How is it even possible to follow Jesus, love neighbors, and grow disciples? We must create the space for God to do the work in our lives that we cannot do on our own. In our fourth core practice, we commit to make time for God and others for transformational relationships to grow.

Scripture Focus: Luke 6:12-13 and Luke 22:38-46

Jesus shows the disciples (and us) how to create space, find rest, and renew strength before we engage with others in order to grow transformational relationships.

We need to recognize our old patterns of busyness, worry, and exhaustion, and then create space for God to build a new pattern in us for restorative rest.

We get a sense all through the Bible of God saying to us ‘I am with you...I am with you...I am with you.’ And then that haunting question, ‘Are you willing to be with me?’

Richard Foster, Q & A with Dallas Willard (Renovare Institute), Conversatio.org

Here are some practical ways to create space in your life.

Creating Space - An Appetizer

Silence - Be in His presence and Listen for His voice

Meditation - Read and reflect on a short Bible passage like Psalm 23

Prayer - Pray for a neglected or hurting relationship that needs transformation

Creating Space - An Entree

Solitude - Spend an hour this week reflecting on the goodness of God

Hospitality - Prepare with God and give someone your undivided attention and love that needs it

Prayer - Commit to daily prayer for a worry in your life and remain open to restorative rest

Creating Space - A Dessert

Extended Personal Communion (EPC) - Plan for a day with God in the next few months

Remind - Post a physical reminder to continue a practice of creating space

Reflection - Track how you budget your time and energy over a week and reflect

Question - How will you create space this week?

Our third Core Practice is “Grow Disciples” and you could say that this is our “Great Commission” (Matthew 28.16-20) practice as a church. We want to be intentional in how we invite others into a relationship with Jesus and grow together. Because the truth is that disciples are lifelong learners growing more and more into the image of Jesus. In the famous miracle known as “The Feeding of the 5,000”, Jesus gives his disciples an opportunity for some more on-the-job-training. Will we, like those disciples, trust Jesus with what we bring to the table? Will we, like those disciples, grow in our trust that Jesus gives us what we need when we need it?

NOTES

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS — Mark 6.30-44

// CORE PRACTICE 3 — We commit to invite people into a relationship with Jesus by baptizing, teaching, and sending them on mission.

// Disciples live in a culture with a rhythm of driven achievement and numbing out. Disciples live in a culture that instills a narrative of “never enough.” But Disciples are called instead to follow Jesus’ rhythm of restorative rest overflowing into compassionate action within a kingdom of “more than enough.”

// Mark is underlining a couple things: 1. The disciples still have more to learn and 2. Jesus never runs out of what we need

// When disciples give what we have we find what we need and what we offer gets multiplied in Jesus’ hands.

Read the Gospels and see a picture emerge of Jesus in indiscriminate proximity to his neighbors. But Jesus isn't just near those who are ostracized or marginalized, Jesus engages with them, creating a geography of grace. Jesus is routinely surrounded by the poor and powerless, the disciples and doubters, the sick and suspicious. We see in his life and teaching a call to "go and do likewise" as we love the neighbors we encounter. And when the needs seem too big to carry alone, may we be inspired by those in this story who simply carry their corner -- bringing their neighbor into the presence of Jesus.

NOTES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Mark 2.1-12

// CORE PRACTICE 2 -- We commit to love others as ourselves regardless of race, background, ethnicity, orientation, or status.

// QUOTE -- “My prayer from day to day is that God will so enlarge my heart that I will see you all, and live with you all, in his love.” (DOROTHY DAY, House of Hospitality)

// WHO DO WE SEE? The religious leaders saw... the crowd saw... the friends saw... Jesus saw...

// Mark is highlighting this central conflict: Does Jesus have the right to extend the invitation of God and declare them welcomed in his presence?

// QUOTE -- “Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order to get close enough to love them” (DOROTHY DAY, House of Hospitality)

// WHAT DO WE DO? We carry our corner

// Many times we see the breakdowns in our relationships and the brokenness in our neighborhood as mountains too big to move instead of seeing the corner we’re called to carry.

// SONG -- "Little Things With Great Love" by The Porter's Gate

Every year The Neighborhood Church pays special attention to our 5 Core Practices. These practices are how we intend to live our life with God together. So, more than just "values" or "ideals" -- these 5 intentions are meant to be lived (hence the name "practice"). If you are interested in TNC or if you are a longtime partner in our mission and ministry, this message is a great reminder of the practice that informs all the others -- following Jesus.

NOTES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Luke 9.18-27

// CORE PRACTICE 1 -- We commit to be with Jesus to learn from Jesus how to live like Jesus (paraphrase of Dallas Willard)

// Belief informs behavior. Our faith is not just meant to be believed, it's meant to be lived.

// QUESTION 1 -- What is our Story?

// Our story is the GOSPEL -- The Good News that Jesus--through his life, death, and resurrection--is the reigning Lord of heaven and earth and all people are invited to live in God's kingdom, filled with God's Spirit and freed from sin and death.

// PRACTICE 1 -- Adopting the Narratives of Jesus = Exchanging our false ideas about God and neighbor for the God who looks like Jesus

// QUESTION 2 -- What is a Christian?

// A Christian is an APPRENTICE OF JESUS -- Someone who believes Jesus is Lord and lives like they mean it. (What's it cost? Everything. What's the reward? Everything.)

