It can be easy to feel like we should be further along in our faith journey, especially when we read some of the stories in the Bible. We see the bold faith of Peter, the courageous self-sacrifices of Paul, or the calm love of Mary, and we ask why we aren't like them. And it is the subtle twist into comparison that steals away our ability to grow into the disciple God has made and called us to be.

A good bit of anxiety stems from feeling like we aren't getting what we need. And so we get reactive, seeking to meet those needs through our own effort. Essentially, we become like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, giving up our access to God's presence by seeking to grasp things for ourselves.

One of the primary reasons we don't experience the particular love of God is because the voice of God is one among many in our heads and hearts. The stories we tell ourselves and the "committee members" who provide running commentary on our lives do their best to crowd out the only voice that truly matters. We must focus on the One who has the first and final word.

There are four common dynamics that not only stress our relationships, but they often put us in a false reality. When we learn to locate and surface these dynamics, we can begin to dispel the illusion and return to the truth. Jesus promises that, through our faithfulness to him, we can know the truth, and the truth will set us free.

Speaker: Rev. Dan Wunderlich

Scripture: John 5:1-9

Description: It is easy to think that your faith in God is your deepest belief—the one you base your life on. But if you start to pay attention to how your mind and body reacts in various situations, you might discover that your faith in God is your most precious belief, but it is not actually your deepest one. The first step in closing the gap between expectations and experience in your spiritual life is clarifying your relationship with God and yourself.

When Jesus wanted to help his disciples—including us—understand his death, he did not give us a lecture. He gave us a meal. And in this meal, we don't just learn about but we experience the love of God for us.

Baptism is one of the central practices of the church. But there is such a wide range of ideas about why we do it and what actually happens. When we look at the baptism of Jesus and see the connections to the rest of the biblical story, we get a clearer picture of the deep meaning of this act.

Gen Z college students are overwhelmed with social media stress, financial burdens, and mental health crises, all while tackling the usual challenges of young adulthood. How can we, as a church, offer them rest and resilience through Christ's love? Discover how we can make a difference in their lives and lighten their load, just as Jesus promised.

If orientation was a time of peace and abundance, and disorientation disrupts all of that, it would be understandable to assume that reorientation is about putting everything back the way it was. However, while reorientation does pull us out of the depths, it is almost always surprising. It is about receiving the gift of new life God has to offer.

Grief and loss are aspects of the human experience that each of us know all too well. When the most difficult things in life happen, we can find ourselves wishing for yesterday and with little hope for tomorrow. However, we are not alone in this. Our ancestors in faith also had intimate experience with the heavy burdens life has to offer, and were so inspired to write Psalms of disorientation. Pairing their sacred words with Paul McCartney's haunting lyrics, we'll explore where we find God in all this, and how to engage in holy lament.