Kindred Church

Tonight we recap our study of the book of Ecclesiastes, which poses the question: where is the meaning in life when so many pursuits are ultimately meaningless? We find the answer in the small things (e.g. a good meal and time with family), and that life is better in community with God and with others. This message is from our Wednesday night service on 8/3/2022. We gather for weekly services on W...

Ecclesiastes has a lot to say, and tonight we are concentrating on the invitation that both the Teacher and Jesus offer us to focus on what is right in front of us today, leaving the worries of tomorrow to then. What does it mean to fear God, and how does a Jesus follower put it into practice? What does the Teacher ultimately want us to learn from all of the meaningful days we have left? This mess...

The Teacher of Ecclesiastes continues to ask, and try to answer, some of the biggest questions that we face in our time on earth. Tonight, we look at the Hebrew word “hebel,” its origins and translation to ask why bad things happen to good people and what the Teacher can teach us about how to push through dark times. This message is from our Wednesday night service on 7/20/2022. We gather for week...

For the next three weeks we are going to look at the big themes and teaching of Ecclesiastes, led by this mysterious author called the Teacher. Tonight, we examine what it means to call everything “meaningless” and what God asks us to do in place of pursuing things that are not lasting or real – our choice is between an idealistic garden and fake plastic trees. This message is from our Wednesday n...

We finish the study of Hebrews tonight! The writer has so much more to say to us – and packs it in densely in chapters 12 and 13. When all is said and done, the end result is the reminder that we belong to something so much bigger than we ever thought – something that Hebrews calls a Kingdom that Cannot be Shaken, and its implications are far and wide. This message is from our Wednesday night serv...

The end is near! We launch into Hebrews 11 and 12 this week by exploring what it means that faith in Jesus can lead us to be confident and sure in the things that we follow and believe. When we are able to have that mindset, we can then look to those that have been there before us, the Faith (or Follower, maybe) Hall of Fame that tells us it’s all possible because Jesus did it first and did it so...

We all desire assurance in our most important relationships. We want to know where we stand with others, we want the assurance of their love, and we often try to secure this belonging with our behavior. In this way, we’re not so different from the Hebrews who were leaning on rituals of the past to comfort them in the present. Chapters 9 & 10 illustrate the new covenant (agreement) God establis...

We celebrate Father’s Day by taking a look at the next passage up in Hebrews: one that speaks of spiritual milk and meat. A lot of the metaphors that describe following Jesus involve marathon-running or house-building – this one just tells us to enjoy the best Ribeye steak we can find. What does it look like for us as followers of Jesus to teach others the best way forward while challenging oursel...

Tonight we talk about the significance of Jesus as our High Priest. What does it mean that this High Priest of ours is able to empathize with our weakness, and how might his ability to go before us change how we approach God? This message is from our Wednesday night service on June 8th, 2022.   We gather for weekly services on Wednesday nights at 5:30 pm, 6:45 pm, & 8:00 pm at The Establishmen...

Hebrews takes some time in chapters 3 and 4 to give the original readers, and now us, a warning from history. Reminding the Jewish people of their ancestors in the Exodus, the writer tells us that when we are constantly asking, “Are We There Yet?”, we risk missing the thing that waiting was supposed to produce in us. How do we wait well and expectantly, ensuring that we don’t miss out on the kind...

Hebrews 2 finds our study taking on a few large metaphors as the writer tries to reason with people on the fence of faith. What can we take away from often used and even abused metaphors of family and home? Jesus, as one that took on flesh and blood and made his home with us has a lot to teach us and challenge us with, no matter where the metaphors land in our own, personal history. This message i...

Tonight, we continue our study on the book of Hebrews with the rest of chapter one. For the Hebrews, angels had become a unique distraction to their faith. It seems they had become more impressed with angels than with Jesus. Taking the author’s warning to heart, we ask ourselves, what fascinates us or captivates us and causes us to want to chase after it more than we want to chase Jesus?   This me...

