God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah whole and keep him at the bottom of the sea for three days. The choice to use the word "great" to describe the fish is interesting because it is also associated with God so regularly. The great God commissions a great fish to help carry out God's great work in Jonah.

The word associated with Jonah, however, is "down." When he is down at the bottom of the sea, down in the belly of the fish, Jonah is at his lowest point. And what does he do? He prays words from the psalms. Before this, he ignored God consistently. But when he is at his lowest point, when he is down at the bottom, Jonah prays.

When we are at our lowest point and we cry out to God, God is already present and reveals God's self to us. Like Jonah's prayers are energized by the word of God, so ours can also be.

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Jonah 2:1-10

https://my.bible.com/events/48844746

God calls Jonah and tells him to "Go to Nineveh." Nineveh is the last place on earth an Israelite prophet would want to go. Jonah runs in the opposite direction; he hires a ship to take him to Tarshish. Jonah's chasing after a fresh start, perhaps to build a new life and make some money. He probably spent all he had on that ship to Tarshish. He now wants wealth so that he can control his own future and create his own destiny.

We like to think that these stories are ultimately about us. And they are. But they're primarily stories about God. This story isn't just about Nineveh. It's about Tarshish, too. God reveals himself in Tarshish. God's love and presence is more expansive than we ever thought possible. Even when we screw things up, God shows up and offers grace. Head for Nineveh and you can bet that God will meet you there.

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Jonah 1:1-17

https://my.bible.com/events/48841000

We live in a world obsessed with the outside, with how things look. Jesus makes the point that we can look really good on the outside but be a train wreck on the inside. He redefines righteousness and redefines holiness, teaching us that faith isn't just about what we do, it's about who we are on the inside; in other words, our motivation for how we act. Some traditions lead us to picture God as an angry god; when we imagine God like this, we become obsessed with the outside. We care primarily about what people do and with whom they spend time. We demand obedience (moral conformity) from everyone else and when we don't get it, we become angry and vengeful. We essentially become like the angry god we imagine.

If we worship and serve the God that Jesus reveals - loving, merciful, gracious - we are slowly transformed into the image of that God instead.

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Mark 7:1-23

https://my.bible.com/events/48837151

We all have this innate ability to look at the world and see when things just aren't right. We look at our own lives, in our own hearts and souls, and recognize the same thing. But that doesn't mean we are without hope. We come from a tradition that believes God is alive and active in the world putting things back together. AND God has invited us in on the project. The question is: how? What's God's strategy? One word: love. Love God. Love people. Love people on the inside, love people on the outside, love even your enemies.

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Matthew 22:34-40

https://www.bible.com/events/48833448

A foreigner approaches Jesus with honesty and humility, and in faith, she asks Jesus for healing. In a world where we are expected to hide weakness, we can approach God with vulnerability. God's grace, God's healing presence is open and available to anyone. When we come to the divine honestly and with humility and with faith, it opens us up to grace and healing.

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Mark 7:24-30

https://www.bible.com/events/48829815

Beginnings come with new questions, questions we may not have the answers to; in other words, beginnings come with a little chaos. The scriptures never call the chaos bad - or evil. The Spirit is hovering over the chaos. It's into the chaos that God speaks. God invites creation to create right alongside of God. We're all invited to create something beautiful - something good with God.

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-3

https://www.bible.com/events/48826235

This may not be the Christmas story we want, but it's the one that we get. And it might be the story we need. If God isn't willing to come to Bethlehem, then it's not going to do us much good. If God is going to save us, then God's gonna have to come down here to where we are, because we can never get there on our own.

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Matthew 2:13-23

https://www.bible.com/events/48822483

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

http://bible.com/events/48815669

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Philippians 1:3-11

http://bible.com/events/48812586

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Colossians 1:3-20

http://bible.com/events/48808974