David Hodges: To Move, To Touch, To Heal
In Mark 1:20-39, Jesus tells his disciples that he is supposed to proclaim the message. But the Rev. David Hodges says that proclaiming the message means not just telling people what the kingdom of God is, but showing them--by reaching out and touching people who, because of their disease, their behavior, or their demons, were suffering.
Charles Qualls: What Is This?
Dr. Charles Qualls says that the scribes and Pharisees heard Jesus' bold teaching and decided he had to be stopped. But others heard Jesus and opened their hearts and minds, their souls and spirits to the hope they heard in Jesus. “What is this?” they asked.
Charles Qualls: Promise or Warning?
Mark 1:14-20 contains both a promise and a warning, says Dr. Charles Qualls: A promise that God does not extend to us a calling to participate, as this kingdom is ushered in, without also giving us what we’ll need. But Jesus warns that following him would not always be without its difficulties and its costs.
Henry Brinton: Come and See
The Rev. Henry Brinton says we live in a world that is as multicultural as the Galilee of the Gentiles, and our challenge is to create places in which people can come and see Jesus, just as Philip invites Nathanael to come and see. And the best way to do this is to practice Christian hospitality, to welcome people with love and grace, just as Jesus did
Patrick Keen: Taking Baptism Seriously
In his sermon for Baptism of the Lord Sunday, Pastor Patrick Keen says it seems some Christians today don’t take baptism seriously. But obedience in baptism helps us respond to God’s call to work for God’s kingdom in our world through social justice and serving those in need.
Ernest Brooks: It Takes a Village
Pointing to the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child,” the Rev. Ernest Brooks characterizes Simeon and Anna at the Temple as two elders of Jesus’ village--wise ones, prophets, sages--who spoke over and into Jesus’ life, affirming the life altering and world changing anointing that was his mission.
Susan Sparks: Sun Mo Manger
In her sermon for Christmas Eve, Susan Sparks recounts a personal story of being turned away from a motel, and reminds us that we will all be rejected in this life, turned away, left out in the cold, but that’s not the end of the story. Like Jesus, we are all called to become the innkeeper, the builders of the kingdom, the protector of our brothers and sisters.
Michael Brown: The Hard Work of Making Life Right
In his sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, Dr. Michael Brown says Isaiah speaks to the Israelites who had returned home after 70 years in Babylonian captivity, and it was worse than they expected. It was a mess. It takes hard work to make things right again, in order to make home feel like home.
Michael Brown: God at Our Doorsteps
Dr. Michael Brown says the Bible never promises that God will wave a magic wand and make all the bad things in life go away. Instead the Bible promises that there will be highways in the desert places of our lives where God will come to be with us, to comfort us, and eventually even to deliver us. And God almost always does that incarnationally--through a human being.
Bob Baggott: Apocalypse, Not Now
In Advent, Dr. Bob Baggott says, Jesus advises that we stay awake, watching and waiting for how God is working and how God will come next to us. We are called simply to go on with our lives, living confidently, as capably and productively as we can, setting our minds and hearts on helping God further the work of creation and doing Christ’s work in the world.
Shane Page: The Final Exam
The Rev. Shane Page calls Christ the King Sunday the most political Sunday of the Christian calendar, because we declare Jesus is Lord over all political and world powers. And it’s clear that King Jesus’ interests are in blessing those who served the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned, all those in need and poverty.
Casey Baggott: Making It Matter
Dr. Casey Baggott says that if we’ve been given the treasure of faith, we will invest it, not hiding the best of what we have, not being prudent or cautious, not seeking our safety and security above all else. Instead, we will take risks for the sake of spreading and multiplying the good news of God’s love.
Tripp Martin: A Pin Drop
In his sermon on Psalm 78, Tripp Martin says that part of the work of the church is to teach us to listen in a world that only wants to speak. We learn to listen not only to speak, but so we can speak truthfully, kindly, and compassionately, for God continues to speak through us, for us, and to us in various ways.
Paul Tellstrom: Bring Her, Bring Him
Dr. Paul Tellstrom says that All Saints’ Day allows us a very personal way to talk about the present and the future by talking about the past. Who are we? Who do we want to be? Saints from our past give us a way of talking about where we are and where we are headed.
Bishop Elizabeth Eaton: Truth and Dare
In her sermon on the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton says the Gospel that Luther discovered and that set him free, the truth that forms us into God’s liberated people, is God’s promise that the former things are past. In Christ, the one who is true, we are free.
Eric Shafer: You're Gonna Have to Serve Somebody
In his sermon on Matthew 22:15-22, the Rev. Eric Shafer says while many of us may have strong political views, before and above any of these we are Christians--followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus is or should be our first loyalty, above all others.
Tim Boggess: Why You Will Join the Wrong Church
Dr. Tim Boggess says that, regarding the conflict at the church in Philippi, Paul wasn’t interested in preserving the peace--he was interested in making it. He wanted the Philippians not to give up on one another, but to double down on Jesus.
Michael Battle: God's Kind of Apocalypse
Jesus is trying to get his disciples to understand this huge paradigm shift that is hard for anyone to really understand. God’s true power is relationality, which is another word for love, says Dr. Michael Battle. Being related to others is the greatest effect of God’s true power. The imago dei is community.
Will Willimon: One in Christ
Regarding the division and disunity that seems to pervade our country these days, Will Willimon says this really isn’t anything new--at least a third of the New Testament deals with division and polarization, and that’s what Paul addresses in his letter to the Philippians. He tells them to act like Jesus, stop acting out of selfishness, and watch out for the good for others.
Malcolm Young: Gospel for the Superfluous
If you find the tumult of today's politics unsettling, it may actually get worse, says Dean Malcolm Clemens Young. As technological change accelerates and upends all the social arrangements that comfort us, there does not seem to be much hope for us who often harshly judge others without thinking. Yet Jesus still invites us to be his people.