Daily Bread and Outstretched Arms

When the Israelites needed food, God provided with daily 'manna' in the wilderness (see Exodus 16). There's freedom in prayerful release of control. Spiritual rhythms of trust, like Sabbath-keeping and generosity, loosen our grip and teach us daily dependence on God. If you missed this weekend's message on "Daily Bread Prayer" you can listen here. 

Well over 1,500 children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends participated in CLPC's annual FEAR NOT FESTIVAL. Scores of volunteers served food, gave away candy, painted faces, cleaned up messes and chaperoned activities. It was our joy, with outstretched arms, to embrace every person in generous hospitality. This is the Kingdom of God at hand - locking arms with one another to bless and engage our neighborhoods. Way to go church. Look what God is doing!

Our mid-fall Stewardship series on Living Stories of Answered Prayer continues this weekend with a look at "Miracle Prayer." Read Mark 6:30-44 in preparation. This weekend's message will be no ordinary three-point sermon. That's all I'm telling... :)  Join us for the surprise

Sin Conversations

John 8:1-11 is the poignant story of humanizing and personalizing sin. What begins as a religious test for Jesus and a humiliating experience for the woman ends with the "religious" and the "sinner" personally confronted with Jesus' mercy and justice. Grace and truth meet fully in Christ (John 1:17).

Conversations about sin are more easily played in the political, religious and theoretical moral realm than they are in the personal realm. It's easier to point our finger than it is to confess our sin. Rather than join the piling on about Trump's "hot mic" recording, what if we divulged our own struggle with lust? Instead of Hillary's emails, what if we talked about the ways we hide from others?

Being trustworthy, transparent and direct (dealing with one another squarely and without hidden agendas) is how we live well in relationship to one another. May Jesus' Way shape our words and our lives in Conversations Close to the Heart. If you missed this weekend's message, or any other in this series, you can listen here.

Read Joshua 6:1-17a in preparation for this weekend's message entitled, Breakthrough Prayer.

A Doubting Place

Is it okay to doubt God at church? It's one thing to doubt God in the science lab or classroom. But shouldn't church be a place where we suspend reason and accept certain things on "faith"? Apparently, Jesus and the disciples thought otherwise! 

When Thomas expressed doubts at the proposition of Jesus' resurrection, the disciples (John 20:25) didn't write off Thomas as a lost cause. Instead, the disciples continued embracing Thomas in community (see John 20:26). Neither is Jesus put off by Thomas' questions. Rather, Jesus invites Thomas to put him to the test! ("Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side." John 20:27.)

Conversations about doubt happen when we listen carefully to one another while being honest about our own doubts and questions. Rather than trying to "fix" another person's doubts, we keep the focus on how we have seen God at work in our own lives and we encourage the other to put Jesus to the test in his/her own way. Jesus is not threatened or disappointed by our doubts. We can be confident that if he is who he says he is, Jesus can answer even our most nagging doubts and questions.

If you missed the weekend message, you can listen to it here. To prepare for this weekend, read John 7:53-8:11.

Conversations About Past Hurts

Our church (www.clpc.org) has designated 2016 the "Year of Story." We're learning how to share our real-life stories with one another and learning how to listen for stories our neighbors, co-workers, church friends, and community are telling. We're learning to understand our own stories and the stories of the world around us, in light of God's big story of grace and redemption in Jesus Christ. 

In church circles, it's easier to share stories that have tidy endings. These are stories of answered prayer and spiritual triumph. What we don't share so easily are the stories with tattered edges. These are stories of an absent or silent God - stories of failed relationships or relentless struggles with sin. 

Mark 5:24b-34 tells the story of a woman suffering from past hurts. In anguish for twelve long years, physically and emotionally, the woman emerges from the anonymity of a crowd to touch the hem of Jesus' cloak. Exhausted from a life of pain and shame, she risks it all to share her story with the One who could make her whole. Our church family can be a place where it is safe to be honest and to be known. We can be a place where it is okay to not be okay. We can be community living under the healing touch of Jesus. We do so by mustering courage to reveal the story of our own hurts and making a safe-space to listen for the hurts in others.