Sometimes you can have everything right and still, not much happens. You can believe the right things, avoid the wrong things and still feel stuck? How can that be?
When people approached Jesus with questions like this He always pointed them in one direction - their own heart. This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored Jesus' invitation into humility and courage as the spark that engulfs us in the abundant life God and His Grace promise.
All religions entice us to hope. What differentiates one from another is what they are hoping in - and what they are hoping for. Jesus introduced a brand new way of hoping, never seen before, never even dreamed of before...and though this invitation got him killed, it can give us Life!
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright continued our exploration of hope and how it is may be the key to the Abundant Life Jesus promised.
"Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane." Red, The Shawshank Redemption.
Have you ever thought about that? How dangerous hope is, how careful we are about it? Jesus showed up inviting us, enticing us - to hope. It is not an invitation to take lightly...and we don't. We often hedge our bets in all kinds of ways.
This Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright began a new series on hope and why it is so dangerous and so critical.
Maybe you have noticed - life is often a struggle. What we've been we've been seeing this Fall in our exploration of Genesis is the bible doesn't deny this Reality...in fact, it is inviting us to face it and move forward anyway.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright concluded our series on Genesis by looking at a story that brings all of the stories before it together and sends us out into the future with hope.
Too big to fail. We all remember that promise. How'd that work out? The American banking system is not the first time mankind has misplaced our trust in something we created.
This Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering, Mike Gathright explored an ancient story of misplaced trust and the devastating consequences of making any thing so big in in our life - it has to fail.
There are questions we are supposed to ask... and then those we really ask, like, Why me? And, What now? Thankfully these are also the questions the bible addresses, right from the beginning.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright continued our discussion on the book of Genesis, specifically, how God is inviting us to a new What Now - to begin again even when the worst thing possible has happened.
Why me? What now? These are the questions real life generates all the time. They are not easy questions and anyone offering easy answers just doesn't come off as credible. How comforting to find that the bible speaks to these questions yet doesn't offer quick answers, rather, a way forward.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright continued our examination of Genesis and how God's story of the beginning takes our real questions seriously without answering them easily.
Think of all the effort we put in to our image - what others think of us - really, what we want others to think of us? Is it possible all of this effort is not only futile but also detrimental? The bible seems to think so.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright continued to explore the book of Genesis and the incredible way it frames our image issue and a way forward.
Some things are so True they go beyond literally accurate or our ability to explain, describe or measure. Truth like this stretches us into symbolism, metaphor, music, poetry and art. For too long the bible has been judged as either literally true in every detail or of no worth at all. Maybe it is time to look at it like a great painting, to listen to it like a beautiful piece of music, to consider as an incredible work of art - could looking at it this way reveal things to us, about us and life and God, that are difficult to see otherwise?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering, Mike Gathright continued our exploration of the bible as a source of grace, inspiration and hope.
There is always something. Something in our life, about our life, maybe even about us that we want to change. Why is it so difficult?
Last Sunday we discovered it is pride that gets in our way and humility that changes the equation for change because it opens us up to God's grace.
This Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored a source of Grace that we often overlook in our life and the unexpected ways it can empower change.
January marks the beginning of the new calendar year, but really September is when everything kicks off. Vacations end, school starts, football begins - this year we even have an election this Fall.
Storyline is so excited about what we are going to consider together this year. Mike Gathright kicked off a brand new series of talks that will help us get the most out of this fresh start!
Last week at the Gathering, Wes Reith gave a compelling argument for how we could understand and engage with salvation: it’s a process NOT an objective... but what now? What is the process of the process? If that is true, then what are we supposed to do?
This week at the Gathering, Paul Knapp dove deeper into the process of salvation and give us a more objective understanding of what it could look like to live a life of faith.
Humans have a bizarre propensity for objectives--we absolutely love them. We love achieving, we love succeeding, and we love how it makes us feel. But what happens when we fail? Or--what happens when the most important things we encounter turn out not to be objectives at all?
This Sunday at Storyline, Wesley Rieth spoke on what an objective is, what it isn't, and how Jesus saw objectives. Mike Koch and the band performed songs by Kacey Musgraves, Swtichfoot, and David Ramirez.
At Storyline we believe in the transformative power of story and the blessing that comes from sharing them. This Sunday we had the privilege of hearing stories from some of our Storyline friends.
We spend a lot of time and effort, much of it below the surface of our awareness, trying to figure out who we really are. Because our identity not only defines us, it guides us.
Maybe this is why the story of the life of faith in the bible is so surprising. We assume the bible is all about telling us what to do when really it is much more interested in suggesting to us - who we are!
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright considered the revolutionary and radical vision that Jesus has of our identity.