Common Ground

Matthew 4:8-11 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”Every place that the Devil led Jesus was higher and higher. A high temple, and a high mountain are emblematic of the temptation to power that he was offering Christ. "I will give you all the nations if you just bow down and worship me." There is possibly no greater temptation in our political and ecclesial life than the one of power and control. It is much harder to love people than to control them. We have the same issues in our homes and in our schools. Join us as we look at the beauty and humility of Jesus as we grow in his suffering and joy.

Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,'He will command his angels concerning you,' and  'On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.' " I mean come on!! How is this even a temptation? We can see the obvious first temptation after Jesus had been fasting for 40 days, to "turn these stones into bread." However, what on earth is Satan really trying to tempt Jesus with here? What if Jesus could have really looked like a Superstar in front of the people? Would they believe him then? We are halfway through our road to Easter and we are looking forward to joining back up in the Silk Mill as we continue in our series on the Temptations of Christ and how the enemy is still after us with the same temptations.  

Romans 12:9-21; Lamentations 3:17-33 & Acts 16:25-40 My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord." Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. From '13 Reasons' to severe depression, we have to talk about shame and mental health in a way that brings the light of Christ into the darkness that many of us feel. The stigmas surrounding mental health have got to change if we are going to prevent suicides and bring hope to the world in the way that Christ commands us to. How can we as a church family, support one another? How can we a church family, help identify some of the early warning signs? How can we as the kingdom of Christ, sit with those suffering

John 19:1-16 & Revelation 5 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. We have been told from a very early age that "our nation one nation under God." We have stamped "In God We Trust" on our money and even have patriotic hymns like "God Bless America" that are sung in churches. Our scouts and children learn that our duty to "God and Country" is one of the most important and noblest things we can do to become a meaningful citizens. Our families have fought, for generations for freedom and we think of this as we get emotional at the national anthem and we grow infuriated when people disrespect the flag, dishonor our soldiers. Much of this contempt is done with Christian overtones and language that echoes back to a

Luke 24:13-35; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” We live in a culture that is losing it's ability to have a conversation. When I grew up, I remember my dad taking the phone off the hook and putting it in the cabinet until the annoying beeps stoped, then we would enjoy our family time together without interruptions. Today, we are interrupting ourselves, with everyone around the table having a phone and most likely a TV on in the background, we are constantly connected and therefore constantly only half present. What are we teaching our little children? How does this create further barriers to the ones Christ has asked us to love, our enemies? What implications does this have for our friendships, our r

Psalm 142 & John 9:1-25 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud... What hope is there for the family who has a child addicted to heroin? What can the church do for the thousands of people in our community addicted opioids like oxycontin and oxycodone? How can we support our police officers, counselors, social workers, and our fire fighters who are the "tip of the spear" in the relentless effort to save a generation? What does King David and King Jesus have to say about the role both the community and the individual plays in sobriety and true transcendence? We will be doing our best to explain the epidemic and offer the hope of God inside the loving arms of a community centered around the hospitality of Christ. If you know someone who is exhausted from loving an addict, or if you know someone addicted, consider inviting them to sit with you as we cry out to God on behalf of our loved ones trapped inside the prison of addict

Seminar to Cultivate Faith in the Home

Ephesians 6:1-4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Home can be a tricky work for lots of people. It can be the place of greatest pain, and it can be the place of our greatest joy. As we think through the final message in our series of Beyond the Fig Leaves, we have to think about the weight of shame that we have stored in the wine cellars of our home. Shame that is "ready-to-serve" at a moments notice. You can probably trace back your greatest moment of resentment back to a parent. So with that in mind, what does it look like for us to curate "shame-free" homes where everyone feel safe to "come out of hiding." Our homes are little churches, places where truth and love coexist, places were obedience and grace coexist. Join us as we talk about our practices at home that help form our Christian life.

1 Corinthians 13, Ephesians 5:15-33 Did you shed a tear at your wedding? Did your spouse? There is something about receiving the voluntary gift of self-sacrificing love that brings us to tears. How about now, all those years later, are we still filled with gratitude for what God has joined together? There is beauty that brings us to tears. There is the full understanding that we are unworthy and yet this person loves us wholeheartedly as we are. Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame and the early pages of Genesis reveal something masculinity and femininity. Marriage is sacred and we need to be reminded of this as often as we can. Join us as we talk about the beauty of a Christ-centered marriage and the great mystery of Christ's love for His bride, His church.

