Pastor Sean Palmer looks to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, inviting us to consider the ways that our culturally distorted idea of “the good life” has resulted in anxiety and worry. God knows, sees, and cares about the many concerns we have in this life, and calls us to seek first the Kingdom, to relinquish our false sense of control, and to trust that God will provide for our true needs.
The Big-C Church
Pastor Chris Seay offers us a vital reminder of the great diversity exemplified by the early church. Especially during this cultural moment of such toxic division, followers of Jesus are to live into a different narrative, shaped by curiosity and open-mindedness, loving grace for those with whom we disagree, and the elusive hope of unity.
A Cup Filled, A Cup Poured
Pastor Chris Seay invites us to consider how we are called to live into the rhythms of Jesus in both giving and receiving care. Especially at a time in which the needs of our neighbors are so vast and so many, we ask God to meet and guide us in our particular places of heartbreak. May God help us to be vessels of grace, filled to then be shared in loving care of others.
The One Who Is With
Empathy Responds
Pastor Chris Seay teaches once again from the church-site of our friends in Lake Charles, Louisiana as we continue to respond in care for our neighbors in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. As we are reminded in the story of Nehemiah, empathy calls us not to draw back while others are suffering, but to take action while leaning into relationship.
More Than We Can Handle
Pastor Chris Seay teaches from Louisiana as we seek to respond in care for our neighbors in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. God never promised that we wouldn’t be given more than we can handle. Instead we are called from temptation and idolatry to rely ever more on God, and on one another, in all that overwhelms us.
What Do You Want?
Pastor Sean Palmer teaches from the story of healing at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5. Our desires are not inconsequential or insignificant to God, but it is when we ask and allow God to transform our wrong desires that we discover the right ones, that those desires would result in choices aligned with God’s will.
Left Undone
Pastor Chris Seay leads us to consider our understanding of sin, and particularly sins of omission. Where have we failed to act; to ask, give, fight, and encourage in the ways that God has called us? We can either let guilt to become shame that keeps us stagnant, or allow it to urge us toward seeking forgiveness, restored relationships, and transformation.
Distractions
It is always a great joy to have a visit from our friend and brother, the incomparable Bob Goff, and we are grateful for the encouraging word he brought to share. When we see through the distractions, we are granted the opportunity to grow in genuine interest for those around us; which is the first step toward love.
When Life Presses In
Our beloved sister, Jeanne Stevens, shares an important message to reflect on how the darkness of life helps us notice the light around us.
Our thanks again to Jeanne and Soul City Church
Prayer Prepares
We are grateful to have been joined by our brother Jarrett Stevens, sharing a beautiful and needed word from Joshua 3 on prayer as our participation toward the movement of God that is already happening. Are we simply waiting, or are we intentionally moving in the direction we are asking God to move, trusting that he is already preparing upstream what is flowing to meet us as we pray expectantly and act in faith?
Daily Bread
Our beloved sister, Shauna Niequist, shares with us an encouragement to trust in God’s provision for what you need each day. As we are navigating the challenges and unknown of this time in our world, her words are a much needed reminder.
To learn more about Shauna, you can click here - https://www.shaunaniequist.com/
Truth Tellers
Pastor Sean Palmer considers our love of God as a call toward a deeper embrace of the truth; not the partial-”truths” distorted to serve selfish agendas and to tear one another down, but that which requires us to embrace (perhaps uncomfortable and unfamiliar) virtue and humility as God shapes us in faithfulness.
God's Notion Of Freedom
Pastor Sean Palmer enters Jesus’ teaching to the crowd gathered in John 8 on the true nature of freedom. Freedom is not simply the absence of burden or the abundance of choice, but instead about the truth of the reality into which God invites us to fully live. Our freedom is given for the love of the world; that in its sharing, everyone would be set free.
All Is Heard
Ericka Graham invites us to remember some of the primary lessons of the Psalms; that God calls us to bring the full spectrum of our emotion and experience to him, and to do so in community. As we continue trudging through the challenges of this season, may we not only share in lament, but also the thanksgiving and praise that breaks through the significant heartache.
The Father Carries
Pastor Sean Palmer reminds us that when God asks us to call him Father, it is not about maleness, but is painting the picture of the relationship he desires with us. As we pause to acknowledge with gratitude our flawed earthly fathers, we look together to our perfect Father in Heaven and his family into which we’ve been born.
Summer Selah
Pastor Chris Seay teaches from Psalm 32; prompting us to look to the coming weeks, a summer unlike any we’ve experienced, as an invitation. This time of great disruption has reminded us of the gift and privilege that is our very breath, challenged many among us to repent of our part in systems of generational trauma, and encouraged us all to faithfully make steps into the work to which God has called us.
What We Find At The Altar
Pastor Sean Palmer continues our revisiting of the Rhythms of Ecclesia by considering the binding of Isaac, and the challenge faced by Abraham as he endeavored to faithfully Seek God. The God we seek is a God of love and promises kept, far removed from the idols and systems that ask us to sacrifice our own humanity, and that of others, at their false altars.
Pentecost Sunday: The Shared Spirit
Though we continue to gather online in this season, it was a much needed time to be with one another following an incredibly painful week. Pastor Chris reminds us of our call as followers of Christ to live as one, with hands open in sharing God’s blessing, especially in a time such as this; asking the Holy Spirit to guide and use us in helping to mend the deep ruptures in our communities and the world.
Quarantine Made Sacred: Home Front
We simply aren't used to being at home this much. As a friend of mine said, we are great at binge-watching anything but our kids. She meant that home, over time, has become a secondary place for us. After all, most of our waking hours are spent at work. But now the two have merged. And what if that's what it was all about? Not an idolization of "family," but home as the place where we learn to love as God invites us to love the world.