OBSTACLES & OBJECTIONS Part 4 - Suffering

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why do good things happen to bad people?

… Why do things happen to people?

Over the past three weeks Mike Gathright has unpacked some of the great objections and obstacles to faith. This week at the gathering Paul Knapp will continue along that same path and address the giant pink elephant in the room… “If there is a God who says that He loves us, then why on earth would He allow us to suffer? Wouldn’t this God want us to flourish without pain or sorrow or hardship?”

A PLACE ON EARTH

People may often consider how our inner world--our thoughts, our prayers, our mindset--impacts our immediate community and the people in it. But what about the reverse--have you ever considered how our outer world--the place we call home--impacts our inner world? This might be yet another question that God asks us: why do you live where and when you live? Why does it matter?]

This week at the Gathering, we took a close look at the places and the people we call home, and our relationship to them--and the interesting implications that might offer to our inner selves. 

THE MOMENTUM OF SELFISHNESS

Have you ever felt like we live in a society where it’s easy to withdraw to separate ‘corners’ and point fingers at all that, and all those who are wrong in the world?  What if the answer was looking closer to home, looking within ourselves?

This Sunday Andrew Collins shared personal experiences that parallel a tragic, ancient story. Listen as he talked about what he continues to learn when challenged to look within. 


READY OR NOT - QUESTIONS GOD ASKS US, Part 2

t seems as if every part of our world, from school to the internet and even religion, is designed to give us answers.  In fact, we live in the Age of Answers and yet...

This week at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright continued to look at the questions God asks us and what they can show us about ourselves, our lives and how to move forward even when answers elude us.  


RITUAL TO REAL LIFE

At one point, every ritual and tradition was new...an innovation!  A brand new way to express and experience something beyond explanation.  Over time, when we lose touch with the original intent, the spirit of the ritual fades and we either give them up or go through the motions.

This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored how Jesus chose to innovate, reframe and recast the ritual baptism in way that plunged it right into the middle of real life.


HIS STORY, NOT OURS

Life is full of stories. Stories that inform, illuminate, inspire, entertain, and call us to action… and then there are the stories we tell ourselves. The stories we use to convince ourselves that “everything will be all right…” or “maybe it won’t.” But what if there was a bigger story. One that was for all of us. One that calls us into community and mission together.
 
This Father’s Day Paul Knapp explored the story that our Heavenly Father might be telling and what that could mean for us and our world.