Do you keep God in a box?

The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. - I Corinthians 12:25-26 (The Message)

I’ve sometimes said that I keep my God in a box, defining him with the terms and understanding with which I’m comfortable and which therefore limits my God. I’ve probably done the same thing with the church. If you’re like me, when you think of church, you probably first think of Hope Church at 1661 Balch Road in Madison. If you’ve moved from one city to another, you probably have a better understanding of church being the body of believers and even understand some of the diversity in the body. If you’ve attended churches of different denominations, you may have an expanded understanding of how the denominations differ and opinions about what this means. Read more

How clearly do you understand what the church is

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. - Ephesians 2:18-22 (ESV)

Jesus declared, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Read more

In God We Trust

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. - I Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV)

In God We Trust

You've probably heard or seen that somewhere, right? Most of us probably don't remember a time when our national motto (adopted in 1956) wasn't printed on all of our coins and paper currency. Our national motto encapsulates the beliefs and ideals which we want to guide our Nation. Read more