Ephesians, pt. 2: Reorientation of the Self
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Ephesians, pt. 2: Reorientation of the Self

Maybe the structure of Ephesians is more prescriptive than the actual commands or teaching. In a world where our identity is often tossed about on the waves of ever-changing circumstances, technology, culture wars, and opinions, Paul reminds us that who we are is based solely on God's love for us through the work of Jesus. Today's Scripture readings: Ephesians 1:3-14

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Ephesians, pt. 1
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Ephesians, pt. 1

Today, we begin our series through the letter to the church at Ephesus. We have decided to study this small letter as a way to begin to grasp how the gospel in real life invites us to live. However, before we step into the actual book, we want to look at Paul’s first visit in the book of Acts and use this as a way to talk about idolatry.  Our scripture readings today came from Job 31:19-30, Acts 19: 8-10, 17-20, 23-28, 32, 35-38

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A Better Citizen
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

A Better Citizen

Today we take some time to acknowledge America's 250th birthday. We currently face deep division within our nation, and much of that division runs right through the church. Our commitment to the extremes on either side is hindering our witness to the resurrected Jesus. The way of Christ calls us away from those extremes and shapes how we live as citizens in the countries we call home. The way of the cross isn't lived just for our own good, but for the good of this country as well.

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A Better Temple
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

A Better Temple

Today, we wrap up our Eastertide series, the season that begins with the resurrection of Jesus and moves through the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. As we close this short season on the Spirit's arrival, we look at how Luke identifies the church as the new and better temple

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The Fruit of the Spirit
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The Fruit of the Spirit

Growing up, the fruit of the Spirit versus the fruit of the flesh felt like a moral checklist, a list of behaviors that existed for their own sake. But there's a deeper purpose behind them, one that shapes us into a colony of heaven here on earth, the church.

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A Literary Icon of the Church
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

A Literary Icon of the Church

Whether it's the first couple in Genesis or the picture of the church in Acts, the authors of scripture have a habit of creating literary icons, models for what something is meant to be. We see it in individuals, in marriages, in nations. This week, we explore Luke's literary icon of the church in Acts 2, a Spirit-empowered people.

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Pentecost Sunday: Why the Holy Spirit
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Pentecost Sunday: Why the Holy Spirit

Pentecost is the day we celebrate two events at once: the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. Too often, the gift of the Spirit gets reduced to a doctrinal checkbox or sensationalized into a feeling or a language, missing the point entirely. Join us this week to discover why the Spirit was given to the church in the first place.

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Ascension Sunday: More than going to heaven
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Ascension Sunday: More than going to heaven

The Ascension of Jesus is often framed as "he went to heaven so I can too." That story is far smaller than what actually happened. Ascension is the story that releases us to be the body of Christ in the world, under the rule of a far more powerful king. Join us this week as we dig into what the Ascension is actually about.

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Eastertide: Abundant Life
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Eastertide: Abundant Life

Jesus did not come to simply improve our afterlife. He came to give us a life that is full, rich, and real right now. This week, we take an honest look at what that abundant life actually looks like in the everyday.

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Eastertide: The Logic of Love
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Eastertide: The Logic of Love

Every decision we make is driven by some kind of logic, whether it is what we want, what we fear, or what we have come to believe is true. This week we ask a simple but disruptive question: what happens to the way we think and live when we believe that love is the most powerful and lasting reality in the universe?

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Easter
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Easter

The resurrection was never meant to be just an event we observe once a year. This week we explore what it looks like to actually live it.

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Lent: The Arrest of Jesus
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Lent: The Arrest of Jesus

Today we move to our second scene on the way to the Cross. We turn to John’s telling of the garden arrest, where we encounter four different ways of responding to the way of the Cross.

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Lent: The High Priestly Prayer
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Lent: The High Priestly Prayer

On this first Sunday of Lent, we slow down and listen to the prayer of a dying man — Jesus’ final, heartfelt request to the Father. As we hear what matters most to him in that moment, we have to ask ourselves: Is the thing Jesus emphasizes so deeply the same thing we, as his Church, have chosen to emphasize?

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Epiphany: Transfiguration Sunday
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Epiphany: Transfiguration Sunday

As we close out the season of Epiphany, we make our way up the mountain of Transfiguration. There, two things happen. First, we see Jesus revealed as the One in whom past and present meet — the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets gathered into a single, living person. Second, in Peter’s response, we are given a mirror. His instinct to preserve, control, and hold on exposes something in us.

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Epiphany: The Voice
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Epiphany: The Voice

Today we explore one of the central figures of the Epiphany season, John the Baptist, and ask ourselves, how we, like John may become the epiphany of Jesus in our world.   

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Epiphany: The Empty God
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Epiphany: The Empty God

As we begin the new year, we want to engage the idea of God - who is God?  How do we know?  Why?  Because what we believe about God shapes who we become and how we engage the world.  The way we all engage people, especially those who are different from us, says more about what we believe about God than our stated doctrines.  

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The Living Nativity
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The Living Nativity

We wanted to take time to close out the year with a message about the Nativity.  A symbol of Jesus' birth, but even more so, a symbol of God's character and nature.  The nativity has been the victim of culture wars from both sides of the aisle, but if we really knew what it was about we may allow it to speak for itself. 

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Advent
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Advent

This year, rather than a full series, we are offering one Advent message. In it, we focus on what lies at the heart of Advent—and at the heart of Christianity itself—the defining characteristic of Jesus and of everyone who seeks to follow him: love. 

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This Story We’re In: Children of Exile
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

This Story We’re In: Children of Exile

This week, we reflect on Judah’s life after the Temple’s destruction. God sends them, as His children, into exile—but even there, He calls them to live out the covenant: to be a blessing to the world. This call is not easy. We naturally seek security, comfort, and certainty before turning outward. Yet God reverses that order, inviting His people to find peace and prosperity by seeking the peace and prosperity of their host nation.

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