City of Light Church Aurora

John 1:1-14 The light of Jesus was shining in creation, it was shining in his incarnation, it was shining in his resurrection, it will shine in the end when all things will be set right, and it is shining today.

Isaiah 11 Psalm 3 Matthew 3 Do you feel like a spiritual stump, cut off from God? Know that there is a living tree. The darkness distorts reality, but Jesus the Messiah comes to bring new life and light.

On the first Sunday of Advent we celebrate a new church year, counting down the days until Christmas, but even more, counting down the days until Jesus comes again to bring a new day.

In the midst of the experience, I wrote this: At our weakest point we have experienced the greatest care by our church and family. We have not been able to attend services for weeks, but the church has come to us. Our pastor came to bless Mahalia and to pray for my healing, our prayer ministry leader came to serve communion and pray for us, families looked after our kids as I was taken to importan...

This is a story of gratitude — how the Lord has blessed us through the rhythms of his church and through his church family. Two years ago, almost to the day, near the beginning of Advent 2017, we began to sense the Lord calling us to adopt.

"I had never stopped believing that the Lord was good, but I had stopped believing in the breadth and depth of his goodness. But through this season, I have truly come to believe that there is no good thing apart from the Lord, and I want to live the adventure of thankfulness for his constant goodness for all my days."

"Remember your future—that you will be part of the great multitude offering great worship and receiving great reward. Receive as grace this future, when we will join with the saints and the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven who sing, 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever, amen!'"

2 Samuel 6:14-22 Every bit of openness toward the Lord brings us closer to his heart and enables our heart to receive him more.

Dear City of Light,  On Sunday I was overjoyed to announce that Deacon Eduardo Dávila has accepted a full-time position at City of Light as our Pastor of Latino and Neighborhood Ministry. We also announced that we are supporting Sebastian and Daniela Vargas and their family as missionaries from Chile to our diocese!  Please listen to the full announcement from Sunday by clicking here as I share th...

Ruth 2:4-14 "God invites us to be open to others, not merely so that we can be fed, but so that we can feed. Sometimes we are called to feed the others in our midst, and sometimes God calls to be humble enough to allow the outsider to come in and teach us."

1 Kings 19:1-18 Our emotions were created by God as a way to connect with him and others, but in our brokenness, can sometimes divide us from God and others. When Elijah is depressed, he turns his emotional pain into prayer and experiences the intimate love and care of God restoring his connection to God and his connection to the people of God. We can be open to God in our emotions by turning our...

2 Kings 22:3, 8-11, 23:1-7 To open our hearts to God is to open our hearts to his word. When we’re open to God in his word we read that we are cherished. When we’re open to God in his word we realized that we are nourished. When we’re open to God in his word we relearn how we can flourish.

God opens the heavens so that we can open our hearts We open our hearts on the Sabbath by trusting that God has already done the work for us. God’s got this really unique deal for us: If we stop on the Sabbath, he will provide what we need. He will take care of everything else. He’s gone and is going before us, even now, to provide what we need to meet with him and open our lives to him.. Question...

1 Samuel 3 "Prayer is cultivating the conversation with the Lord, being on intimate terms with him, relating to him as a real person with whom we speak and who speaks to us."

We have to protect ourselves in this world. We need appropriate boundaries, and I often help people talk and pray through creating those healthy boundaries. But we never need walls with God. We were made to live life wide open to him!

Matthew 6 Prayer and fasting go together, because true vulnerability leads to true intimacy. We enter into the intimacy of prayer through the vulnerability of fasting. We take off our masks and go into the secret place; and we receive from the Lord with open hands. Join us on September 11 for our Fall Day of Prayer and Fasting: http://www.cityoflightanglican.org/events/day-of-prayer

In the center of the book of Acts is the Jerusalem Council, where a dispute in the early church becomes an opportunity not only to clarify the truth of the Gospel, but also to set up a pattern for the unity of the Gospel. Not only does the church answer the question, “How are we invited to the table?” but she also answers, “How can we be united at the table?"

"We are a sent people, sent by God to others: sent to our families, our co-workers, our neighbors. No matter how inadequate you may feel or how many false prophets stand in your way, God's promise is that he will never send you to do something without giving you the power to do it." — Father Trevor McMaken

Father Trevor and Pastor Bonnie McMaken share about their summer sabbath and how in saying no to many things and feeling so limited, they experienced our limitless God.

"We all have those "until moments"—"everything was going great, until..." So how do we as the church approach those "until moments"? We pray, we pray together, with urgency, and tenacity, knowing that in response to the prayers of the church the power of God overcomes the power of evil, even in the face of setbacks or our fragile faith." — Chad Magnuson

"God's plan has always been to bless all peoples of the earth by giving us his very spirit to live with us and to give us power to live in the way Jesus lives." — Lindsey and David Goetz

"We all need a real, physical encounter with the resurrected Jesus. We don't all get to meet Jesus like Saul did on the road to Damascus, but we can encounter the resurrected Jesus here in the Church through the Sacraments of Baptism, and Holy Communion." — Deacon Casey Solgos

"The call for Philip and the Ethiopian came for them while they were both in transit—the seemingly unimportant time in between destinations. How often do we get impatient with God, wishing he would just take us where we need to go, when in fact he's calling us to something that's right in front of us. God doesn't need you to arrive at some grand destination before he can begin working in you and t...

"Surrender yourself afresh to Jesus who is among us as one who serves and who will stand to welcome you with open arms into that place he is preparing for you." — Deacon Val McIntyre

"A church that is radically oriented to Christ is a church radically oriented to one another. It's the resurrection that gives us hope that what is to come is far greater than anything we could experience on this earth. We have the freedom to give whatever we need to give, sacrifice whatever we need to sacrifice, endure whatever we need to endure, because we are awaiting the return of Jesus."— Fat...