10 minute read
For every liturgical season in the church calendar, we focus on one particular “Big Idea” that helps us embody the Story of what God is already doing in our neighborhood. If we think of the Big Idea as a river, then here’s how Spring Church is entering into the incredible reality that: “God is at work and at play in the everyday joys and frustrations of ordinary life.”
Read More8 minute read
Let me ask you a personal question: Is your mother-in-law a bitter person? (Feel free to substitute “mother-in-law” with mother, father, spouse, child, sister, brother, or anyone else who is a part of your family.)
Read More7 minute read
I used to seek exciting revelations from God as often as I could, until I realized that Christian faith is a walk full of reminders…
Read More(2 minute read)
Last week somebody mentioned Juneteenth, and I realized that I don’t have a clue what Juneteenth is about. I’ve grown up hearing about it, it’s on my electronic calendar, and it’s always been around me. Yet, all I knew was, “It’s a holiday for African-Americans.”
Read More3 minute read (plus videos)
Old Testament prophets consistently talk about how pandemics, pestilences, and plagues make visible sins that are easily hidden, and the sin of racism in America has certainly been visible in the last few weeks.
Read MoreResource Library - Blog itself <5 min read
This week I’d like to listen to the African-American voice right now. Several of the folks at Spring Church contributed their favorite articles, videos and podcasts to this blog post.
Read More7 minute read
Pentecost has often been a peculiar day for me. I love the story of how the third member of the Trinity is sent: I love the fire, and wind, and the Church preaching in a miraculous foreign language. I love reading the book of Acts like a script for a movie, and I love how this story reminds us every year about how the Holy Spirit is still with the Church today.
Read MoreFew things illustrate an integrated life like youth soccer, and I love how youth soccer illustrates how much I have to learn from the youth.
Read MoreIain’s observation, which helped me walk away from an unhealthy separation of my Great Commission life from my Normal Life, was that mentoring is something that happens best within the context of friendship. And we embodied mentorship and friendship in a way that became more clear to me. We had both, at the same time.
Read MoreI loved all the conversations and prayers and moments of realizing that Denise was right: discipleship begins in the home. But discerning what to do next is another matter entirely.
Read MoreWhat if the Great Commission included all these dirty diapers? What if the Great Commission is about this family, and this giant pile of laundry, and our neighbors, and the people at work, and our small group, and church? Why do we have to stop our Normal Life, go do some amazing Great Commission Thing somewhere far away, and then come back to our Normal Life?
Read MoreOur pursuit of food has shaped the evolution of our sensory apparatus—the very tools through which we, as a species, perceive the world. The choices we make every day about food selection, preparation, and consumption lie at the foundation of our identities and relationships and affinities. As the Italian historian Massimo Montanari succinctly put it, food is culture.
Read MoreThe season of Lent is an annual reminder of all the things Jesus doesn’t do, and I need it every year, because every year I lose sight of how Jesus doesn’t conquer my problems, or me, or the things I think are my enemy.
Read MoreToday we’re going to compare news headlines from The New York Times and Fox News, because today is Love One Another Thursday.
You might be more familiar with the Latin name for today: Maundy Thursday. Back when the Church used Latin all the time, “Maundy” was the shorthand title for “Maundatus Novum,” which is Latin for “New Commandment.” What is the “new commandment” to which this Thursday points?
Read MoreToday is Palm Sunday, the day when we remember how God’s people were so focused on what they WANTED God to do for them, that it kept them from seeing what God was ACTUALLY DOING with them.
Read MoreI wrote these prayers for my diverse group of friends, scattered around the globe, to help us all remember that we are not alone, and to help us walk through this season together and with Jesus who loves us and keeps us. Also, candidly, writing these prayers also helps me reflect on the joys and the struggles of the last two weeks, to help me remain connected to the incredible emotional rollercoaster of this pandemic.
Read More“Would anyone come to a 6:15 am Bible study?” was the question we asked ourselves in September. 7 months later….
Read MoreBefore we go any further down this road of change, of uncertainty, of worry and turmoil, let’s pause and reflect on our very recent past.
Read MoreAmericans, on the whole, don’t know how to lament together very well.
In fact, odds are good that, as you read that last sentence, you thought, “Lament. That’s a weird word. I wonder what Matt means by ‘lament’.” Well, thank you for asking. I mean the actual basic definition: To mourn aloud. Americans don’t often mourn aloud together, particularly in ways that are helpful to the aloud mourners and their friends.
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