Mark 10:17-31 | The teachings of Jesus that expand what we know can be really hard to integrate into our lives. They cause us to examine our behaviors and our attitudes. Jesus makes it clear to the disciples and to us that we cannot do this on our own, we need God to help us. How are you allowing God to help you grow?

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15,21-23 | In order to grow in our faith, we are invited to expand and integrate what we know about God, Scripture and self. As Jesus pointed out, this task moves us intentionally inward, away from a shallow rule-based understanding of God, and into a deeper wisdom that comes from within our hearts.

Mark 9:33-37 and Mark 10:46-52 | In these two stories, Jesus is both accepting and expressing God’s unconditional care and concern for the last and the least: a child and a blind man, The child and the blind man also accept unconditional care and concern from Jesus. How do you accept and express God’s unconditional care and concern?

Mark 12:28-34 | To love God, neighbor and self is the first and second commandment and is considered the most important. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus and a Scribe acknowledge their agreement about this in the midst of an argument and show us what it means to accept and express God’s unconditional care and concern. We will share in communion this day.

Acts 16:16-34 | Rev. Terri Stewart, a United Methodist pastor, is the Director of the Youth Chaplaincy, a program of the Church Council of Greater Seattle that works with youth affected by incarceration. She also participates in an online spiritual community at www.BeguineAgain.com. In her spare time, she is working on a PhD in Leadership at Gonzaga. She is passionate about how we show up as leaders to people who are hopeless.

Matthew 7:1-6 | In "10 Things I Hate About You", Kat is an unpopular high school girl who is misjudged by others, even her own sister, until someone was willing to see her beyond her behavior. Jesus is always inviting us into deeper self -discovery, teaching us not to judge others without first looking at our own misguided behavior.

RUMC “goes to the movies” in worship. We open our minds and hearts to stories from popular culture to find where they intersect with themes in our Scriptures.

Contemporary perspectives can give us new insight and avenues for living our faith. In the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, a life in God is described in what is known as the Beatitudes. The last Beatitude depicts rejection, being ridiculed and harassed for following Jesus. In this movie based on PT Barnum’s life, we follow a group of people accepted for their differences in order to entertain others and rejected for those same differences. We are invited to confront what it means to live both accepted and rejected for our differences.

2 Timothy 1:1-14 | "Coco" tells the story of young Miguel who goes on a journey into his past and discovers the truth about his ancestors which frees him to pursue the music he knows lives inside of him. In our Scripture, young Timothy is reminded by Paul of the faith of his ancestors and encouraged to use the gifts given to him to live his faith boldly for Christ. We are invited to do the same.

Romans 12:3-9, 1 Samuel 16:1-7 | When four high school students become adult avatars in a jungle video game, they learn a valuable lesson about believing in themselves and trusting that others are doing their best. Paul offers a similar message in his letter to the Romans using the metaphor of the body to emphasize that it takes all of our gifts to create a community.

Romans 8:38-39 CEB

As RUMC gears up to honor our Hometown Heroes at the City of Redmond's Derby Days festival, we take some time to reflect on what it means to be a hero. In this epic hero tale, Wonder Woman is created to destroy Ares, the god of war. Her power to defeat him is discovered from her belief in love. In Wonder Woman, as in our apostle Paul, we find a purity and clarity of purpose.