Crossings Knoxville

The story of Esther is, in part, a script for the holiday of Purim. The Purim festival celebrates hidden identities, humor, and survival. How can we enact more "tactical frivolity" in turbulent times? How do we address the violent themes in Esther's story and our own world? How can we both laugh at power and take peaceful action to subvert it? Worship Songs: Anchor of Hope Path of So...

How are uncertainty and faith necessary partners? Just as Esther attempts to rewrite King Saul’s failures in 1 Samuel 15, how can we rewrite and redeem the failures of Christianity, our family trees, and our own lives? Can we get unstuck and just start moving, even if we don't know what will happen? What if we have experienced everything in our lives “for such a time as this” to make a small d...

The book of Esther invites us to grapple with God’s hiddenness in the world. Is our survival and success up to us or is God hiding behind the scenes? Are those in power seriously dangerous or laughable? How much of our identity do we feel like we need to conceal to fit in? What do we do when our success comes at the cost of an injustice to someone else? Worship Songs: Come Thou Fount Bind Us Toget...

Questions are an essential element of faith. Our community is called "Crossings" in reference to a story in Genesis in which Jacob wrestles with God before crossing the River Jabbok. Wrestling and questioning aren't opposed to faith; they are the necessary conditions for it. Each summer, we pass the microphone to members of our community who share their "Most Important Question&...

Questions are an essential element of faith. Our community is called "Crossings" in reference to a story in Genesis in which Jacob wrestles with God before crossing the River Jabbok. Wrestling and questioning aren't opposed to faith; they are the necessary conditions for it. Each summer, we pass the microphone to members of our community who share their "Most Important Question&...

Pentecost is a celebration of a new world and a new understanding of language. How can we see language as an act of faith? How can we feel empowered to let go of old concepts and ideas that no longer fit us? How can we use communication to include rather than exclude? Psalm Reading: Psalm 104:24-34,35b First Reading: Acts 2:1-21 Worship Songs:   All Who are Thirsty Your Steadfast Love Whole Heart...

Take a look (or a listen?) behind the curtain into the intro and outro music for the Crossings Podcast. This episode is not one of our regular teachings, but rather a quick conversation about the creative process for the music for each series. 

Jesus didn't wait until everything was perfect before he handed it all over to his friends and walked away. On this final Sunday of Eastertide, we explore the Ascension — what it means that Jesus left, what he prayed for before he did, and why the angels asked the disciples to stop looking up and start looking around. First Reading: Acts 1:6-14 Gospel Reading : John 17:1-11 Worship Songs:   ⁠...

How can we reimagine or experience the Holy Spirit as advocacy for us here and now? How can we see the Divine all around us and in unexpected places? What if we didn’t have to hold it all or do it all? What if paying attention is enough? OT Reading: Acts 17:22-31 Gospel Reading : John 14:15-21 Worship Songs: Holy Spirit Nothing I Hold On To You Hold It All Oceans

Rather than offering rigid rules or exclusive expectations, Jesus speaks tenderly to his anxious friends, reassuring them that they already know the way to life with God because they have known him.  Gospel Reading: John 14:1-14 Worship Songs: Yet Not I Goodness of God Build My Life Take Heart

In the fourth week of Easter, John 10 challenges our culture of scarcity and anxiety with questions about abundance. What does it mean to be completely new? How can we focus on the voice of Jesus’ teachings and ethics? Can we learn to say, “This is my life. I want for no other.” Psalm Reading: Psalm 23 Gospel Reading: John 10-1-10 Worship Songs: House of God Forever All Who are Thirsty Great are Y...

Somewhere between here an Emmaus is a life of faith that includes our “had hopes” and our desperate prayers of, “God, stay with us.” Thanks to two 17th century Spanish paintings, we find out that we are not alone in this journey. Gospel Reading: Luke 24:13-35 Worship Songs: God With Us Christ be all Around Me Path of Sorrow Mystery

What happens when the ultimate disruption—the Resurrection—forces us to give up the illusion of control, especially over our own spiritual lives and the experiences of others? How do we avoid the notion that faith is a one-size-fits-all experience? What does it mean to be entrusted with a story, not to control the outcome, but to discover the unique ways the divine reaches out and meets each of us...

While most of us have never seen someone come back to life, most of us also have never seen an orbital sunrise. But because of the pictures drawn with colored pencils and the stories handed down to us, we get to participate in a reality where things can be new every morning. Gospel Reading - Matthew 28:1-18 Worship Songs - Lord, I Need You - Christ is Risen - Living Hope Teaching Song - New Every...

Matthew describes Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as turmoil. How can we pay attention to the tumultuous world around us in the final week of Lent? How can we attend to our own inner turmoil? How can we avoid rushing ahead to the certainty of Resurrection?

What if the raising of Lazarus was a communal event not an individual one? How might that help us better comfort ourselves and our neighbors in times of grief?

Jesus healing of the man born blind was a miracle. But maybe the more important miracle is when Jesus went out looking for the man after the community had kicked him out of town.

What if Lent is less about 'giving up' minor vices and more about confronting the parts of ourselves we'd rather avoid? How can we opt out of dehumanizing rhetoric and identity politics? How can we quiet our judgmental minds long enough to truly know and see others, especially those we disagree with?

The season of Lent draws us into the darkness of the unknown, and asks us to move beyond what is familiar and certain. Exploring well-worn promises and questions, we are invited to enter the mysterious frontiers of life anew. What happens when we let go of our expectations and stay in the darkness long enough to emerge changed? 

Join us as we enter the season of Lent asking, “What if life is more about learning to live in the Wilderness rather than escaping it.”

Join us as we enter conversations about baptism at Crossings in this three part podcast.

Join us as we enter conversations about baptism at Crossings in this three part podcast.

Join us as we enter conversations about baptism at Crossings in this three part podcast.

What if Transfiguration Sunday is as much about our own transformation as it is about Jesus’? How do we see ourselves changing? How can we attend to our ever-evolving selves without trying to rush it or force it? What would it mean for us to see our humanity as being brought into God?

Like rings in a tree and onions and ogres and Russian nesting dolls, we as people and we as faith communities carry layers within us. Like the layer Israel built upon return from exile, and the layer Jesus added to the story of God, may we take apart layers of the nesting doll and bless the lives and years we are given.