Church Of The Open Door

As individuals we find ourselves between the Covid 19 shut down and the opening back up. Church of the Open Door finds itself between a former pastor and a new pastor. What should we do when we are waiting for what is next? Today we look for an answer from Acts 1 and what the earliest Christians did between Jesus’ return to heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Singing. Laughter. Gladness. Joy. These are not natural feeling in a pandemic. But, is there something about God that should cause us to feel them even in a pandemic? Let's find out together as we wrap up our Pandemic Playlist with a selection from Psalm 68. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

The Psalms give us the permission to be fully ourselves. They provide a healthy framework to work out our emotions and relationship with God. In the midst of a pandemic, Psalm 66 invites us to feel the reality of our circumstances and the reality of a loving and generous God. Even though we may be tested and burdened, He brings us to a place of great abundance. If you are struggling with the words and emotions of praise and thanksgiving, listen in and borrow what you need. Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | A Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

In Psalm 31, we can identify with the up-and-down of life and our journey of faith as we see David’s gratitude for the fortressing refuge of God, desperation, confidence, and pleas for deliverance. Sitting in verses 1-8 and 14-16 with David we see we actively have the choice to cling to the Rock of Refuge and entrust ourselves fully to God’s hands or give up. Can your commitment say “my times are in His hand” despite any circumstances? Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Gen Pastor | A Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

We’re in the midst of a teaching series in which we are looking at a playlist of songs from our scriptures that can help carry us through this pandemic. Today we come to a favorite song on the list: Psalm 23. What does it mean for my present and my future if, “The LORD is my shepherd…”? Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

Continuing into Eastertide and the season of Resurrection, our “Pandemic Playlist“ of Psalms on Repeat brings us to Psalm 116 and its vivid reassurance that our prayers are heard, that Someone is straining an ear to hear our cries for mercy. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

Whether infected or not infected, we have all been affected by the Covid-19. Deeply affected! With this message we kick off a teaching series in which we allow God to shepherd our souls as we listen to a selected playlist of songs/psalms from our scriptures. Today's is Psalm 16 and an invitation to feel safe. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

Ever feel like everything has changed? Ever feel like everything that has changed, is changing again? That first Easter morning everything changed. But grasping that change didn’t come all at once for John, whose Easter story you will hear in this message. So, John helps us see what Jesus is inviting us to do when everything changes, and changes again. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | Easter | www.thedoor.org

Tonight, as friends of Jesus, we gather together to keep watch and wait with him. www.thedoor.org

Ronn Johnson takes us back into Lent with Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11:1-45). Ronn has some good tools to help us use our imaginations while reading the narratives of Lent, especially valuable as we keep company with Jesus on His journey to Jerusalem, the cross, and resurrection. It’s vital, in this season of so many headlines telling the story of this current crisis, that we also stay anchored in the Larger Story to which we belong and which holds onto us in the storms. Teaching Speaker: Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | Lent 2020 | www.thedoor.org

Mark is camping out in Isaiah 41:10, "Do not fear, for I am with you." Over and over, God says, "Do not fear." There's nothing He can't handle, nothing too big. These are good verses to memorize; they're anchors and solid footing to cling to and declare as truth in our lives. And the reason we don't have to fear is because the Lord is our shepherd. The beautiful provisions of Psalm 23 are ours to rest in. So do not fear, little flock. We are the sheep of His pasture and, above the roar of the storms, we can both listen for His voice in these times and call out to Him for ourselves and for others. Teaching Speaker: Mark Collier, Guest Speaker | wwwthedoor.org | Lent 2020

Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Lent 2020 | www.thedoor.org

Ronn Johnson takes us deeper into the theme of Lent that began on Ash Wednesday: "Unless a seed falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Ronn sees that reality embedded in the scriptures for this week: blessing, life and resurrection come from death - it's part of the story, even in the face of suffering. Teaching Speaker: Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

We began our journey through Lent on Ash Wednesday with Jesus’s warning (and promise) that unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself, alone; but if it does die, it bears much fruit. Today, Tom Johnson continues the counter-intuitive Kingdom message as we join Jesus in his 40 days of desert wilderness and temptation. Our natural tendency is to want to rush past suffering; but when Jesus, and Paul after Him, surrendered obediently to the struggles they were strengthened in God – to which Tom asks: “So how do we deepen our roots in those dry places?” Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | www.thedoor.org

We’re in Epiphany, the season of “unveiling” and revelation about Jesus and the ways of His Kingdom. Becca Erickson shares her family’s journey with God over the past several years: “You can spend all your time in analysis, or you can come to love what God reveals to you in these hard places.” Becca, a member of Open Door with her husband Ryan and three children, is the co-founder and executive director of Emerge Mothers Academy, a Twin Cities non-profit whose goal is to equip single mothers to emerge as confident women and caring moms. Emerge Mothers Academy is one of our supported partners through Missional Life. Teaching Speaker: Becca Erickson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Continuing from Kati’s beatitudes of the upside-down gospel last week, Ronn Johnson takes us to Paul in Corinth as he walks out the countercultural and Spirit-dependent ways of the Kingdom: I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in human wisdom but in the power of God. (1 Cor 2:1-5) In Ronn's words, “Paul was repeating, maybe not in word but in action and in thought, the same gospel Jesus brought, that ‘with loud cries and tears, Jesus met the Father.’ Wherever you are – low, defeated, sad – know that Jesus comes to you and says, “Blessed are you; you’re not on Plan B.’” In our weakness, loss, discouragement, God is strong and God is for us. Teaching Speaker: Ronn Johnson

We come to Communion in the midst of our real lives, with their unexpected turns and uncertainties. Though we resist not being in control, that is the normal state of things, and that’s where God shows up in powerful ways – when life is hard and intense. In our worship together, in Kati Beasley’s message, and in coming to the Table, we will bring all the challenges facing us and lean TOGETHER into the One who is steady, who says “Blessed” and pronounces His favor on us. Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Interim Pastor of Formational Life | www.thedoor.org

Mt 4:12-23, this Sunday’s Lectionary passage, Jesus inserts an interesting teaser as He calls people to follow Him: “I will send you out to fish for people.” Kathy Collier, our NextYouth Associate, proposes that, in the language of this metaphor, Jesus might be calling us to use a different lure as our culture changes. It might be scary, she admits; and it also might be that God is working in a way we’ve not seen before. Kathy, along with three of her young friends – Jonny, Gabby, and Nadine – will challenge us to look at things differently, to see what God might be up to. Teaching Speaker: Kathy Collier, NextYouth Associate | www.thedoor.org

Rose is the Associate Pastor of Formation for our sister congregation, Sanctuary Covenant Church in North Minneapolis. Rose’s talk – “Three Unlikely Virtues for Kingdom-Building Disciples” – springs from Exodus 1:15-22, the Hebrew midwives’ disobedience to Pharaoh, our faith’s ancient foundation of standing against oppression. Teaching Pastor: Rose Lee-Norman, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org