Not only has Jesus made unity and love possible, but they are already our reality, a byproduct of the finished work of Christ through His death on the cross and the power of His resurrection, if only we could look up and out and embrace them as ours. These are not theoretical concepts if we are saved by the blood of Jesus and brought into His family. They are tangible gifts of grace, enabling us to rise above the noise of this world, to a place that is peaceable, gentle, and for each one of us.
The Beauty of Death
Only when we are connected to our Creator can death become beautiful. Through the death of Christ, everything is made new. Because of His death and resurrection, all of creation will be restored, including ourselves.
The Pose of Stillness
As we experienced recently, sometimes it is in stillness, even stillness that one doesn’t choose, where we experience the vastness of God’s power. In rest, He is still working. He is still holding us, holding everything.
What Will Make Me Happy?
Though I know things don’t make me happy, sometimes I still fall into the trap of believing that they will; And other times it is still other things that easily become the focus of my attention. For example, seeking the approval of other people or wanting to impress them, or focusing on achievement and productivity are very common places for my heart to drift.
An Overview of the Psalms
…we cannot know how to worship God apart from God teaching us how to worship Him. We can’t know what God is like without Him telling us. We can’t know who we truly are, at the core, unless He reveals it to us and teaches us how to bring those parts of us to Him. Apart from Him, we are rebellious and hide our true selves from His loving presence. We need Him for everything we need to please Him.
Jesus Always Yields Abundance
Since the pandemic arrived on our shores, the past few months have drawn me toward pondering the concepts of scarcity and abundance. Through the COVID-19 shutdown, we have experienced feelings of scarcity as a society that many of us have never faced before. Grocery shelves remained empty for several weeks, many people have gone without…
For Kip, 6.21.20
Last Sunday we had our first community gathering as a church since early in March. It was an outdoor worship service where we gathered in lawn chairs and on blankets in the cool grass. The sky was a gray-blue watercolor and joy to be together again rose into the air, almost tangibly. Even though we…
.REWRITE.
In this story, we show up
On certain pages, in certain places
We’re given a life, a pen to write
And so we begin…
Talitha Cumi
Out of these blurry, messy memories, one in particular is saved in the recesses of my mind. It was a Sunday morning and I was sitting in my favorite spot of our small townhome – a little terrace off of the kitchen with sliding glass doors and two patio chairs. It overlooked tall pine trees and it was quiet and peaceful. I would often escape here at various times in the day to think, read, pray, or cry. On this particular day, I was reading the book of Mark and began in Chapter 5.
TALITHA CUMI 