Awaken Community

The word “father” can be complicated. It can be discomforting. It can bring up bad memories. It can also be reassuring and warm. However you come to that today, there’s a place for you.

 

We had an original sketch written by Tiffany Cornwell, Directed by Joy Donley, starring Tiffany Cornwell and Mike Donley during the gatherings.

This second week of Advent, the week of Joy, we continue on in Isaiah 9 on the names of the Lord - Almighty God. The Lord's might is different than the typical might; the way of the Lord doesn't fight fire with fire, violence with violence. So what does the Lord's might look like?

For the first Sunday of advent, we continue our tradition of the Advent art series with Vanessa Lucius brining her painting and Brienna Rossiter, a poem.

This season, we'll be going through Isaiah 9:6 where it's prophesied the coming of Jesus and the names that he will be known as; Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

In addition to Jenna's prayer and reflection practice, we have Micah's teaching he would have taught on Sunday should he have been able to make it. He closes out the Faith & Doubt series with John the Baptist who asks "are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" 

 

Meditation music by: Signa (feat. John Mark Nelson)

We have a bit of a change of pace this week. Micah wasn’t able to make it Sunday morning so we did a prayer and reflection practice during the gathering. You can follow along with the prayer and reflection questions to participate.

Micah’s sermon will be posted separately.

What does the role of memory play in our faith journeys and in that of a community? Psalm 77 gives us a window into that journey and how we hold it all as a community.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus teaches by saying "You have heard it said...but I say unto you..." as a way to show there's more. There's a deeper, fuller view than you've seen so far. What if we carried this on as a community? What would that look like?

This morning, we continue our series on Faith & Doubt with the quintessential doubter of the scriptures - Doubting Thomas. But could "Doubting Thomas" actually be someone to look up to instead of an example of what not to do?

The stories of Nicodemus illustrate the ways in which a question or a doubt can be the opening of a path to a deeper spiritual life.

To start off our new series, Micah introduces Brian McLaren's framework for the stages of faith and how doubt is a much closer friend to faith than we might think.