1 Corinthians 7:32-35; Hebrews 4:14-16; Mark 12:25 When we talk about the theology of the body, it is imperative to talk about the option of the single life that being a Christian affords us. Before Jesus began his church, married life was the only option for cultures and religions. After Jesus, we begin to see that the kingdom of God is not about being given in marriage. Jesus models not only in his teaching, but also in his sexuality that having a body is good and it is expected to live in this single bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. In our culture however, that is almost impossible. How can we encourage one another, whether single, or married? How can promote robust friendships among all of us that elevate the lack of intimacy found in our world? Join us as we look at the sexuality of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus and the body of Jesus to grow in our hope for how to live in our bodies beyond the shame! 

Genesis 1-2 & Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." When God looked out on his creation could not stop saying one phrase: "He saw that it was good." Inside that good creation, inside of us, God has placed all kinds of hungers and desires, all of which are GOOD!! We hunger for purpose. We hunger for love. We hunger for a great meal and we hunger for intimacy and friendship. We are born hungry. Join us as we begin a new series looking at how God has created us for communion with him and with others and how our hungers can point us either toward God or away from him. 

Luke 5:1-11 Humans love beginnings and we have an immense capacity to mark the first steps of a journey.  We love births, weddings, and the opening day of baseball season.  On the cusp of a new year, we will explore a beginning in Scripture, the calling of the first disciples.  How does the calling of the first of the twelve impact our lives today?  Does the obedient response of the disciples inform how we are called to follow Christ?   Join us as we model for our children what it looks like to worship Christ in community, and break bread around His table, and explore a beginning in God’s Word so we can be better equipped to live His Love, Grace, and Mercy. Guest Speaker: Matt McCauley

Christmas Eve Service

Luke 2:1-20And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. What is your relationship to time? Always wishing you had more of it? Finding all the time saving tricks to get the most accomplished? Or perhaps, you feel stuck in time and you are just counting the ticks of the clock. As we work through the story of Scrooge, we come upon this encounter with The Ghost of Christmas Present. We see that "time is a gift, and that's why it is called the present" as Dickens would say. As this Spirit takes Scrooge on a journey through the night, he sees things in a different perspective, but most of all, it gives him a deeper appreciation for time. Join us as we look at the Nativity story and how Christ breaks into our time and gives it new meaning.  

Isaiah 43:1-28"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? How do you look back on your Christmas' gone by? What was your favorite gift, song, or moment? For many of us it's most likely a mixed bag of emotions. The same is true with Ebenezer Scrooge. The Ghost of Christmas Past takes him on a trip that is filled with more than nostalgia, it's filled with truth, and truth can be very very hard. Join us as we look at the redemptive way in which God looks upon our past in order to give us peace for a future.

Matthew 20:1, 13-16; Luke 16:19-31There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. If we are honest, there is probably a little bit of Scrooge in all of us. For some, perhaps more than others. How did we become so cynical? So inward focused? Scrooge has a way of sneaking up on us even when so much of our lives are looking and feelings so good. Join us as we light the Candle of Hope and begin the Advent season believing that God can change even the coldest of hearts. We will take a page out of Charles Dickens to look at Christ as the hope of the world.

Luke 19:1-10 Either Jesus is the worst financial advisor that every walked passed a sycamore tree, or when corrupt capitalists come into proximity with the love and mercy of Christ, your economics kind of go up a tree, or down it, however you like. We live in a corrupted society and we all have learned habits of survival that do not run consistent with the kingdom of God. Join us as we look the story of Zacchaeus and move closer to the generosity of God.

John 6:22-59Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. We have been marketed to from the time we were children. Told to buy this and buy that, and this will make you happy, and that will make you feel better, when the truth is we are in debt and we feel empty. Join us as we talk about Jesus' sermon on the Bread of Life and how that teaches us how to be and live in a world of retail therapy. 

Psalm 137:1-9 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!" O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Atrocities had been done to Israel that no human being could imagine or stomach. Men, women, and children had been ruthlessly killed and targeted by the Edomites and the Babylonians. It's hard not to think of a young man full of anger this week going inside a church and targeting crying children with his assault rifle. We are left with the wreckage and the rage. Israel was left with the white-hot anger that boils over into Psalm 137. How are we to live with the emotions of anger? In politics and social media, how are we to live with our emotions of anger? In family and at work, how are we to model a Christ who on one hand, says, "Turn the other cheek" and on the other hand, "grabbed a whip and began turning over the tables of the money-changers"? Join us as

Psalm 130:1-8 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. The scene in Les Miserables when Jean Val Jean is given forgiveness by the priest, that is a moment that probably best pictures Psalm 130. "From out of the depths I cried to you O God..." Perhaps you have been there and are in need of redemption and mercy. In our journey toward Christ-likeness, we fall short all of the time and we have to cry out for mercy along with way. Join us as we look at one of the most hopeful songs ever written, A Song of Forgiveness! Guest Speaker: Carey Sims