Shakespeare famously quipped – “All the world’s a stage, and the people merely players.” While he may not have meant it in this exact way, there is truth in his saying. We are all part of a grander story, a meta-narrative so to speak. There is one large story that gives meaning and purpose to all of life and each of us has a part to play. The question is, do we know what story we’re a part of and are we willing to play our part?

How was Christmas for you? Hopefully it was fun and restful and a day marked with celebration of the Savior! So how about today? A lot of people, AFTER Christmas, experience what some call the “post-Christmas blues.” It’s the letdown that comes for so many after the holidays are over. Even though Christmas was over, God’s involvement with Mary and Joseph didn’t end. There is more to the POST-Christmas story than meets the eye.

If I had been in charge of announcing to the world about God's Son being born, I wouldn't have selected shepherds: unclean, uneducated, unknown. But who best to tell about the Lamb of God being born, than shepherds?

One of the hardest things to wrestle with is unmet expectations. You have a plan, an idea of what life is supposed to be like and then life throws you a curve ball. Someone leaves. Sickness hits. The job dries up. There are a lot of curveballs in life. What do you do when your plans don’t pan out? What can God do with those unmet expectations?

You’ve probably heard the cliché – ‘Big things come in small packages’ before. It’s such a great truth that is easy to lose sight of in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and amidst the cultural pressures to go bigger with everything. Often times, it’s not the big, powerful, or flashy things that make the difference. It’s the small acts of obedience or kindness that change the course of history.

God has given us an amazing vision for 2026. It flows from our definition of what it means to be a “devoted disciple of Jesus.” In 2026 we are going to focus on a phrase we are calling “Fellowship around the Word.” We believe that God is going to do some amazing things in this next year as we get serious about Him and His people.

It’s beginning to look a lot like…Thanksgiving! In just a few days most of us will gather around a table somewhere, eat too much, spend time with friends or family and give thanks. It’s a great thing to do on 4th Thursday in November but what if we did it every day, not just Thanksgiving?? Not the giant meal with all the cousins but what if we gave thanks every day? How might we all be changed?

If you were going to make a beautiful cake, what ingredients would you need? Eggs. Flour. Sugar. Maybe milk? What else? What would you leave out? It’s amazing how such different ingredients, when mixed together in the right proportions, can become something amazing like cake. At the end of 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul gives us a “cake recipe” for what it takes to make our church communities beautiful “cakes.”

The end is coming! Have you ever seen someone with one of those signs standing in a crowd or on a street corner? When most of us see that or hear people talking about “The End” we close off and try to ignore it. Some, however, are hyper-focused on the end times and that’s all they want to talk about. The Bible lands right in the middle and in 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul gives some of the clearest instructions about the end of the world so we can be ready!

What should a Christian do when someone dies? Is it okay to cry? Do they go straight to heaven or hell, or do they stay in the ground for a while? We have lots of questions about death and dying but most people are unwilling to have that chat. Paul goes right after it and gives direct instructions on how to handle death and the hope we can have in Jesus!