Eric Barreto: In the Beginning and In the End
Dr. Eric Barreto says Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are not a blueprint for the world or a play-by-play of the dawning of creation. Nor are they simply an ancient fairy tale we can dismiss. They’re not about us--they are first and foremost about God.
Eric Barreto: Can't We All Just Get Along?
Dr. Eric Barreto says there's no better place to start a study of the Book of Acts than the account of Pentecost. This is a moment we often identity as the birth of the church, that moment when God's blessings poured down upon us and the church tasted God's goodness. But what happened that momentous day, and what does it all mean for us today?
Christopher Edmonston: Sudden Change
In the midst of sudden and surprising changes, Dr. Christopher Edmonston says Jesus challenges his disciples—and us—to expect the Holy Spirit to fill us and use us as witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Christopher Edmonston: The God of Unexpected Things
When Paul presented the good news in Athens, preaching to a bunch of skeptics, Dr. Christopher Edmonston says the court of the Areopagus was all about reason and rhetoric, but Paul drops divine mystery on them. In spite of their intelligence and great learning, he reminds them there is still much to be learned—and the showstopper he presents is the resurrection of Jesus.
Leigh Spruill: The Promise of Heaven for Here and Now
Dr. Leigh Spruill says there are practical consequences of a vigorous and unembarrassed trust in the promise of heaven: First, it informs our calling and ministry here and now, and second, it gives us confidence that sin and brokenness and death will not ultimately defeat us.
Leigh Spruill: The Yearning to Belong and Christian Witness
In his sermon, Dr. R. Leigh Spruill considers the snapshot of the local church in Acts 2, and the rapid impact tat the Christian faith made on the world in a relatively short time. Engaging in worship, praise, and prayer, we see a picture of intense belonging. And the Lord added to their number. How does this work today?
Joshua Scott: There Is Hope!
Dr. Joshua Scott offers a word of hope from 1 Peter 1: there is hope as we never forget the power of our redemption. There is hope as we never forget the purpose of our redemption. And there is hope when we begin to live out our redemption in our relations with others.
David Gray: Heart and a Side of Doubt
Dr. David Gray says doubt doesn’t ignore a subject, it engages it. Questioning is not turning our back on faith but thinking about it. Facing our doubts can ultimately lead to faith—just as it did for Thomas.
Bishop Andy Doyle: Let Galilee Quake With Good News - Easter
The earth quaked at the resurrection of Jesus, says Bishop Andy Doyle in his Easter sermon, and this quaking inaugurates the great re-beginning of the world and all therein. The messenger tells the women to go to Galilee—an image, an icon, for the world, the place where real people live, the place where people met God, and God met the people in the person of Jesus.
Susan Sparks: The Only Train in the Storm
In her Palm/Passion Sunday sermon, the Rev. Susan Sparks says during the week that went from glorious to tragic, Jesus did not expect the world to save him--because he knew God would. We often get both parts of that equation wrong.
Frank C. Spencer: Prophesy!
In his sermon for the 5th Sunday in Lent, the Rev. Frank Spencer says God simply commands Ezekiel, “Prophesy!” It’s not so much an answer as an invitation to participate in whatever God is doing in the world--and that invitation is ours as well.
Mandy Sloan McDow: One Thing I Do Know
“One thing I do know: though I was blind, now I see.” In her sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent, the Rev. Mandy Sloan McDow says this is perhaps the simplest confession in all of the gospels—and it resonates in this era wracked with uncertainty, mistrust, and unwieldy imbalances of power.
Mandy Sloan McDow: I Drank My Fill on the Rock
The Rev. Mandy Sloan McDow says the woman at the well was hard edged, used up, just going through the motions. But Jesus tells her, in essence, "you are beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy.” And her life was transformed.
Anna Carter Florence: Nicodemus
In her sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent, Dr. Anna Carter Florence says Nicodemus’s generous act at Jesus’s death was extravagant, but also too much too late. We’re left wondering what might have been if he had acted on his first conversation with Jesus--if he’d not only recognized the light coming into the world, but followed it wholeheartedly and even shared it with others.
Katie Kime: Know It All?
In her sermon for the 1st Sunday in Lent, Dr. Katie Givens Kime says the truth is that God is always trying to give us good things, an entire garden of good things, but so often our hands are too full to receive them. And if our hands are full, they are full of the things to which we are attached or even addicted
Tova Sido: Borrowed Courage
Tova Sido says the transfiguration must have been an awesome opportunity for Peter, James, and John—yet even though they knew Jesus, they were afraid. The humanness the disciples show can be encouraging to us.
Wesley Allen: Hey! Who's On Trial Here?
Dr. O. Wesley Allen Jr. unpacks the well-known verses in Micah 6, in which the prophet calls us not just to do justice, but to "make justice happen." God requires much more than decency and kindness--we must do more, be more, become more to fulfill this calling.
Stephen Cook: Be What You Are
The Rev. Dr. Stephen Cook says Jesus called his followers "salt and light"—and he says it in the present tense. That includes us. Jesus is not calling them to become salt and light--it’s true right now.
Wesley Spears-Newsome: Better Is One Day
In his sermon on Psalm 84, the Rev. Wesley Spears-Newsome encourages us to accept God's invitation to rest--an opportunity to mend our tattered lives, and a reminder of the world to come--a world of joy, holiness, and rest.
Micah Jackson: A Fisherman for Jesus
Dr. Micah Jackson says when Jesus called Simon and Andrew, he calls them not to abandon all they know as fishermen, but to put what they know to the service of the gospel, to catch people. It's the same kind of calling Jesus offers us, an invitation to a more fulfilled life where our gifts are used in all the ways God intended.