Imago Dei Community

Our centering practice is to "Hear and Obey the Word and the Spirit." In our context we fail to do this not because we lack access to the scripture or the content and resources. We fail to do this because of a like of desire. We must remember that the whole Bible points us to Jesus and seek him for renewed vision of grace and appetite for his word.

This fall we will take a deep dive into our first and centering practice: Hear and Obey the Word and Spirit with the series “How to hear God.” In this eight-week series, we will explore the how to hear the voice of God, the ways in which God speaks to us, and what that looks like in community. We dive in with the hope of becoming a community that listens to the God’s voice and has ears to hear Him speaking to us personally and collectively.

Pastor Michelle Jones concludes our annual prayers series declaring: "may God bless us with just enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in the world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done."

Pastor Alex Choi shares a deeply insightful message from Mark 2 showing that we are often quicker to assign guilt in places where Jesus instead offers compassion. He challenges us to become people who offer comfort instead of judgment.

Pastor Rick McKinley explains that Jesus is willing to make a scene to confront our broken and malformed definitions of power. Jesus flipped the tables to show us that the true power of God is marked by a concern for the oppressed, it moves us from outrage to advocacy.

Pastor Michelle Jones began our annual prayer series declaring us "Move us, Lord!" This week we looked at the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, asking the Spirit to move us from shallow to deeper.

Michelle Jones shares a deeply moving account of the resilience and celebration within the black church in the United States. This joy can only be described as supernatural in light of their suffering. Faith gives us the power to rejoice in all our trials.

Pastor Seth King explains his own process of coming to understand the significance of justice to the heart of God and the story of the Bible. He challenges us to go beyond merely adopting mainstream social justice with a Christian twist to really being shaped by the God who constantly moves toward the outcast and oppressed. Finally, we are pressed to honestly ask ourselves: "Where am I being invited to live more justly?"

To conclude the Saving Justice series pastor Seth King explains that justice in action looks like a life of radical generosity. He interviews three people in our community who have lived lives that stand out as examples.

Michelle Lang-Raymond shares a striking message on how we often like the idea of change until we see that it will require sacrifice. Sometimes we must give up if we are going grow and move forward into mature love.