// PRACTICE 2 -- Engaging in Soul-Training = Adopting practices that allow us to be acted upon

// QUESTION 3 -- What is a church?

// A church is a COMMUNITY of Jesus connecting others to Jesus as companions along the way of Jesus.

// PRACTICE 3 -- Participating in Community = Dialoguing, serving, and sharing with others on the Jesus way.

An "Epiphany" is a sudden realization or recognition of something. In the Church, Epiphany is the day when Christians celebrate the recognition of Jesus as Messiah. In many cultures it's also called "Three Kings Day" because Epiphany has long been associated with the visit from the Magi, or traditionally speaking, "The Three Wise Men." What makes these foreign astrologers make the trip to honor and give gifts to the King of the Jews? It's because a star-slinging God got their attention in the heavens... and they responded appropriately. What would a more attentive life in 2024 look like for you? How should we respond to God's initiative? What epiphanies await us?

NOTES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Matthew 2.1-12

// God's love seeks expression. God creates to reveal love. God partners with us so that we can receive love, be transformed by that love to express that love.

// EPIPHANY is recognizing the gift and responding appropriately.

// SIN ("Missing the Mark") is the rebelling against or the resisting of God’s initiative = An inappropriate response

// WORSHIP (Giving "Worth") is the response to the divine initiative = The exhale after the inhale

"Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries..."

// ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, Aurora Leigh (1856)

30 weeks before Bethlehem and 30 years before Jesus announced Good News in Nazareth -- two expectant mothers met in joyful celebration. Mary, the mother of Jesus, erupts in a song that has been sung, shouted, and whispered in churches, monasteries, and concert halls all over the world. Mary's song is a revolution song that envisions the reordering of a world in desperate need of restoration. As we hear her song, listen for the tune of the gospel.

A lot of well-meaning Christmas plays smooth out or gloss over much of difficulty, anxiety, and humility of the nativity. We know about the journey and the "no vacancy" signs that seemed to abound -- but do we recognize the beauty in the midst of the difficulty? Let's light a candle in the darkness and draw near to the manger to find a God who shows up in every challenging situation... because that's what Love does.

The theme for the third week of Advent is Joy. In our world and in our lives, we might be tempted to believe that joy is a limited resource or that there's nothing we can do to manufacture more of it. And in some ways...that's true. Because more than anything we can muster on our own, joy is a response. In this message we eavesdrop on an encounter between two expectant mothers and then we explore the responses of joy that break into our broken world. These experiences can remind us that joy is not only possible -- it's promised.

NOTES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Luke 1.39-45

// BIG IDEA 1 -- Joy is the response to a dream realized

// BIG IDEA 2 -- Joy is the recognition and response to the presence of Heaven on earth.

// A "Beatitude" is less about activity and more about geography -- "You are smack dab within the reach of God's blessing."

// The experiences of joy are earthly appetizers to the banquet of heaven.

// Joy is not only possible, joy is promised.

// BIG IDEA 3 -- Joy is more fully experienced because sadness is part of our experience. Joy is our response to overwhelming goodness precisely because we know how overwhelmingly broken our world can be.

// 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)

We continue the season of Advent by focusing on Peace. Fear and conflict are part of the human experience. Are we to try and avoid these realities, or deny their effect on us, or crumble under the weight of it all? The Good News is we have a Savior who solves this problem for us. In this week’s story, we see Mary embodying true peace as a faithful servant after hearing God’s plan for her and a baby that would change her life as well as the whole world. How can this be? Jesus is the peace bringer, then and today.

NOTES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Luke 1.26-38

// BIG IDEA 1 -- Our reality and experiences in this world can be full of questions, fear, and conflict. God invites us not to avoid those experiences, but to bring them to Him. He is the Prince of Peace.

// BIG IDEA 2 — Peace is a rest of will that comes from the divine assurance about how things will turn out. (Dallas Willard)

// BIG IDEA 3 -- 5th Core Practice: We commit to partner with God in His mission to bring His shalom (holistic peace and well being) to our neighborhood and world.

We begin the season of Advent by focusing on Hope. Advent is a season of waiting and wonder -- will God show up? Will darkness give way to light? Hope is the expectation of God's good end so our answer is "Yes." But every year we prepare for Christmas by aligning ourselves with those who longed for the Messiah's (the chosen King of Israel) arrival onto the world's stage in spite of the hopelessness they feel. So when news of the Messiah's forerunner shocks an old priest on duty at the Temple, will he actually believe it's possible? Or are we, like the priest, too often lulled into thinking that our status quo will remain unchanged? The Advent journey invites to hope in the God who works while we wait.

NOTES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Luke 1.5-25

// BIG IDEA 1 -- Our status quo can lull us into thinking that our story is a dead end. But God doesn’t lead us into dead ends. Detours? Definitely. The promise of God is that every detour is destined toward a good end, leading us toward a horizon of hope. The God of Life loves to turn hopeless ends into endless hopes.

// BIG IDEA 2 -- Sometimes we just have to be quiet so we can watch and wait for God to work. When we‘re quiet we can listen. When we listen we can focus. When we focus we see.

// BIG IDEA 3 -- Hope—the expectation of God’s good end—may not change our situation but it does change our perception in the present.