Westside Church

When Cleopas and his friend leave Jerusalem, they leave behind their hope that Jesus was the chosen one. Their mysterious walking companion patiently meets them on their turf: walking them through the law and the prophets and, in the process, reignites their hope. Their story gives us hope that skeptics can still encounter Christ and be re-enchanted by the mystery, even on the way out of faith.

What sounded like nonsense was news too good to be ignored: The crucified Jesus was alive!

On His way to Jerusalem, Jesus boldly overturns convention to express the mercy and welcome of the Father to broken, hurting people.

When the Samaritans reject Jesus, the disciples ask permission to call down fire on them. Jesus rebukes them, and then tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. Like the disciples, our bias towards violence is broken by a God of mercy.

Living out of a cruciformity to the cross of Christ challenges America's individualism and judgementalism toward others. It informs how we live in community, our commitment to the weak and marginalized, and our response to enemies.

The power of the cross flies in the face of the powers and principalities in the heavens and in the earth (explore the Pax Romana and present systems of power). It is a power denoted by weakness and by suffering and has the power to change the world for the good.

As carriers of the death and life of Christ, we are conformed and transformed into the image of Christ. Our identification with and participation in the cross of Christ informs every aspect of our lives and our relationships.

The pilgrimage that takes place during these songs of ascents is both an invitation and a command of and to the people. This is also true for blessing – we are invited to bless the lord and commanded to bless the lord. Our feelings about the need for perfect honesty or authenticity don't change that. Bless the lord. Lift your arms and eyes.

Worship is not coerced from anyone. True worship is always voluntary. Our worship is somewhat akin to what we do when we have free time, or what we spend money on when we have extra. Worship happens when we want it to. Why do we do this? What does it do for us?

Repentance is the decision to admit that you're wrong. That you're wrong about your ability to be your own God and make it on your own. And it is deciding that God, through Jesus Christ, is telling you the truth. How do we make this turn to create a new life path?

Countless have been to church and many claim Jesus as savior, but it's difficult to seek discipleship. We must allow ourselves to be formed to the way of Jesus by our practices and community.

There is no limit to the presence of God and in his presence we find joy. Joy exists outside of circumstance and because of the eternalness of Jesus -- him being ever-lasting, never-failing -- our joy exists eternally as well. Jesus' promises are consistent and steady us in a chaotic world.

Jesus sees us and listens to us. This seems like a simple thing, but in a world where loneliness runs rampant, being seen and known can be the first step to living a life of hope, peace, love and joy. Accepting the love of Jesus changes everything. It gives us a new perspective on ourselves and our fellow humans. When we accept the love of our Wonderful Counselor is makes space for working toward and caring about others and that leads to living in peace and working towards the flourishing of all creation.

It's tempting to think of "peace" as an exercise in quiet. Bad guys and good guys alike have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of this still, silent landscape of being. This begs the question, "What is the Prince of Peace actually after?" The answer is wholeness. A reconciling of all creation to himself.

The people of God were waiting for deliverance through a Mighty God, a heroic God that would come with swords blazing. Instead he shows up in the smallness of a baby. How do we reconcile what we think a Mighty God should be with how he actually displays his mightiness and brings hope to the world.

Those who truly experience grace will also experience a transformation in the way they view others. If grace is the distinctive of the Christian faith, it ought to be extravagantly offered in our communities.

The idea of grace is so powerful and compelling that it can seem dangerous. What if we throw it around too easily? What if we give people a license to sin? How do we make sure grace is “balanced” by truth? But grace is always lopsided, it's always scandalous or it isn't grace. Grace meets us and embraces us long before we “deserve” it. The life of Paul shows us a living color demonstration of the scandalous grace of Jesus. “Knocked flat on the ground on the way to Damascus, Paul never recovered from the impact of grace: the word appears no later than the second sentence in any of his letters."  (Phillip Yancey).

In the face of injustice, a price must be paid. We all have a label we deserve to wear for the rest of eternity. There is a price for our sins and our wrongs and it's way too rich for our blood. But God…paid the price himself to set us free. This is grace.

We've long loved the metaphor of being an "Army for the Lord." It can be confusing. Especially today. Jesus offers a beautiful metaphor in the form of shelter from the storm. Jesus teaches us from the ethos of the Beatitudes and the pathos of the cruiciform that which gives Christianity it's distinctive beauty. This is the beauty we must embrace.

