Pastor Chris continues in our series called Sacred Frames by looking again at the show The Sopranos. Pastor Chris explores the themes of belonging and community as the show highlight's Tony Sopranos loneliness. Pastor Chris invites us to engage with each other and suggests that the Church continues to hold a place of belonging for each other.
Sacred Frames - Disney Shorts
Sacred Frames - Magnolia
In this week's installment of Sacred Frames, our dear friend Greg Garrett, who is a gifted author, professor, and speaker, brings us a message about the forgiveness of God through the lens of the movie Magnolia.
Garrett describes Magnolia as a beautiful, hard, and true film that in its second act leaves you feeling like you are at the bottom of the ocean and will never know light or warmth again. But then God moves, and grace flows and we see as God sees, with a sympathy for the brokenness which enters into every human life. We see God makes the showers to fall upon the just and the unjust, and we discover how God is right there with us as we try to live into the toughest parts of being human.
Sacred Frames - The Sopranos
Sacred Frames - Arrival
Pastor Mike continues our series Sacred Frames exploring the intersection of faith and film; the redemptive themes coursing through a diversity of cinematic stories. Pastor Mike takes us through the story of the movie Arrival. The themes of relationships and pain throughout the film give us insight on how we relate to each other in relationships. How even in pain we trust that when we walk together, united even in all of our messy difference, the Holy Spirit will show us what we’re meant to see, what we’re meant to receive, what we’re meant to give.
Sacred Frames - To Kill a Mockingbird
Hope Shows Up
As we enter 2023, Pastor Mike invites us to reorder our lives in this new year. He encourages us to continue showing up; to the discomfort of a new habit, to the inconvenience of messy relationship, to the often frustrating silence of prayer, eventually we will encounter God, perhaps in ways we could never have anticipated.
Love All
Give More
Spend Less
Worship Fully
In a world that primarily values commerce, the invitation to worship fully this advent season is an invitation to embrace a set of values that honor God above the market. Pastor Sean, through the book of Exodus and the story of Moses, invites us to embrace a season and life that worships God more fully.
The Body of Christ
The Body
There is nothing more human than the experience of living in a body. That comes with joy, pain, trauma, and everything in between, but those experiences are what tie us together as humanity. This week we are joined by Pastor Chris and Ericka to discuss and wrap up the current sermon series about the body and take a deeper look at what it means to be human.
The Mind, The Body & Reality
The Nostoi Community
This week on the podcast Mitzi Mak & Manuel Sanchez discuss our beloved Nostoi Community. Our mission with the Nostoi Community is to empower our friends who are unhoused and in housing transition through loving relationships that support transformation, provide resources, restore dignity and bring hope to their lives.
People Are Not Products
The Campuses
This week on the podcast Josue Trevino, Wayne Brown, & Alexandra Rieke discuss Ecclesia's multi-campus approach to ministry across Houston. Much like the chairs in our downtown venue, each of our campuses downtown, at Westside in Piney Point, and near Northside in Lindale are incredibly unique and diverse. This diversity is necessary to accommodate the different cultures and demographics of each of these areas, but more importantly is a beautiful celebration of the diversity found in the Kingdom of God. We hope to come alongside the work God is already doing in these communities and across Houston as we pursue Jesus in holistic missional community.
Trauma & Our Bodies
Over the past several years, many of us have endured the trauma of the pandemic and are beginning to experience those affects in our body. Pastor Chris continues our series on the Theology of the Body by examining the ways that trauma affects our bodies and looks at how the Scriptures point us to healing.
The Rhythms of Ecclesia
This week on the podcast Alexandra Rieke & Mike Yager discuss and breakdown the Rhythms of Ecclesia. We believe God is present in ordinary days and invites us into rhythms which bring about joy and peace. Together, as we live in pursuit of Jesus, we have found these rhythms guide us on a path to experience the divine in the midst of the ordinary and live in awe and wonder.