We no longer live in the perfect garden. On this side of heaven, life always contains suffering and loss and challenges that feel too great to overcome. Nevertheless, we are still tasked as the image-bearers of God to co-rule his creation, bent though it may be. We are still called to serve. To lead. To steward. To be in community. To cultivate goodness from this dry ground. And to lead well and judge rightly, we will need wisdom. But how will we attain it? Will we lean on our own understanding to bring about the ends we desire? Or will we trust in the Lord, and submit our paths to him?

Whether you’re an old soul, or a newborn Christian, the book of Colossians is like a how-to manual for the faithful life. In this year where we seek to follow so closely after Jesus that we become covered in the dust of our rabbi, we should pause to ask the question—what does that walk actually look like? How will we know if we're getting dusty?

When Jesus died as a payment for our sins before God the father, we see he is our savior. But when he rose from the dead and God placed everything under his feet, we see he is our Lord. To follow him as Lord means nothing less than submission to him as the ultimate authority, even when his priorities conflict with our own.

In their young church, the Colossians were met with incredible pressures to abandon their new found faith in favor of something more familiar. As is often the same for us today, those pressures came from both sides. The very religious looked to Jesus plus (circumcision, ceremonial law, etc.) for their salvation. And the pan-religious looked to Jesus as well as a number of other gods that promised to fulfill desires and needs.

But Paul tells the Colossians the resurrection life should transform even the things we long after. We are new creations in Christ, meant to serve, not to be served. We shouldn’t chase after our old desires which lead us to lesser gods—and more often than not, to deep disappointment and shame. Of course, we're not perfect. We will never be perfect until Jesus returns and glorifies our weak and mortal bodies. But that doesn’t mean we should behave like the people we were before we ever met him.

No part of the human existence is untouched by the loving and liberating rule of Christ. How a husband treats his wife, how an insider treats an outsider, how a rich man treats a poor one—Jesus commands us even here. Faith is not an intellectual exercise, but a complete submission to the rule of Christ in both the mundane and the meaningful moments that we live.

We should seek to live each day like the people we are becoming as we follow Jesus.

Join us for this 5 week series on Colossians, April 24th through May 22nd.

When her brother died, Martha tells Jesus he could have prevented it if he’d shown up sooner. That’s an emotion every one of us who follow Jesus will likely feel in some season of our lives.

Have you ever felt like Jesus was a “no-show?” It may seem that way to we who are constrained by time—but both time and death submit to a word from Jesus. And those words are available today, not just the future. Easter reminds us that there is not just hope for the future, but hope in the here and now—in every space we invite Jesus into. Not all hope need be deferred.

When we look at Jesus’ perfect life, sacrificial death, and miraculous resurrection, it’s easy to remember that he is fully God. It’s perhaps more difficult to remember that he was fully human, too. As fully human as you and I. What we feel, he felt. Through the same nervous system, the same skin, the same eyes and ears and hands and feet—Jesus Christ felt the things we feel, in the same way that we feel them.

God could have chosen to come to earth in power, but he chose to come in weakness. He chose to come as a vulnerable human being, so he could demonstrate the great and wonderful love of God in a way that vulnerable human beings might finally understand.

In the coming weeks, we will explore the affections of Jesus Christ. Where are the moments in scripture we see Jesus truly moved, in the most human sense of the word? Where did he weep, yell, yearn, grieve, rejoice? And most importantly, what do these moments teach us about the character of our God and his affection for us, his children?

Join us for this 6 week Lenten series, The Affections of Jesus, March 6 – April 10.

Attention, Israel!

God, our God! God the one and only!

Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!

- Deut. 6:4-5, the Message

This prayer—named for its first word, “Shema!” (Listen!)—was given by Moses to the people of God as they fled their former slavery in Egypt. They prayed this prayer, morning and night, as a reminder lest they flee Egypt only to find themselves enslaved again by something else.

When asked what commandment is the greatest, Jesus himself responds with this simple prayer—a child’s prayer—that every Israelite would know. Even Jesus grew up praying it day and night, keeping this truth constantly in mind: that God is the only god worthy of our love. And our love for this God is to be wholehearted. We love him with our emotions, our desires, our choices, our bodies, our money—in short, with all we’ve got.

This was the childhood prayer of Jesus, and one he would heed unto death.

Jesus chose to love with all that was in him—even his own blood.

This kind of love is not an occasional act.

It wasn’t for God. It should not be for us.

Join us for this 3 week series, Shema, as we explore what it means to love our God whole-heartedly.

