by Doug Hammack | Sep 18, 2016 | Individual Lesson, Message Audio
All signs point to the fact that we are not handling our sexuality well. When we reduce sex to “the act” and miss its much broader context, we also reduce our experiences and relationships. Have a listen, Doug ...
by Doug Hammack | Sep 4, 2016 | Amos and Social Solidarity, Message Audio
As we saw last week, we can sum up the message of the ancient prophets pretty simply. “Do the right thing . . . or suffer the consequences.” That idea riled up some folks in our community this last week. It poked some old church hurts — preachers...
by Doug Hammack | Aug 28, 2016 | Amos and Social Solidarity, Message Audio
We can sum up the message of the ancient prophets pretty simply. “Do the right thing . . . or suffer the consequences.” To many religious folk, that sounds like a threat from God. In a recent TED talk, we realize, it’s a pretty accurate description...
by Doug Hammack | Aug 21, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
It’s been our focus this summer — the spiritual practice of listening. As the summer comes to an end, we revisit the important themes of the summer lesson, and point ourselves forward. Have a listen, Doug ...
by Doug Hammack | Aug 14, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
We’re nearing the end of our “summer of listening.” We began this summer with the premise that when people set aside time for spiritual listening, one thing they have heard through the ages is the call to repair the earth. And it is clear to anyone...
by Doug Hammack | Aug 7, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
Jesus said it, not me! Hate your mother! Hate your father. But maybe that’s not the point. Maybe the point is being alert to the powerful pressure to conform — best exerted on us by our people — can keep us from discerning our ways forward. Yep. I...
by Doug Hammack | Jul 31, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
You have jerks in your life. Sure you do. But have you noticed that we usually have two categories of jerk around us? There are jerks that are “our” jerks, and those who are not. The one is not any jerkier than the other, but we somehow “get”...
by Robin Camu | Jul 24, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Enneagram, Guest Speaker, Message Audio
In our summer of listening, we are listening for “the Third Force,” “the Reconciling Force.” There’s a good chance you don’t know what that means. No problem. Robin Camu gave us a lesson recently (CLICK HERE) that helped frame for...
by Doug Hammack | Jul 17, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
This summer, our community is setting aside time for the spiritual practices of listening. This summer our society is in upheaval. – Black Lives Matter, HB2, Dallas, Nice Divisions that have long simmered, are boiling over. Which makes listening critical. In...
by Doug Hammack | Jul 10, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
This is Doug. I’m writing about the lesson Robin gave this day. I’m writing because Robin would naturally be reluctant to promote her own lesson, and I think it was a very important framing lesson for the future of our community. It’s important...
by Doug Hammack | Jul 10, 2016 | Living Comtemplatively, Message Audio
Doug leads the congregation through a very powerful and moving contemplative session before the message. Please have a listen in a quiet moment. ...
by Doug Hammack | Jul 3, 2016 | Individual Lesson, Message Audio
Our Bill of Rights enshrines four essential, socio-political freedoms… – The freedom to speak and say what we think – The freedom to write and publish what we think – The freedom to assemble together and work toward changes we want – The...
by Doug Hammack | Jun 19, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
Nope. That’s not a typo. Tikkun olam is a thing. A real thing. An ancient thing. When we set ourselves to the ancient practices of listening, the accumulated experience of those gone before us in our tradition gives us a set of expectations about some of the...
by Doug Hammack | Jun 12, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
We continue introducing our summer focus on the spiritual practice of listening. This summer, we’re focusing on the art of spiritual listening. If you’re in Raleigh, I encourage you to be part of our Sundays at 1417 Clifton St. in Raleigh, to experience the...
by Doug Hammack | Jun 5, 2016 | A Summer of Listening, Message Audio
We begin this week, a new lesson on the spiritual practice of listening. We’re combining the lesson with a summer of practicing the art of listening together. If you’re in Raleigh, I encourage you to be part of our Sundays at 1417 Clifton St. in Raleigh,...
by John Pavlovitz | May 29, 2016 | Guest Speaker, Message Audio
By John Pavlovitz One of the images that most attracted me to church was the table of God where all were congregated together in unity. However, the church has done a lot since the time of Jesus to make the table of God smaller and more exclusive. We owe it to those...
by Doug Hammack | May 22, 2016 | Message Audio, Revisiting Some Core Truths
Desire. Pay Attention. It’s one of the central ways we talk about finding our way forward on the spiritual journey. Have a listen, Doug https://media.blubrry.com/north_raleigh_community_church/s3.amazonaws.com/nrccaudio/2016/05-22-16_Sermon.mp3Podcast:...
by Doug Hammack | May 15, 2016 | Conflict Resolution, Message Audio
We continue looking at how the story we tell ourselves about sin profoundly shapes our instinct about ourselves, about one another, and about how we deal with the divided lives we all live. In particular, we explore how it affects the instincts we bring to resolving...
by Doug Hammack | May 8, 2016 | Conflict Resolution, Message Audio
As we’ve seen the story we tell ourselves about sin profoundly shapes our instinct about ourselves, about one another, and about how we deal with the divided lives we all live. Turns out, the story we tell ourselves about sin impacts how we approach conflict...
by Doug Hammack | May 1, 2016 | Message Audio, Revisiting Some Core Truths
It’s not a big deal (listen to the last three lessons), but it’s a deal. It’s a “ruin-our-lives” kind of deal. So we need to deal with it. When we tell ourselves that our defining center is ugly, ugly, sin-consciousness, we tend to deal...
