Speaking of Grace

Love Is…Flexible – Ken Wetmore Love does not demand its own way. In other words, love is flexible. It allows others to exercise freedom. This does not mean there are no consequences. It simply means that true love is an open hand, not a closed hand. Someone once said that you can hold more sand with an open hand than with a hand made into a fist.  Our #WholeLifeReflections for this week: What...

Love Is… Not Rude – Ken Wetmore There are a few jerks out there, but for the most part, we aren’t rude until we perceive someone is being rude to us. Paul reminds us that true love isn’t rude even when others are rude to us. Love compels us to ask ourselves, What is the proper way to act in this situation in spite of how the other may be treating me? There weren’t any #WholeLifeReflections for thi...

Love Is…Not Boastful – Ken Wetmore Guy Kawasaki, venture capitalist, author, and chief evangelist for Apple, once said, “If you don't toot your own horn, don't complain that there's no music.” Self-confidence carefully mixed with humility is a good thing, but without humility, self-confidence can quickly turn into arrogance, and from there into bragging that promotes one’s self at the expense of o...

Love Is…Not Jealous – Ken Wetmore Jealousy is a love killer.  In North Carolina, an imported plant called Kudzu spreads quickly, destroys all other vegetation, and is difficult to eradicate. Jealousy is a lot like Kudzu. It quickly destroys relationships and, once introduced, is difficult to overcome. This week we’ll explore the cost of jealousy and the solution to eradicating it. #WholeLifeR...

Love Is…Patient and Kind – Ken Wetmore What are you willing to suffer for another person? Patience is defined as being “ able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.” Certainly, this is something we see displayed in Jesus' life. Today, Jesus is asking his family to be patient with family members who make life difficult. The Good News is this is a g...

The Messy Middle – John Monday Instead of giving answers, God places us in complex, messy, fraught relationships and tells us, “Love and trust me as I have loved and trusted you. And love and trust each other.” It’s not for us to help God achieve his goals; it’s our job and privilege to love each other, to hold one another’s hand in the pain, the joy, the confusion... in the mess. #WholeLifeReflec...

Great Question 4: Does God Cause Pain and Suffering? – Ken Wetmore Considering, the story of Hagar and Sarah:  In the Genesis version, there is a lot of difficult complexity - for instance, God sends Hagar back into bondage then tells Abraham to listen to Sarah and cast Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness. Then, Paul does a REALLY horrible retelling of this story in Galatians. He makes a po...

Great Question 3: Jesus vs Denomination? – Ken Wetmore (Part 1) How do we, as a church, stay focused on Jesus when so many in our denomination believe that our mission is to fixate on major doctrinal issues, political hot potatoes, and/or cultural preferences? (Part 2) As someone not raised Seventh-day Adventist, I have embraced the warmth and freedom I have found at WholeLife church. However, I h...

Great Question 2: Merit vs Grace? – Ken Wetmore It seems like our world – and even Christian organizations – give rewards on a merit-based system – what someone can or cannot accomplish. How can we, as Christians – and especially those of us who work in various organizations – offer the grace God has given us to others? #WholeLifeReflections for this week: Think about your favorite jobs and relati...

Great Question 1: Man of God? – Ken Wetmore In 1 Kings 13, the “man of God” from Samaria lies to the man of God from Judah with lethal consequences. How can he be a man of God and do such terrible things?  The Bible does not shy away from differentiating between true prophets and false prophets, so it implies the lying prophet is a true prophet in relationship with God. How can his title and...

Chosen Family – Ken Wetmore As you process the emotions of choosing to open your life up to someone else, consider that God chooses you. God picked you to be family, and now you get to decide whether you want to be a part of God's family. In place of our #WholeLifeReflections this week and the realization that we have all been ‘Chosen’ by God we are extending the invitation from this past Saturday...

Chosen For This Moment – Bernie Anderson and Ken Wetmore In John 10:10 Jesus says: “The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy but I came to bring life to the full.” How do we participate in fulfilling Jesus’ words by helping to bring FULLNESS OF LIFE to every child living in extreme poverty? If you would like the opportunity to join the 113 WholeLife Church members who have already committed to...

