History changed the understanding of savior into an otherworldly superhero who came to save the day and will come again to do it again a final time. Too bad that's not how Jesus - or his original audience - wanted to be known. Imagine how history would have unfolded differently if the actual rendering of the word savior as healer would have dominat…

What does it mean for us to refer to Jesus as our teacher? When we appreciate that Jesus was referred to as "rabbi" we begin to get a better idea about who he was and what the relationship meant between the rabbi and their disciples.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

In this teaching, informed by the book, Freeing Jesus, by Diana Butler Bass, we take a look at Jesus as a friend. Note: the whole service was about friendship, including a game of Name That Tune, a short film and meditation based on friendship, and the teaching. If you'd like to watch it, go to our Live videos and check out 2024-04-07.…

The Easter story is tricky. Do you think it's true? What does that mean? In this talk, we explore what it means to say something is true, give a nod to The Tower, offer a framework to understand and interpret mystical experiences, and consider what the point of Jesus was then and now. Hint: it has a lot to do with love.…

Sometimes we don't experience the full impact of the story because we constantly break it up into smaller chunks. This week, enjoy hearing Mark's version of the full story of Jesus' last week of life with some breaks for reflection, a meditation, and some music from Mark 11, 14 and 15.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

The version of the death of Jesus as a sacrifice for sin is well known and has been effective in causing many to join the Christian faith. Yet there are aspects that are deeply problematic - so much so that many are leaving the faith because of ithem. The earliest understanding of the cross didn't see it as a means of forgiveness, but as a model fo…

Sometimes not paying attention to the original language's meaning can lead to generations of misinformed and deformed faith...저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

God - however we understand who and/or what God is - is all about the Hebrew concept of shalom. Deep peace, well-being, wholeness are some words in English that don't quite capture it. And then there's the beautiful mind-bender part of shalom that somehow brings together seeming opposites. When we embrace this fully, we discover that the most awful…

Enjoy special guest teacher and CrossWalker, Rev. Dr. Angela Barker-Jackson, as she wraps up the Simplicity, Spirituality, and Service series dovetailing Bruce Epperly, James Cone, and lectionary texts.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

Jesus had his mind blown during his baptism, which sent him into the wilderness to sort out who he was, who he wanted to be, and what he wanted to be about. The temptations toward ego were strong, but he chose for God's shalom instead. When he came out of his time away, he essentially invited any and all others to do the same.…

While mysticism born from meditation, contemplation, and other spiritual disciplines always affects more than just the devotee, we need to be reminded that all of the great voices and leaders who advanced shalom in the world gave themselves to the service of others or causes greater than themselves. What they experienced of the divine compelled the…

How do we develop a faith that yields genuine compassion and not just inner peace? While daily practices surely help such development, perhaps it's the work we don't necessarily want to do that will transform us more into the form of Jesus.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

Jesus didn't just grow older, he grew wiser. He didn't just gain any kind of stature he developed a stature of personhood that was favorable to God and all people. He invites us to do the same.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

St. Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure fully devoted themselves to the Way of Christ. How did they do it? What can we learn from them?저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

God evolves with us, always calling us toward shalom with shalom. How will we respond?저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

Welcome to the first teaching in the new series, Simplicity, Spirituality, and Service, loosely based on Bruce Epperly's latest book by the same name. This week we are reminded of the essential component of Jesus' Gospel - the role of the Spirit - in forming our vision and steps to bring more and more shalom into our lives and world.…

Enjoy these stories from CrossWalkers about their new beginnings! CrossWalkMoth is our play on NPR’s series that seeks to increase human connection through storytelling.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

No matter what you're going through, Love is with you and for you.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

Why didn't the folks of Bedford Falls come after George with torches and pitchforks once the arrest warrant was issued? Why did Luke want to draw our attention to Mary, the cave-barn, and the shepherds in the field the night Jesus was born? How was Jesus informed by his own birth narrative? What does this mean for how we live our lives as people of…

How can we say "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Merry Christmas" when we're in a season of suckiness? The movie and the Christmas story give us some hints that offer help when faced with sucky situations and suckmeisters.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

There are similarities between the iconic Christmas movie and the birth narratives of Jesus. And, it turns out, the similarities extend to our own lives. There is gold here. And hope.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

The natural response when filled with gratitude is to be gracious and giving toward others, to become more interested in others' well-being. When communities work together for the wellbeing of others, this necessarily becomes political, as shalom calls faithful communities to ensure shalom's development for everything, everyone, everywhere.…

Feasting together is nothing new. Our ancient Jewish ancestors have been coming together for thousands of years to remember and reset their lives. Thanksgiving affords us the opportunity to do the same.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

This week we focus on the decisions we make that help us cultivate a life of gratitude, even regarding difficult scenes from our past that we struggle to reconcile.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

Gratitude improves our experience of life and even our physical wellbeing. Yet sometimes we struggle to be grateful. This talk help us sort out our gratitude feelings and offers some insight for the journey ahead.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

The problem of evil is a significant reason many people leave the faith. The classic paradigm works for many, yet a growing number of people cannot accept a perspective that ultimately holds God responsible for the evil in the world that God could apparently thwart if desired. Open and Relational Theology offers another perspective that makes more …

Synopsis. The heavens declare the goodness of God. Creation itself – from the smallest organisms to the expanding universe – are generative, life-supporting, and beautiful. Such a trajectory means that the guiding energy or force behind it is supportive, creative, faithful, reliable, consistent, generous, caring, and many other words that, taken to…

