[Sunday] Mark 16 | Amazed Easter - Revealing True Power
There are clues and breadcrumbs which God has left us so we can see the resurrection today. We see it when our faces light up with a glory of amazement that can only be told about over and over.
Questions for the week
Describe a time when you were amazed. What caused you to be amazed?
Read Mark 16:1-8. Why were the women at the tomb amazed?
Think back over the Gospel of Mark. What are some other stories where people are amazed at Jesus?
When have you been amazed by Jesus in your life?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Maundy Thursday | Unraveled - Revealing True Power
Sometimes life just seems to unravel before our eyes. Maybe we need a savior who will unravel the creation to get us back.
Jesus’ Triumphal March to Crucifixion
In this way, Mark presents Jesus’ defeat and death, the moment of his greatest suffering and humiliation, as both literally and figuratively a triumph.
[Sunday] Mark 15 | Coronation - Revealing True Power
Jesus rides into Jerusalem looking strangely like a ride of power from years ago. As Jesus continues to walk to the cross, he takes a path that resembles so many parades of power and prestige from those seeking crowns of glory. Come see the coronation of true power.
Questions for the week
Name some of the most powerful people in the world. Why would you consider them powerful?
Read Mark 15:16-39. What do those who are powerful in the world do to Jesus?
How do the powers of the world today act in similar ways?
How does Jesus show true power in Mark 15?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Pacing Ourselves: Learning Moderation
How did we come to know that we were dying a slow and unacknowledged death?
Read the article at Pacing Ourselves: Learning Moderation - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
We felt that it was important to be good to ourselves, and that this meant that it was dangerous to tell ourselves no. About anything, ever. Repression of one’s desires was an unhealthy thing […]
When did the collision between our appetites and the needs of our souls happen?
How did we come to know that we were dying a slow and unacknowledged death? And that the only way back to life was to set all our packages down and begin again, carrying with us only what we really needed? -Barbara Cawthorne Crafton………………………
4-6-22 Wednesday - How Do You Like Me Now
How Do you Like Me Now - A Deep Dive into the Passion of Christ in Mark
[Sunday] Mark 14 | Pride & Power - Revealing True Power
Our pride and search for power can blind us to the realities of our life. It can cause us to call evil good and good evil. It can even cause us to kill and destroy the things we love. This week we see how our pride is destroying Jesus.
Questions for the week
Describe a time when your pride caused you to miss out.
Read Mark 14:43-72. Describe ways where you see pride and lusts for power push people further away from Jesus.
Read Mark 14:12-25. Even though Jesus knows Judas will betray him and Peter will deny him, who does he invite to his table? What does he do for them?
What does Jesus do for you and me, even though our pride and lust for power get in the way?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Jesus Is After You
God is not a quaint idea.
Read article at https://mbird.com/religion/testimony/jesus-is-after-you/
young woman named Kelly Tietsort was called by God to be a missionary to Boys Town, a red-light compound controlled by a cartel near the border town of Reynosa, Mexico.
To be clear, she wasn’t a missionary in the traditional sense. She didn’t establish a church or even a school. Instead, she walked around Boys Town and prayed for the women and children trapped inside and for the men who traveled from near and far to the hellish destination.
One day as she sat outside the gate to Boys Town, a gray Crown Victoria car slowly drove past. The driver with gelled up hair and big reflective, Robocop sunglasses locked eyes with Kelly and gave her a smirk. Clearly keeping an eye on the guests at Boys Town, the spiky hair driver asked Kelly what she was doing. …………………
3-30-22 Wednesday - Running Shame
Running Shame - A Deep Dive into the Passion of Christ in Mark
[Sunday] Mark 13 | Stacking Bricks - Revealing True Power
Look at these huge buildings. Look at how high these bricks are stacked. The disciples walked into Jerusalem amazed at the splendor and power of these buildings. But like all temporal powers, they will be thrown down. In those days, if our trust is in how high the bricks are stacked, then our trust will be thrown down as well.
Questions for the week
Describe a time when you have clung to something that was falling apart. Where was your hope in that situation?
Read Mark 13. How does Jesus bring peace in the midst of the horrors he describes in this chapter?
Describe a time when Jesus brought you rest in a difficult or scary situation.
How might you be the hands and feet of Jesus to someone else in one of these scary times?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
A Conversation with a Ukrainian Refugee Pastor (featuring Rev. Scott Yount)
So much is still happening overseas and it’s effecting the lives of millions of people in the country of Ukraine. Our friend Scott Yount has been a Missionary Pastor in Ukraine since 2014 and is now experiencing being a Refugee and helping so many across the boarder. We would love for you to hear his story and there is even other ways to help out his work.
So much is still happening overseas and it’s effecting the lives of millions of people in the country of Ukraine. Our friend Scott Yount has been a Missionary Pastor in Ukraine since 2014 and is now experiencing being a Refugee and helping so many across the boarder. We would love for you to hear his story and there is even other ways to help out his work.
To support Scott and other Ukrainian work, please visit.
Spiritual Orphans Network - https://sonetwork.org/give/
God’s Hidden Treasures - https://www.godshiddentreasures.org/
If you would like to Give through Grace Hit the give link on the top of the page.
Write Ukraine in Memo Line or Give through Paypal and choose Ukraine.
Offering Dangerous Promise In Rural England
Hope is a difficult and maybe a dangerous concept to offer or promise.
Read the rest at https://mbird.com/social-science/money/economics/offering-dangerous-promises-in-rural-england/
Another way too exciting, frightening, and extreme Lenten season. I feel like I’ve said that several years now, in a row. Can we turn it down a bit, Lord, even now, like right now? Something a friend of mine (David Babikow) said to me recently got me thinking about the incarnation and Lent. It gets right at something I’m somewhat worried about, what with the triple crown of crappy years………………….
[Bible Study] Chapter 2 - 3:20 | Gospel of Mark
[Bible Study] Chapter 2-3:20 | Gospel of Mark
[Sunday] Mark 12 | Widows' Homes - Revealing True Power
They make a show of it: their long prayers, their fancy clothes, and their questions that are only meant to trap. It seems like all the show is just for them. But look past the show and see the almost invisible giving everything she has. Perhaps then we will see the kingdom of God.
Questions for the week
What is your opinion of those who absolutely need to be the center of attention?
Read Mark 12:1-12 & Isaiah 5:1-7. Jesus is obviously quoting this poem from Isaiah. What is Jesus saying about the leaders of Israel, and what is Jesus saying about himself?
Read Mark 12:38-44. What are ways that you have seen people in power steal from those like the widows and the downtrodden?
What are ways that may seem small that you can help and encourage your neighbors?
While the Ghost points to the grave our ambition digs, Jesus answers by becoming the humble Child who enters that grave to raise us to new life.