Our God Is Able
To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. LJude 24-25 It is a sad reality that people who seek to do justice often do damage in the process. That makes sense, actually. You see, the thing about injustice is that it is, well, unjust. If the injustice is something that you are passionate about it will make you angry. And so, as we move to be people who live out our...
Read MoreLove In Action
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:33–34 Let’s get real, Jesus’ response would not be my response. My response would be so much different, harsher, vengeful. Jesus response seems impossible, almost wrong. And because I don’t want to deal with the real reasons why that is, I instinctively hang that on the divine part of the fully God and fully man Jesus. Maybe I do that with other things that Jesus says...
Read MoreYou Have Toilet Paper Stuck To The Bottom of Your Shoe
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:8-10) When someone visits Creekside, I ask the same question, “Did you feel welcomed?” and I regularly hear specifics about the great welcome they received. I love that about our church. We are a welcoming church. I am sure that this does not surprise you. We know we are a welcoming church. If you have been at Creekside...
Read MoreTransformed Nonconformists
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give . . . . I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. (Matthew 10: 5-8;16) Every follower of Jesus is called to justice. Christians are called by God to be people who are not ok...
Read MoreCalled To Justice
Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:40) This past Sunday we entered into our series Called to Justice. For this weeks next step I want us to just wrestle with a piece of scripture. Read it several times. Sit with it. If should bother you a little bit — if it does not, then read it again. As you read it ask “what are the implications for me and for Creekside in the words of Jesus?” Try to be specific. Write something down and share it with me or someone else. Go to the Creekside Blog and...
Read MoreKingdom Stories
All of history finds its setting in the story of God, with its beginning in the mystery of the mind of the Author, God, and its end in eternity in his plans and purposes. In the midst of this ongoing story you enter the stage, a unique actor, collaborating with God in the writing of your part of the story. Eugene Peterson puts it this way: “Every day we wake up in the middle of something that is already going on and has been going on for a long time, genealogy and geology, history and culture, the cosmos — God. We are neither accidental nor incidental to the story.” Our shared stories are...
Read MoreOnce Upon A Time
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth . . . and she wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (John 1:1-2; Luke 2:7) When we read the story of the...
Read MoreRigorously Dwelling in the Story of A Baby Messiah
Fall on your knees. Oh hear the angel voices, Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born, Oh night divine, Oh night divine We come to the second week of Advent dwelling in the story of the coming Messiah, the King of Kings, God saves, come in the form of a little baby on a night divine. As I mentioned last week, during Advent we are focusing on how we as the people of God are called to be a people of the word, called to Scripture. We enter into the story of Christmas from the pages of the Bible with the aid of the Evangelical Covenant Church’s teaching on how we are to read...
Read MoreReading The Christmas Story A New
O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel; That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, shall come to thee o Israel! Advent is the expectant waiting for the coming of the Son of God, Emmanuel, God with us. This year, Creekside’s four week Advent journey flows within our year long journey of leaning into what it looks like for us to live a life worthy of calling we have received as followers of Jesus. During Advent we are focusing on how we as Christians are called to be a people of the word, called to Scripture. We enter into the story...
Read MoreA Song of Gratitude
Happy Thanksgiving Week! This week’s Next Step is a bit different – a song, a reminder of the basis for gratitude and thanksgiving. Our culture tells us to gauge our happiness not by what we have but by what someone else has. But a life of comparison is a life without joy, a life without thanksgiving. http://ecreekside.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Gratitude-Nichole-Nordeman.mp4 Peace, hope and love...
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