What is the role of surprise in faith? How can we be more present to our stories? Where do we least expect to find God hiding? How can we take more risks to dare to go where we've always longed to go?

Worship Songs:

Holy Spirit

For The Beauty 

Bind Us Together

Christ Be All Around Me

How can we embrace our faith journey with Poet’s Eyes? How can we learn to see faith as a set of creative constraints—imperfect but liberating? Where can we experiment with our limitations and be freed up to live more fully?

Worship Songs:

 I Will Sing

You Hold It All⁠

Oceans⁠

Teaching Song:

Faith

The story of Esther is, in part, a script for the holiday of Purim. The Purim festival celebrates hidden identities, humor, and survival. How can we enact more "tactical frivolity" in turbulent times? How do we address the violent themes in Esther's story and our own world? How can we both laugh at power and take peaceful action to subvert it?

Worship Songs:

Anchor of Hope

Path of Sorrow

Steadfast Love Endures

Remembrance/Step by Step

How are uncertainty and faith necessary partners? Just as Esther attempts to rewrite King Saul’s failures in 1 Samuel 15, how can we rewrite and redeem the failures of Christianity, our family trees, and our own lives? Can we get unstuck and just start moving, even if we don't know what will happen? What if we have experienced everything in our lives “for such a time as this” to make a small difference in the world?

Worship Songs:

Be Thou My Vision

In Christ Alone

Yet Not I, But Through Christ In Me

Teaching Song:

The Old Story

The book of Esther invites us to grapple with God’s hiddenness in the world. Is our survival and success up to us or is God hiding behind the scenes? Are those in power seriously dangerous or laughable? How much of our identity do we feel like we need to conceal to fit in? What do we do when our success comes at the cost of an injustice to someone else?

Worship Songs:

Come Thou Fount

Bind Us Together

Oceans

Take Heart

Questions are an essential element of faith. Our community is called "Crossings" in reference to a story in Genesis in which Jacob wrestles with God before crossing the River Jabbok. Wrestling and questioning aren't opposed to faith; they are the necessary conditions for it. Each summer, we pass the microphone to members of our community who share their "Most Important Question". It's an opportunity for us to get to know each other, and to remind ourselves that we are not alone in our questioning.

Worship Songs:

Yet Not I, But Through Christ in Me

You Hold it All

⁠You Hold it All⁠⁠God of Death to Life

Make Room

Teaching Song:

 Crack the Case

Questions are an essential element of faith. Our community is called "Crossings" in reference to a story in Genesis in which Jacob wrestles with God before crossing the River Jabbok. Wrestling and questioning aren't opposed to faith; they are the necessary conditions for it. Each summer, we pass the microphone to members of our community who share their "Most Important Question". It's an opportunity for us to get to know each other, and to remind ourselves that we are not alone in our questioning.

Worship Songs:

Abide With Me

Cornerstone

You Hold it All
God of Death to Life

Pentecost is a celebration of a new world and a new understanding of language. How can we see language as an act of faith? How can we feel empowered to let go of old concepts and ideas that no longer fit us? How can we use communication to include rather than exclude?

Psalm Reading:

Psalm 104:24-34,35b

First Reading:

Acts 2:1-21

Worship Songs:

 All Who are Thirsty

Your Steadfast Love

Whole Heart

So Will I

Take a look (or a listen?) behind the curtain into the intro and outro music for the Crossings Podcast. This episode is not one of our regular teachings, but rather a quick conversation about the creative process for the music for each series. 

Jesus didn't wait until everything was perfect before he handed it all over to his friends and walked away. On this final Sunday of Eastertide, we explore the Ascension — what it means that Jesus left, what he prayed for before he did, and why the angels asked the disciples to stop looking up and start looking around.

First Reading: Acts 1:6-14

Gospel Reading: John 17:1-11

Worship Songs:

 ⁠Be Thou My Vision⁠

⁠Be Enthroned⁠

⁠Remembrance⁠

⁠Christ Be All Around Me⁠