Whether you like Christmas music or not, once Thanksgiving has come and gone, it is inescapable. Stores, restaurants, anywhere you go. You know the songs and you can sing along. They are filled with popular ideas about Christmas, from holiday romance, to passionate desire, to how the dark nights and cold weather brings us together with friends and loved ones. But while these songs help some feel the Christmas spirit, they can also feel a little trite or a little hollow, like they’re missing something.

Week 3 of Christmas Karaoke

Teacher: Dave Chojnacki Join Damascus Road for Christmas Karaoke to enjoy some Christmas music and reflect on the real spirit of the season. Let’s go beyond the songs we sing to get to the meaning of Christmas. The mood is right, the spirit's up, we're here tonight, and that's enough as we are simply having a wonderful Christmastime, right? Maybe it doesn’t feel that wonderful. Maybe something is missing. Are we trying to manufacture the Christmas spirit with lights and bells and songs? It is supposed to be a season of joy and celebration. Together, we stop and examine what truly makes Christmas wonderful.

Whether you like Christmas music or not, once Thanksgiving has come and gone, it is inescapable. Stores, restaurants, anywhere you go. You know the songs and you can sing along. They are filled with popular ideas about Christmas, from holiday romance, to passionate desire, to how the dark nights and cold weather brings us together with friends and loved ones. But while these songs help some feel the Christmas spirit, they can also feel a little trite or a little hollow, like they’re missing something.

Week 2 of Christmas Karaoke

Teacher: Megan Miller

Join Damascus Road for Christmas Karaoke to enjoy some Christmas music and reflect on the real spirit of the season. Let’s go beyond the songs we sing to get to the meaning of Christmas. You made your list, you checked it twice, and made sure it had every gift you wanted for Christmas. Maybe you have a long list. Maybe you have a short list, and all you want for Christmas is just the one thing that will make everything right. Christmas can easily become a season of asking for and wanting more and more, but this can easily distract us and turn us inward throughout the holiday season. It is a season not of want, but of need and our deep need for a savior who arrives as a baby born in a manger. Let us reconsider what we really want for Christmas.

Whether you like Christmas music or not, once Thanksgiving has come and gone, it is inescapable. Stores, restaurants, anywhere you go. You know the songs and you can sing along. They are filled with popular ideas about Christmas, from holiday romance, to passionate desire, to how the dark nights and cold weather brings us together with friends and loved ones. But while these songs help some feel the Christmas spirit, they can also feel a little trite or a little hollow, like they’re missing something.

Week 1 of Christmas Karaoke

Teacher: Megan Stibrich

Join Damascus Road for Christmas Karaoke to enjoy some Christmas music and reflect on the real spirit of the season. Let’s go beyond the songs we sing to get to the meaning of Christmas. You’re walking through the store when, WHAM!, you get hit in face with a holly, jolly, auditory attack. The Christmas season is upon us, and with it can come all sorts of emotions. Maybe it brings joy and anticipation, but for many it can just bring up past memories of hurt and pain. It is a time of tradition and nostalgia, but not everyone looks back on their last Christmas so fondly, whether because of family pain, lost relationships, or broken hearts. But Christmastime is truly supposed to be a season of hope, as we await the birth of Jesus and the miracle of God with us. Last Christmas may have broken our heart, but this year, let’s focus on the hope it brings instead.

It seems like everyone has beef with someone. Dis tracks proliferate, friendships dissipate, and families disintegrate. There’s bad blood poisoning our lives and our relationships, and we need a miracle. Hurting is natural. Forgiveness is supernatural. Forgiveness is a gift from God and we can become people who give this supernatural gift with Jesus’ help. But where do we start? Bad Blood will explore the problem, clarify the solution, and point the way to a life of forgiveness.

Week 3 of Bad Blood

Teacher: Ryan Miller We all have a choice to make: will we live by the Rule of Reciprocity, giving as good as we get, or live under the Rule of God, where we embrace the miracle of forgiveness? Will we step off the escalator of pain and end the cycle? And even if we want to, how can we break free and live in a new way?

It seems like everyone has beef with someone. Dis tracks proliferate, friendships dissipate, and families disintegrate. There’s bad blood poisoning our lives and our relationships, and we need a miracle. Hurting is natural. Forgiveness is supernatural. Forgiveness is a gift from God and we can become people who give this supernatural gift with Jesus’ help. But where do we start? Bad Blood will explore the problem, clarify the solution, and point the way to a life of forgiveness. Week 2 of Bad Blood

Teacher: Tyler Stibrich

There's a lot of confusion about forgiveness and it's hard to give a gift we don't understand. It's time to clarify what forgiveness is and what it is not.

It seems like everyone has beef with someone. Dis tracks proliferate, friendships dissipate, and families disintegrate. There’s bad blood poisoning our lives and our relationships, and we need a miracle. Hurting is natural. Forgiveness is supernatural. Forgiveness is a gift from God and we can become people who give this supernatural gift with Jesus’ help. But where do we start? Bad Blood will explore the problem, clarify the solution, and point the way to a life of forgiveness. Week 1 of Bad Blood

Teacher: Megan Miller Hurt people hurt people, and we've all been hurt. Hurting is natural and it leaves us all wounded. What happens when we nurse the hurt and hold grudges? Can those wounds be healed? We need to make an accurate diagnosis of the problem before we can select the right treatment and move towards health.

Babylon was the great empire of the Ancient Near East. It was a center of cultural, military, and political power, and conquered numerous nations, assimilating them into the empire. This included the Judeans who were taken into exile and struggled to maintain their distinct identity as the people of God amidst the captivity. Today we face a similar struggle. The United States is a center of military and political power and has assimilated people around the world by exporting our culture and values. But all is not well in the empire of America and political division is just the tip of the iceberg. How can we live well in this new empire? How can we be faithful to Jesus amidst rising anxiety and fear? What does faithful political engagement look like? Join us for Redeeming Babylon, as we explore a better way forward together. Week 4 of Redeeming Babylon

Teacher: Devynn Brankel Politics or government is the agreed upon way we’ve chosen to organize our society. For there to be freedom to pursue the good, there needs to be law, order, and opportunity. What is the role of the government in our lives and does the Bible have any wisdom on how people can work together for human flourishing?

Babylon was the great empire of the Ancient Near East. It was a center of cultural, military, and political power, and conquered numerous nations, assimilating them into the empire. This included the Judeans who were taken into exile and struggled to maintain their distinct identity as the people of God amidst the captivity. Today we face a similar struggle. The United States is a center of military and political power and has assimilated people around the world by exporting our culture and values. But all is not well in the empire of America and political division is just the tip of the iceberg. How can we live well in this new empire? How can we be faithful to Jesus amidst rising anxiety and fear? What does faithful political engagement look like? Join us for Redeeming Babylon, as we explore a better way forward together. Week 3 of Redeeming Babylon

Teacher: Brad Miller Money makes the world go round, and in our context that means capitalism. Every country has an economy and for those that live there, it is a reality we rarely think deeply about. It’s just the air we breathe or water we swim in. But what does the Bible say about not just money, but economies on a larger scale? How can we follow Jesus well in the marketplace as we spend or save our minas and shekels?