Us for them, not us against them

This Pentecost Sunday, as the church celebrates its birthday, Pastor Rob reflects on two realities

 

1) The church – the community of faith – remains a vehicle of God’s grace, word and truth in this world (the picture is from the national cathedral’s display of doves)

 

2) The majority of people do not care about what happens at church

 

How do we not succumb to the temptation to live as us vs them? The Holy Spirit transformed the early Christian church (and is still transforming us today) into a community that was (is) “us for them”, as they shared (we share) in word and in deed the audacious hope: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

5 Love Languages of the Early Church

 

Easter 6

May 9, 2021

We hear Jesus tell his disciples, ‘Love one another, as I loved you.’  (John 15).  This mother’s day, Pastor Rob reflects on what it looks like for us to love each other as Christ loved us.  Specifically, Pastor Rob offers “the Five Love Languages of the early church.”  Ultimately, it all goes back to Jesus love (and the recognition that we are not Jesus!)

 

The gardener who prunes

 

Easter 5

May 2, 2021

Jesus declares that God is the gardener; he is the vine; we are the branches.  This is great and beautiful metaphorical way of thinking about us and God.

However, God is the kind of gardener who prunes!  Pastor Rob reflects on how this past year has been a year of pruning, both as individuals and as a church.

This is not a bad thing though, as God works in our lives to remove all in us that does not bear fruit and that separates us from God.

Ultimately this reality of pruning leads to some reflection on who we are — truly, whose we are.