Love Comes First

Pastor Sean Palmer begins a series that will unfold in the coming weeks as we consider our call to greater love, directed by the love we first receive from God. In a world that views many Christians as a core part of the problem, in a culture shaped by “me first”, the only solution is the tireless commitment to love first; even and especially when it’s not easy.

Advent Conspiracy: Love All

On this final Sunday of Advent, Pastor Chris Seay teaches from the first epistle of John, and our call to live with a pattern of gracious love for all; evidenced by way we care for those in need. Whether in Argentina, Zambia, or here in our own city, and everywhere in between, we are to be the hands and feet of our Savior; the active presence of a love that has no boundaries. If you’re accessing this via our iTunes podcast feed, please view the full video portion at ecclesiahouston.org/liturgy

Advent - Week Four: Expansive

Advent - Week Four: Expansive

During this final week of Advent, we invite you to join us in a rhythm of pause and reflection as we continue to consider our call to be radically changed by the arrival of Jesus into the world. Join us as we reflect on what it means to love all; to widen our tables to reflect the expansive love of God and the incarnate example of our Savior. We pray that this collection of music, prayer, and meditation will be a blessing and encouragement to you this week.

Advent - Week Three: Meaningful

Advent - Week Three: Meaningful

In this sacred season, we invite you to pause and join us in rhythms of reflection on the coming of our Savior. As we continue to consider our call to be radically changed by the arrival of Jesus into the world, how will we give more of our intentional time and presence; with loved ones, and all whom we share the gift of God’s Incarnation? We pray that this collection of music, prayer, and meditation will be a blessing and encouragement to you this week.

More

Our thanks to guest preacher Judy West for leading us this weekend in our continuing journey through the sacred season of Advent. As we consider what it means for us to be a people who give more, we are reminded that the gift of God’s incarnation was, and is, intentional, sacrificial, and personal.

Advent - Week Two: Enough

Advent - Week Two: Enough

As this sacred season of Advent continues, we invite you to pause and join us in rhythms of reflection on the coming of our Savior. Over the coming weeks, we will consider our renewed call to be radically changed by the arrival of Jesus into the world. As we seek to spend less, may we embrace the identity of a people of abundance, and not scarcity. We pray that this collection of music, prayer, and meditation would be a blessing and encouragement to you this week.

When Less Is Loving

Pastor Sean Palmer leads us into an Advent season of great expectation as we anticipate Jesus’ coming and seek to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all. Sean invites us to consider how we might spend less in this season, to ask ourselves what is “enough”, and to commit to rhythms of limitation and simplicity that allow us to share even more as a family with communities in great need from the abundance that God has provided.

Advent - Week One: Interruption

Advent - Week One: Interruption

As we prepare for the sacred season of Advent, we invite you to pause and join us in rhythms of reflection on the coming of our Savior. Over the coming weeks, we will consider our renewed call to be radically changed by the arrival of Jesus into the world; a divine interruption. We pray that this collection of music, prayer, and meditation would be a blessing and encouragement to you this week.

Breaking In

Pastor Sean Palmer points us toward the Advent season with an important message on Mary’s scandalous pregnancy and the decisions that we (like Joseph) have to make in considering how to use our power and privilege. Will we choose to “break up” and further divide, or instead, the far more difficult road of participating in the ways that God’s Kingdom is “breaking in”?

In Search Of What's Been Lost

Pastor Chris Seay continues our conversation from last week; sharing stories of hope from the migrant caravan in Mexico City, and looking ahead toward what we pray will be a deeply transformative season of Advent. As we seek to be a people who worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all; what might we rediscover as we give ourselves fully to the invitation of these sacred weeks of anticipation and longing?

Hope Responds

Pastor Chris Seay shares stories and a message of hope from Mexico City, where thousands of migrant travelers rested on their journey to escape violence and oppression in Central America. As Ecclesia answers an invitation to show hospitality and love to these brothers and sisters, we are invited to consider what it means to respond in hope, knowing what we are for and not simply what we are against.

Rootedness

Our beloved brother Gideon Tsang joined us once again, asking the question of what it means to be rooted. As Christ remains (roots) in us, we must ask: Where are our lives rooted? With whom are we rooted? What resistance do we feel towards planting ourselves fully where God has placed us? May God speak to you uniquely through this invitation to stillness, contemplation, and participation.

Hope Is Certain

Pastor Chris Seay continues a conversation we began last week on the vitality of hope in our journey with God and one another. When we have a living hope, we can trust in God’s plans even in times of difficulty and despair, gain vision for a long and unfolding story, and open our hearts in greater gratitude and worship as God meets and sees us where we are.

The Wounds Of Love

It is always a profound gift to be taught by our dear friend and brother, Dr. Dan Allender. As a people shaped in part by experiences of trauma and betrayal, we often resist opening ourselves up to receive comfort. Dan offers us a beautiful reminder that God has bled for us, engraving our names in his palms, promising the kind of love that will never forget or forsake us.

Dance Like Nobody's Watching

Pastor Sean Palmer taught from the story of King David, and shared about many of the ways God has provided in abundance as we have sought to eliminate the debt at our Downtown campus. This freedom allows our family all the more opportunity to seek God’s will in serving our city and communities around the world. In times such as these, we are called to jubilant celebration.

Grace And Fire

Ericka Graham taught through Jesus’ Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, and shared vulnerably from her own experience of coming to the knowledge and acceptance of grace during a time of deep trial and shame. Grace is humbling to accept because God meets us in our sin and unworthiness, calling us beloved, just as we are. In receiving grace, we are ignited from the source of all love, to carry that flame and share it wherever we go.

The Good King

Pastor Sean Palmer invites us to consider our view of leadership, and what it requires to become someone whose example is worth following. As we learn from Moses (and Black Panther), leaders are driven by burden rather than bluster, leaders are called to choose courage, and that each and every one of us is called to embrace the unique responsibility of leading in our circles of influence.