Cascade Church Portland

Elijah:: The Sacred Now

If you were to ask me about sacred spaces I would go in a couple different directions. 

1) Holy Landmarks. 

The Jordan River. The Dead Sea. The Wailing Wall. Pancake and Steak House. These are the places where powerful and deeply spiritual things happened. We revere and protect these places because they help us remember when God was close. 

2) Holy Moments. 

Baptism. Birth of a Child. Hearing God's Voice. While these moments may have a place linked to them. it is usually an experience that we hold onto and remember. We can tell you what we felt, who was in the room, the sounds, the smells and what our insides felt like. 

These are both significant places to go with sacred spaces. They help us raise up stones of remembrance so that we don't lose the thing that was so important to us. We cling tightly to these threads in the tapestry of our life. 

But what if when you were asked about sacred spaces you thought of right where you are right now? What if sacred spaces didn't just exist in your past or a place in your future, but traveled with you in the ever-present now? That's what we're exploring this week. 

Elijah:: I Quit

I was raised in a family of board game aficionados.

During many years of family game nights, that would sometimes end in tears and tantrums, I developed two distinct personalities. 

When I'm winning at a game I'm having a ball! I'll be chatting it up, making jokes and trying to be gracious to those who aren't doing as well. There will be laughing and carrying on like I'm Captain Good Times. 

The losing version of myself is completely different. I'm sullen and withdrawn. The game won't hold my attention for very long and I'll be easily distracted. While I understand the value of being a good loser, I've spent too many years contemplating the futility of existence while being run off the Monopoly board to practice it. 

Basically, I'm saying you should never play games with me because I'm insufferable either way. 

The desire to quit when things go sideways is exactly what we'll be looking at this Sunday. Our look at the life of Elijah comes just after the amazing high when God shows up in a powerful way and justifies him in front of the nation of Israel. Elijah is at a devastating low and wants to pack it up and check out of life. 

Maybe you're feeling like you want to quit. Being a good employee. Being a parent. Being a spouse. Being responsible. 

You're not alone. When you're in a place of despair and want to quit and walk away you stand in line with a long heritage of those who went before you. I hope you'll explore what next steps could be and how God simultaneously sits with us in despair and invites us ever forward through this message. 

Elijah:: Breaking the Blame Game

Have you had something go wrong this past week? When something you thought would happen fails to happen we usually have 1 of 2 responses. 

1) Wallowing Sadness. I have been known to throw myself a pretty fierce pity parade. I get down when something goes wrong and don't want to talk, think or act on it in any way. I bemoan my own failures and the failures of others with similar gusto and live in a place that necessitates salty snack foods and Netflix. 

2) Misdirected Anger. This is when whatever has gone wrong is the fault of everyone and everything else except for me. 
Burned dinner? Oven's fault. 
Late for a meeting? Traffic's fault. 
Can't sleep? My pillow's fault. 

In this message we continue looking at the life of Elijah and how he held a mirror up for the Israelite people to see things that they didn't want to see. We'll wrestle with how we respond when things don't go our way. 

My hope is that we can all walk away contemplating who God is in the midst things going wrong and choosing something different than cycles of misdirected anger or wallowing sadness. 

Elijah:: Scarcity & Abundance

Confession time. I love sneaking candy into movie theaters. 

I've been resistant to taking out a 2nd mortgage on our home to afford a tiny box containing four Raisinets. So we invariably go to the bulk candy section of the local grocery store and stock up on the good stuff. The only limitations we face is the size of our stomachs and my wife's purse. 

Now, when the previews are running I am a man of great generosity. There is no limitations on the Runts and gummy bears I will hand out. What kind of husband and father would I be to withhold great candy from those closest to me? 

Get me closer to the bottom of the bag and I am a tightfisted scrooge. I dispense gummy bears one at a time and hoard banana Runts like they are golden doubloons from recently unearthed pirate treasure. 

Generosity and scarcity don't usually make a good duo. In this message we look at that dynamic through a story from the life of Elijah. Hopefully we will discover what the mirror holds when we see ourselves in scarcity and abundance. 

Elijah:: Holding Up Mirrors

Prophets and prophecy freak me out. I immediately get an image of an older man with a bushy beard grabbing my arm while I walk down the street, looking at me with blank eyes and telling me exactly how I'll die next month. 

