It's all about love

Check us out Sundays @ 10:30a – 144 North Street in Medford, MA

WHY HILLSIDE?
WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IN WORSHIP

Belove(d): The Book of 1 John

We progressive Christians are good at asking how God wants us to live. We’re less practiced at living with God, treating faith as a shared life rather than values we admire from a distance. First John has a word for that shared life: koinonia, fellowship, the kind of relationship where you work things out together. Over three Sundays we’ll walk this short, fierce letter and its claims: that you are loved before you are useful, that honesty makes real relationship possible, and that such love casts out fear. The title has a verb hiding in it. You are beloved, so be love.

WATCH OUR LATEST MESSAGE

Rev. Tom Hathaway - March 9, 2025

The Faith That Shocked Jesus

A Roman centurion, a man who represents everything wrong with the world, comes to Jesus asking for help. He is an outsider, an enemy, a symbol of oppression. And yet, when Jesus sees him, he does not see an enemy. He sees faith, and not just any faith, but faith that amazes him. But it is not faith the way we usually think of it. This moment flips expectations, challenges assumptions, and forces us to ask: Where are we missing the truth? Who have we already decided can and cannot teach us? Because if an outsider saw the truth more clearly than God’s own people back then, where might the same thing be happening now?

Scripture References: Matthew 8:5-13

 

More From "The Gospel According to Matthew"

Powered by Series Engine

Don't Miss Out

Get Hillside’s news before it’s old news.

Join in, help out, make friends
Nerdy, inspiring mini-dives into scripture, history & theology

Back of the Bulletin Articles

October 18, 2026

Beliefs vs. Actions

October 16, 2026

Who Actually Wrote First John?

October 4, 2026

Unconditional, Not Uncritical

September 27, 2026

When You Hit Rock Bottom

get transforming love stories delivered to your inbox!