Nov 25, 2018 |
The First Step
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulThe First Step
"Our repentance, our ability to acknowledge wrong doing, our need to examine ourselves – is not about becoming better people, and it's not about living into shame. It is the first step for those who know we are loved. It's the first step to living into the love we already know is there."
Revelation 1:4b-8
Revelation 1:4b-8
Nov 18, 2018 |
Life As We Know It
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulLife As We Know It
"Jesus insists that God is working in your life. Jesus insists that in the greatest joy and in the deepest sorrow God is birthing new truth. Jesus insists that even when you do not know what is next God is bringing real love into being. He insists on it... he lives for it... he dies for it."
Mark 13:1-8
Mark 13:1-8
Nov 11, 2018 |
Glimpses of Faithfulness
| The Rev. Joyce KeeshinGlimpses of Faithfulness
"These stories of the widows give us a glimpse of faithfulness. The people around us – how they live their lives – give us a glimpse of faithfulness too. Let us ask ourselves, how are we invited to obedience, to faithfulness? And, let us enjoy, let us celebrate, the gift of that faithfulness now."
1 Kings 17:8-16
Mark 12:38-44
1 Kings 17:8-16
Mark 12:38-44
Nov 11, 2018 |
Living Into Forgiveness
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulLiving Into Forgiveness
"Forgiveness is not something you do, forgiveness is something into which you live. And, we spend the rest of our lives as Christians learning this kind of forgiveness – learning how to forgive ourselves, learning how to forgive others, learning how to draw ourselves closer to God in Jesus. That is the act, the work, the life of forgiveness.”
Mark 12:38-44
Mark 12:38-44
Nov 04, 2018 |
Made for a Purpose
| The Rev. Mitchell BojarskiMade for a Purpose
"We were made for a purpose. We were made to love God and to love our neighbor. We were built by God to do those things. That's why those are our two greatest commandments. It’s like telling a hammer that, 'you have to drive nails.’ Well, of course! That’s what the hammer was made to do. We have been made to love. We have been made by love, to love."
Mark 12:28-34
Mark 12:28-34
Nov 04, 2018 |
The Wizard of Oz and the Law of Love
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulThe Wizard of Oz and the Law of Love
"It’s not just about following a bunch of rules, and at the end of these rules you will solve the riddle or the mystery and you will get where you need to go and your reward is heaven. [Jesus] is saying that if you are able to recognize love as the greatest authority in the world, in the history of all creation, if you are able to understand God and God’s love as that which brings us into being and gives us purpose, and if you are able to look at this world with the same love with which God looks at this world through Jesus Christ… if you can look at the world that way then you are so close to God. How close? As close as you can imagine. You are breathing God."
Mark 12:28-34
Mark 12:28-34
Oct 28, 2018 |
Empowered by Jesus
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulEmpowered by Jesus
"Jesus looks at us so that we can be seen, and through being seen we can see others. Jesus listens to us so that we can be heard, and by being heard we can learn to hear others. Jesus loves us back into connection and relationship, and from the safety and the health and the warmth of that love we are able to love magnificently... miraculously. We are able to love like Jesus loves."
Mark 10:46-52
Mark 10:46-52
Oct 28, 2018 |
Clearer Vision
| The Rev. Joyce KeeshinClearer Vision
"We have our limits. We cannot change the world from where we sit, but we can connect with each other. We can see those moments where an act of kindness on our part can make a difference for a family, for an individual, even for a community. Seeing these moments, it isn’t an eye thing, its not a physical vision thing. It’s a heart thing… seeing with our hearts."
Mark 10:46-52
Mark 10:46-52
Oct 21, 2018 |
Our Liturgical Act
| The Rev. Mitchell BojarskiOur Liturgical Act
“You participate as the way of serving the people. This is the kind of work that God calls us to do – to go out and serve in civic and our personal life, in our work, in our homes… to go and be a servant. And, the greatest among us are servants of all."
