It is interesting to note that in many of the recorded instances where Jesus is said to pray, we are not given the substance or content of his prayer. We are merely told that he prayed. Apparently the content of his prayer was not always the issue. The gospels tell us that [...]
This Sunday concludes our Synchronize series, our engagement with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). It has been a meaningful study for so many of us. We have come to see that the life Jesus calls us to is not merely an improvement on the life we already have. It is [...]
This past Sunday we reviewed one of the most well-known of Jesus’ statements: “judge not”. In our review of this text, we noted that these words are popularly referenced as code for “leave me alone”, or, “let me do what I want to do”. They are often quoted because they fit perfectly in [...]
John was the youngest of Jesus’ disciples and the last of all to die. He began in the company of Jesus as “young John” but lived long enough to be called “John the elder”, or as we would say, “old John”. After years of faithful teaching, he left us a gospel and three [...]
This past Sunday morning we hosted a live conversation. It was a Deep Dive Live event, something we do from time to time. Along with our podcast Deep Dive Digital (look for it on iTunes), it is one way we try to model a conversational approach to spiritual formation. This past Sunday, along [...]
This past Sunday we talked about aspects of the inner spiritual life. We focused our thoughts around what is usually called the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15). At the heart of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, we find the heart of his living — prayer. In Jesus, our humanity is [...]
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Written as a follow up to the previous weeks teachings, the email devotional gives you an opportunity to reflect on where we have been as a community and to stay on top of news and events from within Westside.
Our current teaching series is called Synchronize, our engagement with Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. This past Sunday we focused our attention on the second half of Matthew chapter 6, verses 19-34. Take a moment to read that passage (for online Bible reading you can go to biblegateway.com) and then consider the [...]
Our current teaching series is called Synchronize, our attempt to engage the teaching of Jesus in what is famously referred to as his Sermon on the Mount. We hope that you are able to follow the live teachings on Sundays, or pick up the podcasts. And we certainly encourage you to read along [...]
These days we are engaging the teaching of Jesus in what is famously referred to as his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). We are calling this series Synchronize. This past week we considered the very large challenges to change that are found in Matthew 5:13-47. We encourage you to read along [...]
This past Sunday, we began our look at the teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. We are calling this new series Synchronize. In the weeks to come, we invite you to read and ponder Jesus’ words as they are recorded in Matthew 5-7.
The famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy was one ardent [...]
I started this week’s devotional with the thought that I would give you a new year’s prayer. I started working on one. As I didn’t seem to be particularly creative (probably as a result of my turkey hangover) I thought then that I would take a Biblical prayer and rewrite it in my [...]
December 23, 2009
For the past few weeks we have been rehearsing the story of Christmas and the way it addresses our most deeply held human fears: insignificance, chaos, death, the future. We have been noticing that while fear tends to morph from one form to another, the Christmas story is itself a constant immersion in [...]
December 17, 2009
This past Sunday we reviewed the story of Joseph and the fear he faced as the pledged husband of Mary. Through our advent series, Monsters Inc., we are discovering how profoundly the variety and complexity of human fear is embedded in the Christmas story. We are being reminded that the [...]
December 10, 2009
We are in our Advent series, what we are calling Monsters Inc., a look at how fear is addressed and overcome within the Christmas story. This past Sunday we considered how Mary might have experienced the fear of chaos (one of anthropologist Donald Brown’s five universal fears).
There is a deep respect that the [...]
December 3, 2009
This past weekend we began our Advent series. We are calling it Monsters Inc., a look at how fear is addressed within the Christmas story. We began with the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptizer, the forerunner to Jesus. This is an astounding thing in [...]
November 26, 2009
Christmas is now upon us (if you haven’t noticed). We hear the music and await the onset of a Calgary winter-blast. Most of us enjoy this time of year, but not all of us. Along with the fun, this tends to be a lonely season for many, the time when our deepest life-issues [...]
November 18
As we continue in our series You Are Here: Jeremiah on Life in the City, I have been thinking about one of the the great challenges we have in city life, the challenge to be personal. It seems too easy to slide into anonymity, to see people only for their functions and roles, to [...]
November 11, 2009
I love to browse in good used bookstores. They are open invitations to hunt for treasure. Several years ago, during a time of displacement in my life, I discovered a book by the Swiss Christian psychiatrist Paul Tournier, an author I had read and enjoyed very much. He called this particular study A [...]
November 6, 2009
I write this after spending time at Saint John’s Abbey monastery in Minnesota. I have to admit that I am a little “out of step” with my usual world. But that is a good thing to experience once in a while. The interesting thing about being cloistered is that through disengagement one becomes [...]
For October 29, 2009
In case you missed last week’s devotional email — or didn’t realize it hadn’t showed up in your inbox — this week is a “two-fer”, a look back on the last two Sundays at Westside. These past two weeks carry a thematic link, not so much by design but serendipitously (love [...]
October 15, 2009
This past weekend was thanksgiving. I hope that it was a restful, and meaningful, time for you. Of all our holidays, this one especially reminds me of our Christian roots and sentiments. It is truly a good thing to be thankful.
In fact, thankfulness is really quite necessary. Everyone who goes on a spiritual [...]
October 8, 2009
Our Begin Again series concluded this past Sunday with a talk about compassion. As we have progressed through this series we have come to see that to begin again requires heart change. This was especially seen in our talk about compassion this past weekend (get the podcast!).
Our text was Luke 10: 25-37, the [...]
October 1, 2009
We continued last Sunday in our fall launch series, Begin Again, considering what it might mean for us as a community to be refreshed in our life together. This past Sunday we made it personal, talking to you about you, about the deepest spiritual reality of your life. We are not thinking [...]
September 24, 2009
We continue in our fall launch series, Begin Again. We are taking some time to think through how to restart our Christian faith and how to do that in company with others. We just thought that the nature of this season lent to such a possibility.
Our focus last Sunday was on the idea [...]
September 17, 2009
Last Sunday we began our fall launch series, Begin Again. We want to point towards a new season of life together at Westside King’s Church, and we want to do it with a better grasp of the life Jesus actually calls us to.
On Sunday, Chris led us through a consideration of the “Emmaus [...]
September 9, 2009
Last Sunday we completed our summer-long series, A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Bible: The Whole Story in Ten Weeks. It has been an informative trip but more than merely informational. Somehow, through the twists and turns of the long story, we found ourselves invited in.
And that is how Chris concluded the series this [...]
September 2, 2009
It was only a few short months ago in one of my blog submissions that I announced that summer had officially arrived. I guess I was really looking forward to a more relaxed pace, some time away traveling, re-creating (recreation) body and soul. And now with the summer quickly closing, I am fully [...]
We continue our summer teaching series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Bible: The Whole Story in Ten Weeks. Over these past four weeks we have considered the themes of creation, promise, covenant and law. If you haven’t heard what has been said to this point, it would be worth your while picking up on past [...]
We have a hard time with listening, do we not? In the constant beeps, bells, and interruptive gurgles of our technology, we live noisily, fragmented and distracted. As I was writing this in my home office, a very quiet place during the day time, a place where if I am quiet enough I can sometimes [...]
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