Archive for category: Podcast

Generation to Generation: There’s Room for Every Story (Matthew 1:1-17)

We are all the culmination of all the generations of those before us. Known and unknown to us, all have contributed to the story of who we are now. In that long list of names there are stories to tell, expected and unexpected, and God has worked through each one, up to the very present. Those revelations can bring both triumph and trauma, but when we zoom out we can see how each story is woven together through time into the larger tapestry of who we are.

What is your story and how can you see that God is present and active in it?

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

When we’re waiting for something important, anticipating how wonderful it’s going to make our lives it can be really difficult to concentrate on the realities of life. Especially if some of those realities are nowhere near as fun as what we’re hoping for. Whatever hopes we have for the future, we know we live in the present. As Christians we have a foot in two worlds—the reality of our daily lives and the hope that we have in through Christ that will lead us to Heaven. Both of these places make the Kingdom of God. How do we live our lives in ways that keep us grounded, but also help us live with hope and compassion? The love of Christ for all of us always wins, and we can express that love for one another right now in ways that help all of us.

Our Money Story: Restore (Genesis 33:1-17)

Today we finished our sermon series, Our Money Story. We all have a money story, whether we recognize it or not. Perhaps we are living from a story of fear or shame. Or a story that our actions won’t have an impact. Or a story that we don’t have enough. Where might God be speaking a new narrative into the limited ones we have told ourselves? This sermon series invites us to discover and tell our money stories in light of God’s money story of liberation and justice. This series encourages us to transform our stewardship practices into more full expressions of who we are and what we believe.

Today we continued our sermon series, Our Money Story. We all have a money story, whether we recognize it or not. Perhaps we are living from a story of fear or shame. Or a story that our actions won’t have an impact. Or a story that we don’t have enough. Where might God be speaking a new narrative into the limited ones we have told ourselves? This sermon series invites us to discover and tell our money stories in light of God’s money story of liberation and justice. This series encourages us to transform our stewardship practices into more full expressions of who we are and what we believe.

This morning, we practiced releasing shame, anxiety, guilt, greed, or anything that keeps us from freedom and wholeness. We release the elements of our money story that prevent us from fully living into God’s story.

Every year on the first Sunday in October, Christians around the globe celebrate World Communion Sunday.

Romans 15:1-13, The Message

Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir – not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus! So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!

Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance: Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing; I’ll sing to your name! And this one: Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together! And again: People of all nations, celebrate God! All colors and races, give hearty praise! And Isaiah’s word: There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse, breaking through the earth and growing tree tall, Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope! Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!