homily recap.

When I lived in Chicago, I did have a home church that I was a part of, but I would regularly visit a few others.  One of those was called Grace Chicago.  A small community of believers, they made intentional efforts to worship well.  Their music was arranged by a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and included several stringed instruments, classical guitar, flutes, hand drums, and other small percussion instruments.  It was always well-done and always beautiful.

The service centers around the church calendar, celebrating the rich history of the Christian faith, and recognizing the redemptive rhythm of God's presence in our lives.  It includes several liturgical readings and responses, worded just right so to convey exactly the message intended.  The homily, what most evangelicals call a sermon, is always profound, intellectual, well-planned, and inspires thoughtful reflection and response.

The pastor also keeps a blog that contains homily recaps.  While there has been a significant time gap since his last post and the most recent one, I found the one posted a few weeks ago to be incredibly insightful into the apparent conflict between suffering and redemption.  Please check out the recap here.  You won't be disappointed, I promise, and you may even find it to be your new favorite homily recap blog!