Rev. Josh tries to make sense of our disappointments in how our expectations of our parents or our hopes for our children sometimes get disrupted. He shared vulnerably about the parallels between his own story and that of Moses and his Mother Jochebed. And concludes the message with some practical advice on how to navigate the challenges within family dynamics.
Read MorePlease forgive the low quality of our stream. Unfortunately, we had streaming issues and had to stream from a phone instead.
What is your relationship to anger in this season? In what ways are you or aren’t you prone to suppression? Where have you seen rage practiced well? Does Scripture or Jesus provide healthy demonstrations of anger? Rev. Josh explores all of this and more as a disrupts our mind's relationship to anger!
Read MoreRev. Josh concluded our series “Those Who Dream” with Epiphany Sunday. Epiphany simply means a mystery being revealed. This church holiday marks the day the Maggi in Matthew 2 is led by astrology, finds a 2-year-old Christ-Child, and is forever changed by his light, life, and love. In this message, you are encouraged to ask, where or what has the light of Christ shined on a dark part of your life, theology, or the world and left you changed? And when we arrive on the other side of 2024, how do you want to live and love differently?
Read MoreRev. Josh reminds us that we are all dreamers. Like those gathered around the manger, we come to Christmas each year with awe, wonder, and holy imagination for what is possible. Like Mary, we treasure God’s dream in our hearts and commit to keeping it alive. Like the holy family, we believe and trust in a God who comes to us in the vulnerability of a child. How might we like Mary use our imagination to dream of a world and a church that is more just and peaceful?
Read MoreRev. Josh makes a connection between the man beaten, robbed, and ignored by the religious elite in Luke 10 and the senseless violence, silencing, and marginalization of the LGBTQ+ community. However, the Samaritan had compassion. How might we use our empathy to advocate and care for those harmed or overlooked or how might we go about reclaiming our voices after being silenced in our closets?
Read MoreIn the second week of our series on Prayer, Rev. Josh proposes that prayer changes us! He does this by asking questions like, what’s the purpose of prayer? Can we change God’s mind or convince God to do something? Or is prayer the tool God uses to change our mind or hearts? How can we reconstruct a new vision of prayer in our reconstruction process?
Read MoreRemember the all-church survey? Well, 60% of you said that when choosing a church to connect with that community was the most important thing to you! I talk to Forefronters all the time who say they were struggling to find community in the city, so they darkened our doors in search! Making friends as an adult is so challenging and maintaining friendships in the city only adds to the challenge. This Sunday, Rev. Josh will introduce some conventional and theological wisdom on how to build and maintain friendships.
Read MoreIn the last week of our Sacraments series, Rev. Josh will share about the evolution of communion and diversity of how its observed in different traditions. But more than that, he paints a picture of Communion being a historically subversive act that transcends time. Sometimes the most radical act of Christian obedience is to share a meal with someone new or different than us and this is what is at the heart of this practice.
Read MoreDid you grow up in a tradition where you went through confirmation? If not, what sort of initiation or religious educational process did your tradition embody? Rev. Josh shares about the sacrament of confirmation, where an adolescent or adult, confirms their baptismal vows and publicly affirms their faith after having gone through confirmation classes where they learn about Christian history, beliefs, and traditions. How might we too benefit from the Spirit of this sacrament and how might it aid us in reconciling with and reforming our faith?
Read MoreRev. Josh explores the history, theology, and modern-day implications of the sacrament of anointing the sick. This sacrament started as a counter-cultural practice of extending love and grace to hurting and forgotten people in a Roman culture where the sick or sinners were isolated from the community. What if we embodied the spirit of this sacrament by showing up and acknowledging we often can’t take someones suffering away but we sit with them in their divorce, diagnosis, depression…
Read MoreRev. Josh explores the history, impact and modern day relevance of the sacrament of Holy Orders. What if part of ushering in the next 500 years of Christianity means we commit to expanding holy orders to all? What if it means having a healthy respect for pastors while equally valuing the voices and giftings of everyone at Forefront? What might this type of church look like?
