The Branch Church

When Mary is visited by Gabriel and told that she will give birth to the long awaited Messiah, she is understandably afraid and troubled. What does Mary's response to this visit have to teach us about our response to fear? And what might Gabriel's words prompt us to remember about God's promises?

The genealogy of Jesus (in Matthew 1) is often overlooked. But what does this long list of names have to tell us? As we consider it together we find an unlikely lineage full of unexpected characters. But perhaps that's the point. Even Jesus' beginning is through and through marked by those we continually dismiss or try to explain away.

Not only is our gathering move to 10am starting September 11, but we're also experimenting with and exploring new ways of practicing our faith and connecting with each other on Sundays. This podcast lays out what to expect and how you can be involved.

Both the Old and New Testaments use the same word for Spirit and wind. Elliot helps us reflect on this as a valuable metaphor to teach us about what God is like.

The beginning of our story (Genesis 1 and 2) is a story of utmost goodness. So is the end of our story (Revelation 21 and 22). Between these bookends comes God's call to care for, tend to, serve and guard the created world so that it might be good, whole and complete.

The beginning of a story matters, and Genesis is a beginning of profound goodness. This tells us something fundamentally important about the Creator and about ourselves.

Our second week in Genesis 1 invites us to consider how deeply connected we are to the creation and how God's 'first language' can draw us more deeply into relationship with the Creator

Our final week in this series considers the overall goal: deeper and more meaningful connections with those in our lives. Which begs the question, what exactly does it mean to be connected and how do we connect? Jesus shows us a compelling way (Mark 10:46-52).

The Scriptures ask us to do a difficult thing -- to live in a way that both honors every person's individuality and intentionally integrates their lives in the larger body. This week we talk about that both/and and give time to consider what it might mean for us.

Easter is a paradox: death leads to life. Emptying ourselves leads to a filling -- a renewal. It is only by descending that we are lifted up. Philippians 2:5-11

The last Sunday in Lent points us to the story of the prodigal sons and father (Luke 15) as a way to explore the common experiences of shame, guilt, humiliation and perfectionism.

We continue to expand our vocabulary of the heart by considering an all to common human behavior: comparison. Envy and jealousy -- and two German words - schadenfreude and freudenfreude -- are emotions and experiences connected to comparison. We see them in action in a story from Mark 10:35-45.

This week we expand our vocabulary of the heart by considering wonder and awe -- what they are, what they feel like and what they often help lead us toward.

What's the difference between joy and happiness? And what are the costs of choosing foreboding joy? We explore these parts of our heart while looking at a great story from Luke 15.

Teresa and Chris sit down to debrief our final week of conversation about where we are headed and how we might get there. As you'll hear in this short podcast (just 11 minutes), we not only took away some important things from Sunday's dialogue, but we're also inviting everyone to continue the conversation in some specific ways in the coming weeks.

This Lent, we'll follow Jesus' lead and look inward -- tending to our heart. How might these forty days of Lent propel us to live more wholeheartedly?

Teresa and Chris share a summary of Sunday's conversation on "Grow", including what stood out to them and what we will be paying attention as we move forward.

For the next three weeks we won't be releasing a podcast from Sunday since most of the morning is being spent in small groups, discussing various questions about our core values. But - we will be releasing these DEBRIEF podcasts -- short summaries and take-aways from the morning. Here's a few thoughts from our first Sunday of conversation.

This short, 13-minute podcast, takes a look back at Sunday's big ideas, and shares some insights we gained from the survey people took during worship. If you have not taken the survey yet, you can do so here: https://forms.gle/yBFULNVzmmagu2ZP6

We're taking the month of February to map our future together.  Any good map shows you three things: where you are, where you are going, and some options for how to get there. Sundays in February will center around these three things. To begin, we took a look at a story from John 4 - a story that gives us a sense of where we are called to go. We are called to become people who receive and off...

Our final week in the Detour series considers the regret that can come when things don't go according to plan. What do we do with that regret? Is it possible that regret can be a 'call to courage and a path toward wisdom?' (Brene Brown, Atlas of the Heart).

One of the emotions we encounter when life gets detoured is disappointment. And while we may be able to move beyond some disappointment fairly easily, some disappointment carries deep pain, confusion and even shame. We consider this emotion -- and what is behind it -- this week as we also consider stories found in Mark 3 and 10.

As challenging and disorienting as disruptions and detours are, this week we consider what opportunities detours might offer us as we take a look at the story of Saul's detour in Acts 9.

Our first week in Advent did not include a typical sermon, but a mixture of music, prayer and reflection. There were two main sections of reflection, both introduced by Chris. The first one set up the series, inviting us to consider what the idea of "home" might mean to us and how we might be homesick. The second reflected on one of the lectionary texts for this Sunday in which hope is found in th...

Our final week of the series invites us to interrogate what vision we have built our lives on. We close by focusing on something as simple and stunning as a flower to help us remember who we are and what we are invited to do.