What can compel someone to cross such great lengths at such great cost to encounter another person? Hint: it's more than a star, intuition, or political intrigue -- it's love. Listen in and consider how love can energize your journey this Advent season.

NOTES/RESOURCES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Matthew 2.1-12

// BIG STATEMENT -- Love is a journey toward an other that's always costly, sometimes complicated, never exploitative, and can't help but give because it's given by the God-who-is-love who always journeys toward us.

// REFLECT -- "Jesus, how are you coming to me?"

"Joy" is hard to define. Yet, intuitively we know that it's deeper than happiness and, if we dare to believe, it's even deeper than sorrow. Listen as we dive deep into the expansive waters of joy.

NOTES/RESOURCES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Luke 2.8-20

// BIG IDEA 1 -- Joy expands our hearts. (We grow in our capacity to receive grace upon grace)

// What if we allowed ourselves to believe that God is actually the most joyful being in the universe? (Question posed by James Bryan Smith)

// A FEW WORDS ABOUT JOY...

Joy is a fruit grown out of our relationship with God. (Gal. 5.22, Rom. 15.13)

Joy is deep enough that it's not drowned out by sorrow. (2 Cor. 6.10, Phil. 4.4)

Joy is the destination -- where the whole thing is headed. (Heb. 12.2)

// BIG IDEA 2 -- Joy expands our imagination. (We start to believe that heaven can light up our darkness)

// THE GOSPEL -- The gospel is the good news that Jesus is Lord, he's conquered sin, death, and evil through his death and resurrection and all people are invited to live under God's gracious reign.

// If your good news doesn't cause " great joy for all" (Luke 2.10) then it isn't good news at all .

// BIG IDEA 3 -- Joy expands our boundaries. (We start to see outsiders within the reach of God's love)

// You cannot out-believe God's love. You cannot out-believe your beloved-ness.

// BIG IDEA 4 -- Joy expands our vision. (We start to see all the little gifts for what they are, God's grace!)

// BIG IDEA 5 -- Joy expands our community. (We start to draw others because life, love, and joy are contagious)

// What expands your joy? (Community? Creation?...)

// What contracts your joy? (Comparison? Coveting?...)

// QUOTE -- " Joy is home...God created us in joy and created us for joy, and in the long run not all the darkness there is in the world and in ourselves can separate us finally from that joy, because whatever else it means to say that God created us in his image, I think it means that even when we cannot believe in him, even when we feel most spiritually bankrupt and deserted by him, his mark is deep within us. We have God's joy in our blood." (FREDERICK BUECHNER, The Longing for Home)

Is peace even possible when there's chaos around us? Is peace even attainable when there's uncertainty in front of us? Let Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, be our peace mentor. The choices he faced and decisions he made show us that peace really is within reach -- even when the road ahead is uncertain.

NOTES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Matthew 1.18-25

// The Biblical concept of peace involves both the absence of conflict and the presence of wholeness.

// Q: What does a suspicious priest, a surprised teenager, and a sensible husband have in common? A: They were all told, "Do not be afraid"

// Joseph leads with grace and it brings peace to others.

// Joseph chooses to trust God and it brings peace to his heart.

// RESOURCE -- LECTIO 365 ( https://www.24-7prayer.com/resource/lectio-365/)

// QUOTE -- "He's not asking for your help. He's asking for you. He wants you to lock your eyes on him and leave him alone to work in you. Your part is to protect the door and windows, keeping out intruders and flies." ANONYMOUS (The Cloud of Unknowing, Translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher)

What keeps you going? For Christians, as we enter the season of Advent, hope is what keeps us walking in the space between what’s been promised and what is not yet realized. As we live in between Christ's first Advent (arrival) and second, it's this hope that keeps us saying "Yes" to God, to God's way, and to God's future.

NOTES/RESOURCES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Luke 1.26-38

// BIG IDEA -- HOPE is what keeps us saying "yes" to God. (We love, sacrifice, forgive now because we trust God's future)

// 1 -- THE SURPRISE OF HOPE (Something extraordinary in the ordinary)

// REFLECT -- When was the last time you were surprised by God?

// God works with ordinary people in out-of-the-way places because what matters more than status and success is God's grace and our "yes."

// THE HEAVINESS OF HOPE (Can Hope handle the weight of our dreams?)

// REFLECT -- What seems to heavy (too big, hard, or unmovable) for you to HOPE in God?

// 3 -- THE QUESTION OF HOPE (If we settle the "If?" can we trust God with the "How?")

// QUOTE -- “You are a Christian only so long as you constantly pose critical questions to the society you live in...

so long as you stay unsatisfied with the status quo & keep saying that a new world is yet to come." (HENRI NOUWEN)

// QUOTE -- “But Jesus, answered with these words and said: ‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.' “These words were said most tenderly, showing no manner of blame to me nor to any who shall be saved.” (JULIAN OF NORWICH, The Showings of Julian of Norwich)

// QUOTE -- "“During our lives here on earth, we experience a wondrous mixture of well and woe…The mixture of sorrow and joy is so powerful that we cannot figure out how to handle it all…The diversity of feelings can be overwhelming. And yet, in those moments when we sense the presence of God, we surrender to him, truly willing to be with him, with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. This holy assent is all that matters.” (JULIAN OF NORWICH, trans. by Mirabai Starr, The Showings of Julian of Norwich, 142-143.)

