"WE BELIEVE that one day, Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead, and each will go to their eternal reward – forever life in union with God or the final death, forever separated from God.  In the age to come, the new heavens and the new earth will be revealed."

John 3

“God has infinite attention, infinite leisure to spare for each one of us.  He doesn't have to take us in the line.  You're as much alone with Him as if you were the only thing He'd ever created.”

C.S. Lewis, Beyond Personality

"When we gather together as followers of Jesus reading these texts, something happens." Five ways we are meant to read the Bible. We are meant to read the Bible in community.

Full Video: Rethinking our relationship with the Bible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK0WGniMPCU&ab_channel=PracticingtheWay

Mark 4 and the Parable of the Soils. Maybe we've heard this story so many times that we only catch part of the warning. What if the point isn't just about being a plant but about being fruitful? And what if the weeds that choke don't kill us, but simply make us unfruitful... which misses a massive point of life in the kingdom of God.

“To know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against Truth, and not the other way around.  The first product of self-knowledge is humility . . ." Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners

The story of Jephthah in Judges 10 and 11 is not easy. Yet it is so important to soak in this text, which pulls no punches and challenges us to examine which God we believe in.

"Just because I'm talking about God doesn't mean I 'm talking about God."

Jesus began with "Come and follow me". These are words of invitation that are repeated to us. And Paul writes to the church, "Live a life worthy of the calling..." All are called just where you are. All who respond are challenged to live a life worthy of that calling. This is the beautiful mess of the Christian life.

The story of Herod Antipas is such a tragic example of the excuse of almost believing.

guest speaker: Rachel Yokers

Be in the Psalms.  They say things that stories and even didactic teachings don’t say in the same way.  And they penetrate our deep places in ways that other things don’t. 

We are in the Psalms because we are REMEMBERING who God is.