'rooted in grace' Tagged Posts (Page 3)
Rooted in Grace
AFTER CENTURIES OF handling and mishandling, most religious words have become so shopworn nobody’s much interested any more. Not so with grace, for some reason. Mysteriously, even derivatives like gracious and graceful still have some of the bloom left. Grace is something you can never get but only be given. There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or…
Toward Sunday
We begin a new worship series this Sunday called How Deep? Our church continues to grow in number and depth because of the deep commitments of so many. Each fall we devote an entire worship series to reflecting on the depth of the commitment we would like to make to God & our church for the coming year. We will focus each of the first three weeks on the simple (artisan) ingredients that frame our life together: rooted in Grace, growing in…
Moments of greatness
“Moments of greatness are far more appealing than a lifetime of faithfulness, but it is through a lifetime of faithfulness-a lifetime of integrity, in which we have chosen to be strong and courageous-that we will look back and realize that our lives have become masterpieces.” -Erwin McManus [The Artisan Soul]
Toward Sunday
We conclude our worship series, Artisans at The Table, this Sunday as we reflect on the masterpiece of our own lives. Erwin McManus writes, “Life becomes a work of art when we live it not for ourselves but for others. We live and tell our story, and through it we carry the hope of the world. The masterpiece is a life lived with courage and faith, with integrity and intention, with love and passion. We know we’ve seen a work of art…
Future
“Bees create hives, ants create colonies, but humans create futures.” ~ Erwin McManus What do you imagine in your future? How might you work with God to create that future for yourself and our community?
Toward Sunday
We are in the third week of our series called Artisans at The Table. Outline of Artisans at The Table September 7 Soul based on Genesis 2.7 & Exodus 2.1-15 September 14 Voice based on Genesis 3:1-11a September 21 Image & Craft based on Matthew 3.13-17 September 28 Masterpiece: A New Humanity based on John 2.1-11 In this week’s reading we encounter Jesus presenting himself at the River Jordan for Baptism. What voices might Jesus have been hearing…
Authenticity
Consider the story of your life. When have you been most authentic? What were you able to create during that period of your life?
Like our creator.
An act cannot be creative if it is not born of freedom. In creative action, our desire is not to “solve” or “succeed” or “survive” but to give birth to something new; we want, for a while, to be less creaturely and more like the creator. – Parker Palmer
Toward Sunday
This week we continue our worship series called Artisans at The Table based on the book The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life Into a Work of Art by Erwin McManus. We hope this worship series will help us claim our creative essence and celebrate our lives as works of art. Outline of Artisans at The Table September 7 Soul based on Genesis 2.7 & Exodus 2.1-15 September 14 Voice based on Genesis 3:1-11a September 21 Image & Craft…
Moses
Moses was born into difficult times. He survived because “God snatched victory from the jaws of unlikelihood”. He was snatched from the jaws of death because some brave Egyptian midwives defied Pharaoh and “got creative” with their story telling about the newborn. After hiding him out for some months it was his mother’s turn to be creative. She weaves a basket and floats him down the river to his new life being raised in the palace of the Pharaoh. His…