The Gathering

In the New Testament, before there was a name for ‘church’, they just called it ekklesia — which is Greek for the gathering. A place for people to find one another, to build one another up, and to connect with Jesus.To stand in this church today, in this beautiful space, surrounded by this vibrant community, is to see that dream not just realized, but flourishing and multiplying in ways we could have only prayed for.But we are not just spectators. We are participants. We are the builders. We are the body. Each of us has a part to play. We get to invite, to serve, to give, and to celebrate all the good that is being done here, so that together, we might become a mature body, filled with the fullness of Christ.

We are one church united in our desire to follow Jesus and grow in our faith. But we are different from one another, most notably, we span 7 generations. We have an incredible opportunity to listen and learn about our faith FROM each other instead of talking PAST each other.

In our final week of Boomers to Zoomers, we're focused on Boomers. A couple of weeks ago, several boomers from our church gathered together to share what they would want others at church to know about their generation. So what do Boomers have to teach the rest of us about faith or what it means to be the church?

We are one church united in our desire to follow Jesus and grow in our faith. But we are different from one another, most notably, we span 7 generations. We have an incredible opportunity to listen and learn about our faith FROM each other instead of talking PAST each other. Today is all about Millennials.

We didn't forget you, Gen X! This week is all about you. Grunge. Latchkey. Gen-X's unique role as bridge-builders are not merely characteristics but profound gifts that enrich our collective faith journey. So, to all of us here today, let’s embrace and learn from these strengths.

We are one church united in our desire to follow Jesus and grow in our faith. But we are different from one another, most notably, we span 7 generations. We have an incredible opportunity to listen and learn about our faith FROM each other instead of talking PAST each other. Today is all about Millennials.

This past week, we sat down with some of the Millennials in our congregation to hear what they are going through and what they wish others in the church knew about their generation. If there is a through line to our conversations, the survey results, and the research, I would say the through line is Authenticity. Let's talk about it.

The church is a community of people following Jesus. We are united together in our common faith in Jesus and desire to grow closer to God. But while we are united in this, we are not uniform. We are not uniform in what we look like, what we are thinking, where we’ve come from and what we are going through. We are also multigenerational – having people from 7 generations. So we have different perspectives on life and faith. We could learn so much from each other, but it is also easy to talk past each other.

We're starting off this series with our kids and teens. What can they teach us about mental health and it's relation to our faith? What can they show us about the church being a place of belonging? How do the relationships we have in our church impact us?

God is referred to as He, Father, King so much in scripture that many people just assume that is the proper way to talk about God. But people are often surprised that God is also consistently talked about in feminine ways in the Bible as well, especially as a Mother. All of us have images and metaphors for God that are comfortable to us. We need images and metaphors to understand God, but God is always greater than these images. To say God is Father or Mother is a way of getting at God’s character. Like a parent God watches over, protects, disciplines, encourages, and loves us. But this language describes God’s character, not God’s essence. So no matter what words you use to describe God, don’t ever think that those words capture all of who God is.

God is referred to as He, Father, King so much in scripture that many people just assume that is the proper way to talk about God. But people are often surprised that God is also consistently talked about in feminine ways in the Bible as well, especially as a Mother. All of us have images and metaphors for God that are comfortable to us. We need images and metaphors to understand God, but God is always greater than these images. To say God is Father or Mother is a way of getting at God’s character. Like a parent God watches over, protects, disciplines, encourages, and loves us. But this language describes God’s character, not God’s essence. So no matter what words you use to describe God, don’t ever think that those words capture all of who God is.

Does God have a plan. Is God in control? Yes. Do you get to make choices and shape your life? Yes. When you hold these both together, it offers a lot of hope. God is in control and scripture promises that God goes before us, walks with us, and has determined to save us. But in this journey, we have choices about how to live and move through life. And you don’t have to be worried about “missing” God’s plan for your life, because there are so many ways to be faithful to it.

We have four different stories of Jesus’ life contained in these four books to offer different, holy & sacred perspectives of that same story. We and yet we each need Jesus and strive to follow him. Throughout this series we will be encountering these stories in these four gospels by thinking through who this particular book was written to reach; what we might learn; and how we might be transformed into action by becoming more Jesus-like in our lives.

John’s gospel is over here vibing, taking turns and stops we hadn’t experienced in the other gospels. And John brings in the imagination, the mysticism, or that is to say where the veil is thin, where we encounter the divine, go beyond what makes sense, we enter into territory where we need a story to imagine it, to grasp it. the storytelling that is so crucial to survival and hope.