Dave dug into Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23 by exploring four words: hope, power, culture, and the Church. He summarized "the building work" Paul is up to like this: We pray that God would deepen and enrich the quality of our hope so that his power can flow in and through us as we live in a culture that resists and distracts us from living into the reality of being Christ’s body.
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We all struggle with comparison. What does it look like to live a life of freedom, fully owning your story and your role to play, to become a part of something bigger than ourselves?
Plus a 15-point story consisting of 30 lives weaving together. It's epic.
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Some Photos from Our Fall Launch:
Moooooody Lights and Bunting
Potluck Prayers
Donut surprise by "Donut Monster," Hamilton's best donut shop run out of the Kitchen Collective, a group referenced in the sermon... and we didn't plan any of it!
Family Reunion Acts 2, Genesis 11, John 17 Kevin Makins
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Pentecost Sunday is all about the Holy Spirit coming to bring Unity, NOT Uniformity!
And if unity is the sign that Christ is King, perhaps our churches should worry more about how to practice peace and reconciliation instead of how good the band is or how "correct" our theology is!
So many of us love when things are “non-institutional” and “organic… man…” So naturally we LOVE the stories about the early church: everyone sharing their resources, the poor being provided for, a genuine Spirit-led movement.
However if we read just a few more pages we stumble along the Spirit of God doing something different… essentially handing out clipboards, putting on a tie, and saying “but for real now, we’ve got to start getting organized!”
Eucharist Church has moved locations five times in five years… which is sort of crazy! What have we learned in that wandering, and what can we learn about wandering from the story of scripture?
These are the questions we ask as we settle into our (hopefully longer term!) new building: MacNab Presbyterian!
A quick tour of our time together on Sunday! We started in the garden outside before the gathering eating popsicles. JP came out and started leading us in music, singing “come into this place, meet us with your grace…”
We then entered into the hall where we will be gathering, and continued to worship and learn and communion together.
Finally we moved into the Sanctuary and got a tour by one of MacNab’s elders. He shared the history of the building, the stained glass windows, and the congregation… and it was super inspiring and gorgeous. We closed with a hymn and a benediction from the mega-pulpit.
Anyone have a story about a time where someone was hurt by a person who claimed to be a Christian? Where a congregation was prejudice, controlling or judgemental?
… Thought so.
In a time where SO many people have been hurt by people claiming to be Christians, it’s refreshing and encouraging to see so many communities valuing the idea of “safe church”
But there is another question worth asking: should the church be safe?
This week we also dedicated Aaron and Cath’s baby Georgia, so if you hear references to families that are joining us, or some general baby-talk, that’s why!
The text:
Acts 9:1-5
That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.
Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.
Leshia’s last sermon of her pastoral internship is a reflection on being like Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ… and the strangest metaphor we’ve had in a long while…
Also, the podcast begins with an introduction to Chrisy Hurn and Meredith Park, Eucharist Church’s Artist-in-Residence for the summer of 2015. They’ll be making amazing art all summer.
The text:
“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
What was the Temple all about and why did Jesus cause such a scene?
The text:
John 2:13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
In the first century Jesus and his followers took a massive risk, and God used them to change the world FOREVER.
In 2015 we go to church on Sunday.
How did Christianity get so… boring? And how can God shake us up again?
It all begins with three simple challenges: repent, believe, follow.
The text:
Mark 1:14-20
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
Eucharist Church meets Sunday afternoons. Sunday afternoons are PRIME real estate for being lazy and relaxing. But week after week, dozens of people bike, bus, drive and walk to join together in worship… why?
What’s the point of gathering as a church every week? In an age of podcasts and audio lectures and books, aren’t their better ways to learn about God?
