New Way to Be Human

Serving the World

This week in our class we're talking about Service and Work as a practice of Christian faith. One of the ways we serve is by working for peace & justice in the world. This got me to thinking, if the Hollywood Church [substitute the name of your church here] had a Peace & Justice Ministry Team what would that look like? What kinds of things would we do? In what ways would these things witness to the truth of the gospel that God sent Christ into the world to make all things new?

Click on comments below and share your thoughts.

How Worship Shapes Us

Last night we explored the Christian practice of worship and how worship shapes us as Christians and helps keep us Christian. Worship shapes us in a Christian culture or, as Abraham Joshua Heschel puts it, "Worship is a way of seeing the world in the light of God." Well said! You can download the entire lesson by clicking the link at the left.

The other thing that emerged from our discussion was the question of whether worship is primarily a subjective experience that gives rise to concrete expressions of worship (like singing, praying, kneeling, standing, shouting, eating the Eucharist, baptism, etc) or whether it is primarily objective expressions that give rise to the experience of worship. As with most good questions, the answer is a resounding, YES! This diagram above is my attempt to capture the gist of the great conversation which just sprang up in our group (click the picture to enlarge). What are your thoughts?

Extending God's Hospitality

Last night we ended our time together by talking about hospitality as a central practice of Christian faith. When we understand the gospel as the generosity, friendship and hospitality of God, then it's fairly straightfoward to recognize that sharing God's hospitality is one way we begin to live as God's people.

The question is, how can we do this? Big ways? Small ways? Obvious ways? More creative ways? Click on "Comments" below and post your ideas. How can we action this in Hollywood Church?

For help imagining this, you can spend some time in the following scriptures: Genesis 18, Deuteronomy 24:20-22; Matthew 25:31-46; and Hebrews 13:1-2.

Sermon on the Mount

This week we've been spending some time in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). For those of you in the group I hope this has been a rich experience for you. If you haven't spent much time in these chapters this week, you still have time before Thursday!

I'd like to invite you (anyone) to click "Comments" below and reflect on this question, after reading Matthew 5-7.

Matthew 4 ends by saying that "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people." Then Matthew records the Sermon on the Mount. What are you learning about "the gospel (or, good news) of the kingdom" from the Sermon on the Mount?

The Journey Starts Tonight

Tonight we begin our journey in a six part class called, Exploring Christian Faith. The first lesson is entitled A New Way to Be Human (which is a theme, here, it seems). You can download the first lesson by clicking the link at the left. You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it, but everyone has that now, right? I really hope you'll come out tonight, if you can. If not, download the lesson, work on it and post a comment here on the blog.

A huge part of this process is journeying together in community. You can't download that...sorry!

Exploring Christian Faith

This Thursday, March 9, we begin our 6-week class, Exploring Christian Faith. This class is specifically designed for anyone who is new to Christian faith or simply wanting to explore Christianity in a fresh way with new friends. All are invited. Our class will be held in the Youth Chapel of the Hollywood Church, this Thursday, from 7:30 - 9:00 pm. We will continue each Thursday until April 13. Some have expressed a desire to be baptized or join the church in some way a the conclusion of this class. If you would like to learn more about Hollywood Church and joining us in our mission, please email me and I'll get with your right away.

 

A New Journey

Welcome to a new weblog journey into the experience of faith in a postmodern world. This blog is primarily a meeting place for people on the journey of faith in the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church, but we welcome questions, comments and input from seeker and fellow travelers from around the world.