There's a lot to say about vocation -- more than we can cover in worship. 

So join us each week for this brief recap of Sunday's message as well as an additional thought or two that we didn't get to on Sunday.

Music: Answered by Ketsa

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

As we begin Lent we begin a conversation about vocation.

Vocation is often thought of quite narrowly -- as something that applies to only a select few. But vocation, or calling, is something the Scriptures tell us we all have. But what does that mean? And what is our calling? We begin by remembering that our vocation, whatever it may be, must be rooted in who we are.

Music: Summer-Sessions by Ketsa

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In our final week of this series we look back on the last four weeks and consider an idea that makes all the others possible: I need you.

One of the most destructive voices in our lives is the voice of shame. Shame tells us that we'll never be enough -- that there's no way we are worthy of love. If people only knew the real us...

The Scriptures speak to us not with a voice of shame, but compassion. In a story from Luke 15, we see shame at work in the lives of two brothers. The way out is to listen to the words of their father. Can we do the same?

This week we look at Acts 15 and 1 Corinthians 18 -- windows into how some of the first Jesus followers navigated disagreement. This is a critical topic as today, our handling of disagreement, both personally and societally is far too often dysfunctional at best. Where do we need to grow so that disagreement becomes a transformative opportunity?

Showing up is an incredible act of strength. To show up as we are, with what we have, takes great courage and vulnerability. And...and...showing up is what is required to grow, heal and be changed.

Strength is typically through of as muscle and grit -- it leads to success -- it's powerful and bold. And while that is true, this view of strength is one-dimensional. What makes a person strong is more than muscle or a superior intellect. Strength comes in unexpected ways; ways our world may even tell us are weakness.

Join us as we look at a number of stories from the Scriptures of (unexpected) Strength.

Week 1 in a five-week series.

Week 4 of our Advent Series: Those who Dream

Week 3 of Advent brings the theme of joy, something that has often felt in short supply this year.

The lectionary text (Luke 1:39-55) invites us to consider how joy might find its beginnings in anticipation of what is to come; in faith and trust in a promise made. 

Those who dream God's dreams not only heed the call to stay awake (week 1) but also to prepare the way. We look at Isaiah 40 and Psalm 85 (two of this week's lectionary texts) and then reflect together what it might mean for us to make straight a highway for God.