11.24.24 Message: Christ the King

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11.3.24 Message: Imagine Together – Vitality

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Imagine Together: Vitality (John 3:1-10) 

Vitality expresses a quality of life that is full, animated, and enduring, with the capacity for continual growth and development. The capacity for growth and renewal is essential to healthy and thriving relationships, vocations, and churches. Over time, and as we age — ourselves and the institutions we may serve — a kind of spiritual calcification can set in.

We can get stuck and stagnant, not only resisting that which is new, but perhaps even fearing it. We likely know we are not living as vitally as we might, but even if we deeply crave a renewed life, the prospect of change — even change for the better — can seem a risky enterprise.

In what ways do you see our church engaging in the work of Vitality? In what ways could we do better?

10.27.24 Message: Memory Issues

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10.20.24 Message – Imagine Together: A Sense of Wonder

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Imagine Together: A Sense of Wonder (Matthew 6:26-30)

What do you see when you look at the world around you? Do you experience awe and gratitude or take things for granted?

A sense of wonder, a rich blend of surprise, curiosity, contemplation, and joy are essential components of our faith, and help us connect with God and God’s creation. They can be big, extraordinary events, or more everyday moments. Either way, our attitude of awe and wonder affects our faith and our ideas about generosity.

Jesus reminds us to let go of our worries, which is often what detracts from our ability for awe and engage God’s creation and be open to wonderment. What have you been in awe of today?

 

10.13.24 Message – Imagine Together: Enough at Every Table

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Imagine Together: Enough at Every Table (Isaiah 55)

How do we decide what has value and what doesn’t? How do we find our way through difficult times with our hope intact?

From ancient times to today folks have worked their way through hard times and learned what is most meaningful in their lives. Sometimes, those thoughts are deeply connected, and other times, not so much. Questions about meaning and value can make us feel uncertain, and lead to questions about our faith. There’s nothing wrong with those questions, because eventually they will help strengthen our faith.

Isaiah’s encouraging words in chapter 55 remind us that God’s presence is strong in our lives, whatever our circumstances. The poetry of this chapter invites us to remember that streams can flow in deserts, swords can be made over into plowshares, and ordinary people can envision and build something better, together.

10.6.24 Message – Imagine Together: Healing

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9.29.24 Message: Quest – Returning Home

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Quest: Returning Home (John 15:1-17)

Jesus says “abide in me” and follows that up with the commandment to love one another. The beauty of travel as a spiritual act is, as Rick Steves says, that our prized souvenirs are the “strands of different cultures we decide to knit into our own character.”

As we bring our series on travel to a close, we contemplate what it means to return home. After stretching our spirits and our love to include more of the glorious creation and its peoples, we return to a home that will never be the same to us. We have returned with “guests”–memories of new friends and new perspectives.

Could we also return with new convictions to be more active and loving citizens of humanity right where we reside?

 

 

 

9.22.24 Message: Quest – The Reflection

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Quest: The Reflection (Revelations 21:22-26)

When we begin to broaden our experience of people and cultures, whether through long-distance travel or in our home communities, we may at first feel uncomfortable with the plurality of religious thought and practice. Especially if it has not come into close view in our lives before.

But, if we continue to reflect and be open, what feels so different may not be as far from us as we first imagined. The light we seek and life-sustaining river that runs through the “Kin-dom” of God is full of common themes across religions: peaceful coexistence, food and shelter, love and compassion for those suffering and oppressed.

How can deeper reflection about our own hesitation to connect to the wider human family free us to explore more possibilities for a better world?

9.15.24 Message: Quest – The Encounter

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Quest: The Encounter (John 4:7-40)

Jesus often crossed paths with others not from his “tribe.” He did not shy away from these moments, instead regularly seeking out these connections. He met people in their daily lives, like the Samaritan woman at the well and her community and engaged with them at the point of their deepest yearning.

When we seek out and open ourselves to new encounters, new people, new relationships, we allow ourselves a spiritual connection with humanity. When we do this, we discover more spiritual depth within us than we previously imagined.
How can we shift our perception, redefining “strangers” as “friends we have not yet met?”

9.8.24 Message: Quest – Leaving Home

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Quest: Leaving Home (Exodus 13:17-21)

Leaving Egypt was not a pleasure excursion for the Hebrew people. But the story of their pilgrimage in the desert in Exodus reminds us that traveling, moving, leaving home, is part of our faith tradition.

Each of us finds ourselves sometime in life needing to leave the familiar in order to grow and to thrive. Beginning a journey involves leaving “home”–whether that is a physical place in order to explore another part of the world or changing a mindset that keeps us from expanding our spiritual capacity.

What must we do to embark into the unknown?