Men’s Seminar 2022: The Love of the Father

The past couple years have sucker punched many of us. A persistent anxiety seems to lurk in the corners. Old strategies of survival often fall short. Impulses from within and deceptive delights from without attempt to steal our ability to commune with God. Lingering temptations drag us down. New patterns often leave us lacking the joy we ache to experience.

We must return again to the love of the Father. He runs after us. But to truly see Him, we have to relax our defenses and tune our hearts again to hear His voice singing over us.

Let’s fight together to abide in the pursuing love of God our Father. At this year’s men’s seminar, we’ll gather the men of Park Church over wings and drinks to hear from pastor and author J. Kevin Butcher (Choose and Choose Again, Free). We’ll seek to learn to live as sons, purchased by the blood of the perfect Son. Life and freedom await.

in Blog • Men • Sermons

Parking on Sundays

Before each service on Sunday, more than a hundred of our cars must find a spot in our neighborhood. While we take immense joy in this weekly re-gathering of friends and family, we don’t want it to be at the expense of Park Church’s physical neighbors in any way, lest we become a poor representation of the family of God.

For this reason, please consider the following when you park a car at the Park Church building on Sundays:

  1. Street parking is ideally not for Park Church. Our area is not designed to accommodate this volume of street parking. Although we are legally allowed to park on the street, doing so consumes all parking for local residents and their guests for most of the morning. Neighbors have expressed frustration at this many times over the years.
  2. The large parking lot at the Masonic building is reserved for Park Church. Our generous neighbors at this building have offered their high-capacity lot to us on Sundays. We’re so grateful to have this resource. You can cross Federal at several places, but the safest option is the signalized crosswalk at 35th. Have young kids? Keep reading.
  3. The small lot directly across 37th from the Park Church building is reserved for visitors, families with young children, and those with accessibility needs.

 

Thank you for helping us consider our neighbors!

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Advent & Christmas Eve Artwork 2021

Our artwork for Advent and Christmas Eve this year is by Noel Shiveley. These pieces complete the series Noel has done for us this year within the church calendar (also including Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter—see below). But what does the artwork mean?

the series as a whole

In each piece, including Advent and Christmas Eve, a wide “landscape” is pictured. From the outside edges in, rolling hills, jagged deserts, or the ethereal cosmos center a symbolic item and a celestial body. The symbols each focus on life as it is traditionally considered in its liturgical season. For example, Ash Wednesday depicts ashes blown from a censer (life as temporary, fleeting; Psalm 90:3, 10), while Palm Sunday shows a budding tree in front of a gate cracked open (new life imminently coming; Mark 13:28).

“the weary world rejoices”

Our series for Advent this year has been “The Weary World Rejoices.” Our intent is first to make space in our hearts to feel the tension and dissonance of our weary world (this will be easier for some than for others) while also looking to Jesus as the one who took on flesh to secure the promise of a better future here: a future where the disillusioned can have hope, where the divided can find peace, where the suffering can experience joy, and where the self-centered and outraged can know love.

Advent

A shadowed world is centered low, hung in a mostly-empty cosmos. Space is clouded, and the space dust is somewhat serpentine, covering stars. Sources of light are partially obscured, but clearly coming—a dark world, but not for much longer (John 1: 9). As the four weeks of Advent progress, the artwork depicted on our bulletins and screens changes to show a rising moon and star. The symbolism for life is somewhat direct: the world is conflicted and gloomed, and all life therein waits for the light. Even more directly, the Bethlehem star is depicted. Though it was a symbol in the sky to guide those seeking to meet Jesus, it was not a “symbol” in that it was a real celestial event—baffling the experts then as it may even now. Such was the first coming of Jesus.

Christmas eve

A depiction of Bethlehem is shown under complex light—the tops of towers are lit; the streets are dark. Feelings of sunrise are suggested (one who considers the last art piece might say, “at last!”), but the barren desert hills around still depict a cold nighttime. John writes that “the true light which gives life to everyone was coming into the world,” but also that “the light shines in the darkness…” (John 1:4–5). As we now know, “the darkness has not overcome it,” but what tension on that night! Why such squalor for this King? Who is this family? Did these shepherds really get a personal invitation from angels?

The artist

Noel Shiveley was born in Pasadena, CA. He first started sharing his graphic design work on Instagram in 2012 under @noeltheartist. This account is now a favorite to many, using his design to blend fun social commentary, Gospel snippets, random illustrations, and his professional portfolio. This is how we found him for this project! Noel now lives with his wife Bethany in Colorado Springs where Noel serves as Worship Director for YWAM Colorado Springs.

The series to date

Click an image to enlarge. All images Copyright Park Church 2020–2021.

Ash Wednesday

Palm Sunday

Good Friday

Easter

Advent

Christmas Eve

in Artwork • Blog

Advent Hymn Sing 2021

From Wednesday, December 8

A night of singing, reading about, and longing for Jesus, our coming King.

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Sunday Worship Gathering Updates

Earlier this week the Denver County Health Department issued a Public Health order requiring masks at all indoor public gatherings. Starting this Sunday, November 28th, we will be requiring masks at all Park Church gatherings.

As we have throughout the pandemic, we are following the directives of the local government and seeking to love our broader community by doing our part to slow the spread of the virus so that hospitals can have capacity to help those who need it. Below is a link to the full public health order if you would like more information. We are so thankful for this church body and we are praying for you this week.

Full Public Health Order

in Blog • Member Updates

Covenant Membership Renewal

If you were at our Family Meeting on Monday, October 25, you may remember hearing about our new Member Covenant Renewal process. In short, for the Elders and Staff of Park Church to shepherd and care for our Covenant Members well, it’s essential that we know who you are! If you are a Covenant Member at Park Church, we’re asking you to begin renewing your commitment on an annual basis.

