Emmaus Church SC

One whiff of something—a grill, the rain, cheap cologne—and boom, you're back. A memory. A feeling. A moment you thought you forgot.-This Sunday we're talking about a beach, a charcoal fire, and a conversation that changed everything. -It's a story about guilt. About grace. About how to write a better ending. And maybe it's a story you need to hear right now.

This Sunday might be Palm Sunday on the calendar, but we will be walking through the events of Friday during Jesus' final week. We call it Good Friday, but what's so good about it?

We have been walking through the last week of Jesus' life, one day at a time, during the season of Lent. This Sunday the drama gets cranked up to a 10 as we unpack Jesus' final meal with his disciples, Judas' betrayal, and what it all has to do with us. These next two Sundays will really prepare us to celebrate Easter for all that it means.

We are spending our Sunday mornings walking through the last week of Jesus life one day at a time. This week we will taking a closer look at Wednesday. There isn't much real estate given to Wednesday in the Gospels, but that doesn't mean it doesn't haven't something to say to us. Once we crawl inside of it, one of the things we will discover is an invitation to see the beauty in what others may call a big fat waste of time.

There are certain Bible passages that preachers love to avoid-you know, the ones that make people squirm, scratch their heads, or start Googling conspiracy theories. This Sunday we're tackling one of them. On Tuesday of Jesus' last week, he gives what is known as The Olivet Discource. It is also sometimes referred to as the little apocalypse.

Ever notice how a great ending can change the whole story? This Sunday, we are continuing our study of Jesus' last week and diving into a moment when tables were flipped and expectations were turned upside down. Curious? Come join us for a worship service where a provocative story invites us to see our own lives with fresh eyes.

This Sunday, we're kicking off a six-week journey through the most important week in history—the final week of Jesus' life. The Gospels move quickly through most of Jesus' story, but when it comes to this last week, everything slows down. Why? Because it matters.

This Sunday, Pastor Nick is in the hot seat, answering the questions you sent in this week. It is sure to be an honest, open-handed conversation about faith, doubt, and everything in between.-Jesus answered about 8 questions in the Gospels but asked 307. So maybe faith isn't about having all the right answers, but being willing to ask the questions.

We are convinced that the church is called to be a good neighbor to people who call their community home. This Sunday we are going to talk a bit about what that means in practice and spotlight some really incredible work that is being done in the Midlands.

Sometimes the hardest part isn't starting—it's staying.Staying when it's slow.Staying when it's hard.Staying when nothing seems to be changing.But what if freedom—real, lasting freedom—comes through showing up, day after day, and letting God do the deep work in us?This Sunday, we're talking about staying the course—for the long haul.

send us your questions!emmauschurchsc.com/questions

Struggling to break free from the habits that hold you back? This Sunday, we're diving into what real freedom looks like—not just willpower or quick fixes, but deep, soul-level freedom. We'll explore how prayer connects us to the power we need to let go of what's weighing us down and step into the life God has for us.

emmauschurchsc.com/questions

What if the thing holding you back isn't what's happening now—but what happened then?We all have wounds—some so old we barely remember how they got there. But they still shape us, still drive our fears, still keep us stuck.-This Sunday, we're talking about healing—the kind that doesn't come from trying harder but from digging deeper.

emmauschurchsc.com/questions

We are spending our time on Sundays learning from the scriptures and leaning into the wisdom of the 12 steps in order to deal with our unhealthy attachments. This week we will work to try and understand why we do some of the things we do and what we are hoping these attachments will do for us. If you're feeling stuck, weighed down, or like life isn't quite clicking.

This Sunday we will start a brand new series called A Life We Can Live. We all have unhealthy attachments. Habits and hang ups that we can't seem to let go of. When these attachments go unchecked they have a way of making our life unmanageable, as they say in the recovery community. In this series we will learn from Jesus, and leverage the wisdom of the 12 steps to get freedom from our addictions and step into a life we can actually live.

send us your questions! emmauschurchsc.com/questions

This Sunday we are going to crawl inside of one of the most dramatic scenes in the gospels. Somehow Jesus' doodles in the dirt inspire an angry religious mob to drop their rocks. Not only will we unpack this juicy encounter but we will also consider what it has to say about the relationship between Jesus, the Bible, and the church. This one's going to be spicy. Be sure to join us,

The new year always excites us with the possibility of a fresh start and a new beginning. As we move into 2025, it's important for us to recognize that much of what has the potential to trip us up isn't ahead of us, but it is behind us. We hope you can join us this Sunday for a timely message on the power of forgiveness.

Send us questions by going to www.emmauschurchsc.com/questions

This week we are getting into the theme of peace. We find talk of peace all over the first Christmas story. It's in the messages of the prophets, it's on the lips of the old priest, and it's even sung about by a choir of angels. We all want peace, but what exactly is peace? This is important for us to get right because what we believe about peace will determine how we pursue it and as usual, God's idea of peace is way better than ours.

**Disclaimer** lots of Santa discussion, heads-up parents! Send us questions by going to www.emmauschurchsc.com/questions

This Sunday marks the beginning of the Advent season. For centuries, followers of Jesus have been using the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas to reorient themselves to the bigger story we are apart of and to remember that this story has a happy ending. We are going to have an old fashion sort of Advent and spend these weeks reflecting on the four traditional themes of the season-hope, joy, peace, and love. First up is hope.

