Posts with the tag “grace”

This summer, we’re walking together through the letter to the Galatians—a fiery, heartfelt word from Paul that cuts right to the center of our life with Jesus. If you’ve ever felt the weight of religious “shoulds” or wrestled with whether you’ve done enough to belong, Galatians offers a deep breath of hope. It invites us to stop building fences and start drawing near to the well of God’s grace.  Read More

It seems like human nature to try and fill up whatever space we're given. We add, we cram, we complicate. And we often do the same thing with our faith. We’ve been given a simple and beautiful gift in Jesus, freedom in Christ, but we keep adding to it. We stack on extra rules. We lean on external identity markers. We grow afraid that grace alone might not be enough, so we tack on more. We start to rely on things that were never meant to carry the weight of our righteousness. Today we’re in the book of Galatians, where Paul addresses this very issue. The believers there were doing what we still often do: Building walls Jesus already tore down.  Read More

Have you ever been so frustrated with someone you just had to say, “Didn’t we already talk about this?” That’s the vibe Paul gives off in the second chapter of Galatians. He’s not just disappointed—he’s outright furious. His frustration wasn’t over a minor misunderstanding. It was about something core to the faith. Something he believed was being deeply compromised. Paul, the passionate apostle who traveled relentlessly to spread the message of Jesus, finds himself confronting none other than Peter— the apostle Peter. The one who walked on water. The one who preached at Pentecost. Paul confronts him to his face, publicly. Why? Because Peter, in a moment of fear and self-protection, compromised the Good News—what we often call the gospel. And Paul wasn’t having it.  Read More

One of the Practices That Helps Us Center JesusOn the night he was betrayed (Luke 22), Jesus gathered his friends around bread and wine and offered them grace.That invitation still stands. This is Jesus’ table. If you’d like to be here, he’d love to have you.Central to our understanding of Jesus is that we are created for community and connection.We’re learning to belong here—and to extend that sa...  Read More