It's hard to imagine what good can come of a fire running wild. But that is precisely what our God, in all his resurrecting power, promises--a crown of beauty for our ashes. Times of trial both wound and purify, but they need not be the last word. Join us for this moving look through the eyes of prophet Isaiah at the new life that springs forth from the flames.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters…”

Genesis 1:1-2

The Spirit of God shows up in the very second sentence of the Bible.

The personal presence of God—what the ancients called his Ruakh—is the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. Through his Spirit, God ordered his good creation. Through his Spirit, Joseph interpreted dreams, and artisans shaped the sacred ornaments of the tabernacle.

It is the Spirit of God that came to rest on Jesus at his baptism. The Spirit of God through whose power he was raised from the dead. The Spirit of God which came to dwell inside the hearts of all believers at Pentecost, empowering them to join him in restoring all that’s lost.

The Spirit of God is indeed the power by which our broken creation becomes re-ordered, but this is not some mystical, disembodied energy—the Spirit is a person. And at the heart, he is a gentleman. He may counsel, comfort, and convict—but he will not force. He offers us relationship with the risen Christ, and power from the living God, but only at our invitation.

Will we let him in, or tune him out?

Join us for a 3 week series, God at the Heart, January 16th – 30th.

There’s an ancient rabbinic blessing which says, “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.” In other words, may you walk so closely behind the one you follow that the very dust from their steps will anoint you.Whom do you follow right now?

In a time of pandemic, Great Resignation, political and social unrest, it’s hard not to double down on the places we find comfort. TV, alcohol, Twitter—we may turn to them so frequently, we don’t notice how caked we are in their dirt. So many “rabbis,” calling for us to follow them and promising to ease our discontent if we just eat, drink, watch, click, like. But do they deliver on their promise? How’s that working out for you?There may be nothing on this earth that will quiet our pain completely until Jesus returns to wipe the tears from every eye. But until then, we wait, and we follow. And if we follow close enough, our pain becomes tolerable. Closer still, and it becomes meaningful. At his heels, and it becomes useful. Join us as we ask ourselves the question, “whom do you follow?” And perhaps more important—whom should we follow?

Christmas is a time of giving and receiving gifts. The goal for every gift giver is to find the right gift for the right person. For the receiver, the effect is twofold: First, we appreciate the gift itself. Second, we feel appreciated when a gift is exactly what we want or need--the gift giver has seen and noticed us. But Christmas is ultimately a reminder that God the Father put an eternal amount of love and forethought in giving us the gift of His Son. He was, is, and will always be exactly what we want and need.

Scripture tells us that Jesus is coming back, but are we expecting him tonight? Probably not. Such was the scene into which Jesus was born at Christmas. There was a promise of the coming messiah, but not many of God’s people were actively looking for him to show up.

Luke tells the story of how God’s promise was fulfilled—angels appeared to lowly shepherds tending sheep. These are the very last people anyone expected God to show up for, and yet they are some of the first people to behold his human form.

The good news of Christmas is that Jesus comes even for the messiest people. Jesus comes for the broken. Jesus comes for the lost. Jesus comes for the sinner. Jesus comes for the hungry. Jesus came in the most vulnerable form to the most vulnerable people.Even when you’re too tired to look for him, even if you feel too messy to deserve him—the good news of Christmas is that you are so loved that God shows up for you, forever.

For words nearly 3,000 years old, the book of Isaiah tells a familiar story to modern ears. Isaiah proclaims to Israel a message of both judgment and hope. Corruption and injustice and rebellious human hearts have brought down God’s correction on his people. And like an ax to a tree, he means to fell their wickedness.

But that’s not the end of the story.

From the stump, a shoot will spring up. A new king, the Righteous One, who will reign with perfect love and perfect justice, forever and ever. And all nations everywhere will see his light and come to his city to worship him in peace.

How will we know this king is coming? Isaiah tells us to watch for the signs. Light fills the darkness. Mourning turns to joy. Captives go free. War comes to an end.

In our world today that has seen only glimpses of light and freedom, only moments of comfort and joy, it can be easy to give up hope. The night is long, and the suffering wearisome—but, remember, the story isn’t over yet. Look for the signs. That first Christmas, God became a child and invaded our darkness. The light has dawned, and more and more it begins to break in. To arrive. To advent.

Join us as we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise—the coming of Jesus!

In the book of Acts, we see the very first churches planted by the very first Christians. We see what moved them and motivated them. We see the disciplines they practiced daily, borne out of love for Christ and the diverse people who together made up his church. In the face of cultural pressures and fleshly temptation to return to their former way of life, we see the first church clumsily striving to worship only their true God, their savior, their first love—Jesus Christ.

