Latest Message
Garet reflected on the Parish’s rhythms and why they matter, emphasizing that faith becomes real through lived action and how we treat others. He described how the church’s Sunday format—balanced between singing, teaching, and practice—intentionally cultivates inclusion based on how people best learn. He shared personal stories about how service, prayer, gratitude, and community have shaped him, and he spoke honestly about the painful experiences and systemic injustices that helped form the Parish’s values, especially around gender and inclusion. Ultimately, he reminded the community that they are ordinary, flawed people shaped by scars, yet called to embody Jesus’ simple command to love God and love their neighbor, living in a way that makes others curious about the hope they carry.
Speaker: Garet Prior
Heather’s talk focused on the parish value that “the table is life,” describing the table as any place we gather to share life together. Through personal stories of belonging, grief, and reconciliation, she showed how ordinary “small-t tables” become sacred spaces of healing and welcome. She contrasted this with the Roman Empire’s hierarchical banquet system, explaining that Jesus’ meals — especially the Last Supper — were acts of quiet resistance that redefined power as shared dignity and abundance. Communion, she said, is not just ritual remembrance but a call to become “table people,” creating spaces of hope where everyone belongs and healing is possible.
Speaker: Heather Ingersoll
Leticia reflected on what it means for your church to be Jesus-centered, connecting her own story of finding a truly welcoming community with the challenge of embodying Jesus’ love in real, lived ways. Using the story of the woman caught in adultery from John 8, she highlighted Jesus’ relaxed presence, compassion, and refusal to condemn, contrasting that with how easily faith communities slip into judgment, certainty, and power-seeking. She emphasized that the sacred is found not only in Scripture but in everyday moments of connection, vulnerability, and shared humanity, and that following Jesus requires imagination, curiosity, and showing up for one another. Ultimately, she invited the community to measure everything—systems, actions, and interactions—by whether they look, sound, and smell like love.
Speaker: Leticia Perez
Today’s teaching opened our Liturgy series by focusing on our first value: People First. Ryan reminded us that liturgy is the shared “work of the people,” forming us into the way of Jesus by recognizing that every person bears God’s image and carries inherent dignity. Drawing on the poetic language of Genesis and Psalm 139, he emphasized both the universal and personal sacredness of humanity. In a world where people are actively dehumanized, he challenged us to see resisting that dehumanization as a sacramental act—a tangible way we reveal invisible dignity. The invitation today was simple but demanding: notice whose humanity we’ve overlooked, choose compassion over comfort, and join God in protecting the dignity of all.