Continuing our series on the Twelve Steps, this sermon explores Step 8, “Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.”

Continuing our series on the Twelve Steps, this sermon explores Step 6, “Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” On the surface, this step might seem like an easy one – a breather. But as we’ll see, it can be more difficult than we might expect to “drop our rocks.”

Continuing our series on the 12 Steps, this sermon explores Step Five, "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." Is that really necessary? What does confession have to do with community?

Continuing our series on the 12 Steps, today we examine Step Four, "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." Why would we want to do something that difficult?

Continuing our series on the 12 Steps, this talk considers step two: "We came to believe that a Higher Power, greater than ourselves, could restore us to sanity." But admitting that we're not God may be harder than we think...

Continuing a series on the Twelve Steps, Rankin examines Step One: We admitted that we were powerless over our deepest problems, and that our lives had become unmanageable. Does that apply to me? Really, Jesus?

Introduction to a series on the Twelve Steps. How can we journey towards wholeness? * A recording glitch cut out several seconds in the third minute in which Rankin introduced the writers who have taught him the most about addiction. He says: "Three writers who’ve helped me understand addiction: Gerald May, Jay Stringer, but above all Gabor Mate. Dr. Mate is one of the world’s foremost authorities on addiction and the addictive process. He lectures all over the world. As he’s a renowned scholar there are always hundreds of people in the audience. He asks his audiences: “How many of you are addicts?” Just a few brave hands shoot up. And then, he gives his definition of addiction and describes the addictive process. For Maté there is only one addictive pattern, but it plays out in an almost infinite variety of contexts. “The addict is after a temporary change in brain status. Addiction is an attempt to regulate an unbearable emotional state internally. You are trying to regulate internal needs through external means, be it drugs or the internet or exercise or food. Whatever. There is only one universal addiction process. The targets are different, but in each case, you are trying to escape emotional distress, emotional pain.”

Part of learning to lament as the Psalms teach us to is becoming familiar with our grief.

A full third of the Psalms are songs of lament. Do we know how to pray like that, how to pour out our griefs to God?

Part of being human is feeling low - alone, bereft, in a cave of despair. What can we learn from how David prayed when he was literally in a cave, in Psalm 142?

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking..." What can we learn from Jesus' table company about the kind of community He calls his people to embody?

What comes to your mind when you think of the word CHURCH? Does that picture correspond to the Bible's description of the people of God? Have you ever looked around and wondered, is this really what Jesus intended the church to be?

Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is a day of waiting in the dark. After the devastation of Friday but before the joy of Sunday, in many ways this is where we live.

Looking around our world, we can see ample evidence for pessimism. We may enjoy our lives more through learned optimism, although it has its shortfalls. Good Friday gives us another option: Prisoners of Hope.

Palm Sunday is a celebration, with "Hosannas" and singing and waving branches. The joy of the crowd's welcome is set in distinct contrast to the shouts of the crowd just a few days later, "Crucify him!" Can we recognize ourselves in both crowds?

A look at the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. What does this passage teach us about our own temptations, and how to face them? Part of a series on redefining everyday words.

Jesus began his teaching ministry with the word "Repent...." What does that mean? How can we do it? What does it look like? I hope to re-frame how you hear that word from now on.

Sooner or later, we will all be invited to join this fellowship, if we are blessed. "And Jesus said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out, and his hand was restored." (Mark 3:5)

The Bible has a word for all that's wrong with us and wrong with the world. But the word has been spoiled for many of us. Overused AND misunderstood. Overplayed AND underplayed. Let's look at three biblical pictures of sin and examine what we can learn from them.