The Summit STL

It's interesting how little we talk about the idea of loving God. Jesus offers that the two greatest commandments are loving God and loving others. In this first week back join us as we kick off the year pondering what it means to love God.

So many people look to Jesus as someone with good ideas, or a teacher with good morals to live by. But Jesus through His death, resurrection and return doesn't offer the world something to consider, or just a belief system, He offers Himself, and that is why ultimate Hope is found in a person. Hope has a name, and His name is Jesus.

Hope believes that the best is yet to come! In Christian hope we experience that by not just looking to the future but by joining God in making His invisible Kingdom visible today.

We are good at recognizing what we don't have, but sometimes we struggle to realize what we really need. God has wired us to be a people of a type of hope that transforms us - a living hope. To realize that our story, is a hope story.

Hope can be a difficult thing to maintain and maturing in. But the best place to grow in hope is within the Christian community where we cling to hope, consider one another, and connect. That is the key to hope being formed in us.

As we enter the Advent season, we embark on a journey of reflection centered around hope. Hope can be viewed at from all different perspectives. However, the way we choose to envision hope could prove to be the defining factor that sets our path either towards despair or towards a fuller, more abundant hope.

The interrogation of Jesus continues and a silly quesion leads to the real definitions of dead and alive.

One of Jesus's most famous line is, 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's.' His thought has so many implications for how we live in an overly politicized world.

Mark 12 continues the theme that has been building of a fruitless temple and a corrupt religious system. And while the parable of the tenants issues a stark warning to the religious leaders, it is also a call to the Church of today.

As Jesus enters the last week of His life He desires to help the world grasp what He is about to do. The forgiveness of sins and the salvation of people can only be accomplished by the one who has authority to do it. Jesus starts down the path of showing the world He has that authority.