"Now theLordwas gracious to Sarah as he had said, and theLorddid for Sarah what he had promised.Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.Abraham gave the name Isaacto the son Sarah said, 'God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.' "After twenty-five years of waiting, God k...

A couple years ago I asked for a weighted blanket for Christmas. My counselor's office had one and every time I went there I would immediately grab it and place it on my lap. The heaviness of it gave me a sense of comfort and the barrier it placed between me and my counselor made me feel safe or at least less exposed. In his sermon on Sunday, Justin talked about all the ti...

Over the past few weeks Pastor Justin has been sharing with us some exciting opportunities to expand our church's ministry, both inside and outside of our congregation, through this year's Christmas Offering. We've heard about ministry opportunities with Redeemer City to City in Monterrey, Mexico; expanding our benevolence as we grow our Mercy Ministry; broadening our City...

I used to live under the illusion that I was "good" at relationships. The brokenness that I heard and saw around me was always because of someone else's stupidity, ignorance, or brash words. I thought I was the sole peacemaker in the world: always fixing and never to blame. Ilovedpeople. Myjobwas to be relational and to be in community. Why wouldn't I be good at ...

This week, our 2 year old wild child ran around the dining room table, and shrieked and sang as Zach and I tried really hard to sit at the dinner table and focus in on our advent devotional. Eventually we somewhat successfully got through it. This week we talked about Salvation. After reading about Saul, someone who severely misinterpreted salvation, and the woman at the w...

This Sunday, we begin the process of collecting Christmas Offering gifts and pledges, as well as our Impossible Prayer Requests. Have you been thinking about what to give and what to ask? I have. I'm wrestling through what else we can afford to give, and what I am bold enough to ask for. I have a couple impossible requests for me and our family and and a few for our church...

This Sunday as Justin started to reintroduce us to the heart behind the Impossible Prayer Requests, I felt my guard go up, for the fourth year in a row. As I mentioned in my write up for the advent devotional this year, the first two years I was so paralyzed with fear over asking and facing disappointment, I hid behind reason and judgement and bypassed participa...

"As part of our Christmas Offering, we will be supporting Redeemer City to City in Monterrey, Mexico. Redeemer CTC is a ministry of Redeemer New York. It is a global church planting movement focusing on global cities throughout the world... This partnership will involve the possibility of ministry trips for City Pres and for the churches and pastors in Monterrey. It also...

2018 Christmas Offering and Impossible Prayers December is fast approaching, and with it comes Advent and Christmas. As part of our liturgy (remember this term isn't just about church, but about all our worship. A liturgy is a practice that organizes our worship or points us towards what we give worth to, it's like an arrow that points at a b...

"Advent is a time of waiting and longing for the coming of Christ. We reflect on the centuries of waiting for the initial fulfillment of God’s promise to provide a savior, and we also long for the consummation of that promise when Christ returns to make all things new."...