One Crazy Gardener
Whether it’s the multinationals gobbling up family farms or even our own tendency to wall ourselves off from our neighbors, this is just not sustainable. Isaiah warns that the land will become unproductive and hard. In God’s economy, there is a direct relationship in how social intimacy leads to interrelationship and cooperation which in turn results in productivity.
Sour Grapes
In our time and place, the three areas that Ezekiel highlights are probably worth reflecting on. These three topics of economics, of sexuality, and of religion are the ones that we make the greatest efforts to avoid in any polite conversation...
The Very Rev. Samuel Candler: God Is Not Fair!
"God does not promise that all will be fair, according to whatever structure of fairness that we have in mind." —The Very Rev. Samuel G. Candler
Rev. Nathan E. Kirkpatrick: When the Story Gets Rewritten
Rev. Nathan E. Kirkpatrick says, "When the familiar story is changed – we are changed too. And that may be the best story of them all."
Kenneth Carter: A Generous Orthodoxy for the Healing of the Church
Bishop Ken Carter says, when we are generous, we are not closed off from each other; this is for our good. When we are orthodox, we are in a right relationship with God; this is our salvation. And this is the church's mission that is spacious, adventurous, and unafraid.
Joanna Adams: The Complaint Department
In Joanna Adams's sermon on Jeremiah 15, she says, here's a good question prophets can help us answer: What is breaking hearts today? Prophets know and they would tell us what needs to be fixed if we would only listen.
Anna Carter Florence: Expecting Cornelius
Anna Carter Florence says Acts 10 shows us that no matter how hard and fast the rules, God likes to change things up at a moment's notice. God likes to do a new thing, just to keep things lively and the people hopping, while amazing grace pours down.
Winnie Varghese: Lord, Help Me
Winnie Varghese asks, what if we put our resources to work for those possessed by demons today - the demons of sickness, of violence, of working children, of hunger...?
Charley Reeb: Do You Want the Truth?
In his sermon, Dr. Charley Reeb asks what a Christian looks like. "Could it be that a real follower of Jesus is one who, well, looks like Jesus? Could it be when faced with a moment of truth, a follower of Jesus will listen to his voice and be obedient, even if it costs them?"
Quincy Brown: At the Crossing
Quincy Brown says when we like Jacob get stuck at a crossing, wrestling with what used to be, it isn’t easy to see what might be. We’re stuck in the dirt and mud of our Jabbok, desperately holding on to any hope of a blessing or relief to our struggle. But a new day is dawning, and there is a blessing for you.
Brian Coulter: The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like...
Brian Coulter says Jesus' stories invite, they welcome, they shape us over time. They connect us to something larger than ourselves. And Jesus is inviting us into the story, into the kingdom, into the family, into the gospel.
Scott Hovey: Tarry in the Garden
In his sermon on Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds, Scott Hovey says divine justice is not something we achieve or manufacture, it is something we welcome, something for which we make room. We join with God in God's patience and in God's justice.
Bishop Rob Wright: The Sower, the Soil, and the Supplement
Bishop Rob Wright says the good news of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13 is that it’s about a good God, throwing good seed, looking for good soil to multiply good in the world.
Monty Knight: Being Saved from Whom?
In the parable of the two brothers, Monty Knight says the older brother's god is a god who seeks value and worth, unlike the God of the younger brother, whom we Christians know in Jesus: a God who confers value and grants worth, a God in whom all of life rests in this life and beyond it.
Cassie Waits: Extreme Faith
Cassie Waits says Abraham's story makes her wonder, who have we lost in our pursuit of righteousness? When have we held so tightly to our "values" that we failed to value the person in front of us?
Joe Evans: Faith Alone
Joe Evans says we live by faith, not out of a place of fear, wondering where we will go when we die. We do it because God loves us and shows us how to live by sharing his love.
Joy J. Moore: Would You Laugh?
Joy J. Moore says that in our moments of darkness, doubt, and uncertainty, there is a light that shines through asking us the same question posted to Abraham and Sarah: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"
Joy J. Moore: For God So Loved the World
Joy J. Moore says that what God was doing did not always make sense to Abram, but his faith did not waver because he trusted and rested in God's faithfulness and timing.
Rebekah LeMon: Circle Up
In her sermon for Trinity Sunday, Rebekah LeMon says Paul offers us a Trinity blessing: the love of a God who covenants with us anyway, the grace of a Lord who saves us anyway, the fellowship of a Spirit that dwells with us anyway.
Rebekah LeMon: We Hear!
This Pentecost, asks Rebekah LeMon, what message is the Spirit calling us to hear? And what is the Spirit calling us to say?