Belonging House Fellowship

The God of the Bible   is the Most Relational Being in the Universe.   Bishop Robert Barron, once talked about the uniqueness of the Christian God. God is Love. And then he paraphrased St. Augustine's Treatise on the Holy Trinity. The Father is the Lover. The Son is the Beloved. And the Holy Spirit is the bond of Love between them.   The Father is the Lover. The Son is the Beloved. And the Holy Sp...

Genesis 11:1-9 Exodus 19:3-8, 16-20 Joel 2: 28-32 Acts 2:1-11 John 20:19-23   If you aren't paying attention, Pentecost seems to be the most random event in history. A group of people   praying in a room in Jerusalem suddenly   see fire on their heads and they begin to speak in various languages.   And many people and churches do not understand why Pentecost is important and they call it the birth...

Simon Sinek once said that great leaders lead from their "why." I once worked for an art company that gave the staff random directions but never told us what we were doing or why we were doing it. And I recall the directions were always in bits, one task at a time. It was very frustrating, and the end goal always suffered because the staff did not know why they were doing it. Eventually I quit.  ...

The Father Speaks. The Son does, the Holy Spirit manifests.   And so the Father   calls a new creation. He sends his Son. And what does the Son do? The son only does what He sees the Father doing. The Father initiates, and the Son administrates. The Son carries out the word of the Father. And so the Son becomes sin for us. The son empties himself and becomes a servant. The Son becomes the word mad...

This week we share a long form conversation with a member of the Belonging House Community, LaChé Heron.   You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com You can support us at https://www.zeffy.com/donation-form/raise-up-an-army-of-artists You can view Belonging House Books here: https://bookshop.org/shop/belonging...

You are not a sinner. Sin is not what defines you. Sin is nothing more than static on your new identity, because Holies do not live in sin. And as you hear the Shepherds voice, and you present your body to the Shepherd, you are more and more transformed into the real you. Jesus tells you who you are. Jesus reminds you of his love. Jesus encourages you to become more and more your true identity in...

Revelation  This Kingdom is not one of outward appearances, but a kingdom of internal realities. As Jesus said, his body was the temple, and it would be destroyed, and on the third day it would be raised up. On the cross the veil of his temple was torn, his heart was pierced, and out of that temple of his body flowed blood and water. That water, was the Holy Spirit.   To be a Christian   is to be...

Jesus Christ did not come to start a religion, but rather, he came to establish his Kingdom.   And on this eighth day of Easter, we look at the second half of John 20, and what Jesus did first after his victory over death. He gave the ability to forgive sin in the power of the Holy Spirit.   You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com Christ John Otto writes at https://chri...

Follow the Love in John's gospel. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.   You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com You can support us   at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto You can view Belonging House Books here...

Today we have one of the gospel readings that has captured the imaginations of millions of people. This wild story, where a woman is in the act of adultery, and dragged into the temple precincts, and they are about to stone her. And of course, this episode is a test   to see what Jesus will do. They are trying to provoke him so that they have a pretext to claim he is a false prophet, so that they...

This Sunday is about repentance. As it says in Hosea: Come, let us return to the Lord who has stricken us, and he will heal us, and on the third day he will raise us up. You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com You can support us   at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto You can view Belonging House Books here: ht...

We have to be reminded continually that Jesus Christ did not come to start a religion but rather he came to establish a Kingdom. Our religious grids sometimes keep us from the Kingdom. At the same time, a lot of people think that the Body of Christ is a jelly-fish. All that matters is my relationship with Jesus and everything else is up for grabs. Have you noticed that jellyfish never build anythi...

Legend tells us that Joseph of Arimathea a tin merchant, came to Glastonbury, and put his staff in the ground and it sprouted. This tree blooms twice a year in the spring and on Christmas. And this tree, the Glastonbury Thorn, is the root of Christianity in Britain. And by the way, this tree, genetically linked to the eastern mediterranean, survives through cuttings and still blooms at Christmas....

Belonging House International is a community of artists and creative people called to build Jesus a throne in the earth.   In other words, we make disciples who will disciple the nations in the world of creativity.   You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com You can support us   at buymeacoffee.com/christjohno...

Belonging House International is a community of artists and creative people called to build Jesus a throne in the earth.   In other words, we make disciples who will disciple the nations in the world of creativity.   You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com You can support us   at buymeacoffee.com/christjohno...

From the beginning, I have tried to model a basic ethic of hospitality, and model the "Golden Rule." Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.   Put other people first.   Oddly, some of you have seen this in action, when we have had a few bad apples in our own mix. Folks have interpreted my kindness to the ungrateful as weakness, and sometimes folks try to take advantage of me.   These...

Christ John Otto is the founder of Belonging House.  We are called to raise up an army of artists who will build Jesus a throne in the earth.   You can find him at https://x.com/ChristJohnOtto https://Belonginghouse.org and https://christjohnotto.substack.com If this encourages you, support my work at https://buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto  

Christ John Otto writes at https://Belonginghouse.org and https://christjohnotto.substack.com If this encourages you, support my work at https://buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto  

Malachi 3:1-4 Luke 2:22-32   It's hard to believe, but Christmas was forty days ago. This year, the end of the Christmas cycle, The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple falls on a Sunday.     We have been talking about how the Kingdom of God is a symbolic Kingdom, and how this relates to the sacramental principle, and the means of grace: God uses physical things and actions to communic...

Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 _________________   When we talk about the means of grace, after the sacraments is the word of God. And the reading and proclamation of the word is a sacrament. It is an act that releases the power and grace of God. And so this week, we are given two readings where we actually see this happen, under the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah and Jesus in the Sy...

It is a bit shocking that God would use the most common of all elements to be the sign of birth into the Kingdom. And throughout scripture water will be linked to the Holy Spirit. Water is the sign of creation, rebirth of the world, the river of life from the Temple, rivers of living water out of our bellies, washing, cleansing, and blessing. And yes, Paul says water is a symbol of death and resur...

The Kingdom of God is a symbolic kingdom. Symbols are God's primary language. This is why   if you focus too much on the Bible as a written word you miss so much. And this is why Christianity has produced so much visual art, and why this art is full of language and messages that we can read. Christ John Otto writes at https://Belonginghouse.org and https://christjohnotto.substack.com If this encou...

Matthew 2:1-10 This isn't about stars and kings and Christmas gifts. This is about the Kingdom of God, and   Matthew is showing us that outsiders, pagans, who are paying attention, recognize that the Kingdom of God is being manifested on earth, and those who are supposed to know miss it. He is pointing out what Jesus would say later on: beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. Politics is not...

  Turn in your Bible to Luke 2:15-21. The Christmas readings often stop at verse 20. And because this story is in Christmas specials sandwiched between Rudolph and ads for Coca-Cola, we think that this story, the one with shepherds and angels is fantastical. These angels are for many of us, just like Santa's elves at the North Pole. Even "evangelicals" have been so influenced by liberal theology t...

The Messiah is coming, and you are not ready. Get ready. We are back to the central theme of scripture: God is a Father looking for bride for his son. The bride is faithless, so the son lays down his life to redeem her, and then we all sit down at the Father's table forever.   Christ John Otto writes at https://Belonginghouse.org and https://christjohnotto.substack.com If this encourages you, supp...