Follow Through // Doubt // Kate Murphy

The weeks after Easter is where the magic happens. That’s when we do the life-changing work of responding to the resurrection. And so, we’re starting a new worship series called “Follow Through” where together we’ll be thinking about how we can walk into new life with Jesus Christ during all the different seasons of our lives. We’ll think about how we can follow Jesus through — not merely in spite of — our doubt, weakness, despair, fear, and, perhaps most challengingly, our own success.

Listen in and subscribe so you don’t miss out.  You’ll be glad you did.

Easter Sunday // Resurrection Is An Invitation // Kate Murphy

Matthew 28:1-20

When we gather to celebrate Easter, most of us think we are showing up to remember something miraculous that happened on the other side of the world two thousand years ago.  If we’re really optimistic, we imagine it has something to do with God’s promise for us after death.  But the truth is so much better.  We’re not merely celebrating something that has happened or will happen; we’re celebrating Christ’s resurrection—something that is still happening.  God is still in the business of redemption, and the power of the resurrection is what it does in us and in all of creation.  The evidence is not merely in a risen savior.  It’s in our lives.

Last Words // Part 6: Making an Entrance // Kate Murphy

This Sunday, we gather for what churches often call “Palm Sunday,” the day when we celebrate Jesus returning to Jerusalem to give up his life and fulfill the prophecies about him.  But in keeping with our “Last Words” theme, we are side-stepping the waving of palm branches (which only show up in one gospel account anyway) and focusing in on what Jesus was telling us by choosing to enter the city on a donkey.  Why do all four gospel accounts include that detail?  What can Jesus’s journey teach us about his kingdom that is hard for us to embrace?

Last Words // Part 5: Haters Gonna Hate // Kate Murphy

Jesus finishes his last words to the disciples with a sobering warning, ‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” Jesus is telling us that if we love people like he did, we can expect to be belittled and disregarded by those who prefer the status quo.

But why should we, if we commit to loving others, expect to be hated? Won’t everybody just love us back?

Listen in to hear why we can provoke such opposition when we love people like Jesus did. And then consider the choices we have and what you’re going to do about it.

Last Words // Part 4: Love One Another…Really // Kate Murphy

As Jesus was speaking to his disciples on the very last night before his death, he took the very small and precious amount of time he had left — and repeated himself.  A lot.

Over and over Jesus told his disciples that there was one thing that he really wanted them to do.  One thing.  And he said it again and again, as though they would forget.  As though we would forget.

And so we return again in this series to Jesus’ one command.   This time for the people in the back.  Because that’s us.

Last Words // Part 3: Promising Peace, Presence, and Power // Kate Murphy

This Lent, we are leaning into the last words of Jesus in the Gospel of John. The night before his death, Jesus assembled his disciples and gave them words that would see them through the gathering storm. Among those words were startling promises: that in dying, God would give us his peace; that in departing, God would give us his presence; and that in demonstrating weakness, God would give us his power.

Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give you peace as the world gives peace. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

What kind of unearthly peace is this? What kind of presence can be given by a dying God? What kind of power can steady a powerless, terrified heart in this violent, brutal world? Listen in to hear for yourselves about what Jesus offers to us, for and in our darkest hours.

Last Words // Part 2: Love One Another // Kate Murphy

In his last words to his disciples on the night before he died, in just one sentence, Jesus offered the only rule that God has for us. One piercing command—and we don’t have to spend our days praying and sweating over what it means. We already understand it; we already know how to live it out. In just one sentence, it’s unavoidably clear.

Listen in as we rededicate ourselves to living out this one thing God asks of us.

Last Words // Part 1: Actions That Speak // Kate Murphy

In these next several weeks before Easter, we will celebrate the holy season of Lent by looking deeply into our own habits and behaviors so we can evaluate them in light of who we believe Jesus is and how he has called us to live. Together we will walk through the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples before being crucified and contemplate how they speak to us today exactly where we are.

This week in part 1 of the series, we learn that everything Jesus said at the very end followed something very powerful that he did, with actions that spoke loudly and challenged everyone’s preconceptions — including ours — about his kingdom.

Shalom: God’s Design for Peace, Part 5: Restored to Worship // Lindsay Rich

Over the weeks, we’ve learned about how shalom was the original state of all creation, all people, and all living things. We learned about how nature itself was bound in an interdependent web of mutual flourishing, and how, ever since the fall, God has been relentlessly restoring all of creation to this state of shalom. We’ve learned that we are called by God to join in the holy work of repairing and restoring shalom. But can ordinary, flawed beginners like us really help in the holy work of restoring shalom? Well, yes!

This Sunday, Lindsay Rich shares a message about Gideon—one of the most unlikely leaders in all of Scripture. Tucked away in the book of Judges, Gideon’s story shows us that God can us two essential truths: God delights in calling people just like us, and the first thing we have to do is the very last thing we’re expecting.

Shalom: God’s Design for Peace, Part 4: Pursuing the Prototype // Kate Murphy

God is steadfastly restoring all of creation to the holy state of shalom—repairing all that was broken and distorted in the Garden of Eden. And when we put our faith in Jesus, God invites us to join him in that work.   When Jesus called his first disciples to follow him, they had to leave their previous work as fishermen behind. But why? Why couldn’t Simon, Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee “fish for people” and fish for actual fish? Are we, too, sometimes called to choose between earning a pay check and participating in God’s work of bringing shalom? Listen as we encounter the gospel of Mark and ponder how to work for shalom while we work for a living.