DISCOVER MORE : TOGETHER
Our weekly devotional content ties back to the worship themes and scriptures from the previous Sunday. Dig deeper into what the Word and the message mean to you, and explore how you can deepen your walk with Christ through these resources.
In addition to the devotional resources, the "5 Minutes with God" sections are like spiritual snacks; small, quick, easy connections you can make as you go about your busy life.
Hungering
for God
We are born with a spiritual hunger, that finds its satisfaction through connection with God. During the weeks of Lent we will explore how temptations make plain our spiritual hunger and how the promises of God’s love in Christ can truly satisfy. Being fed by Christ continues to happen in the waters of baptism, and at the meal of forgiveness. We journey through the weeks of Lent naming how we experience spiritual hunger, and how God comes to us in Christ to feed with the Gospel.
Follow along from March 5 - April 6.
Five Minutes with God
February 23
INTRODUCTION: Jesus’ words this week look good on coffee mugs, and they are especially nice to use as ammunition against others. However, when we are the ones being told to love an enemy, when we are called out for judging someone, when we refuse to forgive, we realize just how impossible these words are. Cries of unfairness and downright refusals are our knee jerk reactions. Yet Jesus’ words don’t go away. Rather, he offers a one-word answer to our objections: MERCY. To be merciful is to be like his Father, like our Father. To be merciful is not to excuse wrongdoing. Mercy is the recognition that someone is a child of God, created in the image of God. It is to seek that image within them, no matter how buried it might be. When I can at least try to be merciful, I see another human being, someone no different than I am. Judgment and condemnation can give way to forgiveness and love.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Who in your life who has hurt you? Who holds different viewpoints from you, so you write them off as an enemy? Who do you judge and condemn rather than forgive and love? We don’t have to look far to find people who need our mercy. This week pause before you judge, condemn, and refuse forgiveness. Be merciful like your Father.
