How does resurrection work? The Apostle Paul took a shot at answering that question in his first letter to the Corinthians. In his explanation, Paul says a physical body dies and is raised as a spiritual body. Because we have physical bodies, we understand how they work. But what are the spiritual bodies Paul is talking about?

Paul attempts to explain the connection between physical and spiritual bodies with the analogy of seeds and plants. Seeds are bare and dry, and plants are lush and green. Therefore, it’s not obvious that plants come from seeds. In other words, Paul is saying is our physical bodies are like seeds and our spiritual bodies are like plants—they’re different and connected.

Trying to explain Jesus’s resurrection exasperated Paul, because he was trying to explain the unexplainable. Essentially, faith is for why and what questions, not questions of how.

For some of us, Paul’s explanation is helpful. For others, it doesn’t help at all. That’s why Pastor Mia reminds us that the most important things in life don’t need to be understood to be real. What’s important is that we’re bothers and sisters of Jesus, which gives us inheritance to God’s kingdom.

Pastor Mia concludes the series, The Walk: Essential Practices of the Christian Life with a look at the weekly rythmn between work and rest. A pendulum swinging back and forth can help us visualize the movement between work and rest.

We're created to work, and God epxects us to work. Working provides a sense of purpose and it lets us experience the joy of contribution, but rest is important too. The Book of Genesis tells us God rested after spending six days creating the world and everything in it.

The Sabbath is for you too. The expectation to rest is one of the Ten Commandments; God instructs us to keep the Sabbath to the Lord your God. Failing to observe the Sabbath is as serious as theft and murder! Jesus took time to rest, spending days away from the discliples and crowds before he continued preaching.

Rest comes first, because it's preparation for the coming week. In other words, keeping the Sabbath is God's starting point for you. Work is important. Does your weekly work-rest pendulum needs to swing to the other side?

As we move further along in the Walk: Essential Practices for the Christian Life, Pastor Mia helps us understand the significance of deeper relationships.

Christian living includes three relationship dimensions: Up, In, and Out:

• Up is the relationship with God.
• In is the relationship with close friends.
• Out is the relationship with the crowds.

Jesus maintained the three relationship dimensions by constantly praying “up” to God, his father. Jesus spent time with his “in” people, the disciples and women including Mary Magdalene, Susanna, and Joanna. The crowds were Jesus’ “out” people. He didn’t wait for the crowds to come to him. He went to them.

Living Up, In, and Out are essential for our spiritual well being. Jesus kept the three relationship dimensions in balance. We, however, might be strong in only one or two of them. Getting better takes being intentional and leaving our comfort zones. We can begin the journey by acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.

The journey into the Kingdom of God doesn’t follow a linear path. Discipleship is a cyclical process of observation, reflection, discussion, planing, accountability, and action.

As Pastor Mia continues guiding us through The Walk: Essential Practices of Christian Life, we learn Kairos moments can prompt us to enter the discipleship circle. Kairos moments are events of higher emotion when time slows down. Kairos moments can be beautiful or painful. They can also be personal or something shared.

Kairos moments are opportunities for growth. When we enter the discipleship circle, we move through a process of repenting and believing. Repentance in the discipleship circle isn’t condemnation. Instead, it’s changing your mind through a process of observation, reflection, and discussion.

Discipleship doesn’t end with repentance. The circle continues with the state of believing change is possible. This is the point for planning, accountability, and taking action.

Our lives are a series of loops around the discipleship circle in which we continue growing closer to the Lord. Simply put, each time we repent and believe, we are walking more fully into the Kingdom of God.

Pastor Mia continues guiding us through The Walk: Essential practices of the Christian Life. This week, she helps us make sense of habits for being Christlike.

In Christian living, we move continuously through a set of four quadrants that help us cultivate the practices of Christian living. The quadrants are worship, community, serving, and sharing. We can navigate these spaces by loving God and loving people, pouring out and filling up, and being in unity with God and others.

Jesus was in balance of all four quadrants. We, however, tend to get stuck by favoring one over the others. Signs of quadrant stagnation include controlling behavior, giving out of personal gain, emphasis of self, and disproportionate focus on love of God.

Balancing the four quadrants is an essential part of Christian life, because it leads to unity with God and others. Achieving that balance requires risk. To get there you need the courage to be vulnerable.

One definition of discipleship is being and doing like the one we follow. But how do you know if your attempts to be more like Jesus look right?

We all have fundamental questions about faith. “Why do I exist?” “How does God work?” “How do I live?” These questions matter. We want to understand the expectations of Christian living, but those expectations often feel vague.

This week, Pastor Mia helps us take the first step of The Walk: Essential practices of the Christian Life. To begin this journey, we’ll focus is on three core teachings: love God and love people, pour out and spiritually fill up, and unity. With the clarity of the core teachings, we can develop our ability to know when our discipleship looks right as we strive to be more like Jesus.

God's light conquers all darkness, and yet we still struggle with fear. Actually, most everyone struggles with fear, including many in the Bible. This week Pastor Mia shows us how looking at God within us eliminates the fear that holds us back.

God comes into every darkness — the darkness of evil that we humans create and the darkness of grieve and despair that we all experience — and shouts "let there be light!"

At the Candlelight Christmas Eve service, Pastor Mia tells the Christmas story with light, walks us through the threads of Scripture that show how God began bringing light into every darkness and God still brings light into every darkness.

During Advent, we get ready for Christ’s birth and we look forward to Christ’s second coming. In the 21st chapter of the Book of Revelation, John shares his vision that “the home of God is among the mortals.”

God is the Living One who understands all parts of our lives. As Jesus, God lived as a human among humans. Jesus was fully human and fully God. However, recognizing God as living challenges our thinking.

We don’t think of God as the Living One. We treat God as a wish granter or a judge. We also think of God as silent and still, a mindset affects our image of heaven. Instead of a heaven that’s full of life, we envision place that’s a sterile and sedate.

Pastor Mia reminds us that God understands all parts of life and loves living like we do. Because God is a part of the things that make us feel alive, think about what makes you feel alive and think about what that tells you about God.

The people of Israel never learned. Despite God saving them multiple times and leading them to the promised land, they refused to depend on God. They worshipped idols, they stopped keeping the Sabbath, and they stopped obeying God.

To address the problem, God tried raising judges. God also tried sending prophets. The people of Israel refused to break the sin cycle themselves, so God decided on a face-to-face approach. Instead of using phenomenal powers, God took on the form of a human baby.

God could’ve destroyed all of the idols and forced us into being obedient. So why did God choose a humble way to deliver us from our sin? God didn’t want to take away the free will that lets us experience the joy of choosing God.

Our free will is precious to God, and so is our love. Pastor Mia reminds us that we bring joy to God in many ways. That’s why God chose the itty bitty living space of a baby to become the Delivering One.