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The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney preaching on Genesis 12:1-4a as part of the Chidester Lecture Series. Audio Only.

Matthew 5:38-48 Calvin breaks his dad’s binoculars. Calvin, as in the comic strip boy with the tiger of “Calvin and Hobbes” fame, not the reformed theologian John Calvin, to be clear. He breaks his dad's binoculars and is sweating about it. He asks his tiger Hobbes, who is the voice of reason in the comic, what he should do. Maybe he can raid his piggy bank and buy a new pair without his dad noticing. He has about $6 and calls the store to see how much the binoculars cost. $600! Oh man! Calvin’s dad is going to kill him! Maybe we can put them back together, Hobbes offers. Calvin gets the box and pours out the binoculars that have been reduced to dust, instructing Hobbes not to sneeze. That’s not an option either. Calvin doesn’t know what to do. He’s at the family dinner table and he’s sweating it out. Calvin thinks, “Look at dad, calming eating his dinner as if nothing was wrong. I know him. His ‘dad radar’ is beeping like crazy. He knows I broke something, he just doesn’t know WHAT. He can’t nail me unti

Sermon “You Have Heard it Said, But I Say” February 12, 2017 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 15See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his (God’s) ways, and observing his (God’s) commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20loving the LORD your God, obeying him (God) , and holding fast to him (God), for that means life to

Is 58:3-10, Mt 5:13-20 The Rev. Mary Meadows preaching. It was near the end of the summer between 9th and 10th grade – between junior high and senior high. I had finished with my job teaching swimming at the local YMCA, and I wondered what I would do while waiting for school to begin. My next-door neighbor came to the rescue. “I cook for First Baptist Church at Falls Creek, a big Baptist camp. I could really use a helper. I’ll pay you – I just need you for an hour before each meal so you’ll still have time to do things with the other campers.” A paid job and I could be out of the house for a couple of weeks. Sure, why not?! I didn’t know much about Baptists at that time. I had started out life as Catholic, but my parents left the Catholic church when I was in grade school. They were frustrated with a church that did not seem to respond to the world’s needs. Then we were Unitarian for a while. But by the end of junior high, I didn’t feel I was much of anything. But this was the year when Baptists (and when

Matthew 4:12-23 12Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebed

Part of our Chidester Series, the Rev. Quinn Caldwell preaching on the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3: 1-17, audio only.

Matthew 2:1-12 Introduction to Scripture: Today we are celebrating Epiphany, a day when something new was revealed. As we read this familiar text today, let us look for something to be revealed that we had not seen before. There is a rabbinical story that can help us in this task. “It is the story of the burning bush in the Hebrew Scriptures in which Moses sees a bush on fire, but the bush is not consumed. The rabbis say that the important thing about this story is not that the bush is burning but that Moses notices, because every bush is burning, every bush is on fire with the divine presence, everything in the universe shines because God is at the heart of it. So it is in our epiphany story. It is a story that invites us to open our eyes to the light that is everywhere.” 1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to

What are your dreams and hopes? Are they as big as Isaiah’s? … The problem is not that Isaiah’s hopes were too big. The problem is that ours are often too small, way too small.

"A New Season” Isaiah 2:1-5 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord! Today I feel a need to offer a confession. My confession is centered around my use of my smartphone. It all started innocently, when I switched to using my smartphone as

My mom is a gift-giver. Each and every Christmas growing up, there would be a pile of presents under the tree. My mom was a blue-collar, hardworking, single mom. We didn’t get much during the rest of the year as we were so busy surviving and working and running to and from our various activities. Yet each Christmas, we felt rich. One Christmas, there weren’t as many presents. Just two or three to my sister and me. And then one present had both of our names on it. My sister and I were puzzled, but my mom never disappointed. We saved that one for last, and when we opened it, we shouted and jumped up and down. It was a SEGA Genesis. An expensive game console at the time. It had to have cost her at least a month’s wages. It was an extravagant gift. Two years ago, I remodeled our master bathroom. With the help of my neighbor Eric, I ripped out everything, down to the studs. We then spent the next 4 months building it back. I learned how to tile and drywall. It was aggravating and wonderful. I grew closer to Eri

SAM: It is of supreme importance -- Luke: that we get our image of Jesus -- BOTH: RIGHT! SAM: There are too many blithering idiots - LUKE: Well meaning people! SAM: Religious nuts! LUKE: Church leaders – denominational and institutional hierarchies! SAM: Conservatives & Literalists! LUKE: Bleeding Heart Liberals and Socialists SAM: Political Elitists LUKE: Wacko revolutionaries! ALL: Who are leading people ASTRAY!! SAM: So listen carefully – JESUS ALL: As we ALL know LUKE: Came from a model family -- SAM: What?! His mother was pregnant when she got married! LUKE: And lived in a secure and loving home. SAM: They were refugees – his parents had an arranged marriage! LUKE: He had a wondrous childhood… SAM: About which we know nothing! LUKE: He was mild and obedient – a holy child! SAM: He ran away when he was 12… was gone for 3 days – and didn’t feel much remorse! LUKE: He spoke with love and compassion to all. SAM: He was rude to his mother more than once – and said “You’re not my fa

Russ Miller preaching on Luke 18:1-8. Audio only.

I was at a sermon seminar this past summer where a pastor said “sin” in every other sentence. I told him that I had heard him say “sin” more in a day than I hear in a month at my church. He replied, “That's because I don't believe in cheap grace. I know the absolute truth of the Good News: That I am a sinner and Christ died for my sins.” “Well,” I said. “Hate to break it to you, but grace is worse than cheap; it's free. And the Good News is that gift of God's grace is free to all who turn toward it and believe God's beloved community has come near. It's sin that's cheap. It cheapens our relationship to God, to ourselves, and to others. That's the cheap part.” It is as Pastor Jack Stephenson once said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” Yet the main thing isn't that we humans are awful, sinful, totally depraved, worthless worms. The main thing is God's grace. God's grace is the main thing. That is the power we rely on. The Good News is that God somehow entered the life of Jesus and

Heroic testimonies! Audio only. Firefighter Chris Nurse Terry Military Jeff Military Officer Rodney for the U.S. Public Health Service and Psyche Nurse Kristie