We launch into a new study on the book of Hebrews tonight. Written as an encouragement to first-century Jewish Christians who were considering abandoning the new way of Jesus and going back to their old ways, old patterns, and old systems of religion...they were beginning to doubt if this following Jesus thing was really worth it. We ask ourselves what makes us doubt if Jesus is really better? Thi...

We wrap up our short study of Ruth by looking at the curious ending to this infamous exciting love story. The author leaves us with a genealogy meant to point us to something bigger than just the characters we see in this story. Tonight we look to the life of Jesus, specifically the story of his heritage and the unlikely women God chose to include in his story, in the family tree that brought us t...

We continue in the story of Ruth as we meet another of the main characters of this short story named Boaz. Ruth’s faith will lead to favor in the eyes of the only option Ruth and Naomi have to overcome the situation they are in. As it sparks hope for them, we see that God is never done working and even when things seem lost we find that so much more is being worked together. This message is from o...

Tonight we start a short series looking at the book of Ruth in the Old Testament. Ruth is a beautifully written account of what happens when tragedy strikes and life gets impossible. This week, Ruth carries the “hesed” of God to a hurting Naomi, whose bitterness has made her wonder if God cares anymore about what happens to her. Where is God when things get rough? We start looking together in Ruth...

We are all in need of hope, the faithful confidence that God continues to author a story. So we look to Easter, and to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we reflect on his last week on earth we remember that in the face of death and darkness hope will seem foolish to the rest of the world. Between Friday and Sunday, hope seemed to be lost. Though we know Sunday is coming, and in...

Tonight we look at the story of when Jesus attended the peculiar funeral of his friend Lazarus in the book of John. We’re reminded in this profound story of resurrection that Jesus wants to come face to face with our pain, and that this powerful foreshadowing of his own death and resurrection promises us an alternate ending to our own stories of loss, pain, and tragedy. This message is from our We...

Resurrection wasn’t a new idea in Jesus’s time – but the power over life and death was. How can we understand what it means for us to give the dead parts of our lives over to the power that Jesus has over them as we head into the celebration of the only resurrection that matters? By allowing the “pistis” of Jesus to be all that we need. This message is from our Wednesday night service on March 30t...

This is the final week of our journey through the book of Galatians.  In chapter 6, Paul begins to describe what gospel freedom and life in the Spirit begins to look like when it’s lived out and practiced in a community with others. We explore what it might look like for us to embrace Paul's vision for the church today and embrace interdependence as he describes it here in the final chapter o...

Paul has taken us through passage after passage in Galatians that highlights the difference between living however we want to (“in the flesh”) and living according to the Spirit. What does it look like to live this out? What does it mean to produce good fruit as a follower of Jesus? We look to two lists that Paul tells us are the key to discovering who we really are. This message is from our Wedne...

As we continue to walk through Galatians and talk about the freedom that we have in Jesus, the war in Ukraine gives us a real-time look at what it means to stand firm in our freedom. As we draw on the history of Ukraine to unpack Paul’s words written to the Galatian church, we will uncover what real freedom in Christ looks like and how it changes everything for us. This message is from our Wednesd...

Here at the beginning of chapter 4, we see Paul make a strong warning to the Galatians. These new believers had left behind the fear and control of their old pagan way of life as they started following Jesus, but he worried they were trading one set of chains for another. Tonight we explore this illusion of freedom in our own lives and where we can turn when we find ourselves slipping back into ol...

We’ve about reached the end of chapter 3 of Paul’s letter to the Galatians when he starts talking about this relationship with God in much for familial and familiar terms. He declares a new identity for those with faith in Jesus as children of God. Tonight, we talk about the implications of this new status on our life and what it truly means to be the King’s kids. This message is from our Wednesda...

Paul continues to try to convince the Galatians that grace through faith I the only thing that they need to be justified to God. To further drive the point home, he returns to the example of Abraham. Tonight, we go back to Genesis 15 to explore the reference Paul makes and why it matters to us 2,000 years later. This message is from our Wednesday night service on February 9th, 2022. We gather for...