With-God Life (Page 2)
The Gospel of John
Sunday, October 20 Traditions online worship service.
Join us this Sunday as we dive into the “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John. These are the moments where Jesus gives us glimpses of who He is—both in ways we can see and understand, and in ways that remain a bit of a mystery. We’ll talk about how Jesus meets our everyday needs while also being something so much more—tangible yet beyond our full understanding. Whether He’s the Bread of Life or the True Vine, there’s so much to discover. Come ready for a thoughtful and meaningful conversation!
John 1:1-18
John 6:35
John 8:12
John 10:7
John 10:11
John 11:25-26
John 14:6
John 15:1
The Gospel of Luke
Sunday, October 13 Traditions online worship service.
The Gospel of Luke is one of the most brilliant writings in all of the history of Christianity. Luke tells us that he had a chance to stand back from the extraordinary events that had been going on, to talk to the people involved, to read some earlier writings, and to make his own full version so that readers could know the truth about the things to do with Jesus. Luke was an educated and cultured man, the first real historian to write about Jesus. The gospel of Luke places Jesus not only at the heart of the Jewish world of the 1st century, but at the heart of the Roman world into which the story of Jesus exploded with the message of radical inclusion. Luke believed that Jesus is for everyone. So, Luke’s telling of the story of Jesus is for everyone too. Join us this Sunday in worship on October 13 to learn more from Luke!
Luke 1:1-4
Luke 15:11-32
Luke 4:40,42-44; 5:15-16; 6:12-13; 22:39-42,45-46
Luke 24:52-53
Mark’s Gospel
Sunday, September 29 Traditions online worship service.
While the gospel of Matthew eased us into the good news of Jesus Christ with a genealogical history lesson, Mark has no time for that. Mark’s narrative of Jesus is characterized by urgency. There is no time to waste on a birth narrative. Within the first fourteen verses, John the Baptist announces Jesus’ coming and baptizes him, and “immediately” Jesus is in the wilderness with the wild beasts. Why is Mark in such a hurry?
Consider reading the Gospel of Mark this week and joining us on Sunday, September 29 online or in-person to discover how the coming of Jesus and with him God’s reign into the world and into our lives is decisive and dramatic.
Mark 1:1-14
Mark 8:22-37
Mark 15:21-24,33-39
Mark 16:1-8
The Gospel of Matthew
Sunday, September 22 Traditions online worship service.
The Gospel of Matthew is probably the most familiar and most read of the 4 gospels narratives in the New Testament. While not the first gospel written, it is the first one we come across in our bibles. It contains many of the texts most familiar to Christians and non-Christians alike: the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, The Great Commission.
The writer of the Gospel of Matthew was a Jewish believer who compiled the stories of Jesus known to his community sometime after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in the year 70 AD, and sometime before 90 AD.
Reading the Gospel of Matthew through the lens of spiritual formation, we find a compelling portrait of Jesus as a wise Jewish teacher who reveals what it looks like to live a life of Immanuel—“God with Us” and the fulfillment of all that had come before.
Join us in worship this Sunday, September 22 in-person or online!
Matthew 1:1-17
Matthew 28:16-20
The People of God with Immanuel
Sunday, September 15 Traditions online worship service.
Matthew 1:23 ” . . . and they will name him Immanuel, which means God with Us”.
As we enter into our study of the New Testament through the lens of spiritual formation in this new section of the With-God Life, we are reminded that the whole point of spiritual formation is for us to become more Christ-like from the inside out. Jesus shows us the way!
Join us this Sunday, September 15, Rally Day, for an intro to the New Testament–it’s setting of the Roman Empire, the different genres of literature we will encounter, the relationship between disciple and rabbi at the time of Jesus and our continued invitation to the With-God life. Invite someone to come with you to church for a day of worship and fellowship with the Food Truck Rodeo!
Matthew 4:18-22
Colossians 3:1-17
Grace
Sunday, September 8 Traditions online worship service.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. – Ephesians 2:8.
This Sunday, as we prepare to reengage in the With-God Life series, we pause to consider the scandal of God’s grace. From creation to salvation and discipleship, the story of scripture and of our own lives is written in the love language of grace. Throughout our history, the people called Methodists have had a particular emphasis and understanding of this grace. What does grace mean to you? How have you experienced God’s grace in your life? We hope to see you at church or online this Sunday as we gather to praise God and give thanks for grace. See you in Church!
Ephesians 2:1-10
God’s Good World
Sunday, August 25 Traditions online worship service.
This Sunday our videographer Rev. Jay Helms steps in front of the camera to reflect on the creation story for the online service. When was your first experience with God’s love in creation?
