Ephesians 1:3-14

Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus opens with an epic prayer. It’s a prayer that celebrates the bigger story within which every one of our stories is a part of. We come to find that this story is not so much about what we have to do to get into God's good graces, and more about what God has done to welcome us into His blessing.

Ephesians 1:1-2

We begin a new collection of teachings on the book of Ephesians. Ephesians opens our imaginations to what growing up and maturing in Christ could look like. While the church in Ephesus got off to a powerful start, we later read in Revelation that they had lost their first love along the way. We seem to know far too much about how love starts, and very little about how it might continue. How do we recapture first love? And how do we sustain and grow in love on the journey of life?

Can you think of a time in your life, when someone showed up to give you the strength you needed to carry on? When the early Church gathered, their time together was marked by a supernatural encouragement. People walked away strengthened and filled with the courage to live into their destinies. What would it look like to be a community that embodies encouragement? Recorded live from Belong Retreat.

At the core of every human being is the longing to be fully known and fully loved. In the garden of Eden, humanity was naked and unashamed before God and before one another. But because of sin, we often find ourselves hiding and afraid from community. This week, we explore how the Johari Window could be a powerful tool in helping us reclaim our humanity in community, allowing ourselves to be fully known and fully loved.

We live in time where we're simultaneously vigilant about accountability, yet so turned off by it. We’re proactive in holding people accountable in the court of public opinion, yet absolutely turned off by the idea of anyone holding us accountable. Scripture calls us to sharpen one another, to help each other become all that God has created us to be. This week, we explore the final practice of belonging: accountability.

Throughout Scripture, we see many maternal and motherly metaphors used to describe God's nature, specifically toward us as His children. Unfortunately, the church in recent history has steered away from using feminine imagery for God. But it wasn't always this way. Church fathers and mothers throughout history used language about God that was quite fluid in regards to gender. What does it look like to know the maternal side of God? How can see God more clearly through the lens of motherhood?

Sociologists have observed a steep decline of empathy in our world today. And this has big implications on our journey of belonging. Thankfully, empathy is a skill that can be developed. As we look to Jesus, we see a God who embodies empathy in the way He sees and knows us. This week, we explore the fourth practice of belonging: empathy.

Like Adam and Eve, you could be tailor-made for the place of ultimate communion, and yet forgo connection due to fear. We experience profound loneliness with the very people we belong to because we hide, afraid of being seen as we are. Vulnerability is coming out of hiding and exposing our wounds so that we can be accepted as we are—not as we want to be. It's confessing our brokenness, our weakness, and our sins, not only so that God can heal us, but also to experience true belonging with His people.