Singing in the Dark
Last Wednesday night, our church joined the age old tradition of Christmas Caroling house-to-house, singing songs, giving cookies, and praying blessing. These moments of stepping onto the threshold of people’s homes we so powerful. Many of them, and not a few of us, are carrying burdens, concerns, griefs, and just a moment of singing out the story of Jesus, brough smiles from some and tears too. Our group sang and…
Purpose, Identity & the Existence of God
In Ecclesiastes 3:11, we learned that humans are limited beings and while at the same time God has placed eternity in our hearts. We live in this tension. A tension between the desire to know our purpose in the overall significance of life and the boundaries of our context and perspective. And within these limits, we struggled through questions about purpose that ultimately force us back to our need for…
Office Changes, Bible Still the Same
During the sermon on Sunday, it was amazing to look out across the sea of faces and note so many of you and your history with the Lord and with His Word. Isn’t it amazing that He speaks to us at all? And that we’re caught up together in this historical restorative Love of God, even here at HSCC! What stood out to you about the Scriptures this last Sunday? How did the Word of God nudge you?
Hatching a New Year
On Sunday, we had a dear friend of HSCC and missionary, Jim Hatcher preached to kick off our 2023 year!! Jim and Lynette have been connected to HSCC for 41 years and on the mission field for 36. Wow, what faithfulness. Jim shared authentically about his nomadic experiences as a missionary, and how a longing for HOME is…
Choose Your Own (Advent)ure – Christmas Style
Did you know that when Pastor Danny and I originally launched this blog/pastoral letter, we wanted it to be a place where we could share the gold “nuggets” that God has taught us during our sermon preparations? These nuggets, for one reason or another, couldn’t be included in the time to preach during the Sunday worship, but for us have been encouraging, eye-opening, and useful in…
What is Hope Made Real?
On top of seasonal busyness, the holidays can stir up a lot of heart-content too. Last week, Danny reminded each of us to breathe. Such a good reminder! Let’s take another breath this week as we consider another theme from our Advent sermon last week, Hope, Hope is often spoken casually as a wish, a desire—something that would occur if….
Whose the Fairest Ministry of them All? (Clue: it’s all of us!)
Okay, if you missed our Ministry Fair—I’m not saying you missed out (We don’t want to trigger any FOMO PTSD for those youngin’s) but…it was super fun! Here are some initial reflections on our time together…
Gifts for EVERYONE!
This Sunday at 11am, there’s an exciting event for everyone who attends HSCC—the Ministry Fair! Now many of you have been to a “market fair” or “county fair” but this event is strategically placed at the end of our Bestowed sermon series—why, you ask? Well…
Finding a Way to Believe
As we traverse through our Bestowed series (studying the work of the Holy Spirit among us through giving spiritual gifts and shaping our stories), last Sunday we bounded down an uncommon trail in the modern Church’s conversation surrounding spiritual gifts. A conversation about the Supernatural. As we learned, the modern list of spiritual gifts is actually a conglomeration of…
Lemonade Reflections
Last Sunday at 12:30pm, a large gathering took over High Street Community Church front lawn and parking lot. As the warm sunlight finally broke through, Andrew Trowbridge launched his 5th Annual Lemonade Stand to support Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz. Dozens of Westsiders…
Shipwrecks, Storms, & a Holy Ghost
Are you ready for an epic adventure? The end of Acts reads like a synopsis of a blockbuster film: riots, beatings, starvation, storms, shipwrecks, pagan islands, and more. As we finish our Summer in the Spirit series, we’re also finishing the journey with the Apostle Paul. And in the midst of this, we’re considering staying mindful the activity of the Holy Spirit in the midst of our uncertain journeys.
Holy Outreach
We’re spending the whole Summer focusing on God, the Holy Spirit, as the divine person we can know and be changed by through the scriptures and through His presence in our daily lives. I had the joy of teaching on…
The Never Ending Series
I can’t believe Jesus 1.0 series is over, can you?! We started the series back in December as we celebrated Advent, and now we’ve witnessed Jesus ascend, leaving his disciples behind to wait on the coming promise of the Father (the Holy Spirit). The beautiful thing about a…
Seasons of the Spirit
Since last Sunday’s Sermon on the Emmaus Road (Luke 24) , I’ve had a handful of conversations. Some folks resonated with the experience of the Hiddenness of God. God can sometimes be hard to find. I’ve also connected with others who long for…
What an Easter!
Can you believe it’s almost Easter Sunday already? I don’t know about you, but for me this year feels like it is flying by and in the midst of our busy life, this week we have a holiday (a holy-day) set apart for us to pause and…
The Fear of Death
As I’ve reflected on John chapter 11 last few weeks and I’ve been impacted by Jesus’ intentionality during His last weeks of “earthly” ministry. Of course, His earthly ministry has continued for 2,000 years, but we’re talking pre-resurrection here ;) As you may recall, we dove into the story of Lazarus (John 11) and soaked in the layers of revelation Jesus showed to His…
Are the Rivers for Me?
Last Sunday we dove into the powerful words Jesus declared on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Hoshana Rabah). At this climactic moment, all of Israel was gathered together, celebrating the ancient memory of God’s abundant provision at the…
The Wonderful Humanity of God
We’ve recently launched a new series called Jesus 1.0, and, I don’t know about you, but my heart is longing for some refreshment and reorientation in the person and presence of Jesus. I find myself longing, not just for more scripture (though of course that is needed!) but for the clarity and…
Who IS God, really?!
We just spent an amazing week at Mount Hermon’s Family Camp in Santa Cruz. Have any of you heard of Mount Hermon? Of course, many of you locals know it well. It’s not the Mount Hermon in…
What is Worship?
At HSCC, I’ve uniquely experienced a people who love to sing! Whether hymns or contemporary songs, whether is a familiar face leading or a guest, whether it’s in…