How to Pick a Fight (According to Jesus)
He was hailed as the Prince of Peace, but Jesus understood the realities of conflict in everyday life. As he brought people into relationship with one another, and sought to bring reconciliation to all of God’s people, Jesus offered guidance on how we should handle the unavoidable conflict we would encounter in the life of faith. This week, let’s talk about why conflict might actually be a good (even great?) thing, and how our faith can be a guide.
God’s Grace Means Anything Goes?
What happens when a theology of grace actually becomes harmful? That’s precisely the concern that Jude was trying to address when he wrote his little letter, calling out the Christian leaders who used “grace” as an excuse for bad behavior. This week, let’s take a look at a small-yet-punchy note from Jude, a leader who is committed not only to God’s grace, but also how God’s grace can be good news for truly everyone.
Jesus’ Little Brother Has Something to Say
It can be hard when people compare you to an older sibling. But imagine if that older sibling was… Jesus. His younger brother, James, was a key leader in the Christian movement in Jerusalem, and as he came to the end of his life, he wrote a letter where he tried to sum up his theology through a series of pithy vignettes. This week, let’s take a look at the little letter of James, and give Jesus’ younger brother his due.
Culture Wars, Cults, and Cretans
The island of Crete was renowned in the first century as a place of liars, jerks, and the very worst that the world had to offer… it was also home to a growing number of Christian house churches. The Apostle Paul hears about the struggles that early Christians faced there, specifically in how they related to the surrounding culture. This week, let’s talk about how the questions facing Christians in Crete aren’t all too different than the ones we face in a modern cultural context.
Simply, Love.
The short letters of John (the elder) were written at a time when the early church, probably in Ephesus, was splintering. A movement was departing from the community’s traditional beliefs about Jesus. Early Christians didn’t know how to address these disagreements, but John, author of the letters, knew the most important thing: love. When our world is dividing, can it really be that simple? Love? This week, let’s find out how these letters offer not just words of love, but also advice on what love looks like when we are responding to attacks on our character. How do we love someone who seems to hate us?
When Dreaming is Love on the Run
This week we trade rainbow technicolor dreamcoats for someone we normally only talk about near Christmas. That’s right, it’s time for the other Joseph (of nativity fame) to shine! God visits him in a series of dreams, and while it is ultimately really big, really GOOD news, it’s also fear-inducing, life-changing, and pushes Joseph to places he never imagined he would go. Where might his dreams lead us?
Joseph is kind of a jerk, and that’s kind of the point.
Whether or not you’ve read the story, you’re likely familiar with it. A favorite son. A “many-colored” robe. Jealous brothers. Donny Osmond. (Okay, Donny isn’t in the Scripture.) The story of Joseph and his “technicolor” coat famous, to be sure, but when we dig deeper into the story of this dreamer, we find a complicated tale of hubris, humility, and family infighting that might change the way we approach the God-sized dreams in our life.
Coming Out and Coming Home
He’s on the run from a brother he believes is keen to kill him. In a dream, Jacob is visited by God with a simple message: go home. That simple message would lead Jacob to unexpected places and people, and it would change life for generations to come. As we step into June, we center ourselves on Dreamers, and wonder how God might be leading us to dream once again today.
For the Beauty of the Earth
In some circles of Christianity, it can sound like God hates the world or creation itself, but is that the story Scripture really tells? This week, we take a look at the creation stories in Genesis and consider how they inform our understanding of who God is, and who we are called to be. The way we understand the beginning of it all can definitively shape the way we live today.
Called, Equipped, Ordained
“Why am I here?” It’s a question we can ask ourselves at an especially boring meeting, and its also a question we can ask ourselves in those existential moments of life. Maybe your story is going exactly as you had hoped, or maybe you are wondering when your story will really start. This week, let’s talk about how God calls, equips, and ordains us for a meaningful purpose in this life.
Laying Down My Guns
We’ve all been guilty of overzealousness from time to time, but have you ever sliced a man’s ear off in the heat of the moment? Peter does in Luke 22, and how Jesus responds will give us pause when we take it seriously. Where might the Prince of Peace lead us, if we are open to living differently?
Laying Down My Pride and Place
Luke Chapter 8 begins with explicitly naming women among Jesus’ core disciples, and ends with the stories of Jesus encountering a woman and a young girl who require healing. When we look through the context of the day, what might sound simple is revealed to be a provocative and profound declaration of God’s courage and care.
Laying Down My Demons
Alone. Bound by chains. Untouched and unseen. Possessed by demons known only as “Legion. It’s a dramatic story, to be sure, but what might first look like a prequel to “The Exorcist” is a deeply moving story about restoration and making right. Before you write off “casting out demons” as the stuff of scary movies, let’s talk about how Jesus might be leading us to encounter the “Legion” in our own lives.