We're starting a new series of messages this week looking at the life of one of the most famous prophets from the Bible, Elijah. We are going through the life of a prophet so we can investigate any misconceptions we may have. My hope is that we will learn the value of community living that is both grace-filled and honest. 

One misconception that we may have is that a prophet is functionally a sooth-sayer or a fortune teller. If you go and see a prophet they will deliver news about your future plans and destiny. 

While prophets certainly deal in the realm of the future it is actually a much more grounded look at where our paths are heading based on current trajectories. It looks a lot like a person who is an active part of a community holding up a mirror for everyone to see their reflection. 

That's where it gets scary. The community response to a prophet is rarely humility and a reversal of course after seeing an unflattering image in the mirror. More often than not the prophet is rejected so that the status quo can be maintained. 

So, how do we welcome in our prophets and prophetic voice? How do we face our fears of change and challenge our past assumptions about ourselves?

Fall Kick Off:: What We Value

Take a listen to where we've been where we're going and who we hope to be on the way. 

Rhythms:: Community

Kurt concludes the Rhythms series with a message on community. Discussing how important community is while also explaining how the messiness that drives many away from achieving real community is what we should all be embracing. 

Rhythms:: Solitude

A while back I heard about this thing called "floating". It remains to this day to be one of the more interesting experiences I've had. 

There are these sensory deprivation tanks in Portland at a place called Float On where you get in water with a super high concentration of salt that makes you float. These tanks don't let in light or sound and the water is heated to 93.5*, which they say is "skin receptor neutral". Basically, you don't hear, see, feel or fight gravity based on these factors and you float for 90 minutes. 

For some of you this sounds like heaven and for others of you this sounds like hell. 

The thing I most had to fight wasn't a fear of closed spaces or drowning, it was the pure isolation of it all. I don't often like to be alone. Being left with my thoughts feels like a punishment, not a respite. 

I've been really stretched recently to start exploring solitude more and more. In fact, I think God has something important for us without any other person or input around that is actually crucial when it comes to healthy engagement with community. 

I invite you to come out to Cascade this Sunday and hear from Colleen Millstein about this healthy rhythm of solitude and how we can allow God to shape and form us in that space in ways that aren't possible when we're surrounded by others. 

Rhythms:: Giving

I have often heard it said that, it is better to give than to receive. 

Pffffffft. Sounds like someone who's never received a go-kart to me. 

In all seriousness, I've really struggled with the concept that giving to others is better than receiving. Now, this isn't because I think that receiving is better, but rather that they are both equally difficult. Receiving something that is truly fulfilling, even for a moment, requires people around me to be so in tune with my current wants and desires that they meet it. That's a huge task and it can often lead to forced smiles and pretending to love something when you are still trying to decide what it is. 

Similar concerns exist when it comes to giving. Have you ever put a bunch of thought and effort into giving a gift you felt someone would love and watch it fall completely flat? It is a defeating feeling of not communicating the feelings of love and care you had in selecting the gift in a way they could receive. 

This Sunday we want to look at giving and unpack the differences between giving with expectations and without expectations. The prayer is that we can be the kind of people who can give freely and engage a rhythm that encourages health within the giver, regardless of how the receiver responds

Rhythms:: Play

My 3 year old has one request for me the moment I walk in the door. 

"Play with me, Daddy."

Surprisingly, he isn't interested in checking in on the latest in local politics, the stock market, weather or sports. He doesn't want to set up a networking meeting, go over the latest spreadsheets or schedule a meeting to talk long-term strategy. His sole desire is to kneel by our Lego table and pull the heads off various Lego people and put them on different bodies. He wants to give various figures super powers and have them wield them with swift and complete justice. 

I've never thought of sitting my son down and talking to him about his troubling lack of productivity. For him this is one of the most important things he could be doing. He's exercising his imagination, learning how to engage with others in a way that's fun for everyone and doing something for the pure enjoyment of it all. 

When you look at that list, do you think these things are ultimately just important for the 3 year olds among us? 

Is it possible that play isn't something that we graduate or age out of, but rather a fundamental part of healthy human rhythms? Unfortunately our transition into adulthood can convince us that play is something to be left behind with blankies, training wheels and bunk beds. This coming Sunday we want to explore and help define play as an integral part of being alive and look at ways God invites us to regularly integrate it into our lives. I hope you can join us!