LARK BLOGCAST

How do you practice union with God? How can we be united to God? What role does religion play in our oneness with God in Christ? Is Christianity a way to achieve union with God? Are we or can we be united with God? How will we be reconciled?

Abiding, worship, faith, and discipleship are all radically reoriented when you come to grips with the truth that Jesus is - and has always been - unconditionally our union with God. Explore how biblical union works right here and pass it on if you found it helpful!

Read:
www.larksite.com/blog/jesus-is-our-union-with-god

Connect:
www.larksite.com/get-connected

Let's combine the Fatherhood of God and Jesus' idea of childlike faith. What might it mean that Jesus held up playful, vulnerable little people as exemplars of faith? What does the life of faith look like if we've thought all along that we're supposed to progressively get more mature, independent, responsible, and effective? What if being a child of God is something we accept instead of do?

www.larksite.com/get-connected

www.larksite.com/blog/the-fathers-children

In a nation where workaholism is arguably the most prevalent religion, figuring out how to live and work in peace as one who has assurance of God's love is a real trick. But, letting go of some of the urgency and ultimacy of our work opens up the opportunity to see the people we're working with and for. 

Perspective is everything. Unfortunately, Americans are prone to turn their work into a self-justifying story and we hope to bring some freedom into the conversation. Check out these stories to explore another way to work.

www.larksite.com/get-connected

www.larksite.com/blog/living-loved-in-work

If you've ever wondered what it means to do Christian community or to follow Jesus with other people, you're not alone. Confusion and opinions abound, but what I've found in a decade of ministry in Chicago is you can learn a lot by observing what's missing. There's a big difference between treating community as a duty and a means to an end versus a gift and a celebration. Press into the difference in this episode!

In an effort to explore the scandalous grace of God in every day life, these articles seek to bring helpful conversations and encouragement to you wherever you are. 

www.larksite.com/blog/enjoying-the-faithfulness-of-god
www.larksite.com/get-connected

Jameson is the newest member of the Lark team. As the Director of Community Development, he moved his family into a camper to do life on the road tending to the connection and encouragement of folks who are following or exploring Jesus with Lark. 

Check out his story about why he lives in a camper and why he works on the road with people who are rethinking various spiritualities. There are lot of themes and trends he was suspicious about before hitting the road that now are becoming even clearer and more significant than thought. Be encouraged by the story of the Allen family adventure and get a glimpse of what a nomadic chaplaincy might look like!

What it is about guilt that keeps us from managing it well, or better yet, from letting Christ have the final word on managing it? The danger of what we do with our guilt may just be one of the most important conversations you haven't had in a while. The freedom we have in Christ has more to say about what we do with guilt than we dare imagine or believe.

Tune into this episode to dive into the conversation about why and how we are killing ourselves by self-managing our guilt and what to do about it.

www.larksite.com/blog/guilt-management-systems-failure

www.larksite.com/get-connected

It takes some form of bravery to admit that everything you have to offer God is viewed by him as dirty rags in comparison to what Jesus has done. The Christmas story declares that none of your efforts mattered in the first place. Life flows out of Jesus and who he made us to be, not who we think we can make ourselves to be. The Incarnation of God undoes every intuition we have to set us free.

The God who came to do what was unfair to reconcile us to him is the God who longed for us to be free from fear. He saw our fear of a version of him that doesn't exist and had compassion. Unafraid of what we'd do with grace, he showed up in our likeness so that we could finally see ourselves the way he does, unafraid of who we are. 

www.larksite.com/blog/god-with-us-raggedy-rags

www.larksite.com/get-connected

Raggedy Rags Video

One of the most difficult things to believe is that God's posture towards us is one of embrace. We typically believe anything but. We especially believe that 'God With Us' is possible only upon our ability to meet some criteria. But the incarnation, the arrival of God as a man in Jesus Christ, is the Father's embrace of all of us. It is the way we finally learn to see what God is really like.

If Emmanuel, 'God With Us,' is the solution, what exactly is the problem? What is Advent and Christmas really all about? Check out this episode to explore how scandalous the Incarnation of God in Jesus really is. Did he come to change God's mind about us? To convince God to spare us? Or did he come to change us and our perception of God? 

www.larksite.com/blog/god-with-us-fathers-embrace

www.larksite.com/get-connected

Father's Embrace Video

It's easy to think the Christian story about Jesus is full of sermons, commands, theological teaching and Scripture. But, a simple reading of the Gospels reveals that so much of Jesus' recorded speech is cryptic stories we refer to as parables. God With Us, the Incarnate Son and Word of God, lived a remarkable, unexpected story, and told so many stories so we could see what God is really like.

When we assume the New Testament provides us with information about Jesus instead of a story about God -which he allows his people to tell - we misread it. We misapprehend it. This is no small thing. There's Good News in letting the story be a story, in letting Jesus be the storyteller that he was. Dive in to be encouraged as we move closer to the heart of the holiday season where there's so much vying for our affection, attention and affirmation. You are free to rest. 

www.larksite.com/blog/god-with-us-storyteller

www.larksite.com/get-connected
Storyteller Video

What really are the implications of God With Us, Immanuel, the God who has come to be with his creation? What is the Incarnation and does it actually have any impact on me, my life, how I live, and what I hope for? In short, the incarnation is the supreme mystery of the faith for those who follow Jesus. Be encouraged by this brief excursus on the theme of Advent and Christmas - Christ has come!

Our familiarity and obsession with the secular season of Christmas leaves many with an anemic understanding of how to remember the birth of Christ, or what it is we're remembering. The idea that Advent is about candles, love, joy, hope and peace can actually be a distraction and a discouragement. There is so much more going on, and we invite you to explore that with us over the next 4 weeks as we press in on the arrival of God in a human body. Pass it on if it encourages you!

www.larksite.com/blog/god-with-us-count-the-waves

www.larksite.com/get-connected

Check out the 1 minute video we made for this blog!