We have a tendency to consider work a necessary evil, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The work we do in this world comes in a host of guises, but it’s all a necessary good. We’re called to work, and whatever conflicts or set-backs we experience, work draws us into a new community.

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In some way, shape or form, we all work. Our work at home, at our jobs, in our relationships and in our city is caught up in God’s work. And God’s work—making our city a just, prosperous and beautiful place—is caught up in the work of our day-to-day lives.

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Cities are important parts of human life—they are centers of arts, culture, academics, science, industry and government, as well as the best places to see a country’s gods and idols. What does it mean to care for a city? How do we know a city and feel for it well enough that we can pray over it in our lives and serve it in our work?

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Growing in your faith and character is a joint venture: It takes God working in you through the Holy Spirit, and it takes you acting on the freedom God has given to you. What does growth look like? What hope do we have for freedom to grow? And where do we get the assurance of that freedom?

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The Holy Spirit is what gives life to Jesus’ presence and power, and the historic arrival of the Holy Spirit (on a day that the church traditionally calls Pentecost) is as important to the Christian life as the arrival of Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit, we would struggle to live the Christian life of our own power, but with it, we have the power and resources to live out the story of the gospel while inviting those of other cultures and backgrounds to join us.

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The apostle Paul, one of the most prolific writers of the New Testament and the man through whom a great deal of Christian doctrine and philosophy was formed, said that he longed to suffer so as to take part in Christ’s resurrection. Was he just a glutton for punishment, or was he trying to say that Christians need to suffer to appreciate their faith? Or was he saying something far deeper and far more beautiful about the effect Easter Sunday has on the way we see the world?

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Obviously, none of us were physically present when Christ was crucified two thousand years ago. But on Good Friday, we took the time to reflect on the fact that, while we weren’t there physically, our lots are cast with those who drove Christ to the cross. And when Jesus prayed for their forgiveness, he was praying for ours, too.

We live in a time and place that values pluralism. (In fact, that’s something our culture has in common with many of the Roman cities where the gospel first took root.) However the Bible doesn’t call us to ignore our social, cultural, political and economic differences, as some do. Instead, scripture points us toward something that will allow us to subvert and transcend our differences, creating a newer, deeper unity.

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At the same time that Jesus was being stripped of His clothes, His dignity and ultimately His life, He was stripping away evil’s power over those who claim Him as Savior.  Through the fullness of our Savior and the salvation He provides, we are set free.

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Within months of Jesus’ crucifixion, the earliest Christians had begun forming relationships that crossed ethnic, religious, cultural and class boundaries in ways the world had never seen before. What did they understand about the cross that made radically diverse relationships spring up in their lives? And are the things they understood still true today?

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