Denver Community Church

March 20, 2022: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome - Amanda Lum

This week we read the beatitude "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled". A hunger for righteousness, or justice, is something that many of us feel in a world rife with injustice, so much so that it can be overwhelming and cause us to shut down and shut out. Is there a way we can welcome all the pain and injustice in our world and allow it to work our hearts so that we might see justice in our communities?

March 13, 2022: A Divine Connection - Michael Hidalgo

The meek are not those who are pushovers, but those who are willing to do and pursue what is right regardless of what it costs them - and in the time of the prophets and in Jesus' day what it cost them was land. In the midst of this time, Jesus offers a blessing, "Blessed are those who do not practice domination and violence in order to seize what was never theirs in the first place, for you will inherit what God has long wanted to give you."

March 6, 2022: The Comfort of Solidarity - Jonathan Merritt

As we continue our Lent series in the beatitudes, special guest and friend of DCC Jonathan Merritt reads with us, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted". Is there a difference between grief and mourning, and what does mourning require of us?

February 27, 2022: Teenage Jesus - Nick Elio

In the second chapter of Luke, we get the only Gospel account of Jesus as a boy, where his mother and father spend 3 days searching for him after the feast of Passover. What can we learn from the way that Jesus behaves in this passage, and what does that invite us into as followers, and some of us as parents?

February 20, 2022: What Are You Waiting For - Michael Hidalgo

As we continue reading in Luke, we find two elders who rejoice after their decades of waiting is answered in the form of a baby. How is it that there was a time when we could wait decades with hope and intention, but today our patience is limited to somewhere around 3 seconds? And how might rediscovering the value of waiting open us to a whole new way of living?

February 13, 2022: The Extraordinary Ordinary - Bekah Stewart

As we look at the story of Christ's birth in Luke, we see a God who becomes ordinary, and is seemingly only recognized BY the ordinary. In a world where we are constantly told to be extraordinary, what freedom might exist for us in surrendering to the ordinary as Jesus modeled?

February 6, 2022: Naming Babies and Other Things - Michael Hidalgo

As we finish reading in the first chapter of Luke, we look at the difference between imposed peace, such as Pax Romana, and the peace that exists when creation is as it should be. This is what we call Shalom.

January 30, 2022: Danger Mom - Amanda Lum

When we think of Mary, many of us may picture a serene and gentle young woman in a baby blue cloak, softly staring into a manger. The picture that Luke paints of Mary happens to be anything but. Why have we set Mary aside as nothing more than a "holy womb", and what might we learn from her fierce and sacrificial way of living?

January 23, 2022: Yes Women - Kent Dobson

NOTE: The first few minutes of audio this week are low quality, but once the teaching begins it improves. 

Mary’s story has become so common we stand to miss the larger story of Mary’s initiation. She has just said a courageous “Yes” to partner with God, but her choice forever sends her in a new direction. In a sense, she “betrays the village” and in doing so is thrown into a new world with new challenges. All the while, she carries within her the nourishment she needs, the “fruit of her womb.” And Elizabeth is there with her, as a guide, to lead her toward peace.

January 16, 2022: This Is Nothing New - Michael Hidalgo

When it comes to the work of God in our world there are often two ways of thinking. First is that it is all up to humanity to get the work done. This discounts the power of the Great Mystery who is always at work. The second is that we need to “just trust God” which allows us off the hook for the most part - we can simply do nothing. But what the virgin birth tells us is that God and humanity work together to bring about renewal to bear in this world.