New Life Downtown

In the heat of temple debate in Mark 12, a lone scribe humbly asks Jesus what the most important of the commands is. Which of Gods instructions most leads us in the way of flourishing life? Jesus' answer? Love.

What makes a person great? We think the answer lies in self-discovery and self-expression. Jesus does not rebuke our desire for greatness; He redefines what greatness is as self-giving. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us look more closely at how Jesus defines greatness, why Jesus is the one who gets to define it, and how we can become like Him.

Religion is, in some sense, an attempt to answer the question of how humans can reach God. Yet in our age, more people seem to be asking why they would even need God. As Pastor Glenn Packiam teaches on the transfiguration and healing stories in Mark 9, we find good news in Jesus' identity and mission. He is God come down to dwell with us; and when God dwells with us, evil is defeated and we are de...

When we think of church or Christianity, many of us feel some combination of disappointment and duty - disappointment because religion has let us down in some way; duty because we still feel like we ought do the right thing. Both disappointment and duty were part of the very first Easter story. Pastor Glenn Packiam describes how the women came to the tomb in their disappointment and out of duty to...

We are often rushed to make a decision about who Jesus is, to decided to convert or not. Yet faith is often a long journey of gradually gaining our sight. Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks a paradigm of belonging before believing, and helps us see how our church can welcome others in. It takes a moment of grace to see Jesus for who He really is, but it will take a lifetime of grace to see what it fully...

What does it mean to be pure? How clean is clean enough to follow Jesus? We find ways to dismiss the nagging fears that we aren't good enough or don't quite fit in, but as we will discover, the situation is worse than we feared. Yet, Pastor Glenn demonstrates from three scenes in Mark 7 that grace reaches further than we think, and Jesus is better than we imagined.

Dr. Steven Todd unpacks the Feeding of the 5000, the only miracle story of Jesus that appears in all four Gospels. Mark places it right after the terrible story of Herod's feast and the comparisons are poignant. At whose banquet are we feasting? Only Jesus' will satisfy. In the angry culture war of American politics, we are reminded that Jesus calls us to sit at His table, not the table of the wor...

The mission and ministry of Jesus continue through us. That may not seem like good news, because we feel inadequate to the task and unready for the cost. After outlining what we are sent to do, and how we are sent to do it, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see that it is the power and presence of Jesus that make it possible for us to be sent into each day.

Looking at Mark 5, Dr. Steven Todd preaches about Jesus being the hope to the hopeless. That hope is transmitted often through something physical and tangible - from the Sacraments to a hug. Through our tangible love for one another we can become the "hem of His garment" to the hopeless around us!

Storms in life are bound to come, and fear is sure to follow. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us recognize fear as a warning of a threat, a part of being human. Faith won't remove the storms or prevent them, or even keep us from feeling afraid. But faith can help us recognize that Jesus is with us, that He cares for us, and that one day He will bring a sure and certain end to the Storm.

Why did Jesus tell parables? Pastor Glenn Packiam explains how these stories are designed to to separate the attentive listener from the casual hearer. In the parable of the sower, we discover the graciousness of the sower, the power of the seed, and importance of a lifetime of listening.

Is Christianity a dangerous belief, as some claim? As turns out, there were some in Jesus' day who accused Him of being in league with the devil, claiming His mission to be evil. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us look closely at what really stands behind all that is wrong in the world, and to see Jesus as the Stronger One. In the end, we must decide who Jesus is: the embodiment of evil or our rescue f...

In this week's dramatic sequence, we encounter a Jesus who challenges us, and perhaps even provokes a conflict in us. In the stories of Jesus eating with tax collectors, healing on the Sabbath, and calling His disciples up the mountain, Pastor Glenn Packiam unpacks the scandal of Jesus' welcome and Jesus' call. We may want one without the other, but Jesus welcomes us where we are in order to call...

As the drama unfolds, we see Jesus being revealed as a healer who is personal, accessible, and merciful. Yet he is something more: Jesus isn't simply a miracle-worker; He is God the Healer Himself. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how sin and sickness are part of the same torn fabric of the world, and how Jesus comes to put us all back together again.

Who is Jesus? This is the question this series will grapple with as we enter Mark's dramatic narrative. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us recognize the Jewish and Roman resonances that come with calling Jesus the Son of God. Furthermore, as the Son of God, Jesus has an identity, destiny, and authority from God. And this is good news for us because Jesus makes it possible for us to become children of G...

We know we are 'supposed' to pray. But, when it comes to actually praying, what are we supposed to be praying about? And what does prayer actually do? Pastor Evan talks through living in the tension of the double advent, and how prayer helps us realize today the affects of both Jesus' first arrival and his imminent return.

On this last family Sunday of the 2015, Pastor Glenn Packiam shares briefly on the 3 wise men.

Mary's song is about the mighty being brought low and the lowly being lifted up. But when, decades later, she saw her son hanging on the cross, did she think it would look like that? What do we do with delayed expectations, with hopes that have begun to come true but have not fully arrived? Pastor Glenn Packiam challenges us to live between the two 'Advents' - the incarnation and the return of Chr...

What happens when you find yourself stuck in a place you didn't choose? What happens when your expectations were shattered because life derailed? Pastor Glenn Packiam invites us to take a closer look at the lives of Rahab and Ruth, imperfect characters who were in complicated situations. Yet their mustard seed of faith was met with the abundant grace of God, and somehow they become a crucial part...

In this brief series on Advent, Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us face the shame we feel from failing to meet expectations - those others have of us, and those we have of ourselves. Not all shame is proportionate to our failure, but when shame rightly fits our shortcoming, what do we do? The joy of Christ's first arrival gives us hope for His return. Because Christ in His mercy took away our shame at...

To conclude our series on listening to God, Pastor Glenn Packiam addresses the haunting question of what to do when God is silent. We may have a false expectation of extraordinary spiritual experiences, failing to note how much time lapses between Biblical accounts of the supernatural. From the psalmists in the Old Testament to priests and prophets at the birth of Christ, we are given examples of...

In this short, Family Sunday sermon, Pastor Glenn Packiam and his wife Holly share about what it means to listen to God through beauty and story.

One of the ways God imparts wisdom to us is through the community of faith. Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us explore what it means to take the risk of vulnerability and how to find the right community. Above all, it is the Spirit of God who helps us be attentive to His work in one another, bringing the wisdom of the cross to bear on the circumstances of our lives.

If there's ever a situation where we want God to speak, it's when we need His guidance. Yet sometimes things are frustratingly unclear. How do we discern God's will? Pastor Glenn Packiam helps us see how God leads us into His 'big picture' will for our lives through the little whispers along the way.

One of the primary ways we listen to God is through the written Word. Yet the Bible can be confusing book because we aren't sure how to approach it. Pastor Glenn Packiam maps out the meta-narrative of the Bible and invites us to listen to God through Scripture by locating ourselves in God's Story. Along with practical questions to ask of the text, he offers ancient practices for letting the Spirit...