Awaken Community

Micah takes us through our next formational target - Impact. How do we choose to invest our time, energy, and resources individually and as a community? We’ve been entrusted with working and tending to one another and the world around us.

Micah brings us back to our formational targets series by emphasizing the importance of learning through the journey of faith. He highlights the significance of engaging different perspectives, understanding lenses that inform those perspectives, and maintaining a posture of curiosity in our day to day lives.

Genesis 1:11-13; 26-28; 31 - Steve Wiens talks through how God created trees to bear fruit and keep bearing fruit the same way humans were made to plant seeds and bear fruit. “Awaken is uniquely called in this season to plant seeds for a future where many will be nourished and given rest underneath the branches.”

Stephanie Williams O’Brien takes Awaken on a journey through Mark chapter one and the deeper meaning of Jesus inviting the people to repent and believe - “turn toward God and step into the new Kingdom reality”.

While many are at Covenant Pines this weekend for the church retreat, Micah continues our series on the formational targets and this week he discusses the importance of sacred community in our efforts to grow closer to God and one another.

Micah unpacks the second of Awaken’s formational targets, listening. “Hear O Israel the lord thy God is one". What does the voice of God sound like and what does your own voice sound like? Spiritual maturity is holding both and paying attention to the many ways God can speak to us.

Awaken begins a new series that seeks to unpack what healthy spiritual formation looks like. We begin with the importance of liturgy. Liturgy is ceremony and ordered intention. It is the work of the people, accessing collective memory and doing something together. Liturgy consists of sacred times that are set apart for the people of God throughout the year.

Chapter 13:29-31, Nehemiah ends with a very honest and sobering reality. They kick out the foreigners and Nehemiah reforms the practices of the sabbath, marriage and what happens in the temple. Why do we keep returning to this pattern? How might our interpretations change when considering this from a marginalized perspective?

In chapter 9, the Israelites remember those who have come before while asking, “How did we get here?” Awaken honors Melody Olson as she performs How Great Thou Art on her last Sunday as Worship Director.

Nehemiah 7:1-6, 8-18 - After the wall is done, the Israelites prepared for worship as a community, which began by remembering the names of the people, their lineage and their story/history. There is feasting and celebration in the temple. There will be days for weeping and mourning but today is not one of them…today we turn our attention to the grace, provision and wonder of God.

Nehemiah 6:1-16 - Opposition to the work you've been called to comes in very predictable fashion. Distraction - 5 times Nehemiah was invited to a meeting of great import and invited to take his eye off the ball. Opposition begins to sow seeds of falsehood and rumors about what is going on inside the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah confronts this head on with what is true.

Nehemiah 5:1-19 - Lessons in leadership from Nehemiah. The nobles and the rich were lending to their own countrymen and charging them interest just like non-Israelites would do. Nehemiah speaks against it and aligns himself with the people by living, working, and suffering WITH them.

Nehemiah 3:1-5 & 4:6-16, Lessons in leadership from Nehemiah. Chapter 3 is all about the myriad of people who are involved in the rebuilding of the wall. The list is so long that it appears no one is left out.

Nehemiah 2:1-20, The king asks Nehemiah what he wants and Nehemiah names his desires, then asks for what's needed to accomplish it. He faces opposition when he decides to champion the cause of the oppressed and marginalized which is to be expected and normal when you confront systems of power.

Nehemiah 1:5-11 - A plea for God's ear to be open and listening to the prayer of Nehemiah. Nehemiah personally asks forgiveness for the sins of his countryman, his family, and himself. They are tasked with remembering the promise that God made to gather the people and bring them home because they are God’s people.

This week is an introduction to Nehemiah and how we've gotten to the place where we are. Who was Nehemiah? How did Israel end up oppressed and exiled under Artaxerxes? What was the root cause of their suffering? Micah highlights the importance of beginning a process of renewal with grief/lament.

Acts 15, Early christians meet as a council in Jerusalem to start the church in the book of Acts. They find that the spirit of God is leading them beyond the confines of their religious structure and are thus tasked with living as a people of God rooted in love and a new way forward.

Tom sheds light on the current worldwide refugee crisis and his engagement with it through the non profit organization, IAFR. He shares the significance of the Lord's Prayer in a world desperate for hope.

Ruth 1:6-18, Mary provides context for her experience as a refugee and invites us to consider the importance of support systems and staying proximate to people with different life stories.

Jeremiah 29:1-14 The people of God in Exile - even here God is with them in Babylon. Exile is the place where your entire conception of who God is and what God is like dies and you find out God is still with you in this place/iteration.

1 Sam 8:1-22 - God warns them of all the things they will become if they go in this direction. As the people go down this path, they forget where they came from and they become Egypt - the very thing they were liberated from.

Judges 2:16-23, The children of God in this book of the Bible are often portrayed as rebellious and forgetful of the ways of God. Micah invites us to consider the ways God is more patient, hopeful, and available to us than we might otherwise be led to believe.

Numbers 9:15-23, The Israelites follow a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night trusting that the spirit of God is in it. Micah recalls the journey of Awaken, the movement of the spirit in our midst and invites us to trust that God is present and guiding us through whatever wilderness lay ahead.

Exodus 2:23-25 - God hear, remembers, sees, and knows the people while they are enslaved and oppressed. Micah invites us to consider what ideas and realities we need to be freed and liberated from.

Genesis 32 - Jacob has spent his life running from God and his own name. Micah highlights that ways God relentlessly pursues us and seeks to bring us into a way of life that bears good fruit and wholeness  of self.