14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house… Read More »Christmas is Coming: The Pace of a Plant (Jer. 33:14-16) Chris Altrock – Dec. 2, 2018
Endless Tasks
The ancient Greeks had a legend about a king named Sisyphus. Sisyphus was the king of Corinth. He was a bit of a troublemaker–so much so that he got on the wrong side of the gods. As a result, in the afterlife, he was assigned a troublesome task. Sisyphus was forced to roll a giant boulder up a mountain. But just before he got to the top, an evil force would cause the boulder to slip from his grasp and tumble to the bottom. Sisyphus would have to go to the bottom and roll the boulder the top again. Where, once again, the boulder would slip and roll to the bottom. Sisyphus was condemned to repeat this unending task forever.
Ever since, certain tasks have come to be known as Sisyphean–they are unending in nature. In our staff meeting last week we shared some of the Sisyphean tasks of ministry. Read More »Winners & Losers: Finished (Rev. 16:17) Chris Altrock – Aug. 28, 2016
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. (Luke 17:11-14 ESV)
We’re going to do some imagination this morning. I want you to imagine what it would be like to stand in the sandals of those in this story. First, we’ll stand in the sandals of the 10 lepers. Second, we’ll stand in the sandals of Jesus. Third, we’ll stand in the sandals of 1 of those lepers who returns.
First, imagine yourself standing the sandals the 10 lepers. You share something in common with each other. You may be divided by income or age or race (after all there are Jews and Samaritans among you). But everything that used to divide you seems to have fallen away. What remains is the one thing you share in common: your crisis. Your leprosy.Read More »Surpassing Relief (Luke 17:11-19) Chris Altrock 11/22/15
A few years ago I spent time with a non Christian man named Lloyd. I met him through a Highland member whom he was dating. Lloyd was a good doctor and he was using his talents and resources to bless people inside the hospital where he worked and outside the hospital where he lived. He did not attend church anywhere. So I invited him to attend church at Highland. Lloyd came for a few Sundays and we spent some time during the weekdays talking about his faith and mine.
Our relationship and conversations grew to the point that I felt safe in asking Lloyd if he would like to study the Bible. I remember the phone call during which I asked him that question. Lloyd had just purchased an old home in Midtown and he was renovating it. I asked Lloyd if he would be interested in coming to the church building and studying the Gospel of Mark with me later that week. And I remember his answer: “No, but if you’d like to grab a hammer and help me with this renovation I would love to spend time with you.” To this day I regret that I hung up the phone and did not pick up a hammer.Read More »Monday Morning Faith: Unleashing Love (Luke 10:25-37) Chris Altrock – 9/20/15