Can you actually know God without knowing yourself? In week three of our Rhythms series, Pastor Brian makes the case that emotional health isn't a side quest to spiritual maturity — it's the road in. He traces his own way out of a rugged-individualist masculinity that left no room for friendship or feeling, then walks through the false self Jesus refused to build: I am what I do, I am what I have, I am what others think of me. Along the way there's Thomas Merton on hollowness, a three-word prayer, and four rhythms — silence, trusted companions, discomfort, and courage — that open up what he calls the spacious place. Join us Sundays at George Hall.

Most of us are trying to build an identity — assembling it out of labels, achievements, and the verdicts other people hand us. Guest preacher Nicole Unice suggests we have the direction backwards: a secure identity isn't something we construct, it's something we receive. Working through Psalm 139 and a story about a master potter's apprentice who throws the same small cup 300 times before he's allowed to move on, she makes the case that acceptance is a practice, not an achievement — and that being good at following Jesus was never the point. Part of our series Rhythms, where we're asking what spiritual rhythm Jesus might have for this particular season of our lives. Join us Sunday evenings on the Peninsula.