Teaching Pastor: Anne-Marie Finsaas, Pastor of Formational Life | Lent 2017 | www.thedoor.org

Anne-Marie speaks his Sunday, letting the story of the woman caught in adultery bring us to the cross. The woman was a sinner, which Jesus indeed confronted. But she was also being sinned against – used, threatened, indeed very nearly killed by others for their own purposes; and in confronting those who would throw the stones, Jesus protected and restored her.

The cross holds all of this – our need for the judgment against us to be released and our sins forgiven; and our need for healing from our own sins and the sins of others.

Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | Lent 2017 | www.thedoor.org

We know the drill, don't we: God wants us to forgive. But how do we really get to that place where we actually do forgive? How can we truly trust God with the betrayals, the wounds, the losses, or even the inconveniences and irritations? And once I’ve done the work of forgiving, what about tomorrow, when the pain of that betrayal, loss, or wounding is still there?

Teaching Pastor David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | Lent 2017 | www.thedoor.org

David again takes us into the strange contradictions of the Lenten season – this week the connection between fasting and feasting. In Luke 4, we see Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness and fasting for 40 days. Fasting equals deprivation, right? –not doing something, not consuming something, not enjoying or participating in something.

But the fasting, within the silence and solitude of the wilderness, creates a spaciousness in which to hear the Voice of God and, far from being deprived, we are able to feast on the Presence of God.

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | Lent 2017 | www.thedoor.org

The question taking us through Lent is, “How can we, as God’s people, stay on this Lenten journey that will actually bring us to the cross?” Taylor Bongard’s answer last week: we do it together. This week, Dave takes us to the connection between suffering and joy. The biblical authors frequently linked these seemingly contradictory qualities; and followers of Jesus’ Way across the centuries have discovered the same truth, that God does not hold himself aloof from the suffering of wrecked humanity, but “for the joy set before Him” enters in – and calls us to follow.

Peter and Hallie Kapsner, Lead Staff Pastors | All Church Gatherings | www.thedoor.org

Taylor Bongard, Community Life Associate | Lent 2017 | www.thedoor.org

On our first Sunday in this season of preparation for the coming of the cross and of resurrection, we join one another at the Table of Jesus. Taylor Bongard brings the meditation, pointing out that coming together like this is a potent reminder that we need one another as we walk out this journey.

Kati Beasley, Special Guest Speaker | Lent 2017 | www.thedoor.org

Kati takes us into Lent, asking, What am I attached to that makes me feel safe? What am I clutching so tightly, that keeps me from the ways of Jesus? What needs to die, so that God can do what He wants in me? It’s so counter to our culture, but it’s the path Jesus walked and it’s the way into which He invites us.

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner, Lead Staff Pastor | Acts | www.thedoor.org

Peter prepares us for these next six weeks: “My hope as we turn our face towards Lent is that we can say yes to our King again and be willing to pick up that Cross while keeping the hope of the Resurrection in front of us – for there is always a hope and a future in His beautiful Kingdom.”

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | Acts | www.thedoor.org

This Sunday Dave includes Acts 12 as context for our study in Acts 13. James had just been beheaded, Peter had been imprisoned, and it must have seemed that there was more death than life, more darkness than life, more lies than truth for these followers of Jesus. And in that environment, the people of the church at Antioch gave away their best resources, sending out Barnabas and Saul at the Spirit’s instruction.

Our natural instincts typically are to hold back, clutching and hoarding resources; and Dave wonders, how do we sustain an outward focus and keep on going, sending, and hoping when it looks like evil is winning? What might nurture that kind of interior strength out of which we could let go of what we’re holding on to?

Guest Speaker: Wayne Thyren | www.thedoor.org

Wayne shares his story of listening and opening up to what Jesus was calling him into. Working with Timber Bay, who “seeks out the unseen kids among us who struggle the most,” Wayne was willing and ready to join Jesus in “turning his face outward.” What took him by surprise, however, was what surfaced within himself: patterns and prejudices he didn’t think he had.