Weekly messages, conversations, and Q and A's from North Charleston UMC in North Charleston, SC.
Is difference a problem to be solved or the starting point of a beautiful mosaic?
What does it actually mean to be in the world but not of the world?
Most of us will not be put in a situation where we had to choose about laying our life down for a friend...so what if the love Jesus is talking about is much more mundane and even difficult?
What we choose to abide in will determine how we change the world.
The first step to recognizing the voice of God is realizing we have to make the choice to listen.
If we fail to see the reality of our faith in the here and now, then we run the risk of believing this is all about getting a disembodied soul into heaven..
Hope is the only thing more powerful than fear.
Are we willing to follow who Jesus truly is or are we set to turn on him like the crowds because he doesn't fit the box we have created for him?
Maybe it really is time for a fresh start.
Look up and live...is it really that simple?
How we view God necessarily affects how we view our neighbors. So how do the 10 commandments teach us to view God?
When is a kid's song no longer a kid's? And what do we do with the rough parts of the Bible?
Radical reorientation. Radical inclusivity. Radical reminders. What if these are the tenets of the flood story...not an angry God who killed everything?
Sometimes we need to declutter our souls so that we can connect with the radical love of Jesus. It's hard to grab on to something else when our hands are full. Ash Wednesday and Lent are the moments we have to do just that.
"To listen is an effort. To only hear is of no merit. Even a duck hears..." If Igor Stravinsky said that about music, how much more true could it be about the Good News?
Don't miss a chance to hear this sermon from our resident Bishop in South Carolina, L. Jonathan Holston.
What if prayer is the struggle to believe a better world is possible? That change is possible? How then should we pray?
If we want to make a difference in the world, then let's have the courage to follow and show others how to do the same.
Can anything good come out of what's going on in the world right now...? I guess that depends on how we choose to spend our time.
After the events of this week, what is our role as the church to foster healing in this world? Where do we go from here and what do we do now?
Ring in the new year with this exceptional message from Rev. Elizabeth Murray.
The most famous plate in all of history and why it matters in the midst of a pandemic.
What if the point of this detail is to blur the lines between what we think is possible and impossible so that we carry and deliver the impossible possibility of grace and love to the world?
Every life has a story if we only bother to read it.
What if forgiveness is the most important decision we can ever make in our life?
Sometimes it's the simplest instructions that are the hardest to follow.
What do we do after a week like this? Get dressed. Put on some new clothes and work to make the world better one choice at a time.
I am sorry. I forgive you. Six words that have the power to change a relationship and, if we let them, the world.
The decision to follow Jesus might be an individual one, but it's never journey we have to take alone.
If the antidote to the anxiety in the world is seeking justice and heaven on earth, what if the antidote to the judgement and condemnation is self-examination?
What if there was more than enough for every person's need but not enough for every person's greed?
Practice doesn't make perfect. It makes a habit permanent. So what are we practicing for?
Is all of this just about whether we pass or fail the course of Christianity? Or could it be about something more?
Trust that you already are it. Then live it because the world needs it.
What if this was the most important call to action the church has ever heard?
We need to talk about foundation matters because our foundations matter.
The way forward may be difficult but to go backward would be disastrous. So would catastrophizing the present such that we being to romanticize the past.
There's a fundamental difference between occupying the same space and living life together.
What if continue to miss God speak to us in the ordinary because we're so fixated on finding God in the extraordinary?
Chubby bunny might be an entertaining game to play as a kid...but it's a terrible way to live in this wilderness.
What do we do when we're stuck between a past trying to track us down and an unknown, chaotic future?
Reminders are only as good as the actions they inspire.
There's no arguing that the world is a wilderness right now. What if there are lessons to be learned by embracing the journey instead of fast forwarding to the end?
Discovering the activist in all of us.
If the Bible knows nothing of solitary religion then why do we keep trying to do this thing called life on our own?
We have all the resources we need to change the world - our time, our money and our influence. The question is whether or not we're willing to sacrifice any of it for the benefit of another.
What if we're missing out on all the small acts that make a difference because we're waiting on the big moment?
Sometimes clothes are about more than clothes, and what we wear might just determine how we change the world.