I am fairly new to the practice of Lent. It wasn’t part of my upbringing and my first experience of it was during my senior year of college. I decided to give up beer. I figured denying myself something I regularly enjoyed would be good form for Lent. I mean that’s what Lent is, after all? I had made it … Read More
It’s open (submission) season for the aMS blog. This blog has been a handy tool for keeping our community connected with what is happening. Now it is time to extend it to a broader conversation. We have a community full of thoughtful people trying to work out what it means to practice the way of Jesus for North Central Austin. … Read More
As I mentioned Sunday, we were recently asked to share some stories about Austin Mustard Seed with our friends in the Ecclesia Network. This was a good opportunity to celebrate what God’s been up to, so here’s what I passed along: By God’s grace, Austin Mustard Seed has formed a congregation out of many different stories and places. It has … Read More
As we talked about vocation in our liturgy this week, we reflected on how much of the work that we do might be part of the ongoing work of God in this world. In Kingdom Calling, Amy Sherman borrows from another author to describe God’s work in six ways. Below is an extended passage from her book as you reflect … Read More
As I was preparing for last Sunday’s sermon on liturgy, I found myself pulled back to a book I first read ten years ago: "A Peculiar People," by Rodney Clapp. While they title itself may be, um, peculiar, the subtitle helps give an understanding of what the book is about: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society. This was … Read More
In the sermon on Sunday, I talked about the benchmarks for what a community build around love for one another might look like. The last of those was Being Greatly Daring. As I mentioned, this came from language borrowed from Brene Brown (who borrowed it from Theodore Roosevelt). Here is the quote we used on Sunday, which came from her … Read More
If you’ve had any extended conversations with me, the topic likely turned to books at some point. I do may fair share of reading and find that engaging in a long form with the thinking of others is critical to forming my own ideas. I noticed a few Kindle books on sale this week that are worth sharing here, because … Read More
On Thursdays, we are reflecting on our Markers, which we talked through at our one of our first Cultivate gatherings. These are shared understandings that form our life together and guide what we do. The final of these markers is Presence, and our description of it reads like this: As a church community, we are the presence of God in … Read More
On Thursdays, we are reflecting on our Markers, which we talked through at our one of our first Cultivate gatherings. These are shared understandings that form our life together and guide what we do. The second of these markers is Wholeness, and our description of it reads like this: While we see the work of God in this world, we … Read More
In one of our first Cultivate core group gatherings, we talked through our Markers together. These are shared understandings that form our life together and guide what we do. Over the next few Thursdays, we’ll revisit each of these markers here on the blog. The first of these markers is Story, and our description of it reads like this: At … Read More