We are probably all over the place when it comes to how we think/feel about the church. It can be the best of us and the worst of us at the same time. As messy and dysfunctional as it is and has been…the church can still be such a good and beautiful thing. This Sunday's message is called, ISN'T SHE LOVELY and it will be an honest and hopeful celebration of this strange cultural phenomenon that we call the church.

This Sunday we get to participate in both sacraments-baptism and communion! Sacraments offer us an opportunity to experience the grace of God in a unique and powerful way. They take the truth of the Gospel and make it very real.

visit emmauschurchsc.com/questions and let us know what you're thinking!

This Sunday we will look at our 3 Common Practice. It's what we call Wide-Eyed Participation. The world has plenty of spectators and too many critics. What it needs more of are people who are willing to offer more than their opinion; people who are willing to jump in and participate in what God is up to in the world. We would love for you to join us as we unpack more of what it looks like to be a community who is committed to this practice, together.

Send us your questions! emmauschurchsc.com/questions

This Sunday we will get into our second Common Practice. It's something we call Wholehearted Living. It's all about learning to live more honestly with God, ourselves, and one another. If that sounds terrifying, and yet a bit compelling, be sure to join us.

Ask us your questions! emmauschurchsc.com/questions

A fair question to ask a relatively new church is, "Why does there need to be another one?" There are currently less than 200 Starbucks in the state of South Carolina. There are more than 1,200 churches in the greater Columbia area alone. So yeah, why did we think there needed to be another one? Over the next several weeks we are going to walk through our answer to that question as we unpack the vision of Emmaus Church. Whether you're new to church, a big fan of church, or not so sure anymore, you're invited to jump in as we find our way together.

Our first service in our new space!

This Sunday will be our final time of worship in The River Center before we move into our new home. We will spend some time looking back on God's faithfulness, recognizing where we are, and considering what is ahead.

This Sunday we continue our crash course on how to keep our head and guard our hearts when things get nasty with a teaching on healthy boundaries. Often the people who pull us into the fray are people we can't simply get away from. A family member who loves to start a fight at every get together, a co-worker who likes to push our buttons, or a longtime friend who has drifted toward the fringes over the last couple of years. Join us this Sunday as we dive into all of this and more.

We are spending our time on Sunday mornings learning how to keep our head and guard our heart when things get nasty. Often we are tempted to not talk about the divisive issues, but the reason some of these topics are so divisive is because they are really important. The best way forward for the church isn't to avoid these conversations, but to actually model what it looks like to talk about these issues in a more meaningful way.

This Sunday we are starting a new series called Above the Fray. The title is an idiom (saying) that means to not directly involve yourself in an angry squabble or conflict. The hope of this series is to help us get better at keeping our head and guarding our heart when things get nasty. Its seems that one of the areas where things can get nasty real quick is in the area of politics. This Sunday we will kick things off with a reminder of what we have been invited into as followers of Jesus, who we have pledged our allegiance to, and the sort of presence that ought to lead us to have in the world.

In life, disappointment is inevitable. We don't get to choose what unexpected challenges or frustrations come our way. The only choice we will always have available to us is how we respond to what comes our way. We would love for you to join us this Sunday for an inspiring message about how to handle the difficult people and circumstances that we run into from time to time.

Saying yes to God's call on our life is an invitation to, well…care. To not just sit back and be a bystander, but to actually give a “you know what” about the world around us and the people in it. The thing about caring is that it can be really exhausting. In the face of all the bad news it can be challenging to not just throw in the towel and give up. We will wrap up our time in this series with a practical message about how to not grow weary.

Have questions? Go to emmauschurchsc.com/questions

It's pretty easy to recognize our desire to live into God's call on our life. The hard part is discerning what that call is. This week we will get really practical and identify some important questions to ask along the way that can help point us in the direction of our God-given vocation.

If you'd like to leave a comment or questions go to emmauschurchsc.com/questions

This Sunday we are kicking off a series called Vocation. Vocation isn't necessarily about paying the bills. It may involve a paycheck and it may not. Vocation comes from the Latin word for voice and it refers to more of a calling. It's that impulse we have toward purpose and the desire we have for our lives to matter. Now, if it just wasn't so hard to figure out. For the next several weeks we are going to be talking it through in the hopes that we can live into our vocation and find our place in God's good world.

Are you in the mood to hear some good news? Remember that? Good news? If there ever were a couple of weeks to convince us that it's a good idea to take regular breaks from social media-the last couple should do it. Well, one of the things this Sunday will be is an opportunity to hear some good news. We will get to hear from some of the organizations we will be serving with on Do Good Day later this month. These folks are doing some incredible work in the midlands and we can't wait for you to hear about it.

This Sunday we are wrapping up our time in the parables of Jesus with the one that is known as "The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant." Not only does it have a challenging word to us about forgiveness, but it also serves as a case study for one of the most common ways we misread Jesus' parables.

This Sunday we will get into the parable of the lost sheep. This parable is pretty well-known, but as usual there is more going on with it than we recognize at first. At the heart of it is the good news that being lost doesn't disqualify us from the love of God.

This Sunday we will unpack Jesus' most scandalous parable-the parable of the workers in the vineyard. This story is guaranteed to irritate us, challenge our conception of fair, and lead us to the heart of what makes the way of Jesus so liberating. Be sure to join us!