Message: “The Great Spiritual Migration: Brian McLaren” from Brian McLaren
Brian McLaren, founding pastor of Cedar Ridge, encourages us to continue moving forward in love, peace, and faith.
Becoming a Worshiping Community
A message from the series “When Words Are Not Enough.” For most of us who go to church, worship is a given: it is what we do at church on a Sunday. We may have all experienced different norms of worship in various traditions but, whatever form it takes, worship is a familiar and established part of our spiritual experience. But we also feel some discomfort with worship. Why does God need so much adulation and affirmation? Does God demand it, and if so why? What are the consequences of not worshipping? Unconditional exaltation, glorification and homage are what humans have paid to monarchs, suzerains, overlords and idols of all kinds for millennia in order to stay in their good books. It has a smack of tyranny and superstition about it. Is that what God is like? Is this why we worship?
TheMagnificat (Mary’s song of worship in Luke 1:46-55) gives a very different way of seeing worship. God is worshipped not as One who needs appeasement but as Love itself, who comes alongside the lowly and down-trodden rather than needing to be elevated to a place of power. Worship is a return to the reality that Love is the greatest; not fear, insecurity or competition for attention. Worship is a human recalibration to the reality of our oneness with God and with one another. As Paul tells us in Romans 12, we worship with our whole lives in every aspect of life. Worship is a renewal of our minds; a new way of seeing in which we discover that God is Love. God is here for us, here for everyone—here for the weak, the poor, the lost and confused. So we embrace as our own those who are least like us, we humbly defer to others, we forgive unceasingly with broken hearts, and find that this is worship.
Why We Worship
A message from the series “When Words Are Not Enough.” For most of us who go to church, worship is a given: it is what we do at church on a Sunday. We may have all experienced different norms of worship in various traditions but, whatever form it takes, worship is a familiar and established part of our spiritual experience. But we also feel some discomfort with worship. Why does God need so much adulation and affirmation? Does God demand it, and if so why? What are the consequences of not worshipping? Unconditional exaltation, glorification and homage are what humans have paid to monarchs, suzerains, overlords and idols of all kinds for millennia in order to stay in their good books. It has a smack of tyranny and superstition about it. Is that what God is like? Is this why we worship?
TheMagnificat (Mary’s song of worship in Luke 1:46-55) gives a very different way of seeing worship. God is worshipped not as One who needs appeasement but as Love itself, who comes alongside the lowly and down-trodden rather than needing to be elevated to a place of power. Worship is a return to the reality that Love is the greatest; not fear, insecurity or competition for attention. Worship is a human recalibration to the reality of our oneness with God and with one another. As Paul tells us in Romans 12, we worship with our whole lives in every aspect of life. Worship is a renewal of our minds; a new way of seeing in which we discover that God is Love. God is here for us, here for everyone—here for the weak, the poor, the lost and confused. So we embrace as our own those who are least like us, we humbly defer to others, we forgive unceasingly with broken hearts, and find that this is worship.
Learning From the Early Church
A message from the series “When Words Are Not Enough.” Worship can and should be expressed in every aspect of our lives. While songs are certainly not the most important expression of worship, they have been a feature of individual and collective worship for thousands of years. Humans seem to be hardwired to sing—allowing our hearts to express so much more than our heads alone are able to do; drawing us closer to God and to one another. This week we will look at songs of worship recorded in the Christian scriptures, and explore what they can teach us about how to worship through song in our own cultural context.
The writer of the gospel of Luke includes three songs by people directly associated with the birth of Jesus: Mary, Zechariah and Simeon. Their songs celebrate God’s faithfulness in fulfilling the promises made to their ancestors, and express hope for justice for the oppressed and blessing to all nations through the arrival of the Messiah. Letters written to early church communities contain passages that appear to be quotations from hymns or poems, particularly focused on the beauty and mystery of Christ. “Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:18) express our gratitude to God, and are also used to teach and encourage followers of Jesus to live as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Finally, we will consider the declarations of God’s holiness, power, and justice found in the book of Revelation, and consider how the imagery used in apocalyptic literature can expand our imaginations, but may also be at times unhelpful.
Sheep, Coins, and Seed
A message from the series “Getting Beneath the Surface.” The High School youth look at the significance and implications of three parables: the lost sheep, lost coin, and mustard seed.