This Christmas season, let's revisit a series of Christmas pasts. Join us for The Gift, a 2020 Damascus Road series exploring the significance of the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus (gold, frankincense, and myrrh). We will connect the symbolism within the story of Christ’s birth to our relationship with Jesus. We will seek new insight on the birth of Jesus to gain a deeper understanding of who He is.

Part 1 of The Gift

The first gift, frankincense, had practical and spiritual significance. Practically, it was an oil that could be used as a balm to treat sickness and wounds. Spiritually, priests burned it as a fragrant offering to God with prayer rising like smoke to the heavens. As a gift for the infant Jesus, it recognized his holiness and his role as the High Priest. As we prepare for this Christmas season, let us seek and understand God’s holiness and the gift of the priest that was born in an inn in Bethlehem.

Week 1 of Come to Worship

In this season we can be over-focused on getting things, accumulating decorations and cookies and gifts to help satisfy what we are longing for. But the posture of lifting our hands, whether in worship or prayer, helps us learn to surrender, to offer our praise to God rather than try to get something from God. Let’s learn from the posture of the wise men bringing gifts to Jesus and how we can lift our hands towards God.

Week 4 of Bitter Herbs

When our pain and vision are turned toward God and we begin to heal, eventually our desire for God’s intervention diminishes. Instead, that desire is replaced with a longing to simply be with God. He is the wellspring from which peace and healing flow. When we seek those things, we find God instead. Simply being with Him in the pain, in the suffering, in the dark, is enough. A worshipful walk with God is what allows us to enter into the hope he provides.

As we explore grief and trauma in Bitter Herbs, let's revisit Joy & Mourning, a 2020 Damascus Road series that explores both the peaks -- the times of delight and exuberance and joy and feasting -- and also the troughs -- the times of emptiness and sorrow and disappointment and mourning of the human experience. In order to embrace our humanity and the complicated messy lives that God has blessed us with, we need to learn how to be comfortable with both the peaks and the troughs. How do we celebrate well? How do we grieve well? How do we practice and choose joy? How do we practice and choose to mourn? Join us as we learn how to lean into intimacy with God and each other as we grow in our ability to laugh and cry together.

Week 3 of Joy & Mourning

And then the Bible says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” We are called not only to deeply feel our own emotions, but also to step into the emotional world of others and practice compassion, empathy, and being with. And when we struggle to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, we reveal disorder in our own souls - shadows of jealousy, judgment, and selfishness. How does God model being with us in both our joy and our pain? How do we move through our own disorder so we can authentically rejoice and mourn with others regardless of our circumstances? How can we practice the art of intimacy?

Week 3 of Bitter Herbs

The Bible assures us that what was intended for evil, God will use for good. However, after experiencing trauma or suffering, our sight becomes inward focused. We despair for all that was broken and cannot be fixed. Our vision narrows. We cannot lose sight of the goodness of God and his kingdom. God is weaving our suffering, trauma, and pain into beautiful things—new opportunities for relationship, growth, or ministry. Healing does not happen alone, and hope can only flourish in the context of God’s work.

As we explore grief and trauma in Bitter Herbs, let's revisit Joy & Mourning, a 2020 Damascus Road series that explores both the peaks -- the times of delight and exuberance and joy and feasting -- and also the troughs -- the times of emptiness and sorrow and disappointment and mourning of the human experience. In order to embrace our humanity and the complicated messy lives that God has blessed us with, we need to learn how to be comfortable with both the peaks and the troughs. How do we celebrate well? How do we grieve well? How do we practice and choose joy? How do we practice and choose to mourn? Join us as we learn how to lean into intimacy with God and each other as we grow in our ability to laugh and cry together.

Week 2 of Joy & Mourning

The Bible is also very clear that mourning is a necessary, unavoidable, and fundamental part of the human experience. But despite the fact that we will all face suffering and trials during life, many of us feel very uncomfortable with grief and sadness, and few of us have had healthy mourning modeled to us. What does God have to say about being sad, disappointed, confused, and upset? What can we learn from those who have walked before us in the Bible and deeply grieved? What does it look like to practice the art of mourning?

As we explore grief and trauma in Bitter Herbs, let's revisit Joy & Mourning, a 2020 Damascus Road series that explores both the peaks -- the times of delight and exuberance and joy and feasting -- and also the troughs -- the times of emptiness and sorrow and disappointment and mourning of the human experience. In order to embrace our humanity and the complicated messy lives that God has blessed us with, we need to learn how to be comfortable with both the peaks and the troughs. How do we celebrate well? How do we grieve well? How do we practice and choose joy? How do we practice and choose to mourn? Join us as we learn how to lean into intimacy with God and each other as we grow in our ability to laugh and cry together.

Week 1 of Joy & Mourning

In the Bible, God doesn’t say that joy is available to us or that joy may happen one day. No, God commands us to rejoice, right here, right now. Why does God command us to rejoice? Are we able to consciously choose joy in our lives? What does it look like to practice the art of joy?

Week 2 of Bitter Herbs

Living in our present circumstances does not mean we are passive. If we cannot immediately fix our pain, we have two options for where we can direct it. First, we can direct our pain downward. We can bury it deeper and deeper under layers of distractions until we are numb. However, if we deaden our pain, we cut ourselves off from the possibility of future joy. No pain stays buried forever. Instead, we can direct our pain upwards toward God. We can wail for the brokenness of the world, for our longing to be with God in heaven, and for God’s intercession now in the midst of our pain. He hears us when we cry and will not abandon us.

Week 1 of Bitter Herbs

Healing from trauma is not immediate. As much as we would like our pain to end or to skip to the end of the process, we can only live in our present moment. However, waiting in the midst of pain is counter intuitive. All our survival instincts tell us to escape, to get back to how things were. We exhaust ourselves in our search for immediate answers or meaning. We strive and struggle to regroup through our own strength when, in reality, it is God’s strength that we need. To wait is to place our trust in God’s deliverance to come.

Join us for Attachment Disorder, a 2020 Damascus Road series, as we consider how secure are our divine attachments. Why is faith hard? Why do we experience insecurity in our relationship with God? How can we help heal our disordered attachments and experience the peace of deep faith in our Heavenly Father?

Part 3 of Attachment Disorder  

But children with secure attachments don't remain bound to their parents forever. One of the gifts of secure attachment is that it sets the foundation for differentiation -- the ability to be separate and be distinct from the parent in a way that allows for true intimacy and love to develop. When we are fully attached to God, we can more truly differentiate and become fully ourselves. In creation, God used both separateness and togetherness to create shalom -- peace and harmony between distinct but integrated things. How can we differentiate and experience deep shalom with others and God?