Why are we doing this? First, this annual practice helps us organize our approach to shepherding members of our church family. Second, and even more, we’re calling ourselves to a rhythm of remembrance—remembering what Jesus has done to make us part of His family and what it practically looks like to live into this reality:

Through the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, those who trust in Him are ushered into covenant relationship with the Triune God and with the spiritual family He has created. This is the Church. While it is true that every Christian is inseparably united to Jesus and His people by the work of Jesus alone, to practically experience and actively live in this reality, we must commit to a local expression of this universal family of God—a local church.

If you are a Covenant Member of Park Church, please take a few minutes to complete the form linked below. It will walk you through the main components of our Membership Covenant—both what we commit to you as well as what you commit to the church. Lastly, there is space for you to let us know how we can more effectively come alongside you as a member of our church.

GET STARTED

NOT CURRENTLY A COVENANT MEMBER?

Our next membership class, called Foundations, will happen in Spring of 2022. We will share more info about that class as it approaches.

HAVE QUESTIONS FIRST? NOT RENEWING?

Contact us at renew@parkchurch.org

in Blog • Member Updates

Mission of God Artwork

Our artwork for the ongoing Mission of God course is an illustration by Bruce Butler. Three overlapping circles contain depictions of three cities (from top to bottom): the heavenly Jerusalem as described in Revelation 21, the “City on a Hill” as described in Matthew 5, and the Tower of Babel as described in Genesis 11. The cities are connected by a depiction of the River of Life (Revelation 22). This illustration reads in two directions—from top to bottom and from bottom to top.

Read from bottom to top, the humanity-wide quest to live a meaningful life in a broken world starts by default at the Tower of Babel. If we are not working towards God’s mission, the next mission we pursue is our own. Although we may be able to do incredible things as individuals or as a culture, the charge to mankind was to image God in the world, not simply to image ourselves. In grace to us, God breaks up our godless work. Jesus comes with a new city in mind, a “city on a hill” that “cannot be hidden.” We are invited to be members of this city, displaying Jesus’ upside-down kingdom in the sight of all people. In ironic contrast to Babel (a city that wanted its works to be widely visible but was then abandoned at God’s decree), Jesus expressly charges the city on a hill to have its good works seen! However, it is for the glory of “your Father who is in heaven.” Lastly, we are invited higher again through Jesus’ vision to John of the heavenly Jerusalem, a “cube of meeting” that represents the holy of holies in the temple. The city on a hill of our present age ultimately becomes the heavenly Jerusalem, where heaven and earth finally meet in fullness.

Read from top-to-bottom, the River of Life flows from the heavenly Jerusalem down onto the City on a Hill. This city acts as a watershed, and a “preview” of this river is precipitated to the world through it. Two things are intended in this illustration. First, God abundantly provides from heaven for those who seek to be on His mission. For example, we have the Holy Spirit, we have His incredible promises through His Word, and we are on mission within a community and inspired by the faithful before us. Second, the world that is not yet on mission with God receives a sort of gracious, River of Life “rain” by the faithfulness of God’s people as we seek to image Him. Though far different than drinking from the river, feeling its mist makes the human heart yearn for more. “Therefore, we are ambassadors… God making His appeal…” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Lastly, the circles overlap as a way to illustrate that we are truly “residents” of all three cities. We often pursue our own missions like the people of Babel, and the “rain” of the River of Life is for our coming-to. We likewise often join Jesus in His mission and demonstrate Him to the world, empowered by heaven and its King. Ultimately, “we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:13), to which we belong as a result of Jesus’ work, enjoying Him and His completed mission until we drink straight from the river with all the redeemed.

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Discussing the Sabbath: Families, Rituals, and Imperfections (with Gary McQuinn and Kaitlin Saenz)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Gary and Kaitlin sit down in the sanctuary at the Highlands Building to discuss how their families observe the Sabbath. Their conversation on the Sabbath includes the ups and the downs, pizza on paper plates, standing on chairs, and experiencing a God-given rhythm that is well worth its sacrifice.

 

 

in Blog • Gary McQuinn • Kaitlin Saenz • Sermons

Psalm 119, Part 3—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: James Stukenberg

James Stukenberg is a photographer based in Denver. Since relocating to Colorado from Wisconsin in 2018 he has freelanced, photographing editorial and commercial assignments. He and his wife, Anne, have a daughter, Henrietta, and are expecting another child in December.

Piece: Photography

Upon first look, Psalm 119 may simply read as a straightforward declaration of the beauty and truth of the Word of God—an unwavering devotion from someone brimming with confidence in their Creator. But these praises aren’t offered lightly by someone who has been handed a life of ease. The psalmist is enveloped in struggle—struggle with his own brokenness and struggle with the brokenness of the world that surrounds him. He senses the threat of succumbing to these forces.

I’m drawn to the tension between the psalmist’s firm belief in God’s goodness towards him and his broken-life experience that causes him to approach God in vulnerability, crying out “Do not utterly forsake me!” I identify with the position of the psalmist as I wade through my own season of struggle—questioning my purpose and identity, feeling isolated and unknown, longing for a sense of home and wholeness. Engaging with the corresponding darker emotions with a raw honesty towards self and God is the first step toward hope and healing.

The process of making these photos was reflective and instinctive—as I read and considered Psalm 119, I let it inform my thinking and seeing, intuitively making images that resonate with this emotional state shared with the psalmist. This short series overlaps with a larger ongoing body of work, visible at the link below.

See complete series
in Blog • Christ in the Psalms Artwork