Read MoreRev. Josh queers the parable of the shepherd and the sheep in John 10 by connecting how we can often be led astray like new sheep to believe dehumanizing theologies. However, we can attune our ears to the tender and loving voice of The Good Shepherd who leads us to greener pastures amidst confusion and disillusionment.
Read MoreRev. Josh makes modern-day connections to our lives from the parable of the wheat and the weeds. He highlights some of the people in his life who felt like a weed, or perhaps not the people as much as the beliefs they held that seemed to get in his way or take nutrients from his life. He shared how he is often tempted to pluck them, shame them, and cast them aside. As we start PRIDE, might we give people the grace and space to learn how to love us, accept us, and eventually affirm or celebrate us.
Read MoreRev. Josh highlights how Mary was the first to see the Resurrected Christ and amidst her grief and fear that someone had stolen his body, she didn’t even recognize him until he said her name. But Jesus wasn’t concerned first and foremost with proclaiming his identity or status but instead, he was concerned with her tears and tending to her pain. In a world that is quick to move from tragedy to triumph this story can serve as a reminder that we are called to sit with people in their pain and offer them support, even when we would rather offer solutions.
Read MoreHistorically we moved from human sacrifice to animal sacrifice to various modes of self-sacrifice. We did and still do this with the belief that by sacrificing something, God will be moved to bless or accept us. In this sermon Rev. Josh unpacks several theories held throughout Church history around the meaning of Jesus' death for Christians and the world. What if Jesus' death was simply a result of the life he lived? What if the death and resurrection of Christ is understood as a catalyst to reform society, inspiring people to follow His example and live good moral lives of love?
Read MoreA predominant religious view is that God can’t be around sin, God must separate Godself from humans' sinfulness. Its this very reasoning that led to the religious elite of Jesus' day, isolating themselves from people who they deemed sinners. However, in this sermon Rev. Josh challenges us to let go of certain views of God and cultivate a view of God that recognizes that God never distances Godself from us but we in our shame estrange and hide from God. So Did Jesus come to change God's disposition toward humans or to change humans' disposition toward God? How we answer this just might change how we love ourselves, God, and others?
Read MoreRev. Josh started our Cultivating and Letting Go series by connecting the story of Jesus fasting and praying for forty days in the desert in order to cultivate the beginning of ministry to the value of us cultivating our spiritual lives so that we are prepared for the struggles and tribulations of our everyday life. Jesus wanders with God as a spiritual practice, thus preparing him to face trials and stay centered on his purpose. Many of us may have gotten out of the routine of spiritual practices or have baggage around being guilted to read our bible or pray. But quite frankly there is a smorgasbord of ways to connect with God and perhaps we can engage these opportunities anew.
Read MoreWhat themes do you think can easily be missed if reading this text from a place of power and privilege? Jesus placed himself in solitary with the weak and so did Moses and the 17 prophets in the Hebrew Bible. So what happens if you don’t find yourself as weak? Might you find it difficult to see yourself in the narrative of Scripture as the one in need, being oppressed, held captive. Jesus came to give sight to the blind… perhaps this is spiritual metaphorical blindness. In this sermon you’re invited to see the text anew from the perspective of black liberation, how might this lift is a spiritual blindness to see a broader vision?
Read MoreEver heard someone refer to the Bible as the manual or GPS for life, the magic 8 call, the rule book? Well Rev. Josh started our new series, Bible Say What? By exploring questions like: What is the Bible if not a GPS? Who wrote the Bible? Who decided what books were included? When did it come together? How and Why do we even read the Bible? Some of the responses to these questions just may surprise you…
Read MoreHave you ever experienced a shift or change in how you understood yourself, God, spirituality, the world, racism, sexism, sexuality, or perhaps your expectations for yourself vs. your family's expectations? Has it ever been difficult for certain people to trust where God is guiding you? Have they struggled to stand alongside you through every season of your life? Well in this sermon Rev. Josh Lee looks at similar challenges that Mary and Joseph faced as they discerned their unexpected future together. Joseph choose a better way after a divine intervention that shifted the way he saw God, himself, and his fiance. Do you or someone you know need a divine intervention to shift their or your thinking?
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