It is that time of year when we remember the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Awakenings allow us to see things from a new perspective like being lifted up, as on a mountaintop, above our normal way of seeing. Many in our secular age have a boxed-in way of viewing the world that simply assumes material reality is all there is. So we need a mountain. There is another world. Things are not just what they seem on the surface. As sleepers, we have to get woke. Plan to be with us as we explore this mystical moment in the life of Christ in a study called: GET WOKE!

Series: Soul-Tending in a Soul-Challenged World 

We will conclude our thoughts in this series: Soul-Tending in a Soul-Challenged world. Have you ever had a direct experience/encounter with God? Then you may be a mystic. The Bible itself was written by a group of Jewish and Christian mystics who were not just writing down their thoughts about God, but they were ones who had an encounter/experience with the Divine. We have already talked contemplative seeing and having a contemplative posture (in the world and nature), and now we want to explore contemplative prayer and its potential to bring a real break-thru into our lives. Our study this week is called: Modern Mystics -- Seeking God as a way of life.

Series:  Soul-Tending in a Soul-Challenged World

The week we share some more thoughts in our series: Soul-Tending in a Soul-Challenged World. Part of good soul-care is remembering who we are, and Genesis declares that we are this glorious collaboration of the dust of the earth and the breath of God. Is there a link between good soul-care and staying connected with the soil and nature? Can the soul actually wither from lack of communion with God’s good earth? What if the land, water, trees, and plants were more than just resources? What if the natural word is all holy space filled with creatures and living things with their own sacred duties to perform? Plan to be with us as we explore what it means to be animated dirt in a study called: Second Nature -- Hearing creation’s chorus.

Series:  Soul-Tending in a Soul-Challenged World

In Psalm 27, David faces a time of war and yet finds a certain level of peace through contemplation of the beauty of the Lord. What does it look like to behold the beauty of the Lord in all people, in all places, and at all times? There is an all-out battle on the soul that comes from the divisiveness of the current culture wars (played out 24/7 on network news, talk radio, and social media). A posture of endless reaction to this barrage of culture ideologies will take its toll on your soul. Is there a more contemplative posture we can embrace? Join us as we share more thoughts on soul-care in a study called: Toll on the Soul -- (and the contemplative posture).

Series:  Soul-Tending in a Soul-Challenged World

This week we begin a new series of thoughts called: Soul-Tending in a Soul-Challenged World. Many writers have discussed the current madness of modern life. We cannot sustain this level of pace, stress, and noise. So is there a life we can sustain? In Exodus chapter 3, Moses turns aside (from whatever it was he was going to do), gives wonder its proper place, and encounters the divine. The glory of God was in the bush. What if every bush is on fire with God (and we all too often just rush past it)? What are the places in our world that cause us to take off our shoes because we realize that we are standing on holy ground? Join us as we explore this story in Exodus in a study called: God in the Bush: the art of contemplative seeing.

Even though the weather messed up our church calendar schedule, this is the week we are  remembering the baptism of Jesus. Why does Jesus join in this communal act of repentance that is performed by John the Baptist? Luke’s account of this event is written in such a way as to reveal that Jesus is the New Adam launching a new humanity (who is not born of flesh but of Spirit and water). So we are baptized into Christ and therefore baptized into this new humanity in whom the Father is well pleased. The baptism of Christ shows us that God is not interested in mere religion but in human flourishing. God takes great delight in the mundane humanity of everyday life and blesses it. Religion often turns away from what God has declared as good, and in this process we become less than human and the things of earth grow strangely dim. The origin of Jesus' ministry being bathed in water is a powerful affirmation of the goodness of this world. Our study this week is called: Jesus’ Baptism, Human Flourishing and Corrupted Religion.

This week we will focus on the fact that Jesus is the greatest gift ever given, yet many times people chose to return the gift. He wasn't exactly what they had been expecting or hoping for. So they tried to exchange him for something else, in one way or another. We, too, aren't sure what we are getting with the gift of Jesus and the incarnation. We often don't understand the vastness of who he is and what he came to bring. This week we will consider who Jesus came to be and the offer of new and fulfilling life that he holds out to each of us. This week's message is called: Returning the Gift

The theme for Advent’s fourth week is Love which fits nicely with the theme of Christmas Eve -- Love came down. It was Mary’s womb where the Messiah was conceived and from which God took on flesh. In the very beginning of time the Spirit hovered over the chaotic waters and creation sprang forth, and then in the fullness of time the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and creation was reborn. The Gospel writer Luke says, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Enclosing God within her womb, Mary is known as the Theotokos (God-bearer). We, too, are called to be overshadowed by the Most High and became a kind of Theotokos through whom God may enter the world again and again. The message this week is called: Interrupted, Overshadowed, and Bearing God.

The theme for this week of Advent is joy, and this Sunday we light the pink candle. Are our lives ordered by the fear, anxiety, and frustration of society, or as Christians are we learning to live by the rhythms of hope, peace, and love? Hope is anticipated joy in all that God has for us. Christianity is uniquely a religion of joy centered in good news. The writers of the New Testament share with us this simple spiritual discipline: stare at Jesus. At all times and in all circumstances look at Jesus (who grasped the joy in front of Him and endured the cross and now shares His joy with us). Joy is a resistance to the rage of our age. Joy is also an alternative to all the ways our society likes to choke out life, and it reminds us that we are on the receiving end of God’s good gifts. Our study this week is called: Joy to the World.

The Spirituality of Advent calls us to start our journey in expectation of the second coming of Christ. The focus is on hope -- hope that the ultimate word in history is the triumph of God, the reign of God’s kingdom, and the eternal lasting rule of the good; hope that the evil in this world is doomed and will not be the final word. We will explore the ancient challenge of 2 Peter 3:3-15 to be at peace. Our study this week is called: Bright Hope for Tomorrow, and our practice together will center in on HOPE.