Awaken Community

December 24_Advent as Resistance: Light

Pastor Micah delivers his last Christmas message to Awaken by taking a look at the theme of light throughout scripture. It's a promise in the midst of darkness, but what would it look like if we received light as the gift that it is and saw ourselves as a light worthy of sharing with others? Merry Christmas to you all!

December 21_Advent as Resistance: Love

Pastor Jenna discusses how love can be a response to fear and hate by looking at some of the complexities facing our city today. In the same breath, during this holiday season, how can we view love as action, choice, and a simple acknowledgment of God's presence in each of our lives.

December 14_Advent as Resistance: Joy

Pastor Micah continues the Advent as Resistance series by looking at the complexity of joy in a world that seems absent of it. 

December 7_Advent as Resistance: Peace

Pastor Micah traces the threads of two Hebrew words, shamar and shalom, as they appear throughout scripture. Their significance and connection can be found in the simple, yet deeply consequential question, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

November 30_Advent as Resistance: Hope

Pastor Micah discusses hope as resistance to empire by looking at the complexity, difficulty, and necessity of hope in a world that seems lost in brokenness and violence.

November 23_Song of Blessing: All Around and Deep Inside

Pastor Micah closes out the series on the song of blessing by looking at the ways God surrounds us and can be found within us at all times if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

November 16_Song of Blessing: Ears to Hear Their Loving Voice

Pastor Micah continues the Song of Blessing series by discussing the next stanza, May God give you ears to hear Their loving voice. He uses 1 Samuel 3:1-10 & Matthew 3:13-17 to unpack God's heart towards us and their desire speak to us alongside our desire to hear more intently.

November 9_Song of Blessing: Courage for Anything

Pastor Micah elaborates on the song of blessing series by discussing Joshua in the Bible. Joshua inherits an impossible task — leading people into the unknown. God’s command, “Be strong and courageous,” isn’t about muscle; it’s about trust. Courage doesn’t mean not feeling afraid. It means choosing love over fear again and again.

November 2_Song of Blessing: May God Give You Eyes to See

Awaken begins a new series looking at the lyrics and significance of the Song of Blessing that we sing over the kids each week. Pastor Jenna kicks off the series by looking at the first stanza, "May God give you eyes to see all that is good."  She points us to Genesis 13:10-18 when Abram and Lot look out over the land.

October 26_Theology of Place: Jonah and Nineveh

Pastor Micah discusses Jonah 1:1-17 and the idea that God’s love extends even to the places and people we’d rather exclude.