St. Paul's Church - Willington, Ct

We had intended to have a guest speaker this week, but had to cancel service last-minute because of ominous weather reports regarding Hurricane Henri. Instead, Pastor Ryan offered a livestream reflection on John 2, when Jesus turns water into wine. Trust that "the best is saved for last"!

Galatians 4:8 - 4:20 reveals several things about how things are, including the fact that the Church has always had to struggle to be what it is meant to be. But Jesus said that the gates of Hell would not prevail.

Paul said that when the Holy Spirit dwells in us he cries out: "Abba! Father!" What does that mean? There are two main ways to think about yourself: (1) As an orphan in the universe, (2) As a child of the Creator. Jesus taught us to embrace the second option.

Part of the Bible records the Law God gave Moses. In Galatians, Paul argues that obedience to this Law is not necessary for being part of the family of God. But if that's the case, what was the point of the Law? How should we view the parts of the Bible that contain the Law today?

Guest speaker Matt Ricci joined us again, this time to talk about missions: what our mission is, what should motivate it, and the joy of seeing it unfold.

Guest Speaker Matt Ricci joined us this week to reflect on one of Jesus' hardest teachings: the cost of being his disciple.

In this next part of Galatians, Paul appeals to both the Galatians' experience and to the Scriptures to combat the false teachers.

This week we continued our series on the Book of Galatians by looking at Paul's confrontation with Peter: one apostle publicly rebuked another. Why? And what can we learn from the confrontation?

This Sunday we began a new series on Paul's letter to the Galatians. Of all Paul's New Testament letters, Galatians might be his angriest. But when we consider what made Paul angry, it may be his most encouraging letter, too. Paul was defending the Gospel from false teachers. This morning we identified what their error was, and why that error was so important.

An essential part of spiritual health is a regular intake of truth. The average American takes in 12.2 hrs of media a day, but how much of that media is actually the kind of truth that our souls need?

Most of us want to be a part of something more significant than our own individual happiness or success, and if we're not we languish spiritually. Today we identified three ways to describe the mission Jesus calls us to, and how we can start living with a greater sense of mission.

We continued our Dry Bones Rising series by considering the importance of fellowship: What is fellowship, really? Do church services really matter? As the threat of COVID diminishes, is returning to physical churches important?

14 months ago life changed. After all this time of pandemic life, many of us are feeling spiritually dry. Over the next few weeks, we'll be considering practical steps we can take to "come to life" spiritually. This week we started with the topic of prayer. Our spiritual vitality is directly connected to our relationship with God, and without communication there is no relationship. We identified five modes of prayer and why they are all valuable.

One time, Jesus said something so upsetting a crowd immediately tried to throw him off a cliff. What got them so upset? We identified the root of their rage, and what it teaches us about humanity.

This week we concluded our "After Easter" series with more reflection on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost: What does it mean to be "filled with the Holy Spirit"? What does the Holy Spirit DO? We looked to Jesus' teaching in John 14-16 for answers.

This week we came to the final event in our After Easter series: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We considered why this event is "a new Sinai that reverses Babel," and how to think about the topic of "speaking in tongues" today.

One post-resurrection event that is rarely talked about is Jesus' ascension. We talk a lot about his birth, his death, and his resurrection, but rarely the ascension. This week we considered: What actually happened when Jesus ascended? Why did he ascend? Why was it better for him to ascend than to stay in earth in his resurrected body?

This week we looked at another one of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances: breakfast on the beach with his disciples. This story can be a special source of encouragement for any of us carrying guilt and shame from past mistakes.

Thomas' experience after the resurrection is relatable to many people: he struggled to believe. Today we considered what we can learn about dealing with doubt from his story.