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What does it mean to say, "Worship does God's story?" It is this: Worship proclaims, enacts, and sings God's story. Worship is not a program. Nor is worship about me. Worship is a narrative. God's narrative of the world from its beginning to its end. How will the world know its own story unless we do that story in public worship?
Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God's Narrative. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 39-40.
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Check this out!:
Did you miss us last week? Click here to listen to the latest sermon. |
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Several of us journeyed this last year with Brian McLaren on the Everything Must Change Tour. We were asked towards the end of the event to write notes on our hands. Here is a video compiled from some of those messages.
Click here to view video. |
| Take a Look & Listen! |
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Click here and enjoy Brad Thomspon & the Five Smooth Stones as they perform "Still." |
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Hospitality Team Greeter: Assures all worshipers are warmly welcomed.
Sacred Space: Develops & implements the installation of worship decor for prayer stations & communion table.
Media Assistant: Assists in the visual worship elements.
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Loving the Hard Questions... |
 Recently I had the incredible opportunity to view Kara Walker's work at the Modern, here in Fort Worth. Her graphic work includes sketches, text work, cut paper, projection and film. And her topic was on the difficult intersection of oppression...and love. And for me as I was wandering through her exhibit, I was confronted with hard questions about what we have (or better said HAVE NOT) learned about humanity and how it treats one another.
Loving hard questions is one of the values we have at The Search. We endeavor to not shy away from your faith journey, including all the times when things just don't seem to fit together nicely. Part of being in community with one another is holding each other when the parts of life and faith don't intersect in nice, neat, ordered boxes that allow us to check off our list and journey towards whatever happens after we leave Earth.
Instead, we encourage times of hard questions being raised about community, church, Christ, our work in the world, and how we are or are not living out the command of Christ to be about bringing the realm of God alive today, here!
As Kara Walker noted about her work when she spoke at the Modern, [My work has allowed me to have a] quest for meaning in the life I live.... the fictions and the fantasies. [I am] meeting my soul that has been wandering. We are so like that, too. Finding our way. Asking questions. Seeking our God-made soul. I'm glad we do it together!
- Suzanne Castle-Rolen, Minister
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Embrace the Hard Questions... |
 Many of us, including myself, try to avoid discussion about the hard questions in faith. You know the ones, "Why do bad things happen to good people," "How do you define sin, salvation, and eternal life," "How can we maintain Christian values in a world filled with sin," and many many more like these.
While we try to avoid answering these questions at all costs, I think that answering these questions actually has many fruitful results.
First of all, I believe that in order to challenge ourselves spiritually, we must answer the most difficult questions for ourselves. It is one thing to be able to talk about what you believe in its simplest form, but to be able to go deep into theology and spirituality can not only help you to explain your faith but to define it for yourself more and more. To truly know, understand, and speak what you believe you must first answer it for yourself.
Another result that comes about from loving to approach the hard questions in faith is that you become more comfortable and confident in your own spirituality and faith. Becoming more confident in what you believe can give you the opportunity to grow and develop your faith and be more comfortable in asking yourself even harder questions.
I challenge us all not to run away from the hard questions but to embrace them and answer them to the best of our abilities. For it is only in loving the hard questions that we can truly find out what we believe and how to put this into words.
Alec Ylitalo
Campus Ministry Intern
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| Upcoming Highlights |
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*New iFaith Series!
It's back! Join us at The Search for another amazing round of iFaith. You won't want to miss it!
* 2008 Habitat for Humanity
University Christian Church will work side by side with other faiths and congregations on the Interfaith House during the annual Building on Faith. The start date is October 28th.
No skills are required...just a willing spirit!
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Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 08:39AM 
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