United Church Gatherings

The world is filled with possibilities that we have yet to consider. Doubts can either push us towards opening our mind towards what is possible or they shackle us to the status quo. Jesus opens our minds. He invites us to see into the beyond, doubting together what we see, inviting us together into a beautiful new reality.

We’re told that doubts are bad, that they destroy our faith, that they push us away from God, and leave us feeling empty and alone. But what if doubts are actually good? What if doubts actually press us closer to God? What if this journey, if taken together, can actually lead us into beautiful, wide open spaces of possibility?

Lectionary Text: John 20.19-31

The beloved community was forged in a crucible of fear. It began with tears, locked doors, and doubt. And yet Jesus emerged from the grave, revealing a new world of hope and possibility in front of us. The resurrection changes everything, and together we help each other see a new possibility just beyond the horizon as we follow after this resurrected Jesus.

Lectionary Text: John 20.1-18

Too many times over the course of our nearly three year existence as a church, we have been called together in unity and in love to denounce hatred and an insidious form of white supremacy that is present and active within our culture and given safe harbor within white evangelicalism. Enough is enough. May we forge a new and better path forward where all are truly welcome and all are truly invited. Christ have mercy.

Text: John 12.20-33

This is our 53rd week a part. 53rd week since we have met together in person. 53 weeks. It’s a lot to take in, a lot to realize and recognize, a milestone that feels like a weight of grief and pain that we’d just rather ignore than truly understand. There is so much that has happened in this season that we need to mark, that we should mark, that we can bring into the light of the day and know that while the days have been dark, the light is still winning.

Text: John 3.14-21

How many times have you risked it all only to see it blow up in your face? How many times have you taken a huge leap, hoping and trusting that the person on the other side was going to catch you like they said they would, only to find yourself falling flat on your face? Were they worth it? What did you gain in the end—your own personal ROI? The Christian life is like that. A giant leap of fidelity where betrayal seems to lurk around the corner. What will you gain by jumping in?

Text: Mark 8.31-38

We’ve each found ourselves in the proverbial wilderness before: a season and place of trials, troubles, tribulations. We often cry out into the seeming void, “Where is my rescue?” The season of Lent is a season marked by the wilderness, of intentionally placing ourselves in that space—because there in the wilderness, we can find life.

Text: Mark 1.9-15; [Rf: Luke 4.1-13]

Are you listening? What do you hear? So often we spend our time talking and talking, creating more of a monologue with God, with Jesus than actually participating in the act of listening. What does listening have to do with transformation and change? How does listening well create new worlds and environments for us to walk into and experience?

Text: Mark 9.2-9

What are you doing with your life? What are the actions and ways of being that define who you are? Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, “Action is truth.” The actions that you engage in reveal the truth of what you truly believe down to your inner core. What truth(s) are you revealing with your life? What do you truly believe?

Text: Mark 1.21-28