Pastor’s Blog
Welcome to the Pastor’s Blog. Here you will find our pastors’ reflections on scripture, culture, and the life of discipleship. If a particular blog gets you thinking, consider sharing it with a friend. Thanks for being here!
All Rise: The Clash of Two Powers
“All rise!” Through the ministry of Jesus and his disciples, the Kingdom of God was on the rise in and around the region of Galilee. But there was another power at work in the region. Rome was also on the rise. These two powers would come to clash in what became the single-most signifiant event in history: the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Hooked: Fish Stories from the Bible
This Fall we’re diving into a new worship series called “Hooked: Fish Stories from the Bible,” and while these stories are certainly surprising—miraculous even—they are TRUE tall tales! Join us each week to encounter how Christ teaches, provides, and grows his movement through fish!
The Thrill of Hope
Like the star over Bethlehem, hope has a way of guiding us in the direction of God’s promises. So if it’s Jesus we’re seeking, then following Hope is perhaps the best place to begin our journey. This Advent, open your heart to the possibility of Christ’s birth surprising you with joy so that you might rediscover THE THRILL OF HOPE! Come, O long-expected Jesus! “Let all within us praise His holy name!”
Graves Into Gardens
Our resurrected Savior is in the business of tending, nurturing, and restoring all of creation. God is the best and essential Gardener of the world and is still in the business of bringing dead things back to life. If we’ll trust God even with the seemingly dead areas of our lives–if we believe in the power of resurrection–then what was once barren and dead will come to life again. Through Christ, all that is grim and cold, haunting, eerie, and dark is being transformed into something vibrant, warm, abundant, nourishing, and flourishing with life. Through Christ, graves are transforming into gardens!
Lighten Our Darkness
Against the background of the darkness in our lives, the prophet Isaiah announces the dawning of light. Into the darkness of chaos and despair, Isaiah’s words shine a light that illuminates the central claim of the Gospel: rescue is coming. To those who sit in darkness, or fear, or failure, or want… Rescue is coming.
Faith as Politics
A politic is the way a community organizes the common life of the people. Done right, politics seek to bring people together in ways that allow ALL life to flourish. As Christians, we are people ordered around the life and teachings of Jesus. In every circumstance, then, we MUST be asking the question, “Who is Jesus and what does he require of me as one of his followers?” Christianity, founded on the life and teachings of Jesus, is its own politic with its own things to say about what human flourishing and a just common life require.
Justice and Jesus on Main Street
Take a ride on the city bus with us down Durham, North Carolina’s Main Street from one end of the line to the other. Along the 3.7-mile route, we’ll see how racism, homelessness, and systemic injustice try to divide the town. But the living Christ is there too, holding all things together in love.
A Home for the Holidays
A lot of preparation goes into readying our homes to play host for the holidays. In 1 Peter 2:4-5, the Apostle Peter says that as you come to Jesus you are being built into a spiritual home. Are we putting as much love and attention into preparing your spiritual house to host God as we put into preparing our homes to host family and friends this holiday season?