Vinings Lake Church

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes LOVE with 15 verbs. Some are positive and others are negative. Today we will look at his first descriptor; Love is patient. In a culture where we are conditioned to be hurried, frantic, and anxious about life, love beckons us to a new dimension that is outside of the space time continuum. A place of peace and presence. Love is never rushed. Love is never late. L...

How do you define love? Most people define love in the traditional ways they have experienced love. Love is understood to be an emotion, infatuation, or an intense feeling of deep affection. These understandings are all transformative in and of themselves. But what if there was a LOVE behind these experiences of love? What if these experiences of love emanate from a deep source of LOVE. Today, we...

What does spiritual health and maturity look like? How can you measure your own spiritual depth? Is it by how often we attend a spiritual collective? How often do we read the Bible, pray, or discuss our beliefs? Today, we began our walk through 1 Corinthians 13. Paul opens this profound chapter by giving us a new metric. The essence of a healthy and mature spirituality is how well we love.  

John 14:6 has become a prooftext for many to exclude any religion that isn't Christianity. Is Jesus the only way to God? What does that mean? Can other religions lead to the Divine? What did Jesus mean when he said, I am the way? Last week we set the context. This week we get into the words.   

Can one know the way, the truth, and the life apart from Jesus? Are there many ways to God? Can other religions lead to the Divine? Is Jesus the only way? And the way to what? John 14:6 is the answer to all these questions for many. Today, we will get into this infamous verse. Could this prooftext for exclusivity, actually be about inclusivity?   

Matthew 28 has become known as the impetus for the expansion of Christianity. But what did Matthew have in mind when he was writing this? This week, we will walk through these final words of Jesus and explore what they could mean for us. What if the Great Commission is not about expanding Christianity? What if power, domination, and proselytizing is not what Jesus had in mind? What if we have been...

In 2018, American evangelical Christian missionary, John Allen Chau was killed by the Sentinelese after illegally traveling to their isolated island to convert this indigenous group to Christianity. Chau, like many evangelicals, received his missionary calling from what has been called, the Great Commission, in Matthew 28. But is this what Jesus had in mind? Is this what Matthew had in mind? Is th...

Bar Mitzvahs, graduations, weddings, and funerals all mark a significant stage in someone's life. But what about Baptism? This ancient rite of passage has been given many meanings over the years. This week, we will look at some of those meanings. Can baptism still be a meaningful ritual for us today? What might it mean for us today?

If you grew up evangelical, you know about, "The Sinner's Prayer." Romans 9:10-11 is usually the prooftext for this prayer. Today, we are exploring this passage in its larger context of Paul's extended riff (9-11). It turns out, the very thing Paul is arguing for, salvation by faith not works, is the very thing the sinners prayer has become, a work. The good news is that there are no requirements...

Today we take a deep dive into one of the prooftext for original sin, Genesis 3. This story is typically described as a falling down but perhaps it can be better understood as a waking up. Just as the eyes of Adam and Eve are opened, so our eyes will be opened to the good news that lies at the heart of this story.

Central to the evangelical notion of salvation is original sin. The belief that humans are born broken, flawed, and separated from God. One prooftext is Genesis 3. Turns out, just as Adam and Eve were lied to in the story, we were lied to about the story. Original sin is nowhere to be found. What can be found? The fundamental truth that the core of our being is not opposed to God but made in the i...

We are given three images in the Old Testament of salvation. The first is in Exodus. Here, Salvation is about liberation. The second is in Isaiah. Here, salvation is about return from exile. Third is in Psalms. Here, salvation is about enemies. All of these are about something concrete, real, literal, present, here and now. What does this mean for us? James Cone said it best, "To see the salvation...

Have you been saved? Have you accepted Jesus into your heart? Have you trusted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? If you grew up evangelical, you know these were the most important questions you could ever ask. So much so, that many people spent their days obsessively, anxiously, and frequently reciting a sinner's prayer to be sure they were saved. We now know this is called scrupulosity. Today, we...

We sit down with author and speaker Felicia Murrell to discuss her new book, AND: The Restorative Power of Love in an Either/Or World. IN an election year where sides are being demanded, Felicia offers a third way. She proposes the way of Love that shatters all categories of left and right. Is it any wonder, Jesus said, narrow is the way that leads to life? You can purchase Felicia's new book anyw...

Ever heard the phrase, "Thoughts and Prayers?" Do you cringe at the sound of it? I am almost certain this expression began from a sincere place of sympathy.  But overtime, it has become a trite, empty, and meaningless cliché. Why? Because it has become a substitute for responsibility.  Today, we talk about prayer not as a substitute for responsibility, but an invitation into responsibility.  Our f...

It's easy to lose connection to the sacredness, depth, vitality, wonder, and meaning of life. Many of us unconsciously get caught up with everyday demands and lose sight of the magic and point of it all. But what if we could pull ourselves out of ourselves from time to time? What if we could regularly reconnect with source, sacredness, depth, and meaning? Today, I want to show you how to do that....

What would it look like to think about prayer as a kind of listening, to the world, to one another, to the Divine? How can we let go of our small agendas and listen for a bigger story, what Thomas Merton calls the "general dance?" How can we learn to pay attention, as an act of prayer, rather than just thinking about prayer as using words to address God?

Everything is energy. All energy creates vibrations at different frequencies. When we speak a word, it vibrates at a certain frequency. This is not psychology but physics. Now, what if prayer was no exception to this reality. What if prayer is not just about the horizontal but the vertical? What if our praying has been facing one direction for too long? What if prayer is more about sending and rec...

What if prayer could be a practice of lament? An intentional time of ripping our heart open and giving language to that which lurks inside your internal universe. What if prayer could be naming the anger, rage, joy, and pain within you. Perhaps this type of expression could get us one step closer to finding release. This week we examine the most common type of Psalm from ancient Israel, the Lament...

What is prayer? What is the purpose of prayer? How does it work? Do you pray? What do you pray for? Can prayer change things? If not, why do we do it? Does prayer change Gods mind? Does God answer prayer sometimes but not all the time? Have you ever prayed for someone or something and it didn't happen? Are miracles dependent on prayer? If so, what is the criteria? How sincere the prayer is? How of...

Many of us grew up with a particliuar image of Mary. She appears docile, meek, mild mannered like she is posing for the cover of hearth & home as a voiceless virgin passively sitting amongst fluffy sheep. But this image is not the image we are given in the narrative. It appears we have Mary all wrong. Today we will begin the process of shattering the porcelain Mary we were handed. We will begin to...

What were you taught about heaven? Many of us were taught that heaven is an ethereal, intangible, & immaterial place that sits somewhere above us. When we die a very small group of people will go there to live in their mansion forever. Once there, we will wear white robes, sit on clouds, play harps, and sing Chris Tomlin songs forever and ever. But these images are the opposite of what the Biblica...

Will there be a Judgement Day when we die?  Will all the wrongs be made right?  Will everything that was done in the darkness be brought into the light?  There is a primal impulse within all of us for people to get what they deserve.  But what about the litany of ways we have contributed to the heartbreak around us?  Could the desire for judgement actually be a desire for justice? Could our unders...

Jesus once said, "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." Is Jesus talking about eternal conscious torment? Did He talk more about hell than any other subject? And what do we do about the part of tearing are eye  out? Is this hyperbole? Is this literal? Let's get into it.

The English word "hell" is used roughly twelve times in the New Testament. Almost all those occasions are exclusively by Jesus himself. In one place Jesus says, "If you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire" (Mark 9:47). What does Jesus mean by this? To get at it, we must know something about the valley of Hinnom. Never heard of it? Come find out all about it. Today, we talk abou...