Blog
Christmas Cheer 2024
Christmas Cheer is an opportunity to give back during the holidays and keep Christ at the center of the season. We encourage you to get involved in one (or a few!) of the opportunities we have available this year. Hope Ministries Turkey Pickin’ Saturday, November 23 at 8:30 am Hope Ministries: Bethel Mission (1310 6th Ave., Des Moines) For our 10th year in a row, we prepared the turkeys for 4,000 Thanksgiving meals to serve people in need in our…
Eat This!
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live…
Options
Who doesn’t feel under the pressure of the noise and endless options that seem to be the norm for our modern lives? Is there ever a moment when there is not a list of things taking up space and wanting our attention? It’s the harassment of obligation and worry that drives us to twitch, stomp, and run like horses plagued by bot flies. Horses will group together, tails swishing, or roll in the dirt to find relief. We look for…
Brunch Club
At Ashworth, we believe we’re better together. As we share our faiths and lives with one another, we experience the support and encouragement necessary to live lives of love and grace. If you’d like to connect with others in our church community, sign up for Ashworth’s Brunch Club! We’ll put together groups of 6 to 8 people interested in connecting outside of our regular Sunday morning services. Each group will gather once for a meal at a restaurant or member’s…
To Be Honest
Recorded in numerous places in both the Hebrew section and Christian section of the library we call the Holy Bible are accounts of people who in raw emotion poured out their hearts to God. We read of deep pain, anger, and an anguish of soul expressed to the Almighty with the desperation of nowhere else to turn. Prompted by the death of a loved one, or starvation, or defeat in battle, or persecution and injustice, we see it demonstrated in…
A Word About Help
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1 Recent events in my life have gotten me thinking about the help that comes our way when needed. It comes from varying directions and sources, ranging from family, friends, medical professionals, inspirational readings and meditations, and more. Some that can go unrecognized are provided from a desk and computer in an insurance claim processing place somewhere. Just because I had a bad gall bladder, a whole…
Peace Be Still
I need time in God‘s presence today. Reading the news and what’s going on in the world has my soul troubled and anxious. Meet me here God; quiet my heart and my restlessness. Let me sit with you this morning. I feel the heaviness, the weight of the world. Others must feel it too. Divisiveness. Hatred. Murder. War. Enemies. Violence. Cancer. Sickness. Weariness. Exhaustion. Stay busy so I don’t have to face it. Keep the devices on, so I can…
Liturgy of Prayer
Spend 40 days in prayer and intimacy with Jesus. We encourage you to read the following prayers each morning, reflecting upon the faithfulness of Jesus as you pray. For more information on our current sermon series and the liturgies below, click here to watch a video from Pastor Brent! Prayer of Approach Oh God, gather me now to be with you as you are with me. Soothe my tiredness; quiet my fretfulness; curb my aimlessness; relieve my compulsiveness; let me…
A Warning
Judas and the other disciples were in agreement. That expensive bottle of ointment the woman poured over Jesus’ head in Bethany had been wasted. It should have been sold with the money given to the poor. After all, wasn’t care for the poor a central theme of Jesus’ message? Matthew tells the story. “Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment,…
Ashes to Ashes
The low church Protestant tradition I was raised in did not follow the traditional church calendar and Lectionary. We did not observe Lent and thought those folks walking around with ash crosses on their heads on Ash Wednesday were a bit weird. I have come to believe that was my loss. Once I took the time and care to learn the history and meaning of such observances, I have come to appreciate the symbolism and devotional meaning of them. Today…
Gospel of Matthew: Reading Plan
Throughout Lent, individuals and churches often give up a comfort or adopt an additional spiritual practice to lead to greater self-examination, repentance, and renewal of the soul. This Lenten season, we encourage you to read through the Gospel of Matthew with us. Below, you’ll find a guide to each week of the reading plan. Click on the link to each week to find a written and audio version of the assigned passage. Reading Guide Week 1 (February 26 – March…
My Paradigm Challenged
As I was reading John 9 this morning, I was struck by the interaction between a man healed of his blindness and the Pharisees. What an incredible story with a convicting ending. As the man who had been blind his entire life has to justify his healing, he tells the Pharisees (those with religious power), “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:33 NIV) What happens next is sad and scary. Verse 34: “To this…