Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost - Jesus, One of Us: Participating in God's Mercy and Grace

On this Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost we continue our final Fall series focus on the letter to the Hebrews.  This series is entitled: Salvation Comes Through Jesus and asks what is salvation?  We have many different understandings – perhaps negative, rather than positive. In this series through Hebrews, we are being challenged to explore salvation in a new light – salvation that comes through Jesus.

 

Connect to Jesus, One of Us: Participating in God's Mercy and Grace.  Jesus was one of us.  He became a human being, was tempted just as we are tempted - so experienced all what we go through - yet he did not sin - he did not align himself with the non-reign of God, but always gave allegiance to God and God's reign.  God "checked in" with us in becoming human to show the way and and be the way, and we help each other, in Christ, continue living as disciples of Jesus giving allegiance to God by "checking in" with each other as well.  

Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost - Hebrew Series: Salvation Comes Through Jesus

On this Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost we begin our final Fall series focus on the letter to the Hebrews.  This series is entitled: Salvation Comes Through Jesus and asks what is salvation?  We have many different understandings – perhaps negative, rather than positive. In this series through Hebrews, we are being challenged to explore salvation in a new light – salvation that comes through Jesus.

 

Connect to Salvation Comes Through Jesus: Jesus is the Atonement.  Salvation is more than just the cross. God speaks to us by his Son – what does it mean in Hebrews 2: 9 – “so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone?”  Atonement is not just the cross – atonement is in and through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus in which in him we are no longer subject to the powers of sin and death.

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost - Messages for the Community of God: Speaking Creatively . . .

On this Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost we continue our series on James' letter to a church struggling to live practically while their faith is being challenged.  These Messages for the Community of God guide us in living practically as well. 

Connect to Speaking Creatively . . .  James talks about how deadly our tongues, our speech can be - something we just are not able to tame.  With it we praise God and curse one another.  Though James does not offer any direct solutions, he leaves us wondering about our speech.  It is by the Spirit that even our speaking is transformed into life creating speech so that living waters flow out from us.  

 

Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost - Messages for the Community of God: Live Faithfully

On this Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost we continue our series on James' letter to a church struggling to live practically while their faith is being challenged.  These Messages for the Community of God guide us in living practically as well. 

Connect to Live Faithfully . . .    James admonishes us not to show favoritism, but to regard all, especially the poor and marginalized as God regards them - as persons of worth.  Showing favoritism is not only about admonishing those who show favoritism, it is also to acknowledge within us where we show favoritism to ourselves and so side with the rich and powerful over against the marginalized. 

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Messages to the Community of God - Humbly Accepting the Word the Word Planted in Us

On this Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost we begin a new series on James' letter to a church struggling to live practically while their faith is being challenged.  These Messages to/for the Community of God guide us in living practically as well. 

Connect to Humbling Accepting the Word Planted in Us.   Practical faith is not about sermons giving us "TEn Steps to Do This" or "Eight Ways to Do That" but practical faith is being open to what God has planted in our lives - and our giving attention what is being cultivated in us.  We find it leads us to set aside our own agendas and we are led and empowered by God's Spirit to embrace God's agenda / purpose for humanity.

 

Thirteenth Sunday of Pentecost - Live Prayerfully: Putting on the Armor of God

On this Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost we continue our series on life in Christ through Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus.  We live out our lives as the people of God as we are "in Christ."  This series in Ephesians challenges us to live out our lives as a community of God's people rooted "in Christ."

Connect to Live Prayerfully: Put on the Armor of God.   The focus is on Ephesians 6: 10-20.  How do we go about living prayerfully in a world that is overwrought with struggle - against rulers, authorities and powers, against evil?  We do not war against flesh and blood, but we do struggle for flesh and blood.  To live prayerfully is to put on the "armor of God" - living a life of praying in the power of the Spirit.

Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost - Live Wisely: Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

On this Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost we continue our series on life in Christ through Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus.  We live out our lives as the people of God as we are "in Christ."  This series in Ephesians challenges us to live out our lives as a community of God's people rooted "in Christ."

Connect to Live Wisely: Be Filled with the Holy Spirit.   How do we live wisely, making the most of every opportunity, recognizing that “the days are evil?” To live wisely is to live being drunk/filled with the Spirit – living a life full of worship in the presence of Jesus Christ.