While the story of Palm Sunday may be familiar to some, and a regular part of the Christian calendar, it offers some really confusing details. When we embrace these unsettling elements of the story, we can learn new things about who Jesus is and who we are called to be in His Kingdom. As Jesus […]

How do we lose the sense of wonder and awe that the world is a beautiful place for of good potential? Is it as simple as “maturing?” Do we simply grow weary, ground down by the cares of life? Or, is it possible to retain the joy, trust, vulnerability, hope, love, and dependence of a […]

Jesus told his people to love and bless everyone, even their enemies. Literally. Everyone. For most of us, that’s a practical impossibility, because don’t know everyone. However, as this message points out: our ability to love everyone is dependent upon our willingness to love anyone. More to the point, if Jesus teaches us to love […]

Why should Jesus’ people be welcomed as a transforming presence into a community that holds a low opinion of Christians? Popular media makes it tough when it portrays Christians as hypocritical and ignorant. Admittedly, sometimes we live up to that press. But, how do these descriptions align with what Jesus demonstrates in the story of […]

Jesus described the Kingdom of God two ways: close to us and available. He also characterized it as priceless and desirable, so much so that someone would sell all they had just to have it. How do those descriptions resonate today? We live in a culture where almost anything we want can be shipped, streamed, […]

Is doubt the opposite of faith? Or, is our struggle to believe more like indifference versus faith? As we’ll see in this message, developing a solid and resilient faith will require us to dialog with doubt. Why else would John record Thomas’ resistance and Jesus’ response? Reasonable people don’t readily accept the idea that a […]

The Apostle Paul wrote, “For freedom Christ has set us free…” Without any further context, his statement begs the question: free from what? St. Paul answers us within the same verse (Gal. 5:1): “…stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” In this message, we see how Jesus offers us […]

This message unpacks an unusually intimate conversation, where Jesus offers his closest followers a high definition look at the coming Holy Spirit and his work. John captured the conversation that took place on the night of Jesus’ arrest, his trial, and coming execution. He did so in order to introduce us to the Person of […]

Jesus wasn’t like any other teacher. In this message, we see that his audience agrees. They understood that he taught with an authority which superseded any of Israel’s Scribes. In Matthew 7:13-29, Jesus makes two key points as he teaches: everyone is on a road to somewhere and everyone is building their life on something. […]

Have you ever lost something really precious? Maybe it was your phone, a treasured family heirloom, or even a loving relationship. We all have known the pain of loss, and the anxious desire to recover that which we have set our hearts on. What may surprise you is that Jesus shares this common, human experience […]