Citizens Weekly

From the Series “The Apostles’ Creed.” The Creed makes a staggering leap from Jesus’ birth to His crucifixion. Why does the Creed ignore Jesus’ ministry and teachings … or does it? Also, what is the significance of naming Pontius Pilate, an antagonist in the Christian story, in the Creed? These questions help us better understand God’s perspective on suffering, which is drastically different – and...

From the Series “The Apostles’ Creed.” The virgin conception is one of the most challenging concepts for the modern mind. Yet it is no more unbelievable to us than to those living in the first century. Incarnation means ‘being in flesh.’ It is a core belief of the global church: God became man. It’s also a chronicle, real history documented by people who lived and walked with Jesus. In the incarna...

From the Series “The Apostles’ Creed”. Jesus is the center of Christianity. He is the center of The Apostles’ Creed. He is the center of everything that has been, is, and will be. Historians, Christians, and Atheists agree: Jesus was a real person who really lived. But what do we believe about Jesus? Is he really the God who became man, the image of the invisible God? And if he is, what are the im...

From the Series “The Apostles’ Creed”. In order to make Himself and His intentions known, God chose to present Himself as our Father. This revelation is recognized at Creation and is all the more so in Jesus’ story. But what do we do when the sins of earthly fathers, or of the patriarchy in general, complicate God’s chosen metaphor as our Father? Are we at liberty to consider Him, or the Creed,  i...

From the Series “The Apostles’ Creed”. What do you believe... about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the church? And why do you believe what you believe? For almost two thousand years, the historical, global, orthodox church has taught and recited The Apostles’ Creed to remind themselves what they believe. What place does The Creed have in our context today? Is it helpful, or is it just some ancie...

From the Series “Formed by Jesus”. Two definitions exist for the word “holy”: one from our modern English language, and the other from the Biblical Hebrew. God’s holiness is central to His character. God’s declaration of the church’s holiness is central to how our own self-conception. For these reasons, we need to define holiness – God’s holiness and the church’s holiness – as Biblical writers und...

From the Series “Formed by Jesus.” We have all been shaped by life experiences, our family of origin, words spoken over us, our friendships, and the places we’ve been. We have been formed by what we read and watch, the food we eat, and the music we listen to. We are being formed all of the time, everywhere we go. How have the cultural narratives of success and individuality formed us, and is it co...

From the Series, “Eat this Book”. We are distracted people. We know we should read scripture, but most of us find it difficult, confusing, dated, and less exciting than binge-watching a show on Netflix. We may know how to read the Bible, but few know how to pray the Bible. Praying scripture is the anecdote to keeping our minds from wandering; it’s a practice that’s been around for centuries in wha...

Eating God’s word is different than reading God’s word. Eating is not less than reading, but it is much more than that. At a time when the voices of many compete for our attention and claim to give life, Jesus invites us to feast on him, the bread of life. And he says that this kind of eating will bring life to us and the world around us. 

As we close our shared season of Advent, we look at Hope through both a social and theological lens. Biblical Hope, we learn, focuses far more on waiting well than on the potential satisfaction of desire. As people of the Word, we need a personal Liturgy that helps us “eat the scroll” of God’s scripture, which uniquely refreshes us in seasons of Hopeful waiting.

This week in our advent series we talk about peace and discuss reasons for why so many of us are struggling with anxiety and not walking in biblical peace. 

Joy is of such high value in heaven that the writer of Hebrews said in chapter 12 that it was the JOY set before Jesus that helped Him endure the Cross. As we, as Jesus followers, fix our eyes on God and truly behold Him, we will continue to be filled with joy no matter our circumstances. The joy of the presence of God in our lives is worth everything we have! The Holy Spirit loves to stir up joy...

Advent invites the church to honor our spiritual ancestors’ waiting for the Messiah’s arrival. In our Advent waiting, it is good to remember the darkness that the light of Jesus invaded with His Father’s love. Remembering His love for us - the ways He invaded the darkness of our own lives and those near us - builds our faith to confidently speak His light into a dark world still waiting for a Mess...

From the Series, “The Sermon on the Mount”. Jesus did an untold number of miracles. From raising the dead to feeding five thousand people, people were amazed by Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ teaching amazed people. He was compelling. But that was 2,000 years ago. According to recent Barna surveys, it’s projected that over 1 million people will leave the church in 2023. 67% of college s...

In a postmodern world, truth and love are open for interpretation and demands are often made to accept or affirm personal definitions of truth and love. For this reason, the words and actions of Jesus can seem offensive (as they often did in His day) because Jesus will not change His definitions of Truth and Love to affirm who we are. Rather, Jesus’ Truth and Jesus’ Love affirms who His Father is....

The purpose of the Sabbath is Worship. Everyone worships something. The question is not - are you worshipping, but who or what are you worshipping? Once we enter into the practice of Sabbath; once we stop, then rest, then delight, the resulting response is worship. 

Through the Sabbath, God invites us to experience true delight. Sabbath is delighting in God’s world, his word; to delight in God, and to experience his delight in us. But our culture promotes the opposite of what God is offering us in the Sabbath. The fruit of this world is burnout and cynicism, but there’s another way – and in the Sabbath, God’s promise of rest still stands.

Sabbath is a Holy day, ascribed uniquely by God at creation and again in the Ten Commandments. It is a day to practice wrapping our best AND most broken parts around, a day that grants a weekly reprieve from the anxieties that enslave our thoughts, emotions, and best intentions. Anything God names "Holy" is a gift to His people. So let us move towards Sabbath with joy and expectation. 

Most of us live with little to no margin, teetering on the edge of burnout, unable to love God or one another fully. Sabbath is an invitation to stop this anxious, hurried pace and rest. In this ancient practice, we shift from restlessness to restfulness in all of life. In Sabbath, we remember the rhythms God practiced and embedded in all creation, trusting him to provide everything we need from a...

From the Vision Series 2022: Follow. Jesus walked in the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 4v14), and the Father gives his children the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1v8, Rom. 13v13). When does this happen? How does it happen? Who is the Holy Spirit? And what does living in the power of the Holy Spirit look like?