Common Ground

Acts 2:46-47 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. When the body of Christ loves God and loves each other well, there is no end to the possibilities of what God can do through that community. A community in love with one another is a force for amazing good in this world but God isn't just after the good, he is after complete salvation of those who are last, least, and lost. The unified body of Christ points the way to a father who is longing to be reunited with his children. Join us as we finish up our series in Acts chapter 2 and pray and grow in our love for God and one another.

Acts 2:43-45 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  Unity does not mean conformity as God has unique gifts and ministries for each and every member of the body. However, it appears that the early disciples may have fought for a greater leveling of the playing field than we first think. They were devoted to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers and this gave them a unity that allowed them to believe and have all things in common, so much so that generosity and wonder became an everyday practice. Join us as we continue in our UNITY series and grow in our love for one another. 

Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  As we welcome Summer and step into this new season of Common Ground ministry and mission, it is good for us to be reminded of the foundations of the church. Last week we celebrated the Birthday of the Church as we gathered to worship on Pentecost Sunday. One of the often overlooked results of the Holy Spirit falling on the church is the unity that came as a result of the disciples partnered with the Spirit in their lives. We want to pause for a few short weeks and talk about UNITY. Is it necessary?  Where does it come from?  How do we get it?  In a world so divided, how can we be the church God has called us to be in our neighborhoods if we aren't unified ourselves? Join us as we worship, pray, and grow in our love of God and love for one another.

Acts 2 and Genesis 11  Each year we celebrate with parties, candles, cake, and presents for the birthdays of our loved ones. For the birth of the church, we pause, and remember the fire that was lit in the hearts of those in the upper room. Once filled with fear now filled with the Holy Spirit. Once divided in visions of what to do after Christ died, now united in purpose to preach the gospel to all mankind. We are excited as a church as we continue to live in the joy of Christ as we let the ongoing, never-ending work of the Holy Spirit continue to sanctify us as a church and make us one! Guest Speaker: Andrew Owens 

Matthew 25 and 1 Corinthians 13  Join us as we pray, worship, and dream together about God's heart for the Charles Street space. We are beyond excited for all that He has in store for us as a church family and as we move out to create even deeper roots into the city. Would you join us as we share from our heart several hopes of how this building and land can be used for the glory of God?

Ruth 1:6-22 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”  And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. As we finish out our Reel to Real series this year, we will look at the remarkable film set in Mexico in the 1970's called Roma. It is a meditation on family, women, motherhood, and endurance. The film is joyful and tragic, and while events are happening all around the film, the main storyline follows Cleo, an indigenous nanny as she loves and serves a wealthy family of Spanish decent. As we begin to think about the themes of the film and the theological connections, we can't help but ponder anew the story of Ruth and Naomi. Their familial connection, their strength, the endurance, and their family

Romans 7:15-25; Psalm 119:9-16 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  With my whole heart I seek you;     let me not wander from your commandments!  I have stored up your word in my heart,     that I might not sin against you. The dogs on Trash Island needed to be rescued. One of the dogs would require a special kind of rescue. If this is your first Wes Anderson film, you need to know that all of his films are a tragedy in some form or another. Isle of Dogs is no different. It is a big screen meditation on the transformation one one single creature by the love of another. There is so much more going on in the film, but at the end of the day, it's a story about the love between a boy and his dog. Join us as we look at this kind of love while giving all of our praise and worship to Christ our King.

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. How do you get up when you get knocked down? How to you keep being kind in a world of "InstaMeFirstBook"? How do you show up to life time and time and time again when life itself seems to keep you down? The Spider-Verse movie is a beautiful meditation on getting up but not in our own power, and it seems that when we are surrounded by likeminded 'heroes" the getting up is a little bit easier. Join us as we celebrate Mother's Day and worship the creator and savior of the world. 

Psalm 88; Psalm 77; John 20:19-23 For my soul is full of troubles,     and my life draws near to Sheol.  I am counted among those who go down to the pit;     I am a man who has no strength,  like one set loose among the dead,     like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more,     for they are cut off from your hand. We live in a culture of ever increasing trauma. From the War on Terror to school shootings, first responders, child abuse, and assaults, there is trauma all around us. What is the intersection between a robust theology of the cross and PTSD? What does the Gospel offer for those who suffer and what kind of community is God calling us to be if we are to offer hope and hospitality to those suffer from this level of trauma. We need to talk about the hope of the Gospel in an ever suffering culture. Join us as we look at the film Leave No Trace. 

Ephesians 4:25-32 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.  Did you grow up with Mr. Rogers? Where you one of the millions of children who were transported each day to the imaginary land of make believe inside "The Neighborhood"? Well whether you were or weren't, there is something so beautiful about this documentary and this man that is worth taking our time to see what made him tick. Fred Rogers was on mission. Deeply Christian and a profound man of prayer he used his television program to speak into the lives of so many and we want to talk about it. Now everybody sing, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor, could you be mine..." 

