On June 9th we celebrated baptism with members of our church family. This afternoon was a beautiful time of sharing stories of the work of God in the lives of his people. We believe that baptism is an outward sign of a Christ-follower’s inward commitment, and a step into a life of commitment to […]
Easter weekend at Living Word was a beautiful celebration of the stronger-than-death love of God. Our six weekend services were a time for us to come together in worship and proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus through song, prayer, and God’s Word. On Good Friday, we reflected on the reality that Jesus laid down his life to defeat sin […]
C.S. Lewis is certainly not the final word, nor even always the best word, but he is a very good starting word for important conversations, including conversations on having intimacy with God. Lewis starts this conversation when he says, here is the kind of God most of us would prefer: “An ‘impersonal God’-well and good. […]
Five Ways You Can Make a Difference Today People. Life is about people. The Christian faith is about loving God and loving others. Life is essentially relational in makeup. I am just back from overseas. I read a lot on planes. I picked up a book, The Art of People by Dave Kerpen, that looked […]
This week we have been reflecting on Jesus’ command that we are to pray for and love our enemies (Matt. 5:44-45). Jesus’ words are as disruptive now as they were two thousand years ago, challenging the status quo way the world operates. A prayer for one’s enemies is disruptive. Loving action is really disruptive. And […]
We are introducing a new song at Living Word this Sunday called “Reckless Love”. We look forward to singing this together as a church family, considering our own stories and how fiercely the Lord’s love pursues His children. My small son Jude is just learning how to color. He has absolutely no desire to keep […]
Hey Living Word: A HUGE and HEARTFELT thank you for your great generosity in our Christmas: It’s Not About Us outreach. I think things filled up faster than ever. I love the spirit of kindness, generosity, and service God is lavishing upon us, and doing so through you. During our Generosity series, a friend sent […]
Christmas showed us, God is not an isolationist! Right now I am reading my way through four books by my favorite rabbi, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (check him out here). I am reading several of the books intermittently. The one I am reading a chapter daily from is To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility. Rabbi […]
And wondering out loud, just who is my neighbor? I have been blogging quite a bit in recent weeks about love, in part because I am going to preach on love as part of our Christmas series. This post is also stimulated by all the work in the last month in connecting with global and […]
This is a follow up post from last week’s post on LOVE. On this question, Christianity gets REALLY radical. I must write a little longer today to unpack this, but I think you will find it worth a few extra minutes. Love your TRIBE. Just about everyone in the world will be able to love […]