Everyone, at some point (or many points), needs wisdom. I need it, you need it, we all need it. If you think about where you go for wisdom, you'll probably have a pretty good idea how you define it. Wisdom, by it's very nature, is practical, earthy, applicable. It is not just philosophical or ethereal. It not just knowledge and certainly not just emotion. In Plato, there is a distinction between the “sage” and the “philosopher”. The “philosopher” (lover of wisdom), does not have the wisdom that he or she seeks, whereas the “sage” does not seek wisdom because they are already wise. He goes on to say that there are two groups of people that don't do philosophy. Gods and sages, because they already possess wisdom, and the unwise, because they think they already think they are wise.The rest of us, need a good dose of becoming a "lover of wisdom".Join the conversation and give a few minutes to thinking about wisdom.

On Superbowl Sunday, Misha shares stories and truth from her life and the Psalms.

Time....To understand the Psalms, we need to understand the paradigm of those that wrote these songs and prayers. To the writers, YaHWeH was both the One true God and creator of the universe, and YaHWeH was active and participatory in creation. This belief informed all that they saw, experienced and wrote. They also believed that YaHWeH had a system of governance and that He ruled the earth through His appointed and annointed king, primarily David. This theocracy/monarchy, filled their thoughts, shaped their perspective and flowed out of them in prayer and song.So, how are we to understand these Psalms today? In order to truly embrace their songs/prayers, we need to understand their paradigm and pour their words through the person and work of Jesus, into our lives. This "filtration" process will allow us to enter into their time, space and physical reality while at the same time letting the truth about YaHWeH break into our time, fill our space and touch our physical world.

As we embark on the journey through the Psalms, it is important to realize that this has been the song book and the prayer book of the church down through the ages.Allen leads us through the process of praying the Psalms and letting these prayers fill our lives as they filled those that first wrote them thousands of years ago.

Psalm & Sage: As we embark on the NY, I have encouraged our ocmmunity to take a journey through the Psalms and wisdom literature. I am encouraging a journey, because I don't know exactly where this will lead, but am hoping we can all find ourselves "roaming" through the Psalms together.This is the introductory discussion as we embark on this trek through the songs and prayers of Israel and the Church down through history. Join us as we spend our personal and community time learning from and entering into the spiritual history of our spiritual ancestors.

When was the last time you allowed yourself to let your imagination run wild? Could it be that one day, in the eternal mind of God, that YaHWeH let his imagination run wild with ideas about how redemption was going to take place for the ones He loved? How else would YHWH have come up with the idea of the incarnation? It has to be one of the wildest dreams ever!Advent is about allowing ourselves the opportunity to be captured by imagination again. Take some time during this season and let yourself dream. Try to envision a world of shalom and enter into God's dream of the restoration of all things!

Advent 3 - Allen & Lynn Likkel light the candle and bring a wonderful word of God's promise of peace. We follow this up with a discussion about Mark 5 and the interplay of two stories. One involving a member of the wealthy religious elite and the other a social outcast. In the pictures, the writer of Mark lets us know that there are times in life, where no matter what your status, the playing field becomes level. In those times, some will be so desperate that they come and fall down before Jesus regardless of how much attention it draws. Others, will attempt to touch Jesus and go away unnoticed. In either case, Jesus is there for you!

Advent 2 - The VanderGriend family shared about joy, passing out candy canes as a symbol of the joy of this season and lighting the candle as they read scripture."Even Steven" - Some of you may remember the classic Seinfeld episode where Kramer declares that Jerry is, in fact, "Even Steven". This week we looked at Matthew 20, the story of the vineyard owner, who unlike Jerry, was anything but fair, even though you might say he was "even Steven".In the midst of this "unfair" picture of life in God's kingdom, there is a powerful lesson about the joy of being generous.

Advent Week 1 - The Thompson family led us in the lighting of the first candle on the Advent wreath and shared about God's desire to free us through prayer. As we lit our own candle, representing our burdens and yet-to-be fulfilled hopes, we offered them to God in prayer.There may be gaps of silence in this recording as people in the congregation shared their thoughts.

This week we decided to tackle a difficult topic. We all have our own unique love language, which usually falls into one of these broad categories:Words of AffirmationQuality TimeGiftsActs of ServicePhysical TouchDoes God speak our love language? If you primarily receive love through words of affirmation or physical touch or.... How do you know if God really loves you, when you can't see Him or you have difficulty hearing His voice? Does it even matter to God?