Ok. You're stuck between a rock and hard place. Trouble's behind you and uncertainty is ahead of you. How do you react? In this message we explore two impulses you might experience and two invitations toward healthier responses & deeper trust. It's in these moments that we can let God be God and to allow him to lead us through it.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Exodus 14.10-14

// IMPULSE 1 -- Too often we let our circumstances tell us what God is like.

// TNC MANTRA -- We pray believing God can, we ask that God will, and we trust that God loves us no matter what.

// TNC MANTRA -- Turn worrying into praying.

// TNC MANTRA -- Resolve to involve God.

// INVITATION 1 -- Remember who God is and what he's done and remind yourself early and often.

// IMPULSE 2 -- Too often our reaction is panic when the invitation is to stillness.

// Q: What's the difference between walking on dry ground or getting stuck in the mud? A: Storming ahead or BEING LED.

// Q: How did they walk through it? A: ONE STEP AT A TIME.

// INVITATION 2 -- Lift your eyes... still your soul... take your step (One at a time)

We asked our 2 current elder candidates to share their story of their journey with Jesus and to encourage us along the way.

The road trip is over. We reunited, we sang, we feasted, we met with God. Now it's time to venture back home. But we leave different than we came -- we leave blessed. The Psalms of Ascent began with a song of Lament closes with a song of blessing. Our hope is that you would recognize God's blessing and bless God in return this week.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Psalm 134

// BIG QUESTION: What is the goal, the destination, of our journey? ANSWER: To praise God (bless) and flourish in God (be blessed).

// “Blessing is the power to grow and live fully in the world and is possible because of the divine presence.” (WALTER BRUEGGEMANN)

// BIG IDEA -- Our encounter with God today energizes our journey tomorrow.

// QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION --

- What do we bless God for now?

- How will you create space and bless God this week?

- What blessing have you received even tonight?

- How will you create space to receive God's blessing this week?

Psalm 133 is an ancient song best sung around the table with friends and family (loudly and cheerfully). Anyone who has been a part of a community knows that when it works--when everyone is united and cared for--it is a gift worth celebrating and maintaining! Because at every stage, season, and situation, real community is vital to every pilgrim on their journey with God.

NOTES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Psalm 133

// BIG IDEA -- Real community is a gift God gives his children to cover and renew us.

// When we say "Yes" to God's invitation to life with Him, we are adopted into God's family. And, as Eugene Peterson says, "No Christian is an only child."* To be God's child means living, growing, and serving with other brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. (*A Long Obedience in the Same Direction)

// IMAGE 1. OIL covers and protects. In God's family, you're covered and protected!

// IMAGE 2. DEW renews and grows. In God's family, you're renewed and grown by others!

// EPHESIANS 4.3 (NRSV) -- I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

// Unity isn't made, it's maintained. How? We pay attention to each other (in prayer, time, encouragement, counsel, compassion...) because we've paid attention to Jesus who tells us to "love one another as I have loved you" (John 13.34; 15.12).

Join our special guest Kathy Keasler as she shares a timely message about living a God-Centered Life and the importance of using our influence to spread the Gospel to those around us.

NOTES:

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- John 12.23-25

//BIG IDEA -- Living a Self-Centered Life vs a God-Centered Life

//QUOTE -- "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance;

to seek him the greatest adventure;

to find him, the greatest human achievement." (ST. AUGUSTINE)

There are many stories we're told and stories we tell ourselves, but no Story gives our lives purpose like God's Story. Psalm 132 embodies much of Israel's story -- this song is a remix that references nearly 30 chapters of the Bible! What if we lived our lives with a greater awareness of the Story God's written before and is still writing with us? Let's find out together. Listen in and stick around for the WHOLE Story told in less than 7 minutes toward the end of this message.

NOTES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Psalm 132

//Psalm 132 is different than the other songs on the "Psalms of Ascent" album. It's older, it's longer, and it's not a re-telling of an old story--it's a remix.

// BIG IDEA -- There are many stories we are told and that we tell ourselves. But nothing grounds our past, guides our present, and guards our future like God's Story.

// The Ark of the Covenant -- God is with ("settling down" in our midst), God goes ahead (into the struggle), God is bigger (than the box, statues, items...)

// The longer our lives have been marinated in God's Story, the more our lives embody the flavors of the kingdom.

// THE STORY OF THE BIBLE IN LESS THAN 7 MINUTES

// QUOTE -- "With a biblical memory we have two thousand years of experience from which to make the off-the-cuff responses that are required each day in the life of faith. If we are going to live adequately and maturely as the people of God, we need more data to work from than our own experience can give us...A Christian who has David in his bones, Jeremiah in his bloodstream, Paul in his fingertips and Christ in his heart will know how much and how little value to put on his own momentary feelings and the experience of the past week." (EUGENE PETERSON, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction)