Ah… love… This week we talk about John’s call to the church in 1 John 3:18 that love is action.   "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” We have the ultimate act of love in Christ Jesus that He laid down His life for us, therefore we should live and love following His selfless example.  How might you talk to your kids and family about the action of loving?  

Without the fullness of Christ, you don’t have Christianity, you have something else… would you agree?  This week we talk about how we want so much to individualize and conform the Christian life to our own notions of what it should be.  And, that’s a tough one when everyone’s idea of what that should be is different.  Why is it so hard to just let God be God, let His word and the teachings of Jesus stand...?

As things begin to open back up, do you feel a growing or nagging pressure to return to life as “normal” by jumping back into all of the busyness that was wearing you out before Covid-19?  We look at the likelihood that we will all wrestle with the “fear of missing out” especially for our kids.  But… maybe there is a way for us to flip that whole concept in a way that preserves all of the good, faith building, family focused things that we have had opportunities to discover and develop over these last few months.

A poignant discussion this week that we pray will resonate with you.  As the father in Luke 15 embraced and welcomed with arms outstretched his wayward son home, so does the grace of God embrace and welcome us back, no matter how long and how far we’ve run.  During a time of such tension and unrest we discuss the importance that we actually value other people’s opinions, thoughts and concerns, even if they’re not our own.  We also candidly address the harsh reality that racism does in fact exist in the church.  To devalue a person because of the color of their skin is fundamentally opposed to the work of God in Christ Jesus, and it’s something we the church need to not only repent of personally, it’s something we need to become more vocal in addressing.  Have faith conversations ever been more crucial than right now…?