One Hope: God's Promise Through Isaiah

… the if only’s become tools we use to define ourselves.  Our self-image.  Our identity. And soon this prison becomes so thick that we get lost.  The prison becomes so dark that we can’t see into new life because we are so held back by shame of an old life.

One Hope: God's Promise Through Isaiah

One beautiful aspect of being made in the image of God is that his people are creative. Instead of a sermon, this recording contains a compilation of songs and readings that highlight the creativity of the Highrock church family as we continue to learn from the parable of the prodigal son.

One beautiful aspect of being made in the image of God is that his people are creative. Instead of a sermon, this recording contains a compilation of songs and readings that highlight the creativity of the Highrock church family as we continue to learn from the parable of the prodigal son.

Welcome Home

I have plenty of stories where my soul was disrupted by something powerfully painful. But the disruptions that I’d fight and die for? They were the beautiful ones. It’s the day i met my wife at Starbucks up in North Beverly. The day I married her. It’s the day we found out we were pregnant, even though the doctors had told us we’d never conceive on our own without medical intervention. It was the day my daughter was born. Holy Lord but I couldn’t stop crying. For days. I mean, I was way worse than my infant. I still can’t not cry when I think about it four years later! It’s the day we birthed this church. The day we baptized Zhenyang. The beauty of it all forever changed me, because in each of these moments, I saw, if even through a mirror dimly, the most powerful kind of disruption the world has ever known -- the wholly disruptive power of God’s love. And it's this disruptive love that we witness and remember in the character of the Father that Jesus painted in his parable.

I have plenty of stories where my soul was disrupted by something powerfully painful. But the disruptions that I’d fight and die for? They were the beautiful ones. It’s the day i met my wife at Starbucks up in North Beverly. The day I married her. It’s the day we found out we were pregnant, even though the doctors had told us we’d never conceive on our own without medical intervention. It was the day my daughter was born. Holy Lord but I couldn’t stop crying. For days. I mean, I was way worse than my infant. I still can’t not cry when I think about it four years later! It’s the day we birthed this church. The day we baptized Zhenyang. The beauty of it all forever changed me, because in each of these moments, I saw, if even through a mirror dimly, the most powerful kind of disruption the world has ever known -- the wholly disruptive power of God’s love. And it's this disruptive love that we witness and remember in the character of the Father that Jesus painted in his parable.

Welcome Home

We all have a propensity to be younger brother-ish in the way we approach responsibility, sometimes. But other times, we have a different problem when it comes to responsibility. A problem embodied in the older brother that we just heard about a few minutes ago in our scripture reading. We tend towards being over-responsible. We want to live up to and even exceed every expectation put on us. We never want to disappoint others and are perpetually looking to please those who we look up to. We play by “the rules” and never step out of line. The website is crashing. I’ll fix it. My sister is struggling again. I’ll take her kids. A boss is drowning in work. I’ll cancel my family plans and stay late. We’re dutiful and obedient to a fault. But here’s the thing. Eventually. Eventually we start keeping score about our responsibleness. Eventually we start to tally all the ways we’ve sacrificed extra. Or served more. Or put in the overtime. Or done the dishes last time. Or took out the trash again. Or bailed them out, again. Or gave them a present, again, that they haven’t reciprocated, ever. Eventually we start keeping score. And if it looks like they’re getting ahead and we aren’t? Well…a tiny, tiny seed of envy and resentment starts to sprout. But even the tiniest seed can grow into a field of bitterness. And before too long, all we see are the ways we’ve stepped up and they haven’t. All the ways we’ve been faithful and they haven’t. All the ways we deserve the recognition and they don’t. And before we know it, we’re lost in self-imposed exile of bitterness, just like the elder brother did in today’s scripture passage.