This teaching features the perspective of three Process theologians: Marjorie Suchocki, Bruce Epperly, and Monica Coleman. Suchocki begins with an overview of prayer from a Process lens, followed by related thoughts from Epperly and Coleman. The latter two then address the question of praying for healing, specifically, offering their own "how to" a…

The deconstruction and reconstruction process of faith – which we should expect to be an ongoing experience throughout our lives – can be extremely challenging at times. We may certainly wonder if God is even real. Such massive questions impact our confidence and interest in prayer. Sometimes we give up. Jesus instructs us to keep on praying, thoug…

Prayer is about living and breathing attuned to God in a dynamic relationship. We do our best to remain conscious of the spiritual sea we’re all swimming in, responsive to the winds of the spirit, and humble enough to admit that we may have been nudged by God without knowing it was God, which should elicit awe. When lived this way, life is truly a …

Christ is the environment in which we all live and breathe and have our being. It connects us, comforts us, inspires us, heals us, moves us, woos us. Christ is that aspect of God that is always on the move everywhere, in everything, the Source of ongoing creative energy, novelty, ingenuity. Much larger than the focus of God’s presence on one leader…

We continue moving forward, deeper into what it means to be attuned to God's wooing us to be partners in bring more and more love and beauty into the world. What does it say about God that we wold be invited to such an adventure?저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

The teaching this week happened to dovetail nicely with the lectionary texts being used by thousands of churches worldwide this week: Psalm 119:33-40 (MSG) GOD, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course. Give me insight so I can do what you tell me— my whole life one long, obedient response. Guide me down the road of your commandments; I…

I wasn’t sure how to title this series on prayer. I landed on Entangled: Quantum-Informed Prayer because it is so abundantly clear... I could have gone with Prayer after we let go of God as Merlin or Genie or Santa... But I figured that might be too much for those who love those paradigms. In his book, Praying with Process Theology, Bruce Epperly o…

Taking a cue from the unexpected twists and turns from the book of Jonah, we invited CrossWalkers to come share stories of the unexpected in their lives. Such good, diverse stories! So fun!저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

What can God do? How powerful is God? How much does God know? How does God interact with the created world? What do we learn about God in the story of Jonah? Given that the entire purpose of the tale is to hold a mirror to Israel’s face to point out their hateful prejudice toward other human beings as a contradiction of God’s love for everyone, we …

You are familiar with the story, and perhaps have even ridden a ride taking you through it. Geppetto is an Italian clock maker who is alone in the world (save his cat and goldfish). To offset his loneliness for companionship, he crafts a young boy marionette, which he names Pinocchio. Seeing the wishing star appear before he went to bed, he wished …

As we begin this series, take time this week to simply become familiar with the story. Chapter 1: RUNNING FROM GOD One day long ago, GOD's Word came to Jonah, Amittai's son: "Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They're in a bad way and I can't ignore it any longer." But Jonah got up and went the other directi…

“And I, I did not know.” The best part of this story, in my humble opinion. Jacob was undoubtedly aware that he was running for his life after his brother, Esau, out of his rightful fortune. But he was probably not aware of the deeper currents running in his psyche that influence him to deceive his father, his brother, his mother, and himself so de…

Enjoy this interview of author Alex Brown (The Hidden History of Napa), hosted by CrossWalker Stephen Corley and Sheri Smith, Director of the Napa History Museum.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

Enjoy this robust discussion among four amazing CrossWalk women regarding the story of Hagar and Ishmael.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

The influences of fear, greed, and power will always be present. These forces have influenced the most egregious suffering on humanity and the planet itself. These forces are always at play in politics, even in a perfect democracy like ours... Sigh... But there is a greater influence that has been and always we will present. Call it the Spirit, God…

What types of things do you write in cards celebrating a High School or college graduate? Or in a card celebrating a wedding? Or a pregnancy or birth announcement? I am quite certain that we all keep things on the positive side, wishing the recipients well as they move forward to a new chapter. Deeper into that new chapter, our conversations with t…

What do Stephen Curry, Thairo Estrada, and Christian McCaffrey have in common? For starters, they are all great athletes on their respective Bay Area teams. Next question: who among them is the best? It’s a ludicrous question, of course, that cannot be adequately answered without clarifying what activity we’re talking about. Basketball? Baseball? F…

This week’s focus in Borg’s book is on implementing practices that Jesus taught and modeled as a way of living into the faith. At CrossWalk, we emphasize this a lot, represented in Jesus’ stretching, kneeling in service, gracing those who were experiencing injustice, connecting with God through spiritual disciplines, and being an incarnate presence…

Enjoy Gordon Waggoner's creative, thought-provoking journey through one of the most puzzling - and uncomfortable - stories of Jesus, the cleansing of the Temple.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

Enjoy Zen Buddhist Priest Shannon Wakoh Hickey’s take on Think Places.저자 CrossWalk Community Church Napa

This week’s teaching dovetails nicely with Marcus Borg’s chapter on Sin and Salvation from his book, The Heart of Christianity. The root meaning behind the word “save” that provides foundation for the word salvation is “to heal”. To make well. To make whole. To bring harmony where there was discord. To bring peace – not simply the absence of confli…

Today, as part of The Heart of Christianity series, we look at the phrase “born again” and it’s place in our faith. Borg notes (The Heart of Christianity, 107), “In the Gospels and in the rest of the New Testament, death and resurrection, dying and rising, are again and again a metaphor for personal transformation, for the psychological-spiritual p…

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. SALT Commentary… Big Picture: 1) This is the fifth of the seven weeks of Eastertide. Between now and Pentecost, we’ll continue exploring Jesus’ teachings on faith and intimacy with God. 2) This week’s reading from the Gospel of John includes one of the most fam…