Over the last several years, we’ve all experienced strained and broken relationships. What is the faith-filled path forward in these relationships? How do we create space for forgiveness and reconciliation? Joseph’s reunion with his brothers illustrates how we can seek real healing.
Continue readingSpiritual Practices
How do we prepare for the work God calls us to? Spiritual practices create space for the Holy Spirit to work in us. They are not self-care, but joining with God for healing and restoration!
Continue readingA Political Church
One of the biggest complaints about churches today is that we’re too political. What we mean though, is that churches are too partisan. Because God calls us to love our neighbors the same way we love ourselves and our families – and that’s a political act. So how can we be political without becoming partisan? Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room is good news for anyone who’s sick and tired of politics as usual.
Continue readingWhat is Our Calling?
Most of us struggle to hear God’s call. Isn’t that something reserved for preachers and prophets? But God calls each of us. And God calls ALL of us. Our calling is something for good – not just our own good, but the good of our community, and of the world around us. So what is God’s call for us?
Continue readingTiny Christmas
JR. Forasteros - December 19, 2021
Tiny Christmas
We might be forgiven for thinking Christmas is all about the big, elaborate celebrations. But the prophet Micha reminds us that Christmas affirms God is at work in the small, overlooked and out of the way. How can we find God with us this tiny Christmas?
More From "O Christmas Tree"
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The Christmas BranchJR. Forasteros - November 28, 2021 |
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Christmas LightsJR. Forasteros - December 5, 2021 |
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The Bright SadnessTom Fuerst - December 12, 2021 |
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TIME magazine just announced its annual Person of the Year to be Elon Musk, which sparked outrage. Musk, as head of Tesla, is one of the billionaires in the last year who, in large part because they don’t pay taxes, has invested in sending himself into space. The discourse around his award as Person of the Year is, “Should we really be celebrating such narcissism?”
But TIME has long held that their award isn’t necessarily a positive thing. Person of the Year is more about who is shaping history – good or bad. It’s a concrete embodiment of the Great Man of History theory.
You’ve heard of the ‘Great Man of History’ theory even if you don’t think you have. It’s the idea that history is made by a few exceptional, powerful people who rise up and seize the reins of the human story. So we learn about Alexander the Great and Napoleon and Lincoln and Dr. King, and we’re taught they’re great. They’re exceptional. The reason they were able to accomplish what they did is because there was something special about them.
The Great Man of History theory sounds good. It even feels good because it feels like hope. That’s why every election year, we look for a candidate to embody all our hopes and dreams. We feel powerless. We don’t feel great by any measure. So we look for someone great to come along and fix things for us.
There’s something of the Great Man theory in the Christmas story, too. After all, what is Jesus if not the Greatest Man?
But as we’ll see today, Jesus doesn’t really qualify as a Great Man. He definitely wouldn’t have made the cover of TIME magazine when he was alive. And that matters. Because the revolution of the Christmas story is not that Jesus was a Great Man… but that God doesn’t need Great Men. God works through the small, the overlooked, the powerless and the ignored.
God brings peace to the world through you and me.
Join us Sunday as we find God’s transforming power in the most unlikely places.
The Bright Sadness
It can be hard for us to know how to navigate the complex experiences of the holidays. For some, it’s a time of great joy; for others, struggle and sadness. Advent offers us a unique avenue into these spaces by inviting us to confront pain and disillusionment with hope. How can we wait in the bright sadness for God’s arrival?
Continue readingChristmas Lights
Christmas lights are one of our most beautiful symbols of the season. But as the prophet Micah points out, light reveals and purifies. In our preparation for Christmas, God wants to purify us, get us ready for Jesus’ coming. Will we respond? Or will we hide?
Continue readingThe Christmas Branch
At the beginning of the Advent season, we ask what hope looks like. In a world that craves peace on earth and goodwill for all people, a world that is far from those dreams, how do we hope? Jeremiah invites us into his model faithful presence in a hurting world – one that invites us to look for God right where we’re hurting. That’s hope.
Continue readingO Christmas Tree
The Christmas tree has become a central symbol of our celebration of Jesus’ birth. How does this symbol invite us deeper into the Christmas story – a story that reaches from the ancient past toward a hope-filled future?
Continue readingPilgrim 2021
Churches serving or doing missions work often feels paternalistic. How do we serve those outside the church, how do we love those outside the church, in ways that respect them as equally God’s image-bearers? The model of the ancient pilgrimage can help us imagine a better way to meet others – as students who can help one another know God better!
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