Derek and Bonnie Clauson visit an assisted living home in Everett once a month to gather with brothers and sisters there. Bonnie plays the piano and leads them in hymns from their own spiral-bound hymnals. She even takes requests as the residents call out the page numbers of their favorite hymns.

What a full and joyous weekend we had celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus! Good Friday was a beautiful time of remembrance and reflection with a moving reading from John 19, music that filled the room and cut to the heart, and the Lord’s table taken together. We experienced the tension of grief mixed with joy, the reality that a seed must go into the ground and die in order to bear fruit. We are made new through the costly death of Jesus.

This time of year can be dreary. We are all ready for spring, but while many of us experience the doldrums of March, our youth continue to inspire us by pursuing Jesus and one another, full of youthful energy.

“As parents we must remember that spiritual growth—just like growth of all other kinds—is usually a slow, gentle, and even painful process rather than a series of big leaps. It rarely comes through amazing performances in which we explain an aspect of Christian faith clearly and comprehensively to a child who listens, spellbound, before responding with perfect understanding and immediate acceptance.”

When sickness and suffering are visited upon us, it’s an opportunity to examine what we really believe. We may have said all the right things before difficulties came our way, but when they come we see how our hearts respond. We see the fears that surface and the ways we struggle. It takes intentionality to seek God, to calm our hearts, and to say, “Thy will be done.”

To kick off the new year, we are inviting everyone at Sound City to a month of dedicated, collective prayer. Each week, we will have a different area of focus as disciples: 1) relationship with God, 2) relationship with self, 3) relationship with the church community, and 4) relationship with the unbelieving world around us. Please set aside time each day to pray along the lines of the guidance provided below. The focus of this week’s prayer is our relationship with unbelievers.

To kick off the new year, we are inviting everyone at Sound City to a month of dedicated, collective prayer. Each week, we will have a different area of focus as disciples: 1) relationship with God, 2) relationship with self, 3) relationship with the church community, and 4) relationship with the unbelieving world around us. Please set aside time each day to pray along the lines of the guidance provided below. The focus of this week’s prayer is our relationship with the community of faith.

To kick off the new year, we are inviting everyone at Sound City to a month of dedicated, collective prayer. Each week, we will have a different area of focus as disciples: 1) relationship with God, 2) relationship with self, 3) relationship with the church community, and 4) relationship with the unbelieving world around us. Please set aside time each day to pray along the lines of the guidance provided below. The focus of this week’s prayer is our relationship with self and the way that God transforms our inner-life.

There are thousand little ways that we can show Jesus love everyday, and I hope that we all avail ourselves of those opportunities. But I also want us to know about specific ways our brothers and sisters in Christ are showing this kind of love in our community. One of the community groups in our church has been serving the Vision House for 10+ years.