TRELLIS: The Calling of Hope
June 9 - June 22
We have a God who is familiar with darkness. Imagine, before the divine fiat, “Let there be light,” God was in the darkness of what was formless and empty. Perhaps the Bible starts off this way because God wants His people to know that He is no stranger to the darkness found in this world. He wants us to know that He speaks into that darkness to create light and life. What a profound hope Genesis 1 would have been for God’s people in exile–to know that their God is no stranger to darkness and is able to create beauty and wonder out of it.
The journey of hope begins with the experience of darkness that we all face living in a broken world and the recognition that things are not the way they are supposed to be. What we do next is critical because it reflects whose voice we believe. Hope is a calling as much as our work is a calling. But for many of us, this active sense of hope is a foreign concept. In fact, at best, hope operates more like wishful thinking than an act of trust and obedience. From a biblical perspective, hope arises from hearing the substance and tone of God’s voice exhorting us to listen to Him more than we listen to others.
Throughout the two-week experience, you will be introduced to a variety of prayer forms, learning to walk conversationally with God, recognizing His voice in your life. Trellis will guide you to integrate life-giving spiritual practices into everyday rhythms, transforming and renewing our sense of calling. Enter into this season with a new structure that provides the space and a community for hearing God’s voice and knowing who He reveals Himself to be in the midst of your everyday routines, leading to holistic vitality.
The TRELLIS structure includes:
- 1 Intro Session: Sun Jun 9, 7:45-9p EST. (Online experience for theological introduction and time in listening quads. Recorded for those who cannot join live.)
- 6 Communal Guided Listening Sessions: every Mon, Wed, and Fri 12:20-12:45p EST, during the weeks of Jun 10 and Jun 17. (Attend live or listen to the 25-min recordings at personal set times.)
- Daily Scripture Meditation and Exercise Pages: Individually in your Listening Book. (Participants are provided with a digital PDF or can order their own physical copy online via Amazon.)
The communal listening rhythms of TRELLIS are intentionally designed as intrusions into your regular daily routines and, therefore can be entered into from wherever you are. For more about TRELLIS…
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“If a vine doesn’t have a trellis, it will die. And if your life with Jesus doesn’t have some kind of structure to facilitate health and growth, it will wither away…The point of a trellis isn’t to make the vines stand up straight in neat rows, but rather to attain a rich, deep glass of wine.”
— John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry