2025 May

Hot Wisdom for Escaping Sin

Hot Wisdom for Escaping Sin

Before we begin, here’s a quick reminder of the plan. We will start with a question, or if necessary, a short paragraph to introduce the theme. Then we will present a quote from Henri Nouwen’s epilogue in Yushi Nomura’s book, Desert Wisdom (Orbis Books, 1982). Today’s quote will be longer than most. After reading the quote, we will present one or two stories from the desert fathers from Nomura’s book or from Benedicta Ward’s The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: An Alphabetical Collection (Cistercian Publications, 1975). Today is “bonus story day.” You get three quick stories or sayings from the desert fathers. And then, we will close with a few questions to ponder. With that squarely in place, let’s begin. Why would anyone run off into the desert in search of a true and deep spirituality? Consider this. During the years when Christianity was outlawed by the Roman Empire, many

Sent Out Together to Bless Others by Having Good Conversations

Sent Out Together to Bless Others by Having Good Conversations

This sermon is based on John 4:7-15. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: BLURB: Sometimes we make things too complicated. Suppose our goal is to follow Jesus. What do we do? Easy. We study theology. We analyze passages. We scrutinize sayings. We delve into the parables, and then we make a list of 72 things to work on before Saturday. And why do we do this to ourselves? It’s complicated. But what if we started by asking the question: “What did Jesus’ life looked like?” What if we asked about Jesus’ daily routine and seek to duplicate that? Where would that take us? I think it would take us right where we want to go. After all, it is Simply Irresistible!

The Hot Wisdom of the Desert Fathers: Introduction

The Hot Wisdom of the Desert Fathers: Introduction

Let’s take a quiz. Suppose you want to go all in on your faith and really get serious about knowing and serving God. Where do you think would be the best place to live in order to do that most effectively? Would you move into the inner city? Would you move downtown? Would you move to the suburbs? Would you move to a rural region? Would you move to the desert? Oddly enough (at least to me), beginning in the third century, numerous people who really wanted to know God thought it best to move away from the crowds and into the desert. We know these desert-dwellers as the Desert Fathers and Mothers. And while I might quibble with their choice of the desert over being closer to people, I have to take my hat off to their wisdom. In short, they were a remarkable group of saints. Maybe some

Sent Out Together to Bless

Sent Out Together to Bless

This sermon is based on Hebrews 10:23-25. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: BLURB: Sometimes we make things too complicated. Suppose our goal is to follow Jesus. What do we do? Easy. We study theology. We analyze passages. We scrutinize sayings. We delve into the parables, and then we make a list of 72 things to work on before Saturday. And why do we do this to ourselves? It’s complicated. But what if we started by asking the question: “What did Jesus’ life looked like?” What if we asked about Jesus’ daily routine and seek to duplicate that? Where would that take us? I think it would take us right where we want to go. After all, it is Simply Irresistible!

3-3-3

3-3-3

Question: What is more important than a good question? Answer: An important quote about the importance of good questions! What do you think of these? “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” – James Thurber “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” – Eugene Ionesco “You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” – Naguib Mahfouz “There are no right answers to wrong questions.” – Ursula K. LeGuin Let me be honest, this whole series has been in response to two questions I found in Dallas Willard’s book, The Great Omission. He wrote: “Since making disciples is the main task of the church, every church ought to be able to answer two questions: What is our plan for making disciples? Is our plan working?” Now, the

Defined Pastor Nominating Committee

Defined Pastor Nominating Committee

As we have been meeting over a few weeks now, all of our research has encouraged us to define some items as a group operating together before we start defining the job description for a new pastor. Both the book, Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook, as well as guidance from ECO’s website strongly recommended that we agree on our group’s vision and values. So this post is to document a few things specifically about our group. We are what ECO calls a PNC - a Pastor Nominating Committee - as our role is to bring before the congregation a candidate that we nominate for consideration to be called by River’s Edge members. So we have updated our self-naming to switch to our new denomination’s label. While we have been introduced a couple of times during the Sunday morning service, here’s a listing of the committee members here: Allyson R

Moms: Sent Out to Bless

Moms: Sent Out to Bless

This sermon is based on Judges 5:1-9. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: BLURB: Sometimes we make things too complicated. Suppose our goal is to follow Jesus. What do we do? Easy. We study theology. We analyze passages. We scrutinize sayings. We delve into the parables, and then we make a list of 72 things to work on before Saturday. And why do we do this to ourselves? It’s complicated. But what if we started by asking the question: “What did Jesus’ life looked like?” What if we asked about Jesus’ daily routine and seek to duplicate that? Where would that take us? I think it would take us right where we want to go. After all, it is Simply Irresistible!

Let’s Close with Prayer

Let’s Close with Prayer

I don’t know if this is true or not (and frankly, it sounds suspicious). And I can’t give proper credit to whoever this story comes from because I have no idea who that might be. Nevertheless, it is a good story. Apparently, a new club that featured exotic dancers was nearing its grand opening. Half-a-mile down the road was a very active church that was deeply concerned about the influence this club would have on their community if it opened. And so, they began to hold regular prayer meetings to pray against the club. One week before the club opened officially, they decided it would be wise to conduct a prayer walk around the building site, both as a form of prayer and of protest. Their march even made the news. Interestingly, two days after the club opened, lightning struck the building and the club burned to the ground. The

Sent Out to Bless

Sent Out to Bless

This sermon is based on Romans 12:14-21. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: BLURB: Sometimes we make things too complicated. Suppose our goal is to follow Jesus. What do we do? Easy. We study theology. We analyze passages. We scrutinize sayings. We delve into the parables, and then we make a list of 72 things to work on before Saturday. And why do we do this to ourselves? It’s complicated. But what if we started by asking the question: “What did Jesus’ life looked like?” What if we asked about Jesus’ daily routine and seek to duplicate that? Where would that take us? I think it would take us right where we want to go. After all, it is Simply Irresistible!

Engagingly Relevant

Engagingly Relevant

Who towers above all the other saints in antiquity? Who holds the highest spot of spirituality in the ancient world? Without a doubt, it has to be Simeon Stylites. Simeon was born in the Turkish province of Adana which, in 395 AD, was part of the Eastern Roman Empire. Before he was 16 years old, he entered monastic life; and he took to it with reckless abandon. In fact, he embraced the austere lifestyle with such fervor and passion that the other monks judged him to be unfit for community life, and they dismissed him from the monastery. But who needs a monastery to practice solitude and silence when you have a hut in the desert. For the next year and a half, Simeon enjoyed a life of quiet seclusion in search of a special spirituality highlighted by going without food or drink for the 40 days of Lent (people