Emmaus Road Church | Fort Collins, Colorado

It was an uprising….not just in the sense that Jesus has risen, but now new things have the possibility of rising up! Usually an uprising refers to a violent revolt against oppressive leaders and regimes. This is certainly an uprising that confronts oppression, but in a different way! This is an uprising of hope instead of hate, love instead of violence, life and peace instead of hostility and death. It’s an uprising of open hands instead of clenched fists. It’s a journey to something new that is brought about in a new way!

It was an uprising….not just in the sense that Jesus has risen, but now new things have the possibility of rising up! Usually an uprising refers to a violent revolt against oppressive leaders and regimes. This is certainly an uprising that confronts oppression, but in a different way! This is an uprising of hope instead of hate, love instead of violence, life and peace instead of hostility and death. It’s an uprising of open hands instead of clenched fists. It’s a journey to something new that is brought about in a new way!

We can’t be together for Good Friday this year. That’s a bummer. We thought long and hard about how to recreate our tenebrae service virtually. Eventually, we decided it couldn’t be done effectively through a screen. But it could be done at your home! So, for Good Friday this year, we’re publishing a podcast that will help you facilitate a tenebrae service in your home.

There is a little bit for you to prepare and the podcast will explain all that, but mostly you just listen. It’s kind of like when families would gather around the radio and listen to radio shows…only better.

We can’t be together for Good Friday this year. That’s a bummer. We thought long and hard about how to recreate our tenebrae service virtually. Eventually, we decided it couldn’t be done effectively through a screen. But it could be done at your home! So, for Good Friday this year, we’re publishing a podcast that will help you facilitate a tenebrae service in your home.

There is a little bit for you to prepare and the podcast will explain all that, but mostly you just listen. It’s kind of like when families would gather around the radio and listen to radio shows…only better.

Teaching from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem from Luke 19:28-44, Pastor Andy Lucas demonstrates how the Palm Sunday parade is a parallel alternative to the parade of Pilate. In the same way, the Church is to be a parallel alternative city to Rome. The Church must be ready to challenge the prevailing assumptions about the life of empire because of their allegiance to Jesus as King. The Church is to develop new ways of organizing our lives together based on the kingdom of God and the teaching of Jesus.

Early Christians living in the Roman empire were so formed by the ways of The Kingdom of God that people were drawn to their lives. Author Alan Kreider says in his book, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, “their reflexes and ways of life suggested that there was another way to perceive reality - that made the Christians interesting, challenging, and worth investigating.”

In a world full of fear, hate-speech, and division, let’s be interesting, challenging, and worth investigating!

Teaching from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem from Luke 19:28-44, Pastor Andy Lucas demonstrates how the Palm Sunday parade is a parallel alternative to the parade of Pilate. In the same way, the Church is to be a parallel alternative city to Rome. The Church must be ready to challenge the prevailing assumptions about the life of empire because of their allegiance to Jesus as King. The Church is to develop new ways of organizing our lives together based on the kingdom of God and the teaching of Jesus.

Early Christians living in the Roman empire were so formed by the ways of The Kingdom of God that people were drawn to their lives. Author Alan Kreider says in his book, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, “their reflexes and ways of life suggested that there was another way to perceive reality - that made the Christians interesting, challenging, and worth investigating.”

In a world full of fear, hate-speech, and division, let’s be interesting, challenging, and worth investigating!

Teaching from Matthew 7:24-27 Pastor Andy Lucas reminds, the beatitudes are not instructions on how to live. Rather, they are an announcement of the kind of people that will be blessed by the arrival of the kingdom of God!

Since the Church is to be kingdom people, then it also means that the Church should be good news to the poor in spirit, the merciful, the peacemakers. It means that the Church should be a shelter from the storm where people can find rest, peace, hope, and love. 

What if the Church – our church – began to live in such Christlike ways that the announcement of the Good News was not just good news for the well-to-do or self-sufficient, but for those who mourn, the persecuted, merciful, and peacemakers? 

May this beautiful metaphor stir our imaginations.  

Teaching from Matthew 7:24-27 Pastor Andy Lucas reminds, the beatitudes are not instructions on how to live. Rather, they are an announcement of the kind of people that will be blessed by the arrival of the kingdom of God!

Since the Church is to be kingdom people, then it also means that the Church should be good news to the poor in spirit, the merciful, the peacemakers. It means that the Church should be a shelter from the storm where people can find rest, peace, hope, and love. 

What if the Church – our church – began to live in such Christlike ways that the announcement of the Good News was not just good news for the well-to-do or self-sufficient, but for those who mourn, the persecuted, merciful, and peacemakers? 

May this beautiful metaphor stir our imaginations.  

Teaching on the Church as the Body in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, the Apostle Paul reminds us that we are all in this (church, life, crisis, celebrations, whatever) together. Diversity in the body is to be celebrated, it is essential for a healthy functioning body, not something to be overcome to achieve unity. Since diversity is essential to the healthy functioning of the body, differences should not just be tolerated, but members of the body should help to care for one another. May we find such compassionate synergy where we share one another’s joys and sorrows.

Teaching on the Church as the Body in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, the Apostle Paul reminds us that we are all in this (church, life, crisis, celebrations, whatever) together. Diversity in the body is to be celebrated, it is essential for a healthy functioning body, not something to be overcome to achieve unity. Since diversity is essential to the healthy functioning of the body, differences should not just be tolerated, but members of the body should help to care for one another. May we find such compassionate synergy where we share one another’s joys and sorrows.