St. Paul's Church - Willington, Ct

What does Paul mean when he says that we are "dead to sin"? This week guest speaker Lucas Dourado from Reformed University Fellowship helped us unpack Romans 6.

When Jesus was 12-years old, he went missing. When his parents found him, he said, "Didn't you know I had to be about my Father's business?" We considered how this story reveals the unprecedented relationship Jesus had to God, as well as the way the story foreshadows his crucifixion and resurrection.

The third event the Bible records from Jesus' early years is the most dramatic and shocking so far: Herod, desperate to maintain his power, goes to great lengths to try and kill the infant Jesus. The holy family narrowly escapes tragedy by taking refuge in Egypt. We considered the significance of the fact that God became a refugee. We also considered what it means for Jesus' life to "fulfill" the Scriptures, even when the Scriptures being referenced don't seem to have anything to do with predictions of the future.

The second event the Bible records from Jesus' early years is the visit of the magi. What is a "magi"? When we understand what the magi represented, this well known story takes on greater significance.

The Bible doesn't record much about Jesus' youth, but it does include at least four significant events from his early years. Throughout January, we'll be looking at these four events. The first is Jesus' presentation at the Temple, where two prophets, Simeon and Anna, recognize the infant as the long awaited Messiah. We considered what we can learn from the example of these two fascinating people.

A new year (and a new decade) are about to begin. This week we considered three things to keep in mind as we plan and make our resolutions: (1) The brevity of life, (2) The command to "Seek first the Kingdom," and (3) The Lord's "new mercies" every morning.

Our Sounding Joy series concluded with a Christmas Eve message looking at one final song: O Holy Night. Why should we "feel our soul's worth" at Christmas? How does the birth of Christ help us to call slaves "brothers"?

O Come O Come Emmanuel is a song rich with Biblical references, many of which can go over our heads. This week we dove into Old Testament prophecies to understand this ancient, haunting carol better.

"The Little Drummer Boy" isn't like the other carols we've looked at so far: it features a character never mentioned in the Bible and doesn't have any archaic language or theological terms. But with a few simple lines it expresses truth about God, about us, and about worship.

This week we looked closely at "What Child is This," a carol that calls attention to the irony of Christ's birth. What does it mean that "the silent word was pleading"?

Every Christmas we hear and sing old familiar carols, but do we recognize the significance of the words we sing? This Advent season we are taking a break from our Revelation series to look at the lyrics of some of the most theologically-rich Christmas carols and the Scriptures that inspired them. This week we began our series with "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," considering the meaning of lines like "late in time behold him come," "offspring of a virgin's womb," "hail the incarnate deity," and "mild he lays his glory by." Christmas inspires us to think about two mysteries of our faith - the Trinity and the Incarnation - both of which our minds struggle to comprehend. We reflected on the meaning and significance of these mysteries.

This week we continued John's vision of God's throne. John is told that a lion has triumphed, but when he looks at the lion he sees a lamb on the throne. We asked the question: why does the lion look like a lamb? And what does it mean that he is able to "unseal the scroll"?

This week we moved on in the Book of Revelation from the messages to the seven churches to John's vivid visions. We established some ground rules for understanding and appreciating these visions as much as possible, and then reflected on the significance of the vision of God's throne.

This week we were joined by guest speaker Carrye Burr from the preaching team at Hope Church in East Hampton. Carrye challenged us to think about how what Christ has done for us should influence our sense of security, our daily experience, and our view of our own failures.

Of all the seven churches Jesus writes to in Revelation, Laodicea might be the most relatable for 21st century Americans: they weren't facing significant persecution and they found security in their health and wealth. Jesus described them as "lukewarm." We identified what that means, as well as Jesus' prescribed solution.

The small church in Philadelphia didn't receive any correction from Jesus, but it did receive a lot of encouragement to continue doing what they were doing. We considered how Jesus' words of encouragement to them can also encourage us as well. We also considered if Jesus' words of encouragement require us to believe in the idea of "the rapture," popularized by books and movies like Left Behind.

The church at Sardis was good at keeping up appearances, but not at actually following Jesus. We considered how easy it is to fall into the trap of faith as performance, and how to break free from "sleepy hypocrisy."

The church in Thyatira was commendable in so many ways, but it had one dangerous flaw: it had become too tolerant. In a culture where tolerance is often viewed as one of the most important virtues, we considered what this means for us.

This week guest speaker Peter Scalzo returned (his last visit was in early 2018) to talk more about what God has taught him through his 15-year (ongoing) struggle with cancer and his 12-step recovery journey.

This week we looked at the message to the first century church in Pergamum. Jesus saw much to commend, but was concerned about a subgroup that had embraced two dangerous sins - both of which are big temptations in our culture today. He promised that those who overcome will be given "hidden manna" and "a white stone with a new name." We considered what these intriguing promises might mean...