Grace Mills River

The thing we most need tends to be the one thing we’re most hesitant to offer: mercy. What is that needed but elusive virtue, and why do we find it so hard? And moreover, what does it take for it to become a first instinct?

“Righteous” sounds like such a throwback word--or one only used in pejorative contexts: “don’t be so self-righteous.” How do we hear from Jesus about a desire for righteousness without glazing over, shuffling our feet, or giving into cynicism?

What does it mean to be ‘meek’? While many of us could probably come up with some sort of an explanation, it is unlikely that the word strength would be included in our definition. But as we study this third Beatitude, we will see that there is...

No life escapes mourning. No person mourns the same way. In His precious few words about the misery common to all humanity, how does Jesus help us both rethink and respond to our inevitable experience with sorrow?

Some of the most celebrated and debated words Jesus ever spoke are found in His Sermon on the Mount. How we read them has everything to do with how we understand what He’s done for us and what He calls from us. That’s why so much rides on grasping...

Guest Speaker, Hunter Dockery

This season makes us tired. That’s a slice of--a metaphor for--a larger weariness we feel, and a rest we all long for. In what does the deepest rest consist? By what means does it come? We reach the culmination of what Naomi prayed for and sought for...

No matter how jaded this world may make us, we’re still drawn to love stories--surprising encounters that become enduring commitments. Why do those stories still capture us? Why does love retain a beauty that’s far more than a mere impulse to...

The Book of Ruth both connects us to the storyline of Jesus (they’re related!) but also to the beauty and blessing of Jesus--in particular His appearing in the flesh, His Incarnation. The struggle found in the story is in fact the struggle of all our...

We are invited to lay out our deepest hearts, our pains, joys and frustrations before the Lord; to have an intimate back and forth conversation with the King of Kings as we give thanks for and/or ask for God’s mercy on ourselves and people we love...