Mindful Leader

What is the Church ... really?

 

Our District Superintendent preaching on Kick Off Sunday.  Great Sermon.  Great!  Looks at what the church really is supposed to be and then ends with an enormous question.  The silence in the podcast was the silence that morning.  

Season of Pentecost -- Ephesians 4 -- Unity is not unanimity.

Ephesians 4: 1-16

The body of Christ needs to be in unity.  That doesn’t mean unanimous but at the same time, unity.  I am not sure of the classical distinction on unity versus unanimity, but ‘whole body’, ‘knit together’ ‘every ligament’ are comments I think about religion and what binds us together.

Bind us together Lord. 

Season of Pentecost -- Ephesians 3 and a third rule for Leadership!

 

The leadership principle is pretty simple:  There is a God and you are not it!  I play with that during the text in different ways, but the real thing is for us to be open the revelation of God in our hearts, but inviting God in. Can we just let God be God and we get out of the way of blocking entrance or even worse perhaps, inviting in, but then not encouraging God to live in all the rooms of the house.   

This is the 9:00 AM Service.  

Ephesians 3: 14-21.  Jan Woodmansee is the liturgist and does the reading.  

Thank you to the various commentaries in Feasting on the Word.  Wonderful resource.  

Season of Pentecost: Ephesians First Rule of Church Leadership

Ephesians 1: 3-14 

Sermon one of seven from Ephesians.  Will introduce a "rule" per week.  

This week:  "Love your congregation where they are."  

 

Season of Pentecost -- If you can't get out of it, Get into it!

The 10:30 version of June 17th Sermon.  The title of "If you can't get out of it, get into it" comes from a Parker Palmer reflection I quote.  Use a couple of mountain climbing illustrations but the big idea is staying anchored in Jesus come good times or more challenging times. The other readings for this Sunday focused on horaculture themes of grafting and I used them a little.   

This Side of Easter: Making a Choice (May 13, 2018)

 

Ephesians 1 -- this is Mother's Day and we look at being a parent as a church.

This Side of Easter: Being Surprised (May 6, 2018)

 

This is Acts 10 where Peter is surprised by what God is calling him to do, set aside almost everything he has previously known.  What is it that we have previously held as true and God has surprised us with what we need to do?  

This Side of Easter: The Name of the Good Shepherd -- April 22, 2018

The text is from Acts 4: 5-12 but we backed up a little to include Acts 4: 1, and annoyance of the Religious Authorities.  

The focus is on Peter and his transformation.  He is done denying Jesus.  

Who are we in this scene?  The status quo?  The change?  The listeners who go with the SQ or change?  The questions are directed individually and corporately.  

This Side of Easter: Resurrection Remembered -- April 15, 2018

 

Acts 3 -- Mario looks at Peter (and John) who focus on remembering Jesus as resurrected.  What does it mean indeed to live on this side of Easter?  Part of it of course is to remember "he is risen, he is risen indeed."  Mario relies on N. T. Wright for part of his settling down points.  Tom Wright has made a visit or three to Hilltop ... great source for helping us frame our conversations.  

I also like how he used Acts 3 to be a place to talk to 1 Corinthians and Paul.  I like illustrations from the scripture!   

"All of my eggs are in that basket!"  

Unafraid: Recap, February 11, 2018

Bob Scarborough vulnerably reflects on his own life experiences to recap Hilltop's Unafraid series. He elaborated on the fear of being alone and the fear of failure. He reminded us that the Lord who calls us to be fearless is for us and with us.