Sermons
Trust and Leaving
Rev. Chandler Stokes
This week, I have been deeply inspired by my colleague in the Moveable Feast, David Lewicki. He has drawn my attention to a deep irony in God’s call to us. The paradox is that trust, which is our orientation to God’s promises, which are full of new life, full of new possibilities, full of… well, promise—our trust, our leaning in to those promises also inevitably entails loss. We must leave in order to move ahead. In that is a deep truth. David says it this way: Faith is leaving, holding tenderly to the grief of leaving’s loss.
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Humanity and Humility
Rev. Chandler Stokes
Jesus’s obedience is what the temptations in Matthew 4 reveal, not his trying to be God. The temptation that we share with Jesus is not to be human. Against that temptation, we seek to live on the side of obedience to God with the Holy Spirit keeping us company on our side, and hope to keep our presumption to be God on the other. It is a genuine temptation to cross the line.
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Ears to Hear
Rev. Chandler Stokes
This Wednesday, March 1st, is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Lent—the forty days of preparation for Easter. Our Lenten theme this year is: Ears to Hear: Preparing Our Hearts for Easter. We will explore the story of Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24. After six days of silence, God finally speaks to Moses, evidently when he is finally ready to hear. How do we open our ears to our God? How can we maintain our attentiveness to our truly “other” God, who is paradoxically both so present and so elusive.
Do Not Be Afraid
Rev. Jen Porter
We have been talking about the map of the realm of God laid over the earth. In Matthew 17, this map shows us that we are not alone. There is Jesus, the one who brings together heaven and earth, the living link in between. With him, Moses and Elijah in the spirit. With him, the disciples. Jesus is the way between all the great witnesses of the faith and all here on earth. We are never alone.
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Salting the Roads
Rev. Chandler Stokes
Tom Long said: The hardest part is not in being Christian for a day, but being faithful day after day, maintaining confidence in what, for all the world, appears to be a losing cause. Some days we really feel that. The confidence that Jesus has in telling us that we are the salt of the earth is that we are truly good for something. And it is something good for this world that truly matters. This Sunday we discover what it means to be the salt of the earth.
The Edge of the Map
Rev. Chandler Stokes
Jesus is no less insistent on the critical nature of our speech. In Matthew he says: But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. What an extraordinary standard for our speech.
A World of Difference
Westminster Youth Group
THIS Sunday, February 5th, please join us in this annual celebration as our high school and middle school youth lead worship during both our 8:30a and 11:00a services, including sermons preached by the senior class of 2017.
The Map of Blessing
Rev. Chandler Stokes
Will Willimon once wrote: One of the dangers of being in church as often as I am is that it all starts to make sense. I speak of the Christian faith so casually and effortlessly that I begin to think, “Fine thing, this Christianity. Makes good sense.” The Beatitudes subvert that glib comfort with the sense of our faith.
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Getting on the Map
Rev. Chandler Stokes
Jesus will say, “The kingdom is like…” He paints a picture of it, draws a map to it. And, even though it’s called the kingdom of heaven in Matthew, it’s not a star chart. It is a map of something terrestrial, on earth, right here, “at hand.” Jesus calls us to get on that map.
Greater Things Than These
Rev. Jen A. Porter
Jesus asks "What are you looking for?" There are many who are eagerly looking for him, but in him what are they looking for?. Committing to being a disciple of Christ, committing our lives to his way and his love- we need to know what it is that we're looking for.
Holding Our Swords out of the Water
Rev. Chandler Stokes
Holding our Swords out of the Water. The sermon title this week is a reference to this: When the “Frankish warriors came to be baptized in the water of the Rhine or the Rhone, they were always careful to hold their swords above their heads, out of the waters of baptism, not to save them from rust, but to keep them from Jesus.” They still wanted to be able to kill at will—and maintain their integrity. In a book study once, after reading this line, my friend, Judy, said, “…and I know what swords I hold out of the water.” And to the degree that we hold parts of ourselves out of the waters of baptism, we resist our truest identity as human beings.
Lifted Up in the New Year
Rev. David Baak
The First Sunday after Christmas Day is not simply the “new year” — we have already begun this new year with the anticipation of Advent several weeks ago— and Christmas has now come! So, we can have the courage and the strength for us to live into the difficulties of our lives. We are given the faith to bring the Light of God’s love into the lives of children and families who suffer all over the world. We can bring the message of peace and God’s presence into the days and weeks of the calendar before us. God has, as Isaiah said, “lifted us up and carried us [all of our days]” We have been here before so we know we can have hope for the future.
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A New Name
Rev. Chandler Stokes
Christ was born in Bethlehem. That’s what we celebrate on Christmas Day. And, although no one knows exactly where that manger was, it was somewhere. Jesus was born somewhere in this world—this world that we live in too, not some other make believe place. This world. And that makes all the difference.
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The Grace of God Here
Rev. Chandler Stokes
The lectionary offers us the unusual text Titus 2:11-14 as the sermon focus for Christmas Eve at 8pm and 11pm. It is the declaration that God came to us in Christ to make a difference in our lives, to redeem us, transform us, and make it possible for us to indeed “be good” to “do good”—as much a miracle as Christ’s Advent in Bethlehem! Join us on Christmas Eve, as we sing, celebrate, and retell the Story of Christmas.
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Belonging to Jesus Christ
Rev. Chandler Stokes
Isaiah really makes clear that God is coming to us as Emmanuel, whether we like it or not. What's not to like? Seems strange to think that we might resist such a gift..., but we do. Come and join us as we seek to rekindle our longing for the God Who is with us.
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