On Friday I adapted a bit of Revelation 4 for this snow day weekend when we can’t gather. The vision Jesus gives John shows us what’s true – even when we don’t perceive it, and even when everything seems otherwise. I encourage you take a few minutes this weekend to watch it, read Revelation 4, and use the short mediation or discussion guide posted at our website. And much joy as the snow falls!

Week two of Revelation! We’re looking at the “portraits” revelation paints and this one (ch. 2-3) is what Jesus has to say to the Church – back in the first century, in our age, and really in any age. It’s a mix of blessing, critique, and challenge. Jesus has words for us that carry notes of warning and promises of comfort and victory. If our church is going to be his faithful witness, we will have to walk his road of loving him and loving others. That means embracing discomfort, patiently enduring, and taking the next faithful step, over time, to the finish line. What is Jesus saying to us? To you?

Starting a new book! Our church will spend the next six weeks taking an extended tour through the book of Revelation. Imagine you’re walking through a gallery and seeing six pictures, six creative portraits representing Jesus and his work. That’s this book: Revelation isn’t a code to break or a puzzle to be solved – but a piece of poetic, prophetic, pastoral care for you and everyone else learning and living this faith in ordinary life. So take up the invitation! Don’t head for the exits, but sit up, lean in, and listen. Prepared to be amazed and challenged – and called to respond.

Happy New Year! We took this Sunday to dig deeper on what Jesus calls his church to in terms of community. Borrowing a little from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his short book “Life Together,” we talk about how the good news of Jesus makes us sons and daughters in faith – and brothers and sisters of one another. This kind of deep community is the dream in all our hearts and in our wider culture, but it’s real and worked out by Jesus in the church. It’s hard… but it is good, and worth it. This is the love we are made to receive… and give.

It’s our last week of the “Do you see …?” series, looking through the eyes of the characters in the story of the coming of Jesus. What do they show us about Jesus, and how does their story illuminate our stories? This week we pick up the story of the magi (wise men) and the two kings (Herod and Jesus). We look at the journey (where are we going?), the search (how can we know?) and the challenge (how will we respond?). There’s something in here for both the believer and seeker as we look to Jesus!

Keeping with our theme of “Do you see…?” for Advent, we skip forward in the story of Jesus’ birth to when Mary and Joseph present their new baby at the temple and they meet Simeon and Anna. These two older people challenge our view of Jesus. He is not just the sweet little baby Jesus in the manger; he is the center of God’s story in the scriptures, and his mission is salvation for all nations. That Jesus both breaks our hearts and remakes our own stories.

This week we looked at the Christmas narrative through the eyes of Mary and Elizabeth as it is told in Luke 1. This passage teaches us something crucial for the Christian life today: because Jesus came to us, we can come to him. This advent season, may we all reflect anew on the miracle of Jesus coming to us as our Immanuel, a name that literally means “God with us”.

It was a joy to have Dr. Wes Vander Lugt as our guest preacher this week and look at the story lines of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Each week, we’re asking the question: do you see? This week we find people asking God that very question – and he does indeed see them. And they are liberated by the God who sees them … to see him and see others rightly. Let’s look through them and see!

This month we are extending the invitation: Do you see? It’s the first week of Advent, and we want to look through the eyes of the key women in the story of Jesus’ coming. What do they show us about Jesus and God’s reign? Do we see what they see?  For the first Sunday, let’s start way back at the beginning … with Eve in Genesis 3-4 and the 3 questions she asks. They are answered in Jesus.

As we move from the Essential Jesus series and are a step away from beginning Advent – what do the Scripture have to say about true worship? Lesslie Newbigin once said that the church is meant to be a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the kingdom of God. As we think, dream, and pray about our future at Trinity Forest – how can we hear the call to worship with our lips and our lives, our words and our works?