the promise of Jesus.
In a world filled with heavy pressures and despair, there is a lightness that we have been called into, to be.
We want to be a generous people, but it does not come overnight. Generosity is cultivated and this is what we are moving towards as a community.
One of every 7 verses in the book of Luke are about giving… so what does it mean to actually tithe, and does Jesus talk about that?
Jesus talked about money more than faith and prayer combined. So what then, exactly, did he say?
Talking about Jesus is not about blasting people with a bullhorn, or handing out pamphlets declaring an eternal damnation. Talking about Jesus without being a douchebag starts with a relationship full of grace and generosity.
How can we learn to take care of ourselves, and grow in depth in our relationship with God while also desiring to and working to create change in the world around us—especially for the least of these and the voiceless?
We believe in your process to understand who God is, or if God is. We believe in your process to understand your spiritual beginnings and spiritual endings and everything in between. We believe in your story and how it intersects with our community.
God is still speaking. However, the difficulty to hear him and even understand him is lost in the cacophony of life. Is it really possible to cut through the noise and hear clearly what he is speaking to and over us?
Our collective credibility as the Church has been eroding since the 1800s, however it is being exacerbated today. What is the root of our credibility problem and is there any way to fix it?
We often times confronted with feelings of inadequacy and wrestle with our own insecurities and questions of validation, wondering whether or not we’re enough. However, this is not the message that Jesus leaves with us.
To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul,” wrote Simone Weil in the 1940s. We need roots, we need community, we need each other. You are not alone.
Who are we as a church? And where exactly are we going? We all have an origin story, a story that anchors us in our lives. This is our origin story, the story that anchors us in this community and in our faith.
Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote, “We dwell on on the edge of mystery and ignore it, wasting our souls, risking our stake in God… Our mind has ceased to be sensitive to the wonder.” Have we lost our wonder and in the process lost God?
Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote, “We dwell on on the edge of mystery and ignore it, wasting our souls, risking our stake in God… Our mind has ceased to be sensitive to the wonder.” Have we lost our wonder and in the process lost God?
Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote, “We dwell on the edge of mystery and ignore it, wasting our souls, risking our stake in God… Our mind has ceased to be sensitive to the wonder.” Have we lost our wonder and in the process lost God?
It is easy to despair and sit in the tension of the day. But peace is possible, and here’s how to find peace in the moment and in the here and now.
For peace to be possible, people must meet across differences. We must extend the hand of relationship in order to move from hostility to peace.
Our own reality is shaped by the relationships in which we participate. How small has your own reality become?
This God of power commands even the violent, seismic storms. He is fully man, fully God, and in control.
Miracles were Jesus’ way of peeling back the curtain to reveal the way in which the Kingdom of God actually works. They teach us what the Kingdom is like and what we are to strive to create.
Be merciful, just as God is and has been merciful to you. Mercy is supposed to be a never-ending chain of love towards one another that deeply changes us and forms us more and more into the image of Jesus.
Mercy means that God reaches out and reaches out and reaches out towards us giving us another chance, another day, another opportunity over and over and over again to respond to his love and turn that love towards others.
The profound and powerful love of God refuses to leave us and our circumstances as they are. The profound and powerful love of God is a restorative love, that changes us and the calls us to create restorative change all around us; creating and breathing new life and grace into everything and everyone we touch.
Pascal once wrote, “God made man in his own image, and man returned the compliment.” Perhaps this is why it is so difficult for us to accept the belief that God is tender and loves us just as we are; that the love of God is radically different than we expect or know. We need a radical, new understanding of what real love is.
Why does the resurrection matter? What does an ancient story about a man rising from the dead have anything to do with me today, here and now?