One of the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith is the trust that God places in the church to embody Jesus Christ in the world. Nowhere do we see this responsibility that the church carries than in the transition from the gospel of Luke to the book of Acts. At the end of Luke’s gospel Jesus […]
There is a significant difference between faith in Jesus Christ and the faith of Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus is a gift that we have received whether we like it, know it, or believe it. We do not earn our relationship to God, we receive the gift of sharing in the glory of Jesus Christ. […]
In Jesus and his temptations in the wilderness, in the Gospel of Matthew, we see the balance between relationship and responsibility challenged. Jesus is tempted with appetite, affirmation and ambition and we are tempted in similar ways each day.
The story of Moses continues the theme of “Relationship and Responsibility” by showing the balance between the two. God calls Moses through the burning bush and even though he says he is not up to the task that God is calling him towards God empowers him and equips him.
This week we continue the conversation of Relationship and Responsibility with a look at the rightful orientation of living out God’s Kingdom. God calls us to live in the authority and power of God’s reign, but what does the power of God look like? Joseph moves from an arrogant self-centered adolescent to a humble leader […]
The story of Abram and Sarai begin our conversation about what a relationship to God looks like. In their story, we see that all people begin their relationship to God with God choosing us. We do not earn our status as children of God, we are given it.
We end the sermon series with the celebration of Epiphany. Like the 3 wise men, hope does not always land at our doorstep, sometimes we have to go looking for it. As we start the New Year we think about practices we can take on that help us find hope everyday.
On Christmas Eve we celebrate that the hope that we have been waiting for has arrived. The challenge for many of us, however, is that we often don’t recognize the hope that has come. We don’t recognize because we are looking for the grandiose, when long ago the Holy One was born in a barn. […]
The only constant in life is that we ought to expect the unexpected. Our hope should not be different. The beauty of an unexpected hope is that unconditional grace is the outcome. This is certainly the case for Jesus’ birth. The savior of the world was born in an unexpected way and in an unexpected place […]