Weekly Messages
8/11 – John Pavlovitz
John Pavlovitz bring us a very relevant message about how to approach upcoming turbulence.
8/4 Sermon
Doug's message from Aug 4.
We Can Do This Hard Thing
Triggering environments are not going away. Our world has gotten more connected. We can't stay in our divided little groups, so we no longer have the luxury of living in homogeneous bubbles. It’s time to build our relational skills so we can participate in changing...
It’s Not Your Fault . . . It’s Your Brain
Our brains evolved to keep us safe in hunter-gatherer bands on the Serengeti. Features of a brain designed for safety there, don't necessarily work well for us here. Unconscious bias is one of those "safety" features. But the spiritual journey invites us to access a...
Easy Choices Hard Life — Hard Choices Easy Life
Our brains evolved to trick us into automatic choices for survival. Those choices don’t fit very well into our modern context. We gain freedom of choice through our spiritual practices.
I Nearly Lost My Son on 4th of July
Can You Spare Some Change?
We cannot “put on” love, goodness, courage. We must become them if we want to change the world. It’s not easy, but it is simple. See how.
Outlasting Outrage
Outrage will fuel change -- but not for very long. If we want to change deeply rooted systems that cause harm, we must be the kind of people who can function in that demanding environment. Turns out, many generations of spiritual people before us, figured that out....
Service Work + System Work = Sea Change
If we follow Jesus, serving those hurt by oppressive systems is our work. But Jesus also taught us to change the systems that hurt people in the first place. If we want to change the world, the job before us is to rebalance our win-lose systems.
How To Change The World (Intro)
Stay. See. Settle In.
Meditation is an essential practice on the spiritual journey. But it challenges all our established internal habits. That means to gain the benefits of the practice, we need to develop some complementary skills -- staying when we want to leave -- seeing when we want...
Do You Have Stuff . . . Or Does Stuff Have You?
The practice of spiritual detachment helps us cut through our false self to excavate our deepest desires and to set about attaining them.
How to Miss … The Abyss
When we find ourselves looking into the abyss, we struggle to reverse course because our path there was unconscious. Spiritual practices help us to “wake up”, observe our false-selves and discern the next right step.
Valuate Your Values
A fearless inventory of how you spend time -- and money... These are powerful spiritual tools. They tell us if our actions line up with what we want to be our values. Have a listen.
5/5/19
Sermon from NRCC on 5 May 2019
04/28/2019
Sermon from April 28, 2019 https://s3.amazonaws.com/nrccaudio/2019/04-28-19_Sermon.mp3
Easter 2019
Today is a day for stories. Have a listen.
Taking Inventory
A fearless inventory of how we spend our dollars and our hours... - it detaches us from habit, - it gives us time to ask: "Is this the life I want?"
Somebody Else’s Desires — Stuck in MY Head!
A whole industry goes to work every day, trying to get you and me to want stuff. Not stuff our souls need. Not stuff that takes us toward the lives we really want... Just stuff. And we suffer the consequences.
It Doesn’t Ad Up
Advertisers promise us our egos’ desires and encourage onto the rat wheel, leaving our divinely-inspired, deepest desires unrealized.
All That Glitters is Not Gold. Don’t Buy It!
Our consumerist culture has perverted our instincts toward relationships. When we approach relationships from a transactional posture, only concerned about what we’ll get, what we get is anxiety and depression.
Chasing Acorns . . . Drives Us Nuts
Endlessly chasing after stuff -- thinking it will meet a need or fill a void. Nope. It's an exercise in futility -- trying to meet higher level needs with lower level tools. Better -- chase awakening to the deep reality that we belong, we fit.
Core Workout (core stories, that is)
Desire . . . And Pay Attention
SUNDAY SLIDE DECK