In this third and final week of our series “Questions of Faith,” we look today to a very present and relevant question: How do we get along without hurting one another? In recent years, the experience of family division and church divisions over political and theological ideals has become all too painfully common. We’ll look […]

Jesus was no stranger to questions. He was asked questions repeatedly in his ministry and he also asked many questions himself. “Do you love me?” “What are you looking for?” “Do you believe this?” These are just a few of the over 300 questions that Jesus asked in the Gospels. If Jesus had this many […]

For this first in our brief series in “Questions of Faith” we will wrestle with the question of “Why are we Christian?” using two New Testament texts. The first, from Philippians is thought to be among the earliest of Christian Hymns, serving the dual purpose of singing, and as a statement of faith. It is […]

“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.” ~The Message “Blessed are we when we treasure the wisdom of the earth, receiving survival strategies whispered underground by bristlecone pine and sequoia, returning the praise songs of nuthatch and titmouse, flocking together with the murmuration maps […]

In the Beatitudes, Jesus stands our world on its head. We believe in personal pride; Jesus blesses poverty of spirit. We seek pleasure; Jesus blesses those who mourn. We see the prosperity of aggressive people; Jesus blesses the meek. We love good food and drink; Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. As […]

This Sunday our series in The Beatitudes continues with the Goodness of God as we consider Jesus’s blessings for the Pure in Heart. What does it mean to be pure in heart? In “The Cost of Discipleship,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that the pure in heart are “Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely to […]

This Sunday our series in The Beatitudes moves us from the Compassion of God to the Goodness of God as we consider Jesus’s blessings for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and those who are merciful. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to find oneself so captivated by the love of God they […]

“As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for you the living God.” ~Psalm 42: 1 Times of mourning or grieving will be something we will all experience at some point in our lives. We will find ourselves yearning for comfort, longing to be drawn […]

For second Sunday worship, we will begin a new six week series in the Beatitudes from Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes are remembered as among Jesus' most essential teachings and for this series we have divided these blessings into three parts: The Compassion of God, the Goodness of God, the Justice of God. […]