Sermons
The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
It feels like we have had lots to fear over the past year. How can we find freedom from those fears and anxieties? This morning our region minister, Dale Edwards, shows us how our fears make poor counselors.
What keeps you up at night? In David’s case, it was his own son trying to kill him, and possibly widespread crop failures, and his opponents ridiculing his reputation. Yet he writes, “I will lie down and sleep in peace.” (Psalm 4:8)
Where does such confidence come from? How can we likewise sleep well when we face worry, stress, and anxiety?
It’s one of the most chilling stories in the Bible: God tests Abraham and asks him to sacrifice his own son. How does Abraham respond, and what does it demonstrate about Abraham’s relationship with God?
In Luke 5 Jesus causes Simon, a fisherman, to haul in the catch of a lifetime. So many fish that his boat begins to sink. Then Simon leaves the catch of fish on the shore to follow Jesus.
If you had just landed the catch of a lifetime, what would motivate you to leave it behind?
Related
There is one commandment, God tells us, that is the most important: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. “How can I do that?” you may ask.
In Deuteronomy 6 God gives us not only the most important, overarching command, but also some very ordinary, everyday guidance to teach us how we can grow in our love for him.
Resources (Prayer Guides)
Every Moment Holy (Douglas Kaine McKelvey) – Mentioned specifically in this sermon, this book of prayers helps us see God in the ordinary events of daily life—liturgies such as “A Liturgy for Feasting with Friends” or “A Liturgy for Laundering” or “A Liturgy for the First Hearthfire of the Season.” These are ways of reminding us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose even when, especially when, we are too busy or too caught up in our busyness to notice.
Rabbit Room Press
Although not mentioned during this sermon, the following two books also include patterns for regular family worship:
Celtic Daily Prayer (The Northumbria Community) – A modern prayer book with celtic influences that can guide you through morning, midday, and evening prayer practices along with guided readings and meditations.
Amazon; ChristianBook.com
The Book of Common Prayer – The most recent revision of a classic prayer book, first published in 1549. The early sections on Family Prayer are especially helpful.
Anglican House Publishers
A car without fuel won’t go anywhere. Neither will a car full of gas, but without pressing the gas pedal. You need both fuel and an accelerator to get anywhere.
Knowing God is similar. We need a fuel—a hunger for him. And we need an accelerator—a way to put that fuel to good use. This morning we consider the accelerator of the Scriptures. How can a consistent, day-in-and-day-out engagement with God’s word draw you closer to God and make you more Christlike?
There are two ways we can live: we can live from a mindset of scarcity, believing that everything is a zero-sum game, and we must get as much as we can, lest we don’t have enough; or we can live from a mindset of abundance, believing that God has limitless resources and wants to bless us abundantly. An abundance mindset leads to a radically generous lifestyle. Hear more:
There is a powerful antidote to anxiety, Paul teaches us: prayer. Not the short prayer we shoot up before a stressful meeting or in a tenuous time, but a lifestyle and habit of regular, constant prayer. Listen as we explore how prayer makes us aware of the presence of God and fills us with the peace of Christ.
Resources (Prayer Guides)
Celtic Daily Prayer (The Northumbria Community) – A modern prayer book with celtic influences that can guide you through morning, midday, and evening prayer practices along with guided readings and meditations.
Amazon; ChristianBook.com
The Book of Common Prayer – The most recent revision of a classic prayer book, first published in 1549. The early sections on Family Prayer are especially helpful.
Anglican House Publishers
Every Moment Holy (Douglas Kaine McKelvey) – A book of liturgies for the ordinary events of daily life—liturgies such as “A Liturgy for Feasting with Friends” or “A Liturgy for Laundering” or “A Liturgy for the First Hearthfire of the Season.” These are ways of reminding us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose even when, especially when, we are too busy or too caught up in our busyness to notice.
Rabbit Room Press
The story of the magi (wise men) is often told as part of the Christmas story, although it probably occurs at least a year after Jesus was born. Far from being distant and irrelevant, we see in their story our own story—of people far from God, who almost unintentionally find God and can’t help but worship.
Zechariah finds himself unexpectedly at the crossroads of longing and fulfillment, as his son, John, becomes the last great prophet before Jesus. In his song, he grapples with the mercy of God—how God promises mercy and how God provides mercy. And we find that God’s mercy often takes unexpected turns.
“Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem,” God tells the Israelites in Isaiah 52, and two chapters later, “Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy…” Is God so cruel as to command a ruined city to rejoice—to ask an infertile woman to sing for joy?
When the world around us is bleak, how do we find joy?
When Gabriel tells Mary she is pregnant with Jesus, we usually focus on why this is such good news. And it is. But for Mary, it’s complicated. Mary is young and unmarried, and her baby bump means sure social condemnation and exile. Yet she sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my Spirit rejoices in God my savior.” How can she sing such an exuberant song when her future is murky and uncertain?
At one point Luke describes a group of friends who are willing to cut a hole in the roof of a house where Jesus is staying, just to lower their paralyzed friend through the ceiling to Jesus can heal him. To what lengths would you go to encounter Jesus? Listen as Ryan Tankersley, a pastor from our sister church, New Hope Baptist Church, challenges us to seek God no matter what.
This year has caused many of us to worry about many things. As our minds this year are drawn to themes of sickness and antidotes, can we find an antidote not to a virus, but to the worry so many of us feel? Terry Shanahan shares how gratitude can transform our attitude and our lives.
Psalm 27 strikes us with an unresolved ending, like a dissonant jazz chord: Wait for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. This morning we explore what it may look like to wait for the Lord, and how remembering his faithfulness in the past gives us courage to wait well.
Several New Testament authors instruct us to submit to government authorities. This is especially difficult in our American culture, which has historical roots in rebellion against authority. And when nearly half of our country is dissatisfied with the results of our election, how can we nevertheless submit? The answer is found in freedom, which is not the opposite of submission, but the prerequisite to submission. You cannot submit, it turns out, unless you are truly free.
Our modern political world seems like a dog-eat-dog world. Kill or be killed. That attitude does not inspire gentleness and civility. Yet Jesus calls us to civility—and greater still, to love. As Christians who want to engage in the political sphere instead of running away, how can we do so with a spirit of civility and love?
American Christians often struggle to know how to engage politically in our world. On the one hand, withdrawal doesn’t seem like an option, but on the other hand, neither major party can seem all that appealing either. This morning we look at how God calls us to affirm the dignity of all people, the responsibility of all Christians to promote the image of God in all people, and the spirit of humility that ought to leaven all our political engagement.
In a tense election season many Christians find themselves torn. They hear from one side that Christians should vote Republican, from another side that Christians should vote Democrat, and from still another that Christians should somehow avoid politics altogether. How do we make sense of our faith in a turbulent political world?
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we think about fasting, a practice many of us may prefer to avoid. It is helpful to think about fasting positively, rather than negatively. That is, fasting is not about what we give up, but about how we are filled up.
