The Gathering

Jesus doesn’t teach generosity to subtract from our life. He doesn’t talk about it in terms of sacrifice, or the giving up of something. Instead, Jesus says that giving is a pathway to a fuller way of life. So why do we give? What does generosity do in us and for us? Jesus put it really simply. A life of generosity is better. In part 3, we will look at biblical teachings around what a life of gene...

If we want God to do more through our church, we have to allow God to do more in our lives. Generosity is one of the ways that we make more of our lives available to God – to shape, mold, use. The young ruler wanted God to do more with his life, but he was unwilling to allow God to do more in his life. Jesus challenged him to follow, and he couldn’t do it. We too have an opportunity to allow God t...

From everyone who has much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected. (Luke 12.48 CSB) Much Given, Much Expected. Jesus doesn’t mince words. From the parable and then this closing line, he is making something really clear. There are two ways that we can respond to all that God has given us, entrusted to us, blessed us with. We can work to...

Today we finish our series on the most familiar and famous prayer in the history of the church. We call it the Lord’s Prayer. Here at The Gathering, we say these words every single week. Many of us grew up learning, repeating and reciting these words. But sometimes it is precisely the most familiar parts of our faith, that we don’t spend time thinking about. And yet they are so powerful, shaping n...

Today we are beginning a short series on the most familiar and famous prayer in the history of the church. We call it the Lord’s Prayer. Here at The Gathering, we say these words every single week. Many of us grew up learning, repeating and reciting these words. But sometimes it is precisely the most familiar parts of our faith, that we don’t spend time thinking about. And yet they are so powerful...

Today we are beginning a short series on the most familiar and famous prayer in the history of the church. We call it the Lord’s Prayer. Here at The Gathering, we say these words every single week. Many of us grew up learning, repeating and reciting these words. But sometimes it is precisely the most familiar parts of our faith, that we don’t spend time thinking about. And yet they are so powerful...

In the New Testament, before there was a name for ‘church’, they just called it ekklesia — which is Greek for the gathering. A place for people to find one another, to build one another up, and to connect with Jesus. To stand in this church today, in this beautiful space, surrounded by this vibrant community, is to see that dream not just realized, but flourishing and multiplying in ways we could...

We are one church united in our desire to follow Jesus and grow in our faith. But we are different from one another, most notably, we span 7 generations. We have an incredible opportunity to listen and learn about our faith FROM each other instead of talking PAST each other. In our final week of Boomers to Zoomers, we're focused on Boomers. A couple of weeks ago, several boomers from our church ga...

We are one church united in our desire to follow Jesus and grow in our faith. But we are different from one another, most notably, we span 7 generations. We have an incredible opportunity to listen and learn about our faith FROM each other instead of talking PAST each other. Today is all about Millennials. We didn't forget you, Gen X! This week is all about you. Grunge. Latchkey. Gen-X's unique ro...

We are one church united in our desire to follow Jesus and grow in our faith. But we are different from one another, most notably, we span 7 generations. We have an incredible opportunity to listen and learn about our faith FROM each other instead of talking PAST each other. Today is all about Millennials. This past week, we sat down with some of the Millennials in our congregation to hear what t...

The church is a community of people following Jesus. We are united together in our common faith in Jesus and desire to grow closer to God. But while we are united in this, we are not uniform. We are not uniform in what we look like, what we are thinking, where we’ve come from and what we are going through. We are also multigenerational – having people from 7 generations. So we have different persp...

God is referred to as He, Father, King so much in scripture that many people just assume that is the proper way to talk about God. But people are often surprised that God is also consistently talked about in feminine ways in the Bible as well, especially as a Mother. All of us have images and metaphors for God that are comfortable to us. We need images and metaphors to understand God, but God is a...

God is referred to as He, Father, King so much in scripture that many people just assume that is the proper way to talk about God. But people are often surprised that God is also consistently talked about in feminine ways in the Bible as well, especially as a Mother. All of us have images and metaphors for God that are comfortable to us. We need images and metaphors to understand God, but God is a...

Does God have a plan. Is God in control? Yes. Do you get to make choices and shape your life? Yes. When you hold these both together, it offers a lot of hope. God is in control and scripture promises that God goes before us, walks with us, and has determined to save us. But in this journey, we have choices about how to live and move through life. And you don’t have to be worried about “missing” Go...

We have four different stories of Jesus’ life contained in these four books to offer different, holy & sacred perspectives of that same story. We and yet we each need Jesus and strive to follow him. Throughout this series we will be encountering these stories in these four gospels by thinking through who this particular book was written to reach; what we might learn; and how we might be transforme...

We have four different stories of Jesus’ life contained in these four books to offer different, holy & sacred perspectives of that same story. We and yet we each need Jesus and strive to follow him. Throughout this series we will be encountering these stories in these four gospels by thinking through who this particular book was written to reach; what we might learn; and how we might be transforme...

We have four different stories of Jesus’ life contained in these four books to offer different, holy & sacred perspectives of that same story. We and yet we each need Jesus and strive to follow him. Throughout this series we will be encountering these stories in these four gospels by thinking through who this particular book was written to reach; what we might learn; and how we might be transforme...

We have four different stories of Jesus’ life contained in these four books to offer different, holy & sacred perspectives of that same story. We and yet we each need Jesus and strive to follow him. Throughout this series we will be encountering these stories in these four gospels by thinking through who this particular book was written to reach; what we might learn; and how we might be transforme...

For three years Jesus teaches and asks us to follow, to live like he does. And not only that, but he gives us all sorts of help. Manure if you will – gifts, abilities, relationships, resources – he gives us so much that we could use for the sake of God’s Kingdom. But it is up to us to do something with what we have been given, to bear fruit.

At some point your faith stops being an intellectual activity and starts to be something that you act out. Faith is not something you (just) believe but something you do. Reading, worshiping, studying, thinking will only take you so far. At some point, to grow you must go.

We are all here (literally and spiritually) because of others who came before us. They saw themselves less as consumers of faith and more as producers of faith. We too need to recover a sense that God calls us not to simply consume the faith given to us by others, but help produce that faith in new generations of people. Remembering our roots reminds us of our mission.

In a time where modern technology and social media promises to connect us and draw us closer and make us more friends, then why are we facing an epidemic of loneliness? People are lacking connectedness, closeness, and friendship more than ever. The disciples and their interactions with Jesus offer us some insight into how friends can show up, and how we sometimes show up as friends.

Singleness takes all forms. Some choose it, some don’t. Some want to find someone else, others enjoy being single. Whether you are young and still single, widowed, gone through a divorce, or just haven’t found a person you want to date – you are not less than or incomplete simply because you haven’t found that person. For those of you who choose to be single, you are honored. To those of you looki...

It is true really of all relationships, but especially with marriage, you don’t just find the right person and live happily ever after. Strong marriages aren’t found they are built. Like so many topics, there isn’t one scripture or section that is about marriage. Instead, to arrive at these principles, let's look at the various passages of scripture that talk about marriage and jump into 5 biblica...