At one point, every ritual and tradition was new...an innovation! A brand new way to express and experience something beyond explanation. Over time, when we lose touch with the original intent, the spirit of the ritual fades and we either give them up or go through the motions.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored how Jesus chose to innovate, reframe and recast the ritual baptism in way that plunged it right into the middle of real life.
Life is full of stories. Stories that inform, illuminate, inspire, entertain, and call us to action… and then there are the stories we tell ourselves. The stories we use to convince ourselves that “everything will be all right…” or “maybe it won’t.” But what if there was a bigger story. One that was for all of us. One that calls us into community and mission together.
This Father’s Day Paul Knapp explored the story that our Heavenly Father might be telling and what that could mean for us and our world.
It is graduation season and every commencement speech is another reminder that we are supposed to do something with our lives. But have you ever wondered...why?
Jesus showed up with a totally unique and extremely controversial view of what God wants from us and why. This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright looked at how Jesus totally transformed what it means to do something with our lives.
"What will you do without freedom?" That is the question William Wallace asked in the film, Braveheart. But an equally important question is - what will you do with it?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering, as we celebrated our graduates, Mike Gathright reminded us what Jesus claims we can be free from...and what we could be free for.
On Memorial Day weekend we remember and honor those who have given their lives serving in our Armed Forces. It is a powerful reminder that freedom isn't free.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright considered what freedom is and why it is so highly valued in every realm of life.
Over the past three weeks, Mike Gathright has defined these ideas as core elements of these great stories of life. However, each of these ideas is unique to all of us. We all find our hope, our meaning, and our satisfaction in uniquely different spaces. Right?
This week at the Gathering, Paul Knapp contemplated whether or not it is truly our uniqueness that defines our humanity, or is something even bigger, better, and more beautiful.
Every great story and every great hero need hope and meaning. But it can't stop there! Hope provides the inspiration, meaning the motivation - but for what?
This Sunday, on Mother's Day, s Mike Gathright considered what every great story is driving at and every mother longs for.
Every great story has certain elements, every great hero certain traits. Last week we discovered it all begins with hope...but what comes next?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored how a living hope fuels a great story but only meaning can direct it.
What makes a story great? There has to be a challenge...some obstacle that stands between the main character and the goal. And the same is true for the story of our lives. And God knows, there are plenty of challenges.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright began a five week series exploring the five gifts Jesus and His Gospel of Grace offer us to meet the biggest obstacles we all must face for the story of our lives to be a great one.
Good Friday. It is a really an odd name if all you know is what this day commemorates. There is only one thing that makes it good - the whole story.
This Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored the story behind Easter and how this one day can turn the worst day into Good.
What's in a name? Sometimes not much, but sometimes names are narratives - they begin to tell us a story. And that is very much the case for Storyline.
This Sunday Mike Gathright considered the name of Storyline and how it connects to a story before and beyond just us.
Most of us, when given the chance, would prefer the things in our life to be "known" rather than "unknown." We like to be sure-footed about our every move. But what if Jesus had a different idea? What if, maybe, he turned our unknowns into our biggest gifts? This week at The Gathering, we took a look at the surprising relationship between our ability to know and our ability to love.
In the world we live in, with all that can and does go wrong - one of God's greatest gifts is the Saints Among Us! Last week we honored a number of them and this Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright turned the discussion from celebrating the saints among us to inspiring the saints within us.
(Due to technical difficulties the quality of this audio is poor. We apologize for this.)
A saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness or closeness to God. Could it be they are more prevalent than we realize - and more powerful than we've imagined?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright and Mike Koch will led us in recognizing and celebrating the "Saints Among Us."
Love at first sight… It’s the dream, right? You see them from across the room… or you walk away from a job interview… or the credits roll on the latest social justice documentary… and it’s all you can think about! “How incredible would it be if I could? If we were able to? If I made that kind of impact?” but is that really love? Is that how it works? Can we just see something from a distance and in a moment commit our lives to it?
This week at the Gathering Paul Knapp will explored the mysteries of love, and what it truly could mean to love it.