Awaken Community

This week we're finishing up our Wells + Fences series with Freedom in Christ. It's the final part of the picture of what kind of community we want to be and look like. 

This title might bring up memories of the Left Behind series, but in this case we're talking about revelation in the way that something or someone reveals themselves. Namely, God. How has God revealed themself before and are they continuing to do it today?

On this Pentecost Sunday, we continue the Wells & Fences series with the sometimes complicated topic of the Holy Spirit. 

In the third week of our Wells & Fences series, Micah talks about the idea that how we believe what we believe is just as important as what we believe.

This week's teaching is a lot about how we believe what we believe. How do we want hold our beliefs and values and at the same time welcome questions and curiosity?

Over the next 6 weeks we'll revisit Micah's favorite teachings - Wells & Fences. If you've been around Awaken for awhile, this series will sound a little different. And if you're new to Awaken - welcome! This approach to building a community is at the heart of who we are as a church.

We're honored to welcome Earl Milton back to the Awaken Community stage to share what he would like to say to the church in this season.

Our second guest speaker is Joel Warne, a spiritual director and author. His letter to the church begins with John 16:33.

This week begins our new series of guest speakers called Dear Church, an extension of our last series The Power of a Letter. If you were to write a letter to the church, at large and within Awaken, what would you say? Our first guest is Rev. Kelly Chatman and his message today begins with "Don't get comfortable." So you know you're in for an inspiring word this morning.    

In typical Awaken style, Micah takes a different approach to the standard Easter teaching. In John 17, Jesus prays his longest recorded prayer as he's nearing the cross. What does this prayer show us is most important to Jesus? And how do we step into the invitation given?

There are things that may seem obvious but must be said out loud. Micah dives into the letters of Barth and Bonhoeffer and what they have to show us about our world today. As well as what our role should be as followers of Jesus. 

In Maya Angelou's book Letter to My Daughter, she points out that most adults simply grow old and don't grow up. Micah discusses what it looks like to grow up and mature in our spiritual lives.

This morning, Micah focuses on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Written nearly 60 years ago, there are too many references that ring painfully true today. And some pretty heavy questions come after reading his letter: Has the Church forgotten who it is and where it came from? Is there a difference between what is sacred and what is secular?

Micah begins a new series about the power of a handwritten letter - an idea that's pretty foreign to most of us right now. We begin with Paul's letter to the church at Corinth which was a bit of a Vegas of Ancient Greece.

Dr. Christine Osgood, Associate Professor and Director of Wellbeing at Bethel University, joins us this week to talk about how we make God visible in the world; how we take our beliefs and values and put them into action.

This week's sermon is about a different type of meditation, the reflective, look back on your life kind of meditation. And Micah promises another sermon on meditation another time.

Join Melody in an embodiment practice to go along with this week's sermon.

For those that grew up in an Evangelical church, the word fasting can bring up a whole slew of reactions. This week, Micah does a bit of a reframe around fasting and also a challenge for the community coming into a new week.