"There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t met yet." ~ William Butler Yeats

We shape our communities and our communities shape us.

Acts 2:46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity.

Pentecost brought forth a message that wasn’t seeker sensitive and was preached to people who weren’t seeking and yet thousands were transformed.

The mission is God’s. The marvel is that he invites us to join. Jesus promised to build his church and he meant it. It's the job he picked for himself because he's the best suited to do it well. Our job is not to build the church, but to build each other.

What does place say about us? Who do we become because of it? We shape our spaces and our spaces shape us. God covers our shortcomings with his unconditional covenant of love.

Abraham gets involved in a tribal war and becomes a hero to the people. Lot becomes enslaved to his new life. God continues to be faithful.

God's call on our lives rarely comes at the moment of our choosing. Abraham finds himself deep in God's work and the costs on his life are great. We find God's divine promises yield providential preservation.

With all the pressure around us in life, it's good to be reminded that it's ok to use the turnout. In this part of Abram's story we see him step aside from the pursuit (and tension) of building wealth with Lot. God reaffirms his promise.

Abraham comes out of Egypt and wanders around between the house of God and a place of ruin looking for a place to restart. We'll learn that when we get lost it can help to go back to the last time the path was clear.

Famine takes Father Abraham to Egypt and with it a turn to the dark side. We process our place and significance of returning to the altar.