Teaching
We gather around the scriptures to learn the unfolding story of God.
Injustice and Honest Prayer – Habakkuk 1:1-4
When our world is filled with evil, heartbreak, and injustice the natural question is why? The book of Habakkuk is one prophet’s honest dialogue with God around this subject; it is a divine conversation in which God assures his followers and promises his justice.
God's Response to Brokenness – Nahum 1-3
The Prophet Micah’s instructions to ‘act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly’ first function as an indictment against Judah’s rich and powerful. Judah’s political and religious leaders had turned to exploitive practices to line their pockets and accumulate influence all at the detriment to the disenfranchised. Thus, Micah’s prophesy reverberates through the ages as a poignant reminder for the people of God to use whatever power we have at our disposal for the flourishing of others.
Reclaiming Power – Micah 2:1-11
The Prophet Micah’s instructions to ‘act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly’ first function as an indictment against Judah’s rich and powerful. Judah’s political and religious leaders had turned to exploitive practices to line their pockets and accumulate influence all at the detriment to the disenfranchised. Thus, Micah’s prophesy reverberates through the ages as a poignant reminder for the people of God to use whatever power we have at our disposal for the flourishing of others.
Revisiting a Familiar Story – Jonah 1-4
The story of Jonah lives in the imagination of many as the story of a runaway prophet and a big fish. While those are elements of the story they are far from the point. Rather, Jonah is the startling and bizarre story of what happens when our enemy-hate runs into the grace of God.
A Divine Pride Check – Obadiah 1-4
Pride is any internal deliberation, or outward attitude that diminishes others. It is an insidious emotion that disrupts the community and isolates us from others. The Prophet Obadiah’s message is a divine pride check for the nation of Edom centuries ago and for us today who maintain the same sense of unhealthy pride. In order to become a spiritually, and emotionally healthy community, we must reflect on the destruction egotistical pride has the potential to cause in our life, and then we must look to our subversive savior for direction.
Justice like a River – Amos 5:4-6, 21-24
Whether it is multi-million-dollar settlements where companies do not have to admit guilt, ministries hiding sexual abuse or covering up theft, or platforming the narcissistic pastor so that they can save face. We have witnessed the fallout from wrongdoing, both on a personal and national level. This is just how the world works, right? The Prophet Amos challenges this status quo and reminds the people of God that we have a role to play in bringing about justice.
I Will Pour out my Spirit – Joel 2:12-14, 28-29
In a moment that is marked by celebrity, clout, and influencers, we can come to believe that the work of God is reserved for the few, the special, the called. But the prophet Joel outlines that a day is coming in which God’s Spirit will be poured out on all people. Joel says God’s invitation is for everyday ordinary people to join him in the renewal of our world. Miraculous works, the sharing of the gospel, the bringing of justice is not for the few it is for the many.
A Story of Restoration – Hosea 1:2; 3:1-3
The Story of Hosea offers a jarring illustration of Israel’s unfaithfulness and idolatry through the marriage of Hosea and Gomer. But the story of Hosea does not dwell on the actions of Gomer, but rather it emphasizes God's action through Hosea and the restoration we are all offered.
Ordinary Time – John 14:15-23
Following the victory of Jesus’ resurrection, the natural impulse would be to think ‘practicing resurrection’ is to move from mountain top to mountain top; from spectacle to spectacle. However, anyone who has followed Jesus for a significant amount of time knows that most of our life is lived between mountain tops, in the mundane and ordinary. Jesus’ invitation is to become aware of His presence in every moment of life.
Friendship – John 15:12-17
In a society where friendship is networking, a strategy for career moves, a transaction, where you can be lonely in a room full of people, Jesus-followers can demonstrate a friendship that reflects Christ's wholly undeserved and self-sacrificial death. To live as Jesus did, to practice resurrection, we must be in community. We have to have friends. You cannot preach the Gospel alone. You cannot love alone. You cannot follow Jesus alone.
Meals – Luke 19:1-10
In the West, we are experiencing a monumental shift in which the culture at large is increasingly post-Christian. It's not that culture has abandoned Christianity altogether, it is that culture is reacting against Christianity. In this moment, how do we proclaim the good news when so many have already decided that it is not good news? We believe that there is a practice of Jesus that subverts the ideological defenses of our neighbors and sets a table for an encounter with the Kingdom.
Sabbath – Mark 2:27-28
What do we do about our never-ending pressure to have more, to work more, and to be defined by our work? In the Christian tradition, our response is Sabbath, a practice that frees us.
Wonder – Luke 24:1-12
The Resurrection of Jesus is the defeat of death and the beginning of a new creation. It stands as an invitation into a new story; a story that replaces our disenchantment with wonder.
Scripture In the Wilderness – Matthew 5:17-20
It is the best-selling book of all time and sits at the center of our cultural consciousness, yet the Bible remains a difficult element of our faith. The confusion around the Bible might simply be that we’ve lost sight of what it is; a library of ancient writings, of both divine and human origin, that tell a unified story that leads to Jesus.
Simplicity In the Wilderness – Matthew 6:25-33
In the West, we have come to believe that stuff can satisfy our deepest longings–we would never admit that, but our closets, amazon purchases, and bank account betray us. The problem isn’t just stuff; it is the place that stuff occupies in our heart. Jesus’ alternative; “seek first the Kingdom.'“
Silence & Solitude In the Wilderness – Mark 1:32-34
We have a world that does its best to drown out silence and medicate loneliness with noise. When we experience a moment of silence it feels disruptive, unsettling, and agitating. Silence does not come naturally to us. But there is something beautiful in silence and solitude; It is where we enter into the mystery, the unknown, and realize that God is already there and has always been there.
Fasting In the Wilderness – Matthew 4:16-18
The human condition is to experience a complex knot of desires. Many of those desires are God-given, good, and necessary for life on Earth. Many are disordered, nefarious, and destructive. For millennia, fasting, going without food and drink for a period of time, has been a core practice of the Church; this is in part because it brings our body and spirit into alignment clarifying our desires and reordering our appetites.
Prayer In the Wilderness – Luke 22:39-45
Lent provides an opportunity for us to practice drawing closer to God in the midst of suffering and the wilderness. We look to the example of Jesus, who in the moments where suffering is most difficult turned to prayer.
In the Wilderness – Luke 4:1-13
As the Church of the West, we are far more familiar with the God of the mountaintop than the God of the wilderness. When suffering crashes into our lives we often wonder where God is, and Lent is an annual practice that teaches us to find His presence in our wilderness. The Wilderness is a place of harsh clarity, an uncluttered discomfort, where our hearts are laid bare before God– and we discover one that is always there.
Contending – Luke 11:1-4
The biblical narrative offers us a brief depiction of a malevolent being hellbent on our suffering; It suggests that chaos has been planned, disease sown, and violence cultivated. Our response to this darkness is not to cower or shrink back but to become people of prayer and action, injecting love into the darkness.