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to the Gathering
It is graduation season. Lots of young people graduating from high school and college... congratulations to all! The graduation ceremony is called a "commencement" - it means, to begin. But to begin, what?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored that question and the possibility that our answer may have more to do with how we see ourselves than it does how we see the world.
Some work, some don't, but all slogans and mottos are our best attempt to summarize something big and important into something small and memorable. This Sunday morning at our Gathering Mike Gathright continued our series exploring the mottos of Storyline.
It seems like every time we turn around, there is another tragedy... Another friend passes, another bomb drops, another wall is built. How are we supposed to respond? Is there any good that can come from this at all? is there any hope left?
This week at the Gathering, Paul Knapp explored these questions and looked at suffering, pain and adversity from a different angle.
Adversity, pain and hardship are heartbreaking. They truly break our heart in different ways. one of the most important question when this happens, is “what now?” Taking a look at how the heartbreak of life’s adversities, great and small, and how they cause hurt, pain and suffering. What do we do when this happens? We celebrate Mother’s Day by trying to take a perspective that we often see from mom’s…
Throughout history some very important and influential people have leveled very serious accusations at religion; Freud, Marx and Nietzsche just to name a few. And we can add Jesus to this list as well! If, as we say at Storyline, Jesus came to end religion - what did He come to start? This is the question Mike Gathright considered this Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering.
Recently a leading scientist estimated with the incredible advances in knowledge that humanity has made in the last 20 years, we now know almost 2% of all that there is to know. 2? Two! Wow, we may know less than we think we do...The bible, contrary to how it is presented some times, is NOT an answer key, it is a book of stories; very real stories - including part of God's.
Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright looked at part of God's story that can give us great comfort and courage as we face the 98% of life we just don't get.
Mottos, slogans, catch phrases. It seems every organization, brand and company has one; Jesus had several...Storyline does too. Sunday Mike Gathright, began a series of talks that will take a closer look at the catch phrases we hear at the Gathering.
Where do they come from?
What can they mean for us individually and as a community?
Have you ever felt like there is something bigger happening in the world? Have you ever felt like somehow, someway we're missing the point? Have you ever wondered if there is something you could do about it? This week at the Gathering, Paul Knapp explored the answers to these questions and what role we as humans play in the bigger story that is happening all around us.
Who knows anything
I don't know
There are so many things
I must leave alone
Some strange person is calling you their home
Can you be where you want to be?
-Wilco
Sunday morning at Storyline is always an invitation for us to consider some universal question and to reflect on it and how that relates to God and our spiritual life. However, this week at Storyline, Mark Ring asked us to once again reflect, but also to reflect on reflecting.
In other words, how are we doing in relation to analyzing and evaluating our own life?
Are we making progress? Are we being honest? Are we being accurate?
Can we be where we want to be?
Not everything that is true is good. Have you ever noticed that? How many of us believe in God, that "all of it" is true, but struggle to trust in God, because we aren't sure He is good?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored how Easter shows us that God is not only true, He is good.
"Young and old love stories. Literate and illiterate alike, tell and listen to stories. Neither stupidity nor sophistication puts us outside the magnetic field of story.
Story doesn't just tell us something and leave it there; story invites our participation. We feel the emotions, get caught up in the drama, identify with the characters, see into nooks and crannies of life that we had overlooked and realize there is more to being human that we have not yet explored."
Eugene Peterson
During this week's Gathering, we heard personal stories from a number of different Storyliner’s.
In a time where "capturing" comes at a much higher premium than "cherishing" what role does remembrance play in our day-to-day lives? What does it truly mean to come together and remember the good things in life that have been given to us?
This Sunday at the Gathering, Paul Knapp explored and unraveled one of the beautiful and mysterious practices that come with living a life of faith.
Do you know what it is like to get in your own way? Some of us do. No matter what we try we trip ourselves, time and time again.
his Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering, Mike Gathright looked at the topic Jesus spoke more about than any other and how it is the source of so much of our self-defeating behavior.
Do you know what you want? Do you know how to get it? Is everything you want working together to move you forward - or maybe not? Jesus was really interested in these questions and the real desires of his first followers.
Sunday at Storyline's Gathering, Mike Gathright explored why that might be and how Jesus can help us move forward in a world that often confuses our desires.
Americans work more than any other people in the world! We take less vacation, retire later than any other first world country. Why? What are we after? Is it all about the $?
Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright considered what we get from our occupations beyond a pay check and how it can either enslave us or set us free.
