Vinings Lake Church

What does spiritual health and maturity look like? How can you measure your own spiritual depth? Is it by how often we attend a spiritual collective? How often do we read the Bible, pray, or discuss our beliefs? Today, we began our walk through 1 Corinthians 13. Paul opens this profound chapter by giving us a new metric. The essence of a healthy and mature spirituality is how well we love.  

John 14:6 has become a prooftext for many to exclude any religion that isn't Christianity. Is Jesus the only way to God? What does that mean? Can other religions lead to the Divine? What did Jesus mean when he said, I am the way? Last week we set the context. This week we get into the words.   

Can one know the way, the truth, and the life apart from Jesus? Are there many ways to God? Can other religions lead to the Divine? Is Jesus the only way? And the way to what? John 14:6 is the answer to all these questions for many. Today, we will get into this infamous verse. Could this prooftext for exclusivity, actually be about inclusivity?   

Matthew 28 has become known as the impetus for the expansion of Christianity. But what did Matthew have in mind when he was writing this? This week, we will walk through these final words of Jesus and explore what they could mean for us. What if the Great Commission is not about expanding Christianity? What if power, domination, and proselytizing is not what Jesus had in mind? What if we have been reading this commission through the lens of the empire? What if the Great commission is about resistance to the Empire?  

In 2018, American evangelical Christian missionary, John Allen Chau was killed by the Sentinelese after illegally traveling to their isolated island to convert this indigenous group to Christianity. Chau, like many evangelicals, received his missionary calling from what has been called, the Great Commission, in Matthew 28. But is this what Jesus had in mind? Is this what Matthew had in mind? Is the Great Commission a call to colonization? What is the difference? Let’s talk about it.

Bar Mitzvahs, graduations, weddings, and funerals all mark a significant stage in someone’s life. But what about Baptism? This ancient rite of passage has been given many meanings over the years. This week, we will look at some of those meanings. Can baptism still be a meaningful ritual for us today? What might it mean for us today?

If you grew up evangelical, you know about, “The Sinner's Prayer.” Romans 9:10-11 is usually the prooftext for this prayer. Today, we are exploring this passage in its larger context of Paul's extended riff (9-11). It turns out, the very thing Paul is arguing for, salvation by faith not works, is the very thing the sinners prayer has become, a work. The good news is that there are no requirements to be a child of God. To emphasize this full inclusion, Paul closes his argument with a hymn of euphoric praise, “For from him and through him and to him are ALL things.”

Today we take a deep dive into one of the prooftext for original sin, Genesis 3. This story is typically described as a falling down but perhaps it can be better understood as a waking up. Just as the eyes of Adam and Eve are opened, so our eyes will be opened to the good news that lies at the heart of this story.

Central to the evangelical notion of salvation is original sin. The belief that humans are born broken, flawed, and separated from God. One prooftext is Genesis 3. Turns out, just as Adam and Eve were lied to in the story, we were lied to about the story. Original sin is nowhere to be found. What can be found? The fundamental truth that the core of our being is not opposed to God but made in the image of God.

We are given three images in the Old Testament of salvation. The first is in Exodus. Here, Salvation is about liberation. The second is in Isaiah. Here, salvation is about return from exile. Third is in Psalms. Here, salvation is about enemies. All of these are about something concrete, real, literal, present, here and now. What does this mean for us? James Cone said it best, “To see the salvation of God is to see this people rise up against its oppressors, demanding that justice become a reality now, not tomorrow.”

Have you been saved? Have you accepted Jesus into your heart? Have you trusted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? If you grew up evangelical, you know these were the most important questions you could ever ask. So much so, that many people spent their days obsessively, anxiously, and frequently reciting a sinner's prayer to be sure they were saved. We now know this is called scrupulosity. Today, we will talk about this religious OCD and how to begin the process of healing.

We sit down with author and speaker Felicia Murrell to discuss her new book, AND: The Restorative Power of Love in an Either/Or World. IN an election year where sides are being demanded, Felicia offers a third way. She proposes the way of Love that shatters all categories of left and right. Is it any wonder, Jesus said, narrow is the way that leads to life? You can purchase Felicia’s new book anywhere books are sold.   

Ever heard the phrase, “Thoughts and Prayers?” Do you cringe at the sound of it? I am almost certain this expression began from a sincere place of sympathy.  But overtime, it has become a trite, empty, and meaningless cliché. Why? Because it has become a substitute for responsibility.  Today, we talk about prayer not as a substitute for responsibility, but an invitation into responsibility.  Our friend Shane Claiborne sums it up best, “If we ask God to move a mountain, God often gives us a shovel.”  

It’s easy to lose connection to the sacredness, depth, vitality, wonder, and meaning of life. Many of us unconsciously get caught up with everyday demands and lose sight of the magic and point of it all. But what if we could pull ourselves out of ourselves from time to time? What if we could regularly reconnect with source, sacredness, depth, and meaning? Today, I want to show you how to do that. Today, we will talk about prayer as a practice of grounding.

What would it look like to think about prayer as a kind of listening, to the world, to one another, to the Divine? How can we let go of our small agendas and listen for a bigger story, what Thomas Merton calls the "general dance?" How can we learn to pay attention, as an act of prayer, rather than just thinking about prayer as using words to address God?

Everything is energy. All energy creates vibrations at different frequencies. When we speak a word, it vibrates at a certain frequency. This is not psychology but physics. Now, what if prayer was no exception to this reality. What if prayer is not just about the horizontal but the vertical? What if our praying has been facing one direction for too long? What if prayer is more about sending and receiving energies with others and not trying to persuade or manipulate the Divine? What if we all had more power than we realize?   

What if prayer could be a practice of lament? An intentional time of ripping our heart open and giving language to that which lurks inside your internal universe. What if prayer could be naming the anger, rage, joy, and pain within you. Perhaps this type of expression could get us one step closer to finding release. This week we examine the most common type of Psalm from ancient Israel, the Lament Psalms. Perhaps it leads us to our own practice of lament.

What is prayer? What is the purpose of prayer? How does it work? Do you pray? What do you pray for? Can prayer change things? If not, why do we do it? Does prayer change Gods mind? Does God answer prayer sometimes but not all the time? Have you ever prayed for someone or something and it didn’t happen? Are miracles dependent on prayer? If so, what is the criteria? How sincere the prayer is? How often we pray? How many people we have praying? Is prayer about convincing, persuading, or manipulating God to do something? Is prayer an empty ritual that exist for a magical/mythical time of consciousness? Is there a way to approach prayer and talk about prayer differently than we have? Can prayer still be a meaning, helpful and transformative practice for us? Today we are simply opening the door to this complicated ancient practice called prayer.

Many of us grew up with a particliuar image of Mary. She appears docile, meek, mild mannered like she is posing for the cover of hearth & home as a voiceless virgin passively sitting amongst fluffy sheep. But this image is not the image we are given in the narrative. It appears we have Mary all wrong. Today we will begin the process of shattering the porcelain Mary we were handed. We will begin to discover a Mary who was in fact the mother of a revolution.

What were you taught about heaven? Many of us were taught that heaven is an ethereal, intangible, & immaterial place that sits somewhere above us. When we die a very small group of people will go there to live in their mansion forever. Once there, we will wear white robes, sit on clouds, play harps, and sing Chris Tomlin songs forever and ever. But these images are the opposite of what the Biblical writers portray to us. For them, heaven is not somewhere else. Heaven is among us, within us, around us, and a present reality.