The letter to the Ephesians asks the newly forming (and re-forming) church to “grow up” into the full maturity of Christ. How is this different from all of the ways we used to be told to grow up as young people? From the wary ways we view age in our culture? And… how do we ... Read more

From Foreside Community Church

“When I Grow Up”

Scripture: Psalm 130 The psalmist shares words of lament and complaint, but they are a “traveling song.” Our ancestors, and we, can often use language of “waiting for God” to respond in times of deep need… but might we instead be invited onto the “pathway” of healing and wholeness? The update from Little Children of ... Read more

Soul Waiting – Pilgrimage

Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 What do we look for when we are looking for leaders? The prophet Samuel goes looking for a king, but almost misses the youngest son and shepherd, David. Do we miss seeing the leadership gifts of young people? Of people who are already out “in the field” doing the work of ... Read more

Leaders: How to See

Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:4-20 The people of Israel petition the prophet Samuel for a king to lead them. They—and we—are invited to think about leadership as God would offer it to us compared to the ways of rulers and monarchs. Can we rest in the security of God’s care? Can we commit ourselves to the ... Read more

Leaders: A Problem of Kings

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8 The prophet Isaiah receives a vision at a time of unrest and uncertainty, but wonders if he is able to speak of it to the world. On Trinity Sunday, we are invited to be held in community that recognizes where we are challenged, and where we fail, and still calls us to ... Read more

Remembering to Speak

Scripture: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 On Pentecost, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church. Jesus tells us some about how the Spirit will strengthen us… it is a living together in relationship that shelters and calls out gifts, rather than shadowing and diminishing them. It’s in this pattern of mutual flourishing and ... Read more

The Advocate: Shelter

Scripture: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 The early church works to select a new leader from their midst, and settles on a strange process! In the saints who are selected (or not) for this new ministry, we might find gifts of the Spirit which continue to call us into ministries and vocations of our own.

The Science of Selecting Disciples

Scripture: Acts 8:26-39 The Rev. Kelli Whitman leads us in worship as we hear of the Apostle Phillip and an Ethiopian official meeting on the road, and finding in one another an invitation to a widening of imagination—and of God’s welcome and work.

What is to Prevent Us?

Scripture: Luke 24:13-35 As two disciples walk along the road, they struggle to see Jesus as he walks with them. As they stop for a meal, they are amazed to recognize him, finally, and know more fully the resurrection. So we wonder as well: by what signs will we be recognized in the ways of ... Read more

New Life Over Dinner

Scripture: John 21:1-14 In the early days after the resurrection, the disciples often find themselves drawn to familiar places and patterns. The risen Christ (and Good Shepherd) appears to herd them gently into new life and ministry. In a time of disruption ourselves, what patterns might we tempted to return to for “safety,” and how ... Read more

Shepherd by the Sea

Scripture: Acts 4:32-35 As we welcome young people into full membership in the church through Confirmation, we visit with the early church exploring the costs—and deep joys—of weaving our lives together more fully in the church.

All Things in Common

Scripture: Mark 8:31-38 Alongside with the disciples, we wrestle with Jesus’s teaching to take up our cross. How can a symbol of suffering be transformed by a beloved community that refuses to leave each other alone in that suffering?

Profits and Forfeits

Scripture: Genesis 9:8-17 With Noah, we find God’s covenant with creation after the flood calls us to a new understanding of God’s work in creation. We receive assurance that when the “floods” of life come again… that God is not in the flood, but in the rainbow hope that they will subside, and life will ... Read more

On Future Floods

Scripture: 2 Kings 2:1-12 As the prophet Elijah departs, he and his apprentice, Elisha, must face up to the sorrow of their parting. Can we face our own fragility and mortality, that we can pass our power and our wisdom on to others?

Called to Pass On

Scripture: Mark 1:29-39 Jesus offers an “in home” healing, which in a time when so many feel isolated—either in illness, or in the time of precautions against illness—may remind us how to offer presence and “life one another up.”

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From Foreside Community Church

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