Join City Square as we help Feed My Starving Children pack 1 Million Meals for starving children around the world. Please register before to reserve your spot.
Sunday, July 26th from 2p-4p
Phoenix Convention Center – South Building, West Door
Ages 5 & up, seated positions are available
Questions? Contact Janine Skinner at [email protected]
Just a few more days to sign up for this round of Dinners for 6 or 8. When you click on this link fill in a line on the spreadsheet with your information just like if you were at a conference and wanted to sign up at a booth.
We have good response so far. Please sign-up and join in the fun, there is no requirement to host a dinner (that’s just an option on the sheet). Contact Justin directly with any questions!
Gather with folks for a time of singing and reflection on Sunday February 24th at the historic Icehouse, in downtown Phoenix, at 6 p.m. for our second Community & Contemplation service. Our musicians will lead us in singing “secular” songs with spiritual themes. In-between songs will be extended periods of silence. Participants may choose to pray, meditate or make use of provided art supplies throughout the service. The service is open to the public and free professional child care is provided.
One of the great disservices Christianity has done itself over they years is to convince the world (and perhaps ourselves) that our primary purpose is to be right, to prove others wrong, and to coerce others into becoming like us.The truth of the matter is that the heart of Christianity is far less coercive and far more compelling than most folk, including Christians, give it credit for.
One of the most compelling messages I find in the Judeo-Christian tradition is the message of liberation. This is perhaps the overriding narrative of the Hebrew Bible, epitomized in the story of Moses leading God’s people out of bondage in Egypt and delivering them to a land of prosperity and potential.
The Christian testament is often understood as shifting foci from earthly liberation to a spiritual liberation from sin and/or eternal judgement, but the truth is, Jesus cares about earthly bodies. While he didn’t lead an army to drive out the occupying forces of Rome as many had hoped he would, Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, and distribute money to the poor. In essence, a significant portion of Jesus’ earthly ministry was dedicated to the liberation of folk from disease and poverty, and he regularly taught his followers to care for lepers, orphans, foreigners, and widows who would otherwise be bound by institutional oppression that would keep them from fully participating in their communities.
Today City Square is working in partnership with community members in Downtown Phoenix to discern what liberation is necessary in our communities. While that discernment is an ongoing process, one thing we’ve heard again and again are stories of folk being bound by debt and/or an inability to get a handle on their personal finances. Mortgages, student loans, credit card debt, bills, and an overall inability to get caught up/get ahead financially are all issues that hang over our community and keep folk from living into their full potential.
If this sounds like you I hope you’ll consider joining us at 6:30pm at Burton Barr Library on Tuesdays starting in January for Financial Peace University*, a class that helped my wife and I begin to get a hold of our own finances and which might be able to do the same for you and your partner, spouse, or family.
This class isn’t about getting you to believe anything different, except maybe that you don’t always have to live with the stress that finances can cause in your life. The cost of materials for the class is $100 which goes entirely to the folk who create the curriculum. City Square isn’t making a dime off of these classes. For us, it’s all about liberation from the things that bind us. You can sign up for the class here or contact me for more information at [email protected]
Regardless of the journey you’re on, if financial peace is a part of it, we hope you’ll consider joining us for this class.
Be well y’all.
Brian
*personally, I don’t believe that the financial liberation offered by Jesus and that offered by Financial Peace University are one in the same. While Jesus offered an entirely new way of thinking about economic and social structures, FPU offers sound advice for how to live in the current US economic system by controlling your money rather than allowing it to control you. For further conversation on the economics of Christ let’s grab coffee!
Join us on Sunday January 27 at 6 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church for an intimate and meditative worship gathering. The service will include contemplative music, times of silence, readings and responses. Come and experience a time to connect spiritually and with others in community. Free professional childcare will be provided.
December 23rd, 2012 at 6 p.m.
Angels Trumpet Ale House
Topic: “Belief and Commitment in an Age of Skepticism and Irony”
Join us for conversation about what it means to believe in something and to make commitments, in a time when it’s unpopular to do so. We’ll look at this issue from at least a couple of different faith perspectives. Here’s a quote to get you thinking:
As a function of fear and pre-emptive shame, ironic living bespeaks cultural numbness, resignation and defeat. If life has become merely a clutter of kitsch objects, an endless series of sarcastic jokes and pop references, a competition to see who can care the least (or, at minimum, a performance of such a competition), it seems we’ve made a collective misstep. Could this be the cause of our emptiness and existential malaise? Or a symptom?
From: “How to Live Without Irony,” by Christy Wampole
December 15, 2012, 6:00 p.m. @ Civic Space Park, 424 N Central Ave
Join City Square Church in a candlelight service of hope, solidarity, and peace as we seek to honor the holy ground in our midst.
As our days grow shorter and our nights grow longer this time of year bears significance for many of us. Whether this time of year signifies a time of celebrations with family and friends, the end of one year and the beginning of a new one, or the struggle to find moments of hope in hopeless places, come stand with your neighbors and hold a candle in the midst of the darkness.
Parking is free at meters on the weekends. Stay after the service to enjoy coffee, cider, hot chocolate and building community with others.
