Pastor Sean Palmer points us toward the Advent season with an important message on Mary’s scandalous pregnancy and the decisions that we (like Joseph) have to make in considering how to use our power and privilege. Will we choose to “break up” and further divide, or instead, the far more difficult road of participating in the ways that God’s Kingdom is “breaking in”?
In Search Of What's Been Lost
Pastor Chris Seay continues our conversation from last week; sharing stories of hope from the migrant caravan in Mexico City, and looking ahead toward what we pray will be a deeply transformative season of Advent. As we seek to be a people who worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all; what might we rediscover as we give ourselves fully to the invitation of these sacred weeks of anticipation and longing?
Hope Responds
Pastor Chris Seay shares stories and a message of hope from Mexico City, where thousands of migrant travelers rested on their journey to escape violence and oppression in Central America. As Ecclesia answers an invitation to show hospitality and love to these brothers and sisters, we are invited to consider what it means to respond in hope, knowing what we are for and not simply what we are against.
Rootedness
Our beloved brother Gideon Tsang joined us once again, asking the question of what it means to be rooted. As Christ remains (roots) in us, we must ask: Where are our lives rooted? With whom are we rooted? What resistance do we feel towards planting ourselves fully where God has placed us? May God speak to you uniquely through this invitation to stillness, contemplation, and participation.
Hope Is Certain
Pastor Chris Seay continues a conversation we began last week on the vitality of hope in our journey with God and one another. When we have a living hope, we can trust in God’s plans even in times of difficulty and despair, gain vision for a long and unfolding story, and open our hearts in greater gratitude and worship as God meets and sees us where we are.
Sleepless Nights
Pastor Sean Palmer offered a message on the vitality of hope in a time of inescapable anxiety. In facing the inevitability of loss, death, and disappointment, will we be a people who are ruled by fear and anxiety, or will we find rest in a hope that is living and expectant; in the confidence that our God truly cares for us?
The Wounds Of Love
It is always a profound gift to be taught by our dear friend and brother, Dr. Dan Allender. As a people shaped in part by experiences of trauma and betrayal, we often resist opening ourselves up to receive comfort. Dan offers us a beautiful reminder that God has bled for us, engraving our names in his palms, promising the kind of love that will never forget or forsake us.
Dance Like Nobody's Watching
Pastor Sean Palmer taught from the story of King David, and shared about many of the ways God has provided in abundance as we have sought to eliminate the debt at our Downtown campus. This freedom allows our family all the more opportunity to seek God’s will in serving our city and communities around the world. In times such as these, we are called to jubilant celebration.
Grace And Fire
Ericka Graham taught through Jesus’ Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, and shared vulnerably from her own experience of coming to the knowledge and acceptance of grace during a time of deep trial and shame. Grace is humbling to accept because God meets us in our sin and unworthiness, calling us beloved, just as we are. In receiving grace, we are ignited from the source of all love, to carry that flame and share it wherever we go.
The Good King
Pastor Sean Palmer invites us to consider our view of leadership, and what it requires to become someone whose example is worth following. As we learn from Moses (and Black Panther), leaders are driven by burden rather than bluster, leaders are called to choose courage, and that each and every one of us is called to embrace the unique responsibility of leading in our circles of influence.
Invaluable
Pastor Chris Seay (with assists from Schindler’s List and Dr. Maya Angelou) asked us to consider what a life is worth. When we truly see ourselves as God has declared us to be, the way we care for our bodies, the ways we work and give, and the ways we are called to remind others of their importance to this world are all radically changed.
A Loving Story
Miracle On The Bayou
This week a year ago, Hurricane Harvey devastated the city of Houston. In this message, Pastor Chris Seay leads us in reflecting on the many ways Ecclesia responded to love our city, in the midst of their pain and trauma. Through the stories of our community, we are able to witness the local church be the hope of the world.
The Great Campaign Of Sabotage
It was a great blessing to welcome our brother, Dr. Richard Beck, to teach a rich and important message on the true nature of spiritual warfare. The "devil" exists in many forms; in all that opposes loving kindness, in the empty promises of the world, in the idols of our own hearts, and in the voice of accusation that seeks to keep us mired in shame. Our choice is whether to succumb to that story, or to place our trust and allegiance in the transforming grace of Christ, our perfect advocate.
Do You Know Who You Are?
Pastor Chris shared reflections on one of his favorite films, Steven Spielberg's Amistad, and asked us to reconsider how we engage with scripture. Are we reading the Bible solely to learn "facts", or are we immersing ourselves in a rich and living library that is overflowing with story, poetry, and shared history? Through his word, God tells us who we are, and invites us to embrace our truest identity as beloved children, that we would faithfully live out our part of the story.
The Importance of Community
This weekend in our gatherings, teaching pastor Sean Palmer reminded us of the importance of community and how we are not meant to follow Jesus in solitude. Our invitation is to know others and be known by them, allowing the depth of our relationship, service, and hospitality to grow. May we all accept this invitation to greater communion with one another.
The Welcoming Gospel Of Les Misérables
Pastor Chris Seay shared his reflections on the film and story of Les Misérables, which depicts God's welcoming arms and loving mercy with truth and beauty. We are recipients of radical and undeserved grace. Will our hearts harden in shame like Javert, or like Jean Valjean will our lives be transformed as we turn our will over to God, humbled by the enormity of this gift?
It Already Is
Our deep gratitude to Josh Carney, who shared a number of stories from his family life and taught through the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. In Christ, we are recipients of extravagant, cosmic forgiveness. Can we truly receive that love and mercy as a gift, and will it transform our own capacity to forgive others?
Friended
Pastor Sean Palmer asked us to consider what the psalms of lament and the film Bruce Almighty have to say about the nature of prayer and our relationship to a Creator who invites us into intimate friendship. Whether in rejoice or in anger, we are called to relate to God in honesty as a Divine Friend; a friend who knows our needs better than we do; a friend who longs for us to align our prayer and actions in joyful submission toward God's redemptive movement.