'On Ramp' Tagged Posts
Salvation
“Who knows how the awareness of God’s love first hits people. We all have our own tales to tell, including those of us who wouldn’t believe in God if you paid us. Some moment happens in your life that you say Yes to right up to the roots of your hair, that makes it worth having been born just to have happen. Laughing with somebody till the tears run down your cheeks. Waking up to the first snow. Being in…
Toward Sunday
We are in the final week of On Ramp; our five-week worship series imaginatively exploring central topics in Christian faith. We turn from Jesus to Salvation this week in worship. We are drawing upon and adapting some of the framework of a series called Animate (Faith) by SparkHouse Publications as we prepare this worship series for our particular context. Outline for On Ramp ▪July 12: Religion (Mark 6.14-29) ▪July 19: Bible (Acts 17.10-12) ▪July 26: God (1 Timothy 6.16, John 1.18, Matthew 6.9, Revelation 4.1-11, Luke 13.34) ▪August 2: Jesus (John 6.24-35) ▪August 9:…
Parable about Christology
Here is a parable about Christology by Catherine Keller from her book On the Mystery, Discerning Divinity in Process. A man died. The people who knew him gathered to share memories. Finally a portrait was commissioned. But as generations passed the painting did not seem fine enough. The heirs of the portrait, who had become wealthy, created a new golden frame, immense, carved with motifs from the portrait and encrusted with jewels. People began to feel that the old portrait…
Who is Jesus for you?
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed,…
Jesus
Understanding who Jesus is to you is important as you grow in faith. A first step might be to realize that the word “Jesus” has two referents: the before-Easter Jesus and the after-Easter Jesus. The first is often called the “historical Jesus” and refers to the man who walked the earth. The second is often called the “Christ” or the “Jesus of faith” and refers to what Jesus became after the resurrection event. Both are important. They are significantly different. What…
Toward Sunday
We are in the fourth week of On Ramp. This is our five-week worship series imaginatively exploring central topics in Christian faith. We turn from God to Jesus this week in worship. We are drawing upon and adapting some of the framework of a series called Animate (Faith) by SparkHouse Publications as we prepare this worship series for our particular context. Outline for On Ramp ▪July 12: Religion (Mark 6.14-29) ▪July 19: Bible (Acts 17.10-12) ▪July 26: God (1 Timothy 6.16, John…
The word God.
In her book On The Mystery, Discerning Divinity in Process, Catherine Keller writes: “But what is the link between the truth question and the God question? There are, of course, truths about anything and everything. But in the vicinity of religion, and in particular of Christianity, truth has also served as code for “God” and whatever God reveals. But even if we understand God to be “absolute” – non biblical but conventional language — that understanding does not make,…
Source of Life
“Nothing is real without deriving its reality from God. This was the great discovery of St. Francis when he suddenly saw the whole world in God’s hands and wondered why God didn’t drop it. St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John Vianney, and all the saints are saints precisely because for them the order of being was turned around and they saw, felt, and -above all- knew with their heart that outside God nothing is, nothing breathes, nothing moves, and…
Toward Sunday
On Ramp is our five-week worship series imaginatively exploring central topics in Christian faith. We turn from Bible to God this week in worship. We are drawing upon and adapting some of the framework of a series called Animate (Faith) by SparkHouse Publications as we prepare this worship series for our particular context. Outline for On Ramp ▪July 12: Religion (Mark 6.14-29) ▪July 19: Bible (Acts 17.10-12) ▪July 26: God (1 Timothy 6.16, John 1.18, Matthew 6.9, Revelation 4.1-11, Luke 13.34) ▪August…
Bible Hints
“It seems to me that part of what the Bible is suggesting to us is that we can look around our everyday lives and say, “Here I am looking out my window at this magnolia tree. That’s not just a beautiful tree, and it’s not just something that was created by God. It actually is telling me something about who God is, because God describes God’s self as a tree in Hosea.” We have this powerful invitation from Scripture that…
Bible
This may sound strange, but when I think about the bible my first image is the photo above. This “painting” hung on the wall in my house when I was a child. The original is a photograph entitled “Grace” by Eric Enstrom. (You can learn more about this famous photo by clicking above.) I think that I memorized every part of the picture. The bowl, the “bible” and the glasses captured my imagination the most. They looked so real. I…
Toward Sunday
On Ramp is our five-week worship series imaginatively exploring central topics in Christian faith. We turn from Religion to Bible this week in worship. We are drawing upon and adapting some of the framework of a series called Animate (Faith) by SparkHouse Publications as we prepare this worship series for our particular context. Outline for On Ramp ▪July 12: Religion (Mark 6.14-29) ▪July 19: Bible (Acts 17.10-12) ▪July 26: God (1 Timothy 6.16, John 1.18, Matthew 6.9, Revelation 4.1-11, Luke 13.34) ▪August…
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