By Series

Journey Through Lent

On February 17 we marked the beginning of Lent with our Ash Wednesday service. For 40 days we are observing this traditional season of self-examination and personal reflection where we acknowledge our human frailty and weakness (“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”) and open ourselves to the Holy Spirit and inner transformation. For some, going without an outward item, like certain foods, habits or activities, can help reveal a deeper inward reality or need. Fasting in this way is another tradition of this season. (Sundays are traditionally excluded from days of fasting and are not included in the "40 days".)
Our Journey of Hope: Following the Dangerous Way of Jesus

Our winter 2010 discipleship series began on Sunday, January 17 and will extend for 6 weeks. Our Journey of Hope: Following the Dangerous Way of Jesus will focus on our vision, values and philosophy as a community. What makes us the community we are? What are our distinctives? What is important to us and why? What is not important to us?
New Year Series: Hope Renewed

At Christmas we celebrated God coming to be present with humanity. During this current series we will be looking ahead to the New Year and reflecting on the incredible hope we can have for our lives because God is present. Often at this time of year we can be bound up with regret as we mourn what we have not done and grieve that we are not the person we feel we should be. But we’ll look forward through the lens of hope and dream of what we can become as we experience the life of God, the Holy Spirit, coursing through our veins and strengthening us from within.

Messages:

Sunday, January 3rd: The Road Ahead; Matthew Dyer speaking

Sunday, January 10th: Strength for the Journey; Matthew Dyer speaking
Stories of Change
Love is Born at Christmas

In our December series we celebrate Advent: the period of waiting and expectation of the birth of Jesus at Christmas. We will spend this time focusing on the personal, unconditional, passionate love of God for humans. Each Sunday we will celebrate the joy of the miracle of love incarnate at Christmas and consider what might hold us back from experiencing this love in all its liberating wonder. Specifically we will look at how God’s powerful love can overcome all our failure, suffering and shame.

DECEMBER SERVICES

Sunday, December 6th: Love is Stronger than Failure

Sunday, December 13th: Love is Stronger than Suffering

Sunday, December 20th: Love is Stronger than Shame
The Gift of Enough

Throughout “The Gift of Enough” series we explored ways we might approach this Christmas with a focus on putting people first (rather than “stuff”) in our gift-giving, celebrating and holiday activities. The season is often marked by commercialism and materialism, which can lead to stress and disillusionment. By thinking ahead and preparing well we can embrace what is truly important and make the season a time to experience the mystery and magic of the incarnation of Christ that we celebrate at Christmas. We shared many stories and practical ways to make Christmas more meaningful for ourselves and the ones we love, through the gifts of presence, serving, and creativity-- you can find many of those ideas in the messages and handouts for this series. Please feel free to post your ideas, too, that could help make Christmas more rich and meaningful for others.
Love One Another: Growing Authentic Relationships Even When It's Hard

Love One Another: Growing Authentic Relationships Even When It's Hard is the theme for the CRCC fall 2009 Discipleship Series, centered around helping all ages grow in the ability to love others well and cultivate healthy, authentic community. It begins the week of September 27. It will be a practical follow-up from the previous Discipleship Series (Practicing the Way of Love) and will help us grow in developing skills and habits that help us resolve conflict in all kinds of situations. We will engage with Jesus and his teachings through scripture and address issues like actively listening to others, speaking truth in love, handling conflict and setting healthy boundaries.
Our Journey Together
Prayer as Rebellion

For the first Sundays of August we have an opportunity to hear from two members of our community who will share personal insights and experiences about following Jesus. We then begin a series called Prayer as Rebellion. We don’t normally think of following Jesus as an act of rebellion, but in many ways pursuing the way of Jesus means struggling against the cultural forces around us. Many people understand the value of prayer and would like to pray more but find it difficult to make time for it in our busy, hectic, noisy world. In this series we'll explore how a practice of silence and centering in the presence of God can help us out of the currents of the culture and its values we often feel caught up in, and move us into the flow of a more peace filled, God-centered reality.
The Struggle for Love and Peace on Earth
God in the Movies

A series of messages, based on popular films.
The Way of Love
Journey Through Lent
Simplicity
Joy to the World