April, 9 2008 by Ryan.

This Sunday, April 18, on Hollywood Boulevard between Western and Normandie, the city will be celebrating the Thai New Year. The festival is known as Songkran. I’ve attended the past two years and our Thai Group has a booth about health every year. They take blood pressures and other screenings and talk to people about their health.

A new addition this year - and something I’ve really looking forward to is the First LA International Curry Festival. This is your chance to test your tolerance for heat!

I’ve written more about it and posted a bunch of links at my blog, intersections. Hope to see you all out there!

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April, 5 2008 by Ryan.

Here is a quote I’m reading in my sermon this morning. It’s from the second to last chapter of N.T. Wright’s book, The Challenge of Jesus. The chapter is entitled, “Walking to Emmaus in a Postmodern World.” This chapter and the last chapter together are worth the price of the whole book!

But now, with the right story in their heads and hearts, a new possibility, huge, astonishing and breathtaking, started to emerge before them. Suppose the reason the key would not fit the lock was because they were trying to wrong door. Suppose Jesus’ execution was not the clear disproof of his messianic vocation but its confirmation and climax. Suppose the cross was not one more example of the triumph of paganism over God’s people but was actually God’s means of defeating evil once and for all. Suppose this was, after all, how the exile was designed to end, how sins were to be forgiven, how the kingdom was to come. Suppose this was what God’s light and truth looked like, coming unexpectedly to lead his people back into his presence (162).

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April, 2 2008 by Ryan.

Our new Tuesday night study group starts this coming Tuesday, April 8 at 8:00 pm at the church. We will we be reading and discussing together the book Hearing God, by Dallas Willard. Please join us. Here’s a quote from the Preface to whet your appetite:

God has created us for intimate friendship with himself–both now and forever. This is the Christian viewpoint…. As with all close personal relationships, we can surely count on God to speak to each of us when and as it is appropriate. But what does this really mean? And how does it work in practice? I hope in the following pages to give a clear and workable answer to these questions.

We will be discussing the Preface and first chapter on Tuesday. To reserve your copy of the book and to get this week’s reading, please email Lennox.

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