A “Dumpling” Falls from the Sky—Why not?

It is 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Peter is praying and gets a vision of a sheet full of animals, clean and unclear, dropping from the sky. Almost like a dumpling, but unwrapped. This vision leads to a cascade of events that end up transforming a Jewish sect of the followers of Jesus into a universal community where anyone, Jew or Gentile, can participate. In this sermon, Kai explains how experiences of visions like this dumpling and witnessing the Holy Spirit in the lives of Gentiles leads the Jewish followers of Jesus to reinterpret the rules of their covenant AND their scriptures to include those who had been deemed unclean.

Founding Pastor, Jonathan Williams begins our Lenten series, Everything In Between, Meeting God in the Midst of Extremes taking a fresh look at the Good Samaritan: “A lot of people believe that love is action. I believe that it is the reordering of power. And by reordering our power for the sake of others is one of the most loving things we can do.”

In this time of fear and uncertainty, do you find yourself exhausted and burnout by trying to be there for everything and everyone? In the third and final sermon of the sacred pause series Nytasha speaks to us about Boundary Setting in the Bible and how it can be an act of resistance, and love.

With uncertainty pressing in on our future livelihood and draining the very energy we need to keep going, this is a moment to pause and rehydrate our spirits. Rev. Venida welcomes Dr. Jennifer Mullan of @decolonizingtherapy to Forefront for a courageous conversation on Restorative Living as part of the Sacred Pause sermon series. Dr. Jenn guides us in remembering that centering the collective is liberatory work — and that this shared commitment can help restore the mind, renew the body, and revive the spirit.