Sermons from 2022 (Page 2)

What’s the deal…with The Church these days?

I Timothy 2:1-7 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and…

No Regrets: Bent Out of Shape

Today we continue our sermon series, No Regrets. ====[photo of young person with “No Ragrets” tattoo is shown] This picture tells me that sometimes, you really should have a regret. You should. I was inspired by research coming from the World Regret Survey, where people all over the world, over 19,000 people from 105 countries, shared what they regretted in life. Researcher Daniel Pink studied the data and noted that regardless of the person’s age or geography, regrets tended to fall…

Encounter: Brother Saul

Acts 9:1-19 Acts 9  1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul,…

Encounter: Feeling the Burn

Luke 24:13-35 13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of…

Encounter: Collateral Beauty

Exodus 33:18-23 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord,’ and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you…

Encounter: Hold Nothing Back

John 1:35-42 35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was…

Encounter: The Struggle is Real

Genesis 32:23-32 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled…

Pieces to Peace: A Cultivated Life

This sermon series is called “Pieces to Peace: How God Puts us Back Together.” Adam preached about how God gives us a better story than the one we have been telling ourselves. I shared last week about how God puts an arm around those who have been demonized and heals the whole community. And this week, in a conversation about freedom and bodies and laws, Paul calls people away from reactivity to long-haul love of neighbor and other virtues called…

Pieces to Peace: Dispossessed

Luke 8:26-39 26 Then they arrived at the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had not worn any clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, shouting, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you,…

Slow Burn Pentecost

John 14:8-17 Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church: John 14: 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that…

Music Sets Us Free

Acts 16:16-34 16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul…

Artist in Residence

In our sermon series, we have been focusing on Faith and the Arts. First, this series is about how art gets to places where words alone can’t… the creative, messy, holy places where we meet God. Second, this series is a way to think of today’s installation not so much as my being affixed into the church building like a Verizon box, but that we are part of an art installation, where God is doing something beautiful in this community.…