Belleview Community Chapel

PRACTICE 7 of 7 – The point of all the spiritual disciplines is more life. Easter invites us to participate in the eternal life of the new creation in the middle of old creation.

PRACTICE 6 of 7 – Prayer is fascinating, frustrating subject. Fascinating because it seems hardwired into us. Frustrating because we all struggle with it. The most important, most comforting insight into prayer can be summarized in two words: “Jesus prays.” When we begin to waking up to this reality, a space is created where we too can learn to pray.

Study as Finding the Story

Silence as Loosened Grip

PRACTICE 3 of 7 – Most Christians can look backward to a time in our lives when we first confessed our sin to God. But the spiritual practice of confession invites us to see confession like breathing. Our first breath in a delivery was vital, but our “most important breath” is our next breath. In the same way, confession invites us to live in honesty, vulnerability, and confessionally. Our most important confession is our next one.

PRACTICE 2 of 7 – Is there a shared essential ingredient that makes practices spiritual? If a story in Luke 5 is any indicator, even the normal practice of fishing can be a spiritual practice. The essential ingredient that transforms normal practices into spiritual practices is intentionality. When our “why” becomes different, we open ourselves up to the Spirit growing life, love, and healing within us.

PRACTICE 1 of 7 – Lent is a time of a year known for people engaging in the practice of “giving up” certain things. And that raises a few worthwhile questions: Are there other practices that Christians can engage in? What are the Spiritual Disciplines? What do they do? How do they work? The earliest Christians recognized that we are incapable of transforming our own lives; we need the Spirit of God to grow his good and beautiful life within us. But there is something we CAN do: we can get the soil ready.

SPOTLIGHT JESUS 7 of 7

SPOTLIGHT JESUS 6 of 7 – The middle of John tells us the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This story assures us that though God may be waiting, he can and does and will transform tragedy. And the truly human life involves being emotionally honest about tragedy as we wait for God.

SPOTLIGHT JESUS 5 of 8 – During the midst of the chaos, confusion, and darkness of his arrest, we find Jesus healing someone. And in this moment, we see truest God and truest humanity. God reveals that God loves his enemies. That’s the gospel. We’ll never earn what we want from God; God just gives gifts because of his goodness not ours. And Jesus reveals that true humanity means wanting healing for everyone… our enemies included.

SPOTLIGHT JESUS 4 of 8 – In Matthew 8, Jesus says that he doesn’t have a place to rest his head. In this statement, Jesus is practicing what he preached about in the Sermon on the Mount. He reveals that the truly human life means trusting that God is good and God provides. And he also Jesus reveals a God absolutely dedicated to our well-being. God is willing to go without to give us everything. The call to follow pillow-less Jesus is a call to find better treasure and deeper rest.

SPOTLIGHT JESUS 3 of 8 – Luke 7 tells the story of Jesus’s day being interrupted by a funeral. Instead of dodging others in their suffering, Jesus enters into that suffering. In Jesus we see a God who makes himself worse to make us better. That’s the gospel. And in Jesus we see that true human life looks like entering into the pain of others and helping as we can. That’s the invitation.

EPIPHANY 2 of 8 – After doing some really good things in Capernaum, people try to persuade Jesus not to leave their village. Jesus disappoints them. Jesus is committed to something deeper and better than the demands put on him. He can say “no” to Capernaum because he’s already said “yes” to something else. And this moment tells us something about what true human life is like… and what God is like.

EPIPHANY 1 of 8 – Jesus illuminates the world for us, giving us definitions for two words: “God” and “human.” Jesus is what it means to be God. Before Jesus we couldn’t say with 100% certainty what God is like, but now we can. God joins us. We’re loved as we are, right now, already and always. It’s the best news. And there’s a second surprise: Jesus is what it means to be human. This is the biggest invitation… to reflect the image of Love with Jesus. We’re loved where we are, AND we’re invited somewhere new.

Revelation 16 of 16 – The end of Revelation feels like dream dissolving, but the voice of Jesus echoes clearly as vision fades. Jesus promises repeatedly: “Behold, I am coming soon.” Perhaps our preoccupation with WHEN Jesus will return distracts us from HOW ELSE Jesus comes to us today. Until his Second Coming, the living Jesus literally, actually comes to us in countless ways. We’re invited to live lives that are awake to the jolly thief who constantly steals into our lives with his grace and peace.

REVELATION 15 of 16 – The book of Revelation feels a bit like our lives. It’s sometimes a struggle… sometimes long, sometimes painful. But—like all painful but worthwhile endeavors—at the end we say, “It was all worth it.” That’s where Revelation takes its readers and where its vision promises God will take human history… to “a new heavens and new earth.” To the cosmos crucified and resurrected. We can rest in confidence that God will not forget us in the rubble of the present, and God will never stop giving in the future.

Few chapters hold the controversy of Revelation 20. In 15 verses we find Satan sealed in the Abyss, the millennium reign of Jesus, the armies of evil consumed by fire, a Great White Throne, and a “Second Death” for the devil, anyone not found in the Book of Life, and even Death itself. Speculations abound. Theories multiply. Saints disagree. Churches divide. We can know more about “The Who” than “The How.” But it’s safe to say Jesus invites us to live as citizens of “the city” he loves… a city Jesus will save by fire.

REVELATION 13 of 16 – At its heart, Revelation tells a simple story: the story of God saving the world. It’s got art, action, suspense, and silliness, but—at its heart—Revelation is a romance. Jesus is coming to rescue his bride, to fill our deepest hungers, to bring a wedding feast. This good news challenges us to accept no substitutes: to recognize beasts, harlots, and false ways of being human. We’re called to avoiding the life of a counterfeit bride because the Groom of grooms is coming for us.

REVELATION 12 of 16 – In a final cycle of seven, we see angels pouring out great bowls of God’s love that destroys evil. That’s always what the Bible is pointing toward with the language of God’s “wrath.” There is a day coming when God is going to totally and completely uproot evil (all that is not love). There is a day coming when God is going to free his good creation from all that enslaves it. If we want to think of it as a kind of “Ultimate Exodus”—where Egypt is overthrown to set slaves free—then Revelation 15-16 would agree with us.

REVELATION 11 of 16 – For three chapters John has been reflecting on how God uses the church to save the world. In chapter 14 this animation begins merging with his main story as John prepares for the great climax of Revelation like an orchestra preparing for a grand symphony. Despite being conquered and crushed, the people of God will be victorious. They will find rest. Jesus will transform even his people’s struggle and suffering into a wine that vanquishes evil and heals the world.