Teaching
We gather around the scriptures to learn the unfolding story of God.
Confession – Luke 11:1-4
In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus instructs us to pray, “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us”,a prayer of confession. But contrary to popular belief, confession is not simply a reminder of our fallenness, but an assertion of our forgiveness. We confess not because God needs a verbal record of our wrongdoings, but because we need to cultivate brutal honesty about what we have done wrong in order to enjoy God’s abundant forgiveness.
Petition – Luke 11:1-4
Jesus teaches us to pray; “Give us each day our daily bread”. This instruction to petition our needs reminds us that our natural longings for financial security, for a child, for healing, for bread are not written off as evil, selfish, embarrassing, or shameful. Rather, these desires are welcomed by God. And as we bring them to God, we trust him to order them, to open the eyes of our heart that we might see him.
Intercession – Luke 11:1-4
In the beginning, humanity was invited to be God’s co-laborers; intercessors called to freely and joyfully partner with him to cultivate our good world. As the story goes, humans have gotten into the habit of contributing to the chaos, rather than cultivating it. However, God’s invitation, to be His collaborator in pushing back the dark, is still open. The first move in accepting that invitation is to clasp our hands in prayer; for in prayer we collaborate with God to set his world back to rights.
Communion – Luke 11:1-4
In Luke 11, the disciples say, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus’ response is both a pattern and a script for prayer, a guideline for prayer and a prayer we regularly recite. It is the place we go to when we ourselves wonder, “Jesus, how do we pray?” However, the starting place of prayer is not "how", but "who"?
Epiphany – Matthew 2:1-12
As the feast of Epiphany, we commemorate the Magi's visit to the baby Jesus and the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. It is this beautiful reminder that the gift of Christ is one that goes beyond the borders of the Jewish people and has become a gift to all people. The question remains how will we receive this gift?
Advent – Love
Although love takes center stage in this season, we miss the gritty nature of God’s love because we’ve confused love with sentimentality. But the Love of God cannot be described with sanitized cliches or impersonal definitions; for the Love of God is told in dysfunctional family trees, gritty action, strange stories, and dirty glory.
Advent – Peace
The phrase “peace on earth and goodwill toward men” is common throughout the Holiday season. But this familiarity strips the idea of peace of its power reducing it to sentimentality or inner calm. The Story of Christmas tells of a Peace far better, far more robust, and far more powerful. May we not be distracted with anything else.
Advent – Hope
In the Season of Advent, believers across the globe enter into the story of scripture by practicing hope. This Advent hope is not sentimentality, or optimistic expectations, but a willingness to cling to the faithfulness of God through everything in life.
Resurrection and Life Everlasting – 1 Corinthians 15:12-52
When we confess, ”I believe in the Resurrection of the Body, and the life everlasting” often we misunderstand it as “I believe I will go to heaven when I die.” But the Christian story is much better than that. The Christian story is that the Creator God has demonstrated in Jesus’ resurrection what he intends to do for the whole world.
The Forgiveness of Sins – Luke 22:54-62
Sin is a poison that mars, kills, and destroys the abundant life God desires for his people. But in a surprising turn of events we discover that God, in Christ, offers us the antidote – forgiveness.
The Global Church and the Saints – Ephesians 2:1-22
In a moment marked by extreme individualism commitment to community and one another is revolutionary. We believe in the global church and the communion of saints. We are the people who live in a community with God and each other.
I Believe in the Holy Spirit – Assorted Scripture
The final section of the Apostles’ Creed centers on the person of the Holy Spirit; the third member of the trinity and the very presence of God on Earth. Unfortunately, one of the greatest tragedies of the church today is that life with the Spirit has become unknown, feared, and divisive with bible churches sitting on one side and holy spirit churches sitting on the other. We need Christian communities that are deeply committed to engaging with the scriptures and cultivating a relationship with the person of the Holy Spirit.
He Will Come Again – Assorted Scripture
American Christians have a unique obsession with the end times. From doomsday predictions to rapture anxiety, the Return of Christ is a doctrine obscured by exaggeration, anxiety, and speculation. In Contrast, the New Testament authors spoke of Christ’s return as a triumphant and joyful conclusion to God’s conspiracy to take back His world.
In Kansas City – Jeremiah 29:4-13
In the West, Christianity has moved from a cultural majority to a cultural minority. Followers of Jesus feel a sense of cultural displacement or, in the language of the scripture, exile. Throughout the biblical narrative, the People of God have had many exilic experiences, but as the Prophet Jeremiah advises, our God can be found even when we are far from home.
Together – Assorted Scripture
As evident in the scriptures, Jesus believed in the church. We believe that church is family and so every year we want to revisit how we participate in this family or do this whole Jesus thing together. Participants in the Midtown Community are asked to commit to five things; (1) Reveal the Kingdom of Jesus, (2) Belong to a Microchurch, (3) Gather on Sundays, (4) Serve, and (5) Being Generous.
Revealing the Kingdom of Jesus – Mark 1:14-15
The Gospel preached by Jesus of Nazareth was that the Kingdom of God was close at hand. This is to say, that God’s conspiracy to take back his world from Satan, sin, and death has begun in the person of Jesus. In response, we are invited to rethink what is possible and risk for what could be.
He ascended into Heaven – Acts 1:8-11
The story of Jesus, living, dying, and rising from death gets a lot of well-deserved attention; but sometimes we overlook another crucial mysterious scene in the narrative which is where we find ourselves today- “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father.” In the event known as Ascension, we discover that God is really here, that he has always been here, and that he dwells in us.
Death and Resurrection – Luke 24:23-35
A natural disaster strikes, there is a random act of violence, and a loved one dies; with each headline, with each death– we are reminded of the fragility of life, of our own mortality, and that life takes place in a dangerous world. A world that is often more like a warzone than a garden. Death is all around us, but Jesus’ conquering of death is an invitation to a new way of life.
He Suffered – Luke 22:39-48
Suffering always seems to be looming under the surface of life. In these moments where we struggle, we reach out to God more frequently and fiercely than ever before. Just as we have learned to walk with Jesus on the mountaintops of life, we must learn to walk with him through the valley of suffering
Conceived by the Spirit and Born of the Virgin – John 1:1-18
Jesus is God in the flesh, a doctrine known as the incarnation. As the Apostle John points out the Creator joins His creation and demonstrates what it means to be human. Jesus teaches us how to delight in the goodness of the creation he calls good.