One of the hardest jobs in existence (and one of the most frustrating, rewarding, confusing, inspiring, and constantly-changing ones), is being a parent. There is no singular guidebook, no neat formula that works all the time or with every situation. But that doesn’t mean that there is no hope or no help in the process … we just need to look a little beyond ourselves and find strength in what God has revealed to us and in the community He’s created for us.

#ALLinTHEfamily #Parenting

When we talk about family, we have to start at the beginning - marriage. And to start at the beginning of marriage means we start at the beginning of the Bible - in the book of Genesis. If we look at how the Bible describes the essential nature of family from it’s beginning stages all the way through what Jesus & His followers affirmed, we discover a deep, rich reality of what community in general is supposed to be.

#ALLinTHEfamily #Marriage

The universal human longings for the things like truth, justice, love, & beauty are all genuine signposts to the fact that we humans are made by a good and wise Creator. But we so often find that each one of them is “broken.” They fail to deliver on what they appear to promise. Or perhaps we should say, we fail to deliver. However, there is one thing, one who, that never fails, who has shown that to which all the good in this world (broken though it may be) points. This perfect signpost, this Jesus, gives hope and life and a future

#BrokenSignposts #JESUS #Easter #ThePerfectSignpost

We’ll often mock weak leaders while resenting powerful ones. We want justice, but there must be power if justice is to flourish. Yet, people in power regularly bend justice to suit their own ends, accomplishing neither justice nor equality. Power has been abused, abdicated, hoarded, denied, and deified. And yet we still know that it is essential, even with all the dangers that it brings when applied improperly. How do we move forward?

#BrokenSignposts #TRUTH #Resolved

One of the most basic, fundamental drives that we see in the human condition is to be free. Wars are fought over it, protests are held to demand it, books & films are written to describe it’s loss and (hopefully) triumphant return. Yet the very fact that we yearn for freedom points out that there is something that stands in opposition to us being free.

#BrokenSignposts #Freedom #Resolved

One of the most basic, fundamental drives that we see in the human condition is to be free. Wars are fought over it, protests are held to demand it, books & films are written to describe it’s loss and (hopefully) triumphant return. Yet the very fact that we yearn for freedom points out that there is something that stands in opposition to us being free.

#BrokenSignposts #Freedom #Resolved

There is something about a gorgeous sunset, about peering across a vast chasm, about subtleties of light & color in a magnificent painting, about the play of meaning & sound in a skillfully woven poem, about gazing at your spouse yet again after decades like it’s the first time you’ve seen them … there’s just something in this world that resonates deep within us when we encounter real beauty. And that encounter points us to even greater truth and more stunning beauty.

#BrokenSignposts #Beauty #Resolved

NT Wright has written, “There are a great many people in today’s world who do not think of themselves as either religious or indeed Christian but who do think of themselves as somehow spiritual. Yet Christianity speaks uniquely to … our longing for spiritual connection by interjecting glimpses of heaven on earth.” What does it mean that we all seem to long for something more than our eyes can see or our fingers can touch?

#BrokenSignposts #Spirituality #Resolved

Almost every story ever written, almost ever song ever sung, almost every movie ever created all have one central component to their tales - love. The loss of it, the quest for it, the unrequitedness of it, the deep enjoyment of it, something about love. This is because love is central to the human condition. And that is something that points us to an even deeper reality of what it means to be truly human.

#BrokenSignposts #Love #Resolved

We all long for things to be, well, right. That’s why we instinctively recoil when we see injustice being done. Or at least, what we think to be injustice. And the Bible has a lot to say about this idea, and some of it challenges what we might think.

#BrokenSignposts #Justice #Resolved

It can be so hard for us to think that God could ever really understand us. He’s just so … different than us. But if we look at the story of Jesus, this account of God taking on human form, and see the kinds of heartbreak that He endured in His wild adventure to love and rescue us, we’ll begin to see that He really does get us, that He really does walk with us in our pain. He gets us, and He’s for us.

#HeGetsUs #Heartbreak #Resolved

Jesus’s life shows us his intentions for all people. Through his actions, he demonstrated radical inclusion across a variety of backgrounds and cultures. In those places where we can so easily draw lines, build walls, and create barriers between ourselves and others, Jesus lived a life inviting others into His own. What would our lives be like if we did the same?

#HeGetsUs #TheRebel #Resolved

Jesus has gotten a bad wrap, and - if Christians were really honest - we’d admit that often that’s our fault. The Jesus we discover in the Bible was one who humbly walked through the same kinds of struggles that we do, and He still spoke and did love. And because He struggled like we do, we can be sure that He gets us in the midst of our struggles, too.

#HeGetsUs #TheStruggle #Resolved

If we’re really going to be a place where people encounter Jesus and where we help them live Jesus-centered lives, we need to do more than affirm or agree with where we’re headed ... we need to make our declared values actualized values. We can’t only well-wish those around us … we need to be those who DO the hard work of loving others and putting them before ourselves.

#NewYearsRevolution #MoreThanThoughtsAndPrayers #Resolved

Over the many years that the Christian faith has existed, there has been discussion about what that faith entails. And part of that is understanding a dual nature of this religious expression & experience - that is, is our faith primarily an individual or a corporate (group) reality. The truth is that it is not a binary choice, but rather a beautiful synergism of the two. But one thing it is not (and this can be difficult for us in our Western culture) is private (secret or hidden).

#NewYearsRevolution #TheMEinWE #Resolved

All of what we do as a church family is focused on this big idea: helping people live Jesus-centered lives. But what does that mean? At it’s core, it requires both an understanding of who Jesus is & what He did AND an understanding of how we fit into that beautiful narrative. And when we understand that this story - this GOSPEL - impacts every area of our lives, we begin to see the revolution it will produce in the deep places of who we are.

#NewYearsRevolution #TheGospelOrBust #Resolved

Music is a nearly universal language. It communicates in a way that transcends words, and we build soundtracks for our lives in an almost unconscious way, creating a backdrop for who we are. Let's rewind our church's 2022 "soundtrack" as we start 2023. To really understand where we're headed, we have to understand where we've been. Our past shapes and guides and informs both who we are today and who we will become. It doesn't define us, but it's an important piece of our identity.

#Rewind #ChurchPlaylist #2022 #2023

So often, when we think of peace, we imagine the lack of war or strife. And while this is true, as we look through the pages of Scripture, we discover that it is something deeper and richer than this. In fact, the coming of Jesus 2000 years ago on that first Christmas night was declared to be the very coming of peace to the world.

#SacredWords #Peace #Christmas