Forest Hills Mennonite Church

Jesus, the Healer

While it's difficult to understand in modernity, Jesus' mighty deeds (healings, exorcisms, surprising interactions with nature) are one of the least disputed facts about Jesus' life and ministry. How do we reenter his world separated by 2,000 years? 

Jesus, the Prophet

At the beginning of Jesus ministry, no one would of recognized him as "God," and he didn't seem to have a clear claim to the title "Messiah." How would his contemporaries have made sense of him? Perhaps the way he seemed to understand himself: as a prophet. 

Jesus, the Beloved

"'Among all God's actions," according to Isaac the Syrian, "there is none which is not entirely a matter of mercy, love, and compassion: this constitutes the beginning and the end of his dealings with us." Before Jesus has said or done anything, God declares Jesus to be beloved—and reveals the love he has for all creation. 

Jesus, the Human One

Luke, more than any other canonical Gospel author, gives us a glimpse into Jesus' childhood and adolescence. What we see there confounds our understanding of divinity and ordinary humanity alike. 

The Anabaptist Comma

Most people have a general sense of why Jesus was born, and there lots of theories that describe the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection. But why did Jesus... live? In the Apostles' Creed, the entire span of Jesus' earthly life and ministry is compressed down to a single comma. What might we discover if we expanded that comma and took Jesus' life (not just his birth and death) serious? 

One Iota | A Deconstructed Christmas

Is "uncertainty" the opposite of "faith"? If that's true, then Christianity is primarily about keeping doubt at bay. The New Testament, however, gives us a different picture of faith, one that inspires us to put our trust in Jesus. 

Not It | A Deconstructed Christmas

"Sometimes," Flannery O'Connor wrote, "it seems you have to suffer as much from the Church as for it." If that's true, it's an indictment of how far the Church has veered off course. Maybe we can find some wisdom by looking at the somewhat ambiguous figure of John the Baptist, and consider what it means to not take offense at Jesus. 

(Dis)Comforted | A Deconstructed Christmas

The prophet Isaiah declares, "Comfort, comfort my people," yet Rachel weeps in Ramah, refusing to be comforted. Where is God when people suffer? The stories of Christmas point in a surprising direction.