Mark 10:35-45
Mark 10:35-45
Oct 14, 2018 |
Real Friends
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulReal Friends
“We live in a world that is about image. We live in a world, in a culture that tells us that we are what we earn, what we make, what we achieve – how to win, how to succeed, how to be great… this is what we know. And, that’s not actually anything that’s connected to the REAL love that we know in our lives.”
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31
Oct 14, 2018 |
The Good News
| The Rev. Joyce KeeshinThe Good News
"Whatever the obstacles that we are putting in the way, we are in relationship with a God that loves us. And, it’s not all up to us, because with God all things are possible."
Mark 10:17-31
Mark 10:17-31
Oct 07, 2018 |
All In: A Sermon About Money
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulAll In: A Sermon About Money
"God has built you for this place and for one another, and God has brought you here. God has brought us all here so that we can learn how to live lives of love together. And, part of doing that, just like God is all in on us, part of doing that is being all in on our community – our place – our church – our Christian family."
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
Sep 30, 2018 |
Share Your Water - Jason Leo
| Guest SpeakerShare Your Water - Jason Leo
"I think every one of us has a glass of water to offer. We all do. And I don’t know what that glass of water looks like for you – it might change over time. But, there is no experience that you have had in your life, no particular gift that you have as an individual that cannot be used by God to be a sign of grace."
Mark 9:38-50
Mark 9:38-50
Sep 30, 2018 |
Share Your Water
| Guest SpeakerShare Your Water
"I think every one of us has a glass of water to offer. We all do. And I don’t know what that glass of water looks like for you – it might change over time. But, there is no experience that you have had in your life, no particular gift that you have as an individual that cannot be used by God to be a sign of grace."
Mark 9:38-50
Mark 9:38-50
Sep 30, 2018 |
The Bigger Picture
| The Rev. Joyce KeeshinThe Bigger Picture
"How can we be for each other? We don’t have to be exactly on the same team, but we need to recognize the bigger picture. We need to recognize that regardless of politics, regardless of gender, regardless of education, or economics, or all those things that we might think of that differentiate us – regardless of all those. The bigger picture is we’re all children of God. The bigger picture is whose we are.”
Mark 9:38-50
Mark 9:38-50
Sep 23, 2018 |
The Fundamental Uselessness of Children
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulThe Fundamental Uselessness of Children
"This isn’t about your achievement. This is about learning how to love and be loved right now for who we are… to live into the love life of God – to live into it. Is there work to be done? Of course there is. Do I look around and see a bunch of useless people? I do not."
Mark 9:30-37
Mark 9:30-37
Sep 23, 2018 |
Servant Leadership
| The Rev. Mitchell BojarskiServant Leadership
"As much as we might talk in our contemporary fashion about servant leadership, Jesus means a whole different kind of servanthood. For Jesus, servanthood means giving up your life... walking right into defeat... letting the bad guys win. For Jesus, that’s servanthood."
Mark 9:30-37
Mark 9:30-37
Sep 16, 2018 |
Prioritizing Love
| The Rev. Mitchell BojarskiPrioritizing Love
"I think what James is trying to remind me is that, as passionate I might get for a cause... as passionate I might get for a policy or a candidate, if i work for that candidate in a way that tears down other people, I’m just like Peter. I’m thinking about human things and not divine. When I go about the world believing that I know what’s right and telling other people what’s evil, I tear down relationships, and I'm thinking about human things and not the divine."
Isaiah 50:4-9a
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38
Isaiah 50:4-9a
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38
Sep 16, 2018 |
Finding Your Voice
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulFinding Your Voice
"You all need to find your voices… all of us. And, those of us who have had a voice, we need to relearn how to use it. God is calling us – in this time – to rethink how we speak, and he’s calling others of us for the first time to speak louder than ever. And, when we do it, we are being told to do it with love and honesty – with care and respect.”
James 3:1-12
James 3:1-12