Luke 24:1-12 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  It is the Sunday that all other Sunday's hang on. It is resurrection Sunday and there is reason to celebrate! The text however, begins with Mary and the women grieving as they bring spices to the tomb and it ends with Peter racing out the door to corroborate their story. Everything in between leaves us in wonder, awe, and anticipation and King Jesus, raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit defeats sin and death and the world will never be the same. 

John 10:1-21 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. Jesus in John 10 shares his famous discourse on the Good Shepherd. At the end of his words, the crowd is torn in two. They have no clue who he is or what he really is talking about. Some are skeptical about his claims and others straight up call him crazy. If we were honest, there are thing about the message and life of Christ that just don't add up to our rational minds. Yet in all of this, we see also in and through the Gospel that Jesus came to save sinners and reconcile the earth back to God. He came on a rescue mission to liberate all creation from sin and death. Join us as we begin our Easter Series moving closer to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. 

Luke 11:29-36 "When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation."  Jesus, in this section of Luke is pretty frustrated with the people's unbelief. They ask for sign, they want him to walk across the water and raise the dead, but even after he does these things they still have hearts of stone. He decides to give them a bit of a riddle instead. Join us as we all gather to hear the riddle of Jesus when he talks about the Sign of Jonah. 

Habakkuk 2:20; Psalm 46:10; Luke 5:16; Luke 23:6-12 Matthew 27:11-14 "But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Many of us are terrified of silence. We can't stand it when there are long pauses in conversation and we often fill every waking moment with noise, being it music, television, just any kind of background noise to calm the deafening silence. Yet, there is a kind of silence that we may be missing out on when it comes to hearing God. Is your relationship with God defined by what you learn with your brains? What you do with your hands? What you say in your prayers? The word relationship itself implies a two way form of communication and while we certainly have God's written word as a lamp unto our feet, we are also inclined to speak to the God of the universe through our mediated relationship of his Son, Jesus Christ. How do we hear God if we are not still? How can we sit still in our room if everything in our culture is demanding noise and distracting us? What rol

Romans 8:1-39 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Would you say that part of Being Human is that we should be able to rise above the natural world's survival instincts and cultivate the land and relationships, and all of life in a way that allows us to flourish? What would it look like in your life right now if you as a human being, were to flourish? Who's vision of flourishing wins the day? What is keeping us stuck in similar patterns of dryness and death? Join us as we keep talking about Being Human and specifically this week on what it means to flourish. 

1 Corinthians 3:1-23; Genesis 1:26-31 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. We often times are told that our bodies are machines or that they are nothing more than matter made up of bones, blood, and electrons. Others still might say that the human body just the worthless earth-suit that houses the more sacred essence of the soul, leaving the body to have little value. What do you think? What is the human body for? Is there a knowledge that our bodies give us that is not cerebral? What clues do we have from science and theology that might help us live out our calling as followers of Christ? What does his body have to do with my body? Join us as we continue in our series of Being Human.

Matthew 5:38-48; Romans 12:14-21; 13:1-7 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well."  Over the last 40 years our nation has been divided and embattled in horrible reality that is Abortion on demand. This has created language that we use as a culture with words such as "pro-choice",  "pro-life" or "the sanctity of life." There are marches, there are critical votes, and there are clear bombs thrown on both sides. In our great state of Virginia, just this month, the debate rages ever on. However, we are left with some glaring questions about the duty of what it means to be pro-life. This is not a message strictly about abortion, but rather a message about who we have permission to kill. As the colony of heaven here on earth, what is our responsibility to be consistently p

Proverbs 26:17-22; James 3:11-12 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.   In every family, in every neighborhood, in every friend group and in every church there is gossip. It runs right down the middle of every human heart and it is quite possibly the most diabolical virus one can be infected with. It has torn apart more communities, families, relationships, and churches than perhaps any other one thing. Yet, when is the last time we had a serious conversation about such a sickness? As God's holy people, our speech matters because it bears witness to the world about who God is. We reveal a lot to the world about our own ego when we tear others down. We can do better. We gotta do better. Join us as we continue our Taboo Series with the slippery topic of Gossip. Guest Speaker: Andrew Owens

1 John 4:7-12; 16-21 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Did you have a crippling phobia growing up? Was it spiders? Snakes? The Dark? How did you get over it? Or perhaps you haven't. Did you're fears ever make you act in a way that was out of character or treat others in a way that made them out to be monsters, based on your fear? There is no way around the reality that there is a much fear in the church as there is in the culture. Yet our calling as the people of God is to be a place of faith and hope. We have gotten our wires crossed somewhere that has causes us to fear others rather than love them. Join us as we take a look at 1st John's understanding of Fear and Security in the life of the Christ

Galatians 2:6-14 But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.  Racism in America could have been different. Leaders could have come together. Churches could have come together. We could have listened to one another in ways that Christ taught us. Yet, we see that even in the New Testament, even after we know what's right and good according to all the walls of separation that Christ tore down, we still struggle in coming together in unity around the table. We see Jesus through whatever lens we have grown up with and we need to begin to listen and be the people now that God will make us one day.