Series: Mixing it Up

Title: Is that the best you got?

Last week we considered the fact that Jesus was a pluralist--he continually reached out to those who were outside the normally accepted groups in his society. This week we will consider the fact that Coexisting is actually a low standard in comparison to Jesus' teachings. We are not to just coexist or tolerate our neighbors; we are to love them. And beyond that we are to love our enemies. This is the standard to which we are called. Join us this week as we consider how we can look beyond ourselves in order to learn to know, understand, and love our neighbor, and our enemy. We will consider the idea of: Coexist--Is that the best you got?

Series: Mixing it Up

Title: Mixing It Up With Jesus

This week we start a new series: "Mixing It Up: Life in a pluralistic society." We will start by looking at Jesus and his teachings. Was Jesus a pluralist? How did this affect his choice of disciples? His attitude to the poor and outcasts of society? The way he responded to both women and children? How did he view those who were not of the covenant people of God? Did he think they had any spiritual life at all? Were there things they could teach the Hebrew people of Jesus' day? What is the right approach to people of other religions in our own time and society? Join us for the teaching: Mixing It Up With Jesus.

Title: not Called to Change the World

This week we want to explore Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about being Salt and Light. Jesus says to his disciples that they are salt & light. He doesn’t say we have to become light or become salt. He simply says this is what we are. Our lives when formed in the way of Jesus are salt and light, and we help preserve and illuminate the world. Plan to be with us as we examine what genuine Jesus people look like in a study called -- not Called to Change the World.

Title: Practicing the Presence of People

We are going to explore Jesus' teaching on how we treat others and His high ethic of love. What does a Jesus-style love of neighbor (and even enemy) look like? Unfortunately, our culture forms us to view life and people in terms of competition, and Jesus combats this with an other-oriented spirituality. Wendell Berry once asked in one of his essays -- what are people for? It is a good question that Jesus forces us to grapple with. There are over 7 billion people on this planet. What are they all for? Plan to be with us as we examine the teachings of Christ in a study called: Practicing the Presence of People.

Title: Racism Part 2

We have a problem: racism in America.   Racism is an anti-gospel.  Last week, we looked at the violent history of American racism.  This week we will talk about the inheritance of systemic racism and how it shapes our current context.  As a gospel people, we are to testify to a new reality:  one faith, one body, one baptism.  Together, we will seek to better understand the part we all play in either perpetuating or standing against systems of oppression.  Come and be formed by the Spirit and by scripture as we confront the stronghold of racism.

Title: Racism Part 1

We have a problem: racism in America.  Racism is an anti-gospel.  For the next two weeks, we will pause and listen.  We will hear what scripture has to tell us about the sin of racism.  We will look at the violent legacy of racism that shaped our nation.  We will sit with the stories of those suffering under racism, and we will talk about the part we all play in either perpetuating or standing against systems of oppression.

Title: Pentecost

Fresh off Ascension, we celebrate Pentecost — the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ Incarnation was about a descent for an Ascent (lifting humanity to God). If Jesus has included us in the life of God, in His ascension to the Father, then it seems that the Spirit would descend to help us to know and experience this inclusion. As the Anointed One, Jesus has brought the Holy Spirit into our world of flesh, and as He embraced our darkness, we were included in His own anointing with the Spirit.  We will explore how the Holy Spirit is the spirit of adoption and truth as we look at Galations 4:3-6.

Title: The Assension

Thus week we celebrate the Ascension of Christ. Saint Augustine said, “The Feast of the Ascension is that festival which confirms the grace of all the festivals together … For unless the Savior has ascended into heaven, his nativity would have come to nothing … and his passion would have borne no fruit for us, and his most holy resurrection would have been useless.” For Augustine, belief in the ascension of Jesus is not an optional extra to be appended to our faith. The ascension is the culmination of all that Jesus has accomplished for us. Our study will explore how all the different facets, layers, and dimensions of humanity have been taken by Jesus into the divine life of God.

Title: Playing with the thougth: "The heart has its reasons of which Reson knows nothing."

We continue in our celebration of the Resurrection. Our text for this week is John 20:24-29. We have looked at different Resurrection encounters of Christ. This week we explore Doubting Thomas. Thomas seems to represent the modern man who is skeptical of truth claims that have not been independently verified and scientifically analyzed. How do we know the truth? Are we just lone individuals trying to discover the meaning of life? Or does community shape us? Blaise Pascal said, “The heart has its reasons of which Reason knows nothing.” Plan to be with us as we play with this thought.

Title: Road to Emmaus

We are celebrating the season of Resurrection! They had pinned all their hopes on this Jesus who was mighty in word and deed, and now their leader was pinned on a Roman torture stake. The long road home was no stroll in the park. “Why so downcast, oh my soul?” Maybe we aren’t that different from these disciples. We all live by certain narratives that long for a happy ending. And we all have those painful moments where it seems that our story-lines collapse. But then a stranger steps in and speaks into the chaos (much like God in Genesis bringing function to the mayhem). Join us we explore the Road to Emmaus in Luke 24.