Luke: Welcoming Jesus (Chris)

The Gospel of Luke is a powerful window into the ministry and meaning of our Savior Jesus Christ.  With our own celebration of Christmas just past, we will reflect this week on Luke chapters 1-2 and the coming of Jesus into the world.  Who were the people selected by God to prepare for and to greet him?  What does their reaction to the birth of the Messiah teach us about how we should prepare for and welcome Christ into our lives?

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Luke: An Introduction to the Gospel of Luke (Randy)

 Tomorrow, we will kick off our new series on the Gospel of Luke.  Our objective this winter/spring is to survey Luke’s gospel and draw faith and life lessons from it.  I’ll start us off in the morning with an introductory lesson on the who, what, when, where, how, and why of the book, and we’ll get into more detail as we dig into various passages as the season unfolds.  If you have a particular favorite passage from Luke that you’d like us to cover, please let us know!  We are treating our schedule somewhat openly to see where the Holy Spirit takes us.

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Living with Adversity: Celebrating the Good News (Chris)

Trust in God can produce peace, hope, and opportunity even in difficult times.  Adversity is faced over and over again in the Bible.  Moreover, we have one great advantage that most of our ancestors in faith did not: we know how the story ends.  Thanks to the Christ's New Covenant, good triumphs.  As Christmas approaches, we can be confident that God's light ultimately overcomes all darkness -- Good News indeed!

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Living with Adversity: From Self-Reliance to Trusting God (Randy)

In this lesson, we look at the book of Jonah and explore how our over reliance on ourselves gets us into trouble and how turning to God – and trusting God – especially during this Advent season, is the solution to our problem. I hope you will join us in virtual fellowship as we explore this topic.

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Living in Opposition to Discrimination (Chris)

While the world is tribal, God is universal.  Jesus taught us to commune with all people.  An inspiring story of a black girl and a white teacher from the Civil Rights Movement shows us how Discipleship is expressed in real life with compassion and courage.

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Living with Rejection: Working Toward Social Justice (Randy)

We are living in a tumultuous time.  Our economic, social, and political orders are all evolving and shifting.  Our city streets are filled with protests and counter-protests.  Social media is awash with strong opinions.  People around us are taking sides on all kinds of issues.  Friends have distanced themselves from us because of things we have said or done.  Perhaps you have ventured into this melee, or perhaps you have held back for fear of being “canceled.”

How do we navigate these tricky times as Christians?  How do we think about social justice from a Christian perspective?  How do we deal with the rejection that will surely come simply because we take a Christian view?  Using the examples of Jeremiah, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Wesley, and Jesus, we will examine how we can participate in bringing God’s just kingdom to earth while facing the opposition that it will bring.

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Living with Injustice (Chris)

There is a divine order and fairness which the world often falls short of.  We both can experience injustice and can be a cause of it.  Using the Old Testament story of Joseph, we will look at Godly responses to injustice including faith, integrity, and love.  We also recognize that the ultimate injustice was Christ dying on the cross.  Thankfully, God is able to use injustice to produce blessings. 

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