Our Bishop, Rev. Connie Shelton will be preaching for us in person today at the 11 am service.
Genesis 2:4-17
John 1:1-13
Genesis 1:1-2:4
Overview of the With-God Life
Sunday, August 18 Traditions online worship service.
The Bible is a story. It’s a collection of books with a vast array of characters and events and individual, family and communal stories within one really big story. A story about human life ‘With God’. Human beings are so important to God that God’s divine purposes are worked out through the messiness and sprawl of human history. And given how confusing the bible can be sometimes, apparently it’s more important to God that human beings learn how to be God’s people with freedom than it is to get things done more efficiently.
This Sunday, August 18, we’ll recap what we’ve discovered so far in how we humans have responded to God’s initiative in relationship with God, with each other and in community.
We’ll pick up the With-God Life again on Rally Sunday on September 15!
Isaiah 43:18-21
The People of God in Restoration Part 4
Sunday, August 11 Traditions online worship service.
The words of the prophets can seem harsh to our modern ears, especially to a people who were literally rebuilding their lives after exile. But these short prophetic books that close out the Old Testament and the first year of our With-God Life series have much to say about the human condition and our continuing need for God. Join us in worship this Sunday as we listen for the hope and vision of a future where God will be with us in a new way. God makes all things new, including you and me. See you in church!
Malachi 4:2
Zechariah 8:9-17
Malachi 3:1-7
The People of God in Restoration Part 3
Sunday, August 4 Traditions online worship service.
This week we spend time with Esther, who lived in Persia, along with many Jews whose families had been taken captive in Judah a hundred years earlier. While many of the Jewish people returned to their homeland after the Edict of Cyrus, many others remained where they had built a new life, in a foreign land, in what is known as the Diaspora. Esther’s story comes from this setting. An orphan, Esther was raised by her cousin Mordecai until she won the favor of the king and became queen (Esther 2:17). Esther’s story seems like it’s full of chance and coincidence and leaves us asking the question: “Where is God in all of this?” Join us this week as we wrestle with this question together.
Esther 4:1-17; 9:20-23
The People of God in Restoration Part 2
Sunday, July 28 Traditions online worship service.
The story and ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah are intertwined and centered in the return of the exiled Israelites to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. When the people return to their homeland, they find it in ruins and the future of their community and heritage is threatened by enemy attacks from the outside and internal disagreements among the people about who’s in and who’s out, who should be in charge, to rebuild the temple or not. In order to re-establish their life together, Ezra the priest and scribe and Nehemiah the prophet and governor try to provide a way for the community to connect to their past and find unity and hope for the present.
Nehemiah 1:4-11
Ezra 1:1-11
Ezra 3:10-13
Joint Service with Temple Beth Or
Sunday, July 21 Traditions online worship service.
This Sunday, July 21 as we begin a new section of The With-God Life: The People of God in Restoration, part 1, we will share in worship with the Reform Jewish congregation of Temple Beth Or at 11am in the sanctuary at White Plains UMC. Zemer Lexie Nuell will be with us leading in music and message along with our Grace Notes choir.
Then on Friday, July 26th at 7pm we are all invited to join in worship at Temple Beth Or in Raleigh (5315 Creedmoor Rd) again with Pastor Kelly Lyn and Zemer Lexie and our Grace Notes Choir. A reception begins at 6:15pm and all are invited. Please bring your driver’s license for security purposes!
Psalm 133
Ecclesiastes 4:9-11
The People of God in Exile Part 2
Sunday, July 14 Traditions online worship service.
This week we meet the prophet Daniel who was exiled from his homeland at a young age and was placed in political service to the empires of Babylon and Persia. Perhaps more than any other Old Testament character, Daniel modeled life as a person committed to a life of worshiping God where he was, never wavering in his trust in God, while not succumbing to the pursuits of the world around him. Join us in worship this week as we learn about the spiritually formative practices that kept Daniel grounded in his life With-God.
Daniel 1:1-17
The People of God in Exile Part 1
Sunday, July 7 Traditions online worship service.
This week we consider the prophet Ezekiel, whose career began as a priest from Jerusalem who lived through the destruction of the city by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Ezekial and was taken and deported to Babylon with other exiles. In exile, the people wrestled with the theological problem of how to live after their city had fallen and the Temple, which represented the home of the presence of God, had been destroyed. Ezekiel helped the community in exile not give up on their life with God, even as they were tempted to adopt the ways of life of their Babylonian captors. In receiving Ezekiel’s message, we discover that there can be a future life with God after the world crashes in calamity and nothing familiar remains.
