What are we proclaiming when we say, “Christ is risen?” What is the nature of the Christian hope? And how does the news of Jesus’ resurrection change the way we live here and now?


“With Easter, God’s new creation is launched upon a surprised world, pointing ahead to the renewal, the redemption, the rebirth of the entire creation.... every act of love, every deed done in Christ and by the Spirit, every work of true creativity — doing justice, making peace, healing families, resisting temptation, seeking and winning true freedom — is an earthly event in a long history of things that implement Jesus’s own resurrection and anticipate the final new creation and act as signposts of hope.” — N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope


“The resurrection of Jesus is a sign of God’s purpose and power to restore his creation to its full stature and integrity… In the aftermath of Gethsemane, we catch a scent of Eden… The resurrection is like the first day of a new creation.” — Alister McGrath

  • "Longing For Renewal"

    April 11, 2021


    Mark 16:1-8


    In the original manuscripts, the Gospel of Mark ends abruptly. For the women at the tomb, there are a lot of unanswered questions. There is a need for further understanding, more encounters with the risen Jesus, more living it out in community to discover the goodness of the resurrection. We start a series on the implications of the resurrection of Jesus by paying attention to our desires and longings, what the Holy Spirit is stirring in us. Where do you need Christ to meet you and bring renewal? Where do you long to see renewal in our world? How are we longing for the resurrection life of Christ? 


  • "Raised On The Third Day"

    April 18, 2021


    1 Corinthians 15:1-11


    The entire Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. “According to the Scriptures.” God’s plan has been fulfilled in Christ. Christ has been physically, bodily raised from the dead. Many attest to this fact; many served as witnesses to this historical reality. And the world has been turned upside down by this declaration: Christ is risen. 


  • "We Shall Rise"

    April 25, 2021


    1 Corinthians 15:12-26


    What is the Christian hope? The hope we have points to a future not filled with souls floating through some ethereal, disembodied existence. Because Christ walked out of the grave, we too shall rise. As we confess in the Nicene Creed, “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” 


  • "Not In Vain"

    May 2, 2021


    1 Corinthians 15:54-58


    What we do with our lives matters. We can participate in God’s work of renewal here and now. As scholar N.T. Wright says: “What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God's future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether... They are part of what we may call building for God's kingdom.”


    Today Guest Speaker Hanna Halteman continues our series "Made New" looking at our hope for eternity from 1 Corinthians 15:54-58 and the story and testimony of Coach Yow.

  • "Messengers"

    May 9, 2021


    Luke 24:44-49


    Jesus tells the disciples, “You are witnesses.”  Because Christ is risen, we have been sent as his messengers.  And what message do we bear?  “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  Forgiveness is available now because of Jesus’ resurrection.  But we cannot bear this message in our own strength.  We need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us.

  • "That You May Know"

    May 16, 2021


    Ephesians 1:9-11, 15-21


    Where are we headed? What is the end goal (“telos”) of all of human history? “He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” To make heaven and earth one. May the prayer we find in Ephesians 1 be our prayer. Wisdom, Revelation, Hope, Power. Let us pray this together.