Spark Cast

We celebrate all God has done for us and look with hope towards the new year to come!

Some of us might have no experience or negative experiences with liturgical worship. At their best, however, liturgies require the whole congregation to participate in the prayers, in the rites, and in the music. Liturgy in Greek means “work of the people”, so this Sunday evening Sparkers participate in singing, call-and-response, communal prayers, and scripture readings. The focus is our liturgy, our collective work that serves as our offering to God.

Colossians has no shortage of mysteries that we’ve covered over the last few weeks (God in Christ in you, being thankful amidst suffering). But when Paul talks about “the mystery of Christ”, he has a specific truth in mind—a truth that’s easier said than done.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day being with friends and family and sharing a meal as we reflected on the blessings we have received. And for many, having the 49ers play on Thanksgiving day was a blessing too. The bible has a lot to say about being grateful and thankful, with a focus on being thankful for a good and gracious God. We are so lucky!

If a principle teaching of Colossians is that our identity is “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” the goal of that teaching is “maturity.” That aim requires not only a transformation of understanding but a transformation of actual behavior. The brilliant analogy that Paul uses is clothing because what we wear on the outside is profoundly connected to who we are on the inside.

In introducing the Letter to the Colossians, we will draw our attention to a theme of Paul's letters—and of the Biblical narrative—that begins, not with behavioral modification, but a completely radical and transformative view of the new humanity that emerges in Christ.

This weekend Spark Church hosted Mark Yaconelli, speaker, author, and Executive Director of The Hearth, a local storytelling community welcoming people of all different spiritual backgrounds and journeys. Mark's most recent book, "Between The Listening And The Telling" is a beautiful journey of adventure, hope, longing, and mystery that invites us to all embrace our own stories as the way through which we find salvation. This weekend we were immersed in this ancient practice and compelled to revisit and remember the same God, Jesus, and Spirit that has been co-authoring our stories with us since the very beginning.

This weekend Spark Church hosted Mark Yaconelli, speaker, author, and Executive Director of The Hearth, a local storytelling community welcoming people of all different spiritual backgrounds and journeys. Mark's most recent book, "Between The Listening And The Telling" is a beautiful journey of adventure, hope, longing, and mystery that invites us to all embrace our own stories as the way through which we find salvation. This weekend we were immersed in this ancient practice and compelled to revisit and remember the same God, Jesus, and Spirit that has been co-authoring our stories with us since the very beginning.

This weekend Spark Church hosted Mark Yaconelli, speaker, author, and Executive Director of The Hearth, a local storytelling community welcoming people of all different spiritual backgrounds and journeys. Mark's most recent book, "Between The Listening And The Telling" is a beautiful journey of adventure, hope, longing, and mystery that invites us to all embrace our own stories as the way through which we find salvation. This weekend we were immersed in this ancient practice and compelled to revisit and remember the same God, Jesus, and Spirit that has been co-authoring our stories with us since the very beginning.

This weekend Spark Church hosted Mark Yaconelli, speaker, author, and Executive Director of The Hearth, a local storytelling community welcoming people of all different spiritual backgrounds and journeys. Mark's most recent book, "Between The Listening And The Telling" is a beautiful journey of adventure, hope, longing, and mystery that invites us to all embrace our own stories as the way through which we find salvation. This weekend we were immersed in this ancient practice and compelled to revisit and remember the same God, Jesus, and Spirit that has been co-authoring our stories with us since the very beginning.

This weekend Spark Church hosted Mark Yaconelli, speaker, author, and Executive Director of The Hearth, a local storytelling community welcoming people of all different spiritual backgrounds and journeys. Mark's most recent book, "Between The Listening And The Telling" is a beautiful journey of adventure, hope, longing, and mystery that invites us to all embrace our own stories as the way through which we find salvation. This weekend we were immersed in this ancient practice and compelled to revisit and remember the same God, Jesus, and Spirit that has been co-authoring our stories with us since the very beginning.

From the beginning of our Bible, to the end, we hear of divine encounters. These spiritual revelations, conversations, miraculous deliverances, quiet whispers, and silences describe holy moments between God and people. What does this mean for us today and how do we live into the truth of Jesus' promise to make His home with us and be with us always?

On this eleventh anniversary of Spark, we share the vision and strategic plan for the life of our church.

We've been talking for weeks now about Jesus' "sheep" and the loving mercy that defines followers of Jesus. But to the "goats", Jesus says, "Depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels... then they will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Those are... high stakes! We end of our series in Matthew 25 by talking through Jesus' apocalyptic warning to his disciples and how we can heed that warning today.

Who are the poor? Who are the least of these? And how might we truly tune our hearts to Jesus' presence in our midst?

Poverty is a problem here in America and around the world. So, as Christians, what do we do? Some people throw their hands up because solving this problem, ending poverty, seems way too ambitious and impossibly expensive. And Jesus is even quoted in the Bible as saying that ‘the poor will always be with you.” But when we read the Bible, from Genesis throughout the New Testament, we see a constant revelation of God’s will that no one should be made hungry, sick, homeless, underpaid, indebted, or bereft by the violence of social injustice. God’s intention is that abundance should be a blessing for all.

“The least of these” has been understood to be the marginalized, the disenfranchised, and the ostracized, those who have been slighted or forgotten by society. But in this passage, they are called “my family.” This is both an identity statement and a profound shift of perspective. What you do for those who are on the margins of society is different from what you would do for your family. And if we can change our worldview, we can change the world viewed.

The elements in Matthew 25 are not mere materials. They speak to a bigger reality in which we are invited to live as we serve the least of these.