Ezekiel 2:1-3:3, 12-17
Ezekiel 37:1-14
The People of God in Rebellion Part 2
Sunday, June 30 Traditions online worship service.
This Sunday we continue the With God Life series looking at the people of God in rebellion and the prophets God calls to mediate God’s presence to the people even as they turn away and are disobedient. The words of Hosea, Amos, and Joel are sometimes harsh to our modern ears but if we are honest we are not that different than the people of God were in their time. We too place idols and material concerns on the throne of our hearts. And we blow like scattered tumbleweeds on the winds of culture instead of centering our lives on the love of God and of our neighbors. Today we wrestle with the question of what God will do with us – how will our disobedience be dealt with? The prophets make it clear that beyond the consequences of our rebellion there lies the ultimate purpose of God which is no less than the redemption of humankind and the restoration of that time when God will be fully with the people and we with God. Join us in worship this Sunday in person or online as we give praise and thanks to God for the redeeming grace poured out on us.
Hosea 11:1-11
Amos 9:9-15
The Prophet’s Call to Repentance
Sunday, June 23 Traditions online worship service.
This week in the With-God Life we begin to consider The People of God in Rebellion, part 1. Despite the people’s often extreme unfaithfulness, God never passes judgment or takes disciplinary action before warning them about the consequences of their actions. God always sends messengers, emissaries, or prophets to warn the people that their abandonment of the law, their worship of other gods, their neglect of the poor would bring disaster upon their heads. The prophets provide profound models for our spiritual formation because they worked in a context similar to our own. They followed God’s voice and provided guidance to God’s people at a time when the culture at large did not want to hear their message. We’ll look at the call of two of these prophets this week: Isaiah and Jeremiah and the message God gives them.
Isaiah 6
Jeremiah 1
The Godly Wisdom of Proverbs
Sunday, June 16 Traditions online worship service.
As we consider The People of God in Daily Life, we are guided by the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs/Solomon which are the books of the Bible known as Wisdom Literature. These scriptures focus on the practical choices we make in life and the consequences that flow from these choices. These writings teach us the enormous value of ordinary life and underscore for us that our with-God life develops first and foremost in the middle of everyday tasks and everyday relationships, in our families, in our work, and in our play. Join us this Sunday online or in person!
Proverbs 1:1-9, 3:1-35
Stepping Out on Your Word
Sunday, June 9 Traditions online worship service.
Jeremiah 6:16 “Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”
During June and July this summer we return to our With-God Life Series—as we work through an overview of biblical history from Genesis-Revelation through the lens of spiritual formation.
This Sunday, June 9th is a refresher, a recap and a reset of sorts as we remember that the characters that walk across the pages of our Bible experienced their life with-God as a journey, both literally and figuratively. Scripture records their lives in constant motion traveling from the Garden of Eden to Canaan to Egypt to the Promised Land to Babylon and back. During their travels God made God’s self known in various ways wherever they were and whatever their social situation. They reacted to God’s initiatives in many ways, sometimes rejoicing, at other times rebelling.
Pastor Kelly Lyn will share some of her own experience of the spiritual practice of pilgrimage in her recent travels while encouraging each of us to look at our life as a journey With-God . . . to keep showing up and putting one foot in front of the other as we make our way closer to the heart of God and in community.
Psalm 84
Jeremiah 6:16a
The People of God in Prayer & Worship – The Psalms of Ascent
Sunday, March 17 Traditions online worship service.
Over the centuries, the people of God wrote many songs to God, of which the 150 most enduring are gathered into what we know as the Book of Psalms. This week we will consider the category of psalms called “Songs of Ascents” (Psalm 120-134) that were mostly likely written for use by pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for the religious festivals like Passover or Pentecost. Join us in worship in-person or online as we consider these expressions of faith in our own journeys.
Psalms 121
Psalms 150
The People of God in Travail – Part 2 Psalms of Lament
Sunday, March 10 Traditions online worship service.
Last week we began a new section in our With-God Life Series—The People of God in Travail as we looked at the story of Job. This Sunday, March 10, we continue considering how The People of God in Travail respond in relationship with God through Psalms of Lament.
The Book of Psalms is an ancient collection of 150 songs and prayers from the Hebrew people. Of all of the types of psalms in the bible, psalms of lament are by far the most common. There are at least 65 psalms of lament which make up more than 40 percent of the book of psalms. These laments are a type of prayer for help that names pain, grief, sorrow or difficulty of some kind. Join us in worship as we learn from this spiritual practice of lament in the With-God Life.
Psalms 10
Psalms 22