Our beloved brother Gideon Tsang joined us once again, asking the question

of what it means to be rooted. As Christ remains (roots) in us, we must

ask: Where are our lives rooted? With whom are we rooted? What resistance

do we feel towards planting ourselves fully where God has placed us? May

God speak to you uniquely through this invitation to stillness,

contemplation, and participation.

Pastor Chris Seay continues a conversation we began last week on the

vitality of hope in our journey with God and one another. When we have a

living hope, we can trust in God’s plans even in times of difficulty and

despair, gain vision for a long and unfolding story, and open our hearts in

greater gratitude and worship as God meets and sees us where we are.

Pastor Sean Palmer offered a message on the vitality of hope in a time of

inescapable anxiety. In facing the inevitability of loss, death, and

disappointment, will we be a people who are ruled by fear and anxiety, or

will we find rest in a hope that is living and expectant; in the confidence

that our God truly cares for us?

It is always a profound gift to be taught by our dear friend and brother,

Dr. Dan Allender. As a people shaped in part by experiences of trauma and

betrayal, we often resist opening ourselves up to receive comfort. Dan

offers us a beautiful reminder that God has bled for us, engraving our

names in his palms, promising the kind of love that will never forget or

forsake us.

Pastor Sean Palmer taught from the story of King David, and shared about

many of the ways God has provided in abundance as we have sought to

eliminate the debt at our Downtown campus. This freedom allows our family

all the more opportunity to seek God’s will in serving our city and

communities around the world. In times such as these, we are called to

jubilant celebration.

Ericka Graham taught through Jesus’ Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard,

and shared vulnerably from her own experience of coming to the knowledge

and acceptance of grace during a time of deep trial and shame. Grace is

humbling to accept because God meets us in our sin and unworthiness,

calling us beloved, just as we are. In receiving grace, we are ignited from

the source of all love, to carry that flame and share it wherever we go.

Pastor Sean Palmer invites us to consider our view of leadership, and what

it requires to become someone whose example is worth following. As we learn

from Moses (and Black Panther), leaders are driven by burden rather than

bluster, leaders are called to choose courage, and that each and every one

of us is called to embrace the unique responsibility of leading in our

circles of influence.

Pastor Chris Seay (with assists from Schindler’s List and Dr. Maya Angelou)

asked us to consider what a life is worth. When we truly see ourselves as

God has declared us to be, the way we care for our bodies, the ways we work

and give, and the ways we are called to remind others of their importance

to this world are all radically changed.

Pastor Sean Palmer reminds us that God's story is, and always has been, a

love story. Sean shares the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, and pieces

of the film based upon their marriage, to illustrate the kind of patient,

tough, and expansive love to which we are called as a people in Christ.

This week a year ago, Hurricane Harvey devastated the city of Houston. In this message, Pastor Chris Seay leads us in reflecting on the many ways Ecclesia responded to love our city, in the midst of their pain and trauma. Through the stories of our community, we are able to witness the local church be the hope of the world.