The Way of Jesus

Resurrection and Generosity: Day 50 of 50

Resurrection and Generosity

Today we celebrated Pentecost (Shavuot in Hebrew).  50 Days after Jesus rose from the grave, God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We celebrate pentecost as the birthday of the church.

One of the realities of life that resulted from Jesus' resurrection was unbounded generosity.  "All the believers were together and had everything in common"  Acts 2:44.

Today we introduced thecommon.org.  The common is a way our community can meet each others needs in really tangible and practical ways.  It is a web based program that allows you to get email notices when someone in our community has a need that fits one of the abilities that you have.  It also allows you to post needs that you have.

Dave Creek and Tim Eaton did an outstanding job walking us through how the common works.  We will be announcing and handing out sign up forms over the next month each Sunday morning.

May the Holy Spirit fill our community and grow in us a boundlessly generous spirit.

Grace and peace.

Resurrection and Service: Day 43 of 50

Resurrection and Service

Sin is the great under-employer.  It doesn't just separate us from a relationship with God.  It separates us from the significant vocation that God has uniquely purposed for us.  The resurrection of Jesus frees us for a deeply meaningful life of service.

The baptism service following this teaching was particularly moving.  Props to the four young adults who publicly declared their allegiance to Jesus Christ.

Grace and Peace.

Resurrection and Discipleship: Day 36 of 50

Resurrection and Discipleship

Day 36 of 50 of our Easter celebration.  We kicked the morning off by dedicating five awesome little children.

This teaching looks at the Jewish culture of discipleship, of passing on the tradition, way of life, and faith to the next generation.  We then asked the question "What difference does the resurrection of Jesus have on discipleship?"

The Holy Spirit is the defining difference that the resurrection brings to the discipleship question.  The challenge is to not then lose the culture of training that was deeply embedded in 1st century Christian faith.  We can't say, we have the Spirit now, we don't need training.  Nor can we say, you only need training, culture and tradition.  We need more of the Spirit and more of training.

Easter leads into a celebration of the Spirit in the context of a discipling community.

Resurrection and Community: Day 29 of 50

Resurrection and Community

We celebrated day 29 of 50 days of Easter.  The highlight is hearing Tabitha Kyambadde's testimony.  I think we are so lucky to have Tabitha as a member of our congregation and I was humbled and moved by her story.  We then look at the implications of Jesus' resurrection in regards to community.  To be in Christ is to be incorporated into a family and even more than a family into one body.  There really is a profound reality that I am trying to live in.  Join me in praying to wake up to the reality which is the body of Christ.

shalom.

Resurrection and Love: Day 22 teaching (April 25th 2010)

Resurrection and Love

Stan Schmidt shared his story at the beginning of this teaching.  Stan your poem at the end was simply remarkable.  Thanks for sharing the gift of your life with us!

We then look at the ethic of love which arises from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Grace and Peace - D

Hesitant Invitation - Dave Creek

Hesitant Invitation

Dave Creek is teaching on Day 15 of our Easter Celebration (Sunday April 18th).  Click the link above to listen or right click and select to download the mp3 file to your computer.

Resurrection and Worship: Day 8 teaching (April 11th 2010)

Resurrection and Worship

This teaching includes Lee Gropel's brilliant and articulate capturing of her story with God.  Thank you Lee so much for this amazing gift!

Easter Day 5 ~ Counting the Omer

I have already heard that some of you have found omer counting apps for your iphone.  What can you say about the times we live in?  

In the Christian calendar the season of Easter lasts for 50 days.  It begins on Easter Sunday:  Day One of New Creation and travels to Pentecost (the birthday of the church).  These two book ends, Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost with the 7 weeks in between, have very specific Jewish roots.  After Jesus celebrated the Jewish Passover with his disciples, he was then crucified on the day of preparation before a special sabbath.  The special Sabbath was the day before the third feast in the Jewish year--the first fruits of the Barley Harvest.  On the morning after this Sabbath, which happened to be a Sunday, the priests would have offered an Omer of Barley (a tenth of 3 Seah of Barley) to the Lord.  This would be "Day one of the Omer".  Then according to Leviticus 23, the people each evening would count each day for seven weeks.  On the fiftieth Day the people would celebrate the first fruits of the wheat harvest (the fourth feast).  This feast is called Shavuot in Hebrew (the feast of weeks) and in Greek it was called Pentecost (fifty days).  Acts 2 describes what took place on the fiftieth day after Jesus' resurrection.  Jesus rose from the dead, the first fruits of resurrection, on the first fruits of the barley harvest and the disciples received the Holy Spirit on the first fruits of the wheat harvest.  The fiftieth day is also the memorial of the giving of the covenant to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The more I understand the Jewish feasts the more meaningful God's redemptive story becomes.

Grace and peace and Happy Day Five of Easter, 

David

Counting the Omer

Counting the Omer

Easter Sunday.  Day one of our 50 days of Easter Celebration.

The more we understand the Jewish Feasts, the deeper our understanding of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.  Peace to you.