Has anyone ever given you something before you asked for it...maybe even before you knew you needed it, or wanted it? Jesus said God often works like that.
What might life look like if we believed it?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright and John Williams looked at the beauty and transformational power of God's generosity toward us.
OVERHEARD
Sometimes its eavesdropping, sometimes it is innocent, but we have all been in a situation where we have over heard something. It can be uncomfortable, embarrassing even.
At least one time, Jesus taught in a way that many people would over hear him. It wasn't to make anyone uncomfortable or embarrassed, he did it to change their lives. And it did!
This Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright looked at the genius and grace of Jesus as he taught something that could only change you...if you OVER heard it.
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED
It is graduation season...a time to celebrate what our young people have learned. But that begs the question - what have we been teaching them?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright considered what God is trying to teach us all.
ECHOS Part 4 - Childhood
Some of us loved our childhood. Others? Not so much. But for all of us, childhood and children hold an almost sacred place.
Jesus shared a very high view of little ones - he called it being childlike. What is so special about that? This is the question Mike Gathright considered this Sunday at Storyline's Gathering.
ECHOS Part 3 - We Are the Field
For the past two weeks at the Gathering, Mike Gathright has explored the echoes of God in the world, in our life, and in our hearts.
This Sunday, Paul Knapp picked up where he left off and pondered two questions:
What is beauty?
How do we find it?
ECHOS Part 2 - On Your Side
For many reasons when we think of God, most of us in the West think of a male deity. Father. That isn't wrong, but are we missing some essential aspects of the character of God when we limit "Him" to being a male?
This Sunday is Mother's Day and Mike Gathright considered what we might learn from considering mothers and motherhood with God's approach to each and every one of us.
ECHOS Part 1 - Justice
Plato said, "All learning is remembering." What did he mean by that? Could it be that we know things, that we don't know we know...universal "truths" that resonate with all human hearts? Where in the world did this come from? Or didn't it?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright will begin a month long exploration of the echoes of God in the world, in our life and in our hearts. Do we know more than we know we know? Do we believe more than we believe we do? Jesus seems to think so.
HOPE, FAITH and....
Winston Churchill once said, "Democracy is the worst form of government - except for all the others that have been tried." To some extent, the same could be said of living with hope and living by faith...tough stuff. But certainly better than the alternative.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright considered what flows out of living with hope and living by faith that can transform life into the abundant life, Jesus is inviting us in to.
HOPE, FAITH, and DOUBT
This month as we consider how to respond to Easter - the miraculous news that Jesus has risen from the dead - Mike Gathright explored the challenge of living by faith in an age of science and reason. Are they totally incompatible?
A SUBSTANTIVE HOPE
Our world is full of reasons to be cynical. When we stare at the facts, pessimism becomes easy and hopefulness becomes not only a choice, but a challenge. So, the question becomes: is having hope virtuous? Is hope necessary?
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering, Wesley Rieth explored how choosing hope—or not choosing it—can influence everything we know about the world around us.
SIMPLE BUT NOT EASY
When things get complicated, when we get confused, it is often a good reason to keep a safe distance. Easter can get like this. It is easy to acknowledge it without really doing much with it.
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright looked at the one thing everyone is already doing that could make Easter a turning point in our life.
ESCAPE OR FREEDOM
Life, oh boy. So awesome and so tough. We love it, and yet...there are times, aren't there?
There are only so many ways to deal with all of these paradoxes.
The next two weeks Mike Gathright will explore how the life and death and resurrection of Jesus can lead us and empower us into a uniquely meaningful way to experience and embrace all of life.
STORY SUNDAY
“When we share our stories, what it does is, it opens up our hearts for other people to share their stories. And it gives us the sense that we are not alone on this journey.”
-Janine Shepherd
This week at the Gathering some friends from Storyline opened their hearts and shared their story.
NOW WHAT? Part 2: IMITATING JESUS
Religion is a rain dance. Grace is a rainstorm!
This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright considered how Jesus is inviting us - to soak it all in.
NOW WHAT? Part 1: IMITATION JESUS
If there is nothing we can do to get God on our side, because God is already on our side...does that mean there is nothing we can do? This is the question that plagued the religious leaders of Jesus' day. Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering, Mike Gathright began an exploration of Jesus' remarkable response.