understanding Christianity – Jesus @ 2 am blogs and podcast

In the Beginning… (Canvas’ 6 Core Values and Why)

January 10, 2018January 10, 2018Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

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As Canvas celebrates our 5th anniversary, we return to our very first sermon – an articulation of the mission, vision and core values we felt called to embody. It’s an inside look at the first days of a new church plant, and why we have shaped our community in the manner we have.

Whether you are thinking of starting something new, considering making adjustments to an ongoing ministry or simply want to know why Canvas has such unique personality, here’s why we do what we do.

The text for this sermon is Matthew 5:1-16 (NRSV).

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The Dark Before the Dawn (Advent 2017), Part 02 – Israel on Trial

December 20, 2017December 20, 2017Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

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Is God really a harsh judge, hovering in the heavens ready at any moment to accuse and punish?

In this episode, we find ourselves jurors as God indeed places Israel on trial. And yet, even as God makes his case (airtight, we might add), we hear not the rage of a king before a traitor, but the pain of a father who wants nothing but that his foolish children would recognize that they are chasing after the things that will profit them nothing.

It’s a painful look at human folly and the constancy of God’s love.

The sermon text is Jeremiah 2:4-13, 26-28 (NRSV)

Want to support the podcast??? You can give a tax-deductible donation to Canvas as a one-time gift or pledge to the 2018 budget. Your gift in any amount is a huge help to us!

Not already subscribed to the podcast?
Here’s the quick link to iTunes!

Want to connect?
I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here,
or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to download this episode.

red background with love in white lettering

Love at the Center

December 18, 2017May 8, 2018Kirk Winslow5 Comments

They say every entrepreneur should have an “elevator pitch” – a cogent distillation of all the research and planning that has gone into the new business that can be given in less time than an elevator ride. And I fear that if someone were to ask me, during daylight hours, for a similar distillation of Christianity, I would fail miserably. I’m terrible at short answers, and it’s likely that – without realizing it – I’d be reviewing the history of the Ancient Near East, paraphrasing Plato, quoting Augustine, and suggesting books by N.T. Wright (I would, of course, stop the elevator so I had time to explain the nuances!).

But, as I am writing this at 1:12 AM, I can answer in a word: love. For, when all is said and done, I have found no other explanation for the world as I know it – in all its beauty, complexity, pain, and hope – than the vision of love that I believe stands at the center of the biblical story.

And I realize, even as I write this, that it sounds tremendously naïve. Read just the table of contents of any history textbook, and there appears evidence galore that love is hardly the name of the game. And this is true even if it is a book on religious history…“Love at the Center”Continue reading