Last week, we saw how music can either humble the soul or inflate it—how the same sound that reveals grace can just as easily counterfeit it.  Across history, people have tried to protect themselves from that danger by shaping the music itself: deciding what should be sung, and how it should be sung. The result was what we might…

Last week we listened to sound as the oldest language of reverence.We saw — or rather, heard — how the resonance of a single vibration can bridge the human and the divine, turning sound into worship. But might not something that can move us so deeply move us in the wrong direction, and mislead us?…

This post contains Part 1 of a series called “Amazing Grace: The Sounds of Worship,” and an Introduction to the Series. Sound is the oldest language of reverence. Long before we had doctrine, scripture, or theology, human beings used vibration to reach toward the unknown. This series explores that ancient connection between sound and the…

We have been discussing love, and today I want us to talk about how love is essential in forming true community. Love and community are existentially important for us as humans. Without them, none of us could survive or flourish. So I want us to look at how community actually forms and how love shapes…

Last time, we looked at the theory of self-love. Today, I want us to consider the practice—how it works in action. I think we often fail to understand self-love because we lack role models who truly embody it. Today, I want us to look at Jesus as a model of self-love. Yes, Jesus—who gave His…

Matthew 22:34–40 — The Greatest Commandment34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with…