The first church lived like they believed in the resurrection. Do we?

The first church engaged relationships with people who were hard to love. Do we?

The first church served the needy and vulnerable inside and outside of their community. Do we?

Equipped with his gospel and empowered by his spirit, we seek to become more the church God meant for us to be. To have hands and feet that serve. To leave no one struggling alone. To love so fiercely that, in seeing us, the watching world might better understand who Jesus is.

A million things compete for our attention every single day, but which ones really deserve to be looked at? Life as a follower of Jesus will be a mixed bag of joy and heartache, but we always get to choose—do I fix my gaze on the burdens or the blessings?

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is an affectionate thank-you to a church that cared for him at great personal cost. But in characteristic fashion, the apostle shifts the focus from his chains and their sacrifice to the work of Jesus Christ himself.

When God’s promise of eternal life is in our sights, what temporary death to self can steal our joy? Let’s encourage our hearts to perceive the gifts right in front of us, and live each day as a thank-you note to Jesus.

The early church persevered in spreading the good news of Jesus long after he returned to heaven. They continued to worship and serve even when miracles seemed to cease—when all they could hang on to was the memory of his promise that had not yet come true.

Sustained by his spirit and living for his glory, the early church endured the never-ending, often-painful, always-hard work of offering themselves as the hands and feet of Jesus in a world that both needed and rejected him. Are we in the church today willing to go the same distance?

Persevering for others is not a new idea. It’s just a difficult one to live out, day after day, in relationships that test the limits of our love. But we endure because he endured for us. We were worth the cost to Him, so we count others worth the cost to us. And to reach his destination, we must follow his way.

Collectively as a society and as a church, a lot has changed in the past 18 months. In the midst of these changes, it’s important to be positioned for the long-term mission of the Church rather than just maintenance of what we know. To live well in this moment, we need to be firm in our commitment to God and to his purposes in our lives. We need to live confident in Jesus’ ability to transform lives.

Many of us may be looking at the story of our lives and thinking, “I didn’t think it would be like this.” We may be in search of healing and hope. The only way to heal is to work through what is making life unmanageable for you. There are no healthy shortcuts to healing. But God does not want us to do this alone. reGROUP is a place where we can be honest about our personal mess and where we can get the right equipment to assist God in cleaning it up.

Throughout history, we can see that we live in a world hungry for community. Ephesians reads like a love letter to the lost and searching. It’s the summary of the radical and revolutionary redemptive nature of Jesus. It’s a summary of his love—a love that sees you for who you are and loves you regardless of why you think that’s impossible. Even with all of the mess and baggage we carry, he sees us as works of art.

What happens when wayward thoughts turn to unrestrained actions? What happens when selfish and stubborn ideas mix? What happens when we forget what’s truly important? Distractions are found all around. When we get distracted, our motivations ebb and flow with our attention. So what are we to ponder after learning how Jesus’ life changes everything? We can search for clear cut answers left and right, but what we really need is a true center to guide us. When we allow God's love to reframe our reference, it becomes easier to move with direction. The gospel opens up a new and lovely reality, where we can live free only because of Christ.

People use differences to tear each other apart. We have seen this happen throughout history and see it still today. Pride, judgment, and misunderstanding, fueled by the guise of self-sufficiency, rip at the fabric of our woven lives daily. But just like the magnetic pull of the earth, what makes one person different from another flows through the very core of each’s existence. The same threads that break can be pulled back together. What brings people together? Is it love? Patience? Kindness? What is the common, invisible string so many strive to hold tight to? In the letter to the Galatians, we find the importance of living rooted in the gospel and in the way of God’s Spirit. The early church could only thrive once they fully accepted all that the gospel had overcome—superiority was rejected, greed was kept in check, and true unity in Christ was pursued.

The early church moved to be witnesses of Jesus all around them and to the ends of the earth. They shared his story with others—they lived, worshiped, and served, in a way that reflected God’s love. They strived for their actions to reflect the truth, the gospel, that Jesus taught when he was here on earth.

Enlivened by his Spirit and living for his glory, the early church sought to expand the message of Jesus’ hope throughout the land. We see this expansion in the Book of Acts and get a focused picture of the different expressions of the Church through the letters in the New Testament. We see that this expansion is linked to the truth of Jesus. If he came to bring hope to us all, what does it mean to be faithful to him for each of us?

Being a Church made up of many unique people is not a new idea. While there is a practicality to living the gospel as Jesus taught, we can be reminded of the belief in his truths. Rooted in these truths, we can persevere through the trials that come our way. Being the Church is moving to live and love like Jesus—together.