SERIES: THIS IS US: Participation – Ken Wetmore Jesus calls for us to not merely talk about our values, but to live them - in other words, to participate. We are to participate in loving, accepting, forgiving, giving grace, studying the Bible, and worshipping. Our participation is for the purpose of falling more deeply in love with Jesus and sharing that relationship with a world that needs to kno...

SERIES: THIS IS US: Worship – Ken Wetmore Who you worship and how you worship are at the heart of the Bible’s message. Fighting over worship styles misses what true worship is all about. True worship is found in the truth, as it is in Jesus, and our spirits connecting with God’s Spirit. When we do this, everything else will fall into place, and we will one day find ourselves gathered around the th...

SERIES: THIS IS US: The Bible – Ken Wetmore Love letter or instruction manual? How you approach the Bible is crucial. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day proved it was possible to have the Scriptures completely memorized but miss the point. From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, the Bible is all about Jesus and an intimate relationship with Him. Jesus invites us to study the Bible so that we can kn...

SERIES: THIS IS US: Grace – Ken Wetmore They say you can’t choose your family, but that isn’t the case. Adoption is one of the most beautiful and loving acts because the one doing the adopting is choosing a specific person to be a part of their family. God has adopted us. We are a part of God’s family. We have all the rights and privileges that come with that adoption. We have done nothing to dese...

SERIES:  THIS IS US:  Forgiveness – Ken Wetmore Defining forgiveness is not as simple as Googling the definition. Truly understanding and practicing forgiveness is layered, complex, multi-faceted, and often counterintuitive. It is anything but easy. In spite of this, in multiple places in the Gospel Jesus sets forgiveness of our fellow human beings as a condition for receiving the forgiv...

SERIES:  THIS IS US:  Forgiveness – Ken Wetmore Fred “Mister” Rogers has been called the champion of radical acceptance. A Presbyterian minister, Mister Rogers took his cues about acceptance from Jesus. Jesus is the original champion of radical acceptance. Acceptance is not the endpoint of a relationship. It is the beginning. It allows transformation to occur in God’s time and God’s...

SERIES:  This Is US Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of Blacks enslaved unjustly in the United States. On this day, it is right to reflect on God’s core value: love. The Bible is so adamant about the centrality of love that John does not write that it is one of many attributes of God, but instead writes “God is love.” God showed what love is when he became one of us, lived with us, and...

SERIES:  THIS IS US - ’I Am Ken Wetmore…We Are WholeLife Church’ –  Ken Wetmore  Where I (Ken Wetmore) grew up in North Carolina, the quickest way to get to know someone was to find out who their parents were. That’s because every family has values. Anyone who knows the family has a pretty good idea of what they can expect from members of that family. In John 14:9, Jesus tells his d...

‘Eyes Of Empathy’ – by Jeff Cinquemani   Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, and the man who sat paralyzed by a superstitious pool—each time Jesus looks into their questions and poses another question that digs deep into the real issue. As a way of showing us to look beyond the surface, Jesus teaches us to see a new perspective, perhaps to find a better understanding. He asks us to em...

Transitions: Navigating Change – ‘Belief In An Unchanging God’ – by David Banks   Transitions are a part of life. Whether positive or negative, change is constant in the human experience. Is this also true for spiritual beliefs? Have your beliefs changed throughout your life? How has your understanding of God and your patterns of observance changed over the past 5, 10, even 50 years...

Transitions: Navigating Change – ‘Something Old, Something New’  – by Adonna Andino   Whether you're going off to college or saying goodbye to a beloved pastor, there will always be times when you have to leave something behind and adjust to something new. In these tough transition periods, we can gain wisdom from those who've been through it before and take comfort from the fact th...

Transitions: Navigating Change – ‘Hard, Scary, Important, and Beautiful Change’  – by Jo Newell Change is hard and change is scary. However, change can be important and beautiful. Jo will share stories of when she was faced with hard, scary, important, and beautiful change and how God’s mercy and grace brought her through each of these experiences and what it taught her.  This...

Transitions: Navigating Change – ‘Finding Peace In Who I Am Becoming – by David & Jordan Vargas   David and Jordan share their stories of how God has led them through life changes and their shared experience of the Spirit working in their journeys.    This week’s #WholeLifeTakeAways :  What do you think people who know you deeply would say makes you valuable? In what a...