Newsong Fellowship

Like the people of Israel, sometimes we find ourselves in a desert and need to be reminded to be present in the moment that we’re in and that meeting God there is all that matters

Music - rhythm, melody, harmony, song - has been wired into the fabric of creation from the very beginning. The Hebrew tradition has understood this for centuries and the Scriptures have creatively and joyously reminded us. Join us in this series as we explore how to “see the sacred” as reminders of what is good, holy, beautiful and true in some of the greatest songs of all time

‘For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you…’ These were the words of the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. These few but profound words also give us an insight of what it means to be the Church - a passing down from generation to generation about the love and faithfulness of God. On this Epic Sunday, we also get to hear from Brittany Mead some of her story, which beautifully stands as a testament to the faith that says, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. | Interview with Brittany Mead

“In a society that prioritizes bottom lines, products, and consuming, it can easily become the lens through which we relate to everything. The Church, on the other hand, is meant to be entirely different. As “the Sacrament of Creation” the Church is to imitate the divine design of life - that true life is not found in getting, consuming, or accumulating, but in giving of one’s self.”

We all have different experiences, and we all bear different stories. We also house gifts that are not our own, given by the Holy Spirit for the building up of the Body, the Church. These “grace-gifts” are not just a gift to us but are also a gift through us. Each person is a necessary part of the Body, and when we come to the ecclesia in the fullness of who we are - with our unique experiences, skills, knowledge, and “grace-gifts” - we embody the very gift that strengthens and nourishes the Church through the ages.

One of the most striking and powerful images of the Church given in the New Testament is that it is the Body of Christ. Meant to communicate more than just organization, structure, or cooperation, it’s specifically Christ’s own Body. Using our own personal experiences, we are able to get into the very physical and visceral nature of this intentionally specific image and allow it to give new light to our understanding of what we’re talking about when we talk about “The Church.”

In this final parable, our pastoral team talks about one of the most well known parables drawing attention to how familiarity can often cause us to miss the obvious

In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables in response to the accusations of the religious leaders regarding how the fact that he enjoys being with and giving worth and value to the wrong kinds of people - "those" people. The parables are meant to make each of us wrestle with just how significantly different God feels and acts towards those who are "lost" - whether they recognize it or not. In the third parable, Jesus squarely frames the father as the tangible and prodigal display of love and grace that we so easily miss or ignore

Whether prayers of persistence, belonging or humility, Jesus teaches us to ‘pray always and to not lose heart’. The Kingdom of God that is revealed in Luke 18 through the Parable of the Persistent Widow and The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is real and reliable, and therefore, we can have faith: the confidence to act as though the goodness anticipated in hope is trustworthy, reliable and persistent.

Matthew 13 contains the first parables that Jesus taught and, in the trilogy of the sower and the soil, the wheat and the tares, the mustard seed and the yeast, he reveals the arc of the life of the kingdom and drives home the urgency of now.

In the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus strikes to the core of our human nature and the tendency to make judgements about who's in and who's out - to judge those who believe or behave differently convincing ourselves that they're the weeds and we're the wheat. Once again, Jesus flips the story and reveals just how dangerous and destructive that practice truly is.

In Luke 16 Jesus gives two related parables: The Parable of the Shrewd Manager and the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. Both of these stories revolve around money, but are ultimately getting at something deeper: where we place our trust. Jesus is comparing and contrasting two different attitudes towards money because he understands the pull it has, and he uses this to invite us to examine and orient our lives around what should be the sole object of our trust: God and God's Kingdom.

Jesus continues in Matthew 13 with the theme of seeds and sowing as the most repeated and significant metaphors for understanding the nature of the Kingdom. Once again, in the simplicity of a parable, Jesus reveals deep and critical truths that, for many, pull the rug out from under the common perceptions of who's "in" and who's "out".

Throughout all of history, our shared stories (Bible and current) ought to remind us of a God throughout the phases, mothering each of us - comforting us in our pain, embracing us in our doubt, celebrating with us in our triumphs and rejoicing with us in our joys. Our shared stories allow us to remember the humanity among us in our shared community, and as we share our stories, we are invited to hold the tension together in community.

Jesus creates a teachable moment at a red carpet event reminding us that even what is good can sometimes be an unwise distraction

In the gospel of Mark, Jesus' teaching around the central metaphor of the "seed" is, as good parables always are, much more profound and powerful than what it appears to be on the surface.

Jesus, the master teacher, changes his approach to how he communicates his message about the kingdom of God without warning and begins to teach in parables. What is it that causes the shift and what's the first point he drives home as he tells a story about soil and seeds? The answer is very revealing about the nature of the kingdom.

Pastor Dave begins the series laying some ground work that reconciles the difference between having faith IN Jesus and having the faith OF Jesus, why both are necessary and why it matters in regards to the nature of the Kingdom of God

Walk through the resurrection story in the gospels and you'll discover just how much the story is in the details and just how easy it is to miss what's right there in plain sight

The Teacher from Ecclesiastes closes his book with a poem - an artful description of his final thoughts as he looks back over his life and observations around "vapor management" in his old age. In these final words, there is an urgency in his conclusion that we dare not miss