Jesus is tempted in the desert with safety, influence and political power; or, the most common desires of the world. Over the last generation or so, the evangelical church has been more adept at endorsing these dominant desires and is in need of recovering its true form and beauty.

Beauty, mystery and wonder. All three of them go together. We wonder at things that are beautiful and mysterious. Children most often find themselves in a state of wonder because everything is a new journey into beauty and mystery. The greatest wonder of all is the Incarnation. Gazing on the Word made flesh keeps the gospel beautiful.

Patience, prayer and sacrificial love will mark the lives of true followers of Jesus. 

Humility is the most direct route to becoming like the God we believe in.

The world is confused and confusing, true religion cuts through the noise and leads us to eternal perspective (and this perspective is seen most profoundly in the way we communicate.)

True religion is more than hearing and even more than believing, it is building a life that manifests the character of Jesus. 

The testing of our faith is gift that produces endurance and reveals where it's lacking.

We will fall into the trap of Babylon if we declare the supremacy of God without the self-sacrifice and love for our enemies that Jesus demonstrated on the cross.

In exile, identity is challenged and alliegence is divided. There was conflict in the Jewish community in Babylonian exile. Some wanted to hear Jeremiah's call for a peace ethic in Babylon, but others wanted to hear Hananiah's call to a resistance ethic. Should Israel just accept their fate as an exiled and broken nation and absorb completely into Babylon? Or should they resist their overlords and actively work to undermine Babylon? Or should they do something in between?

Often times people feel displaced in life. Many people feel melancholic, knowing they should be at home here on earth, but often times wondering why life can be so hard and why humans make it harder with how they behave. Walker Percy says the fundamental mystery of the universe is why we feel so alone […]

Often times people feel displaced in life. Many people feel melancholic, knowing they should be at home here on earth, but often times wondering why life can be so hard and why humans make it harder with how they behave. Walker Percy says the fundamental mystery of the universe is why we feel so alone in the world. The Bible states that the solution to both Israel's exile problem and humanity's exile problem is the same solution. A king who will come and deliver them and reunite heaven and earth for all.

Our modern Bible was shaped by the Jewish people who were exiled from their homeland in 586 BC by the Babylonian Empire. The cultural trauma of that event influenced the writings that Christians hold dear today. The 586 exile colors all of the Bible, start to finish. The Hebrew authors who wrote the Bible used […]

Our modern Bible was shaped by the Jewish people who were exiled from their homeland in 586 BC by the Babylonian Empire. The cultural trauma of that event influenced the writings that Christians hold dear today. The 586 exile colors all of the Bible, start to finish. The Hebrew authors who wrote the Bible used the exile experience to prophecy of a new king, a king who would deliver them from their occupiers.

The exile metaphor is a theme that runs through the entire Bible. The Hebrew Bible authors wrote Genesis believing that humanity has been exiled from the Garden of Eden and perfect unity with God. The Hebrews believed that their exile represented all humanity's exile of heaven and earth being separated from each other. After humanity is banished from Eden, we embark on the first exile journey - settling in a world that is no longer home. When God calls Abraham to leave Babylon (Ur), he and Sarah lack a true home but Abraham has a promise from God that he will have a “promised land.”

The exile metaphor is a theme that runs through the entire Bible. The Hebrew Bible authors wrote Genesis believing that humanity has been exiled from the Garden of Eden and perfect unity with God. The Hebrews believed that their exile represented all humanity's exile of heaven and earth being separated from each other. After humanity […]

The health of your soul isn't just a matter of being saved or unsaved. It's the hinge on which the rest of your life hangs. It's the difference between deep, satisfied spirituality and a restless, dispassionate faith.

The health of your soul isn't just a matter of being saved or unsaved. It's the hinge on which the rest of your life hangs. It's the difference between deep, satisfied spirituality and a restless, dispassionate faith.

The natural condition of life for human beings is one of reciprocal rootedness in others. As firmness of footing is a condition of walking and secure movement, so assurance of others being for us is the condition of stable, healthy living. There are many ways this can be present in individual cases, but it must be there. If it is not, we are but walking wounded, our life more or less a shambles until we die.