Sermons

A hundredfold blessing Mark 10:17-31 by Isaac S. Villegas Oct 14, 2012 As long as you perform your deeds for the sake of the kingdom of heaven or God or your eternal salvation, in other words for an external reason, things are not truly well with you. ~ Meister Eckhart, 14th century[i] Is it worth… More

Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh Genesis 2:18-24 by Meghan Florian Oct 7, 2012 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” In Genesis 2 we find ourselves in the garden, surrounded by lush green growing things,… More

Spirits and struggles Numbers 11:24-29, Mark 9:38-42 by Isaac Villegas Sept 30, 2012 Here’s how I like to tell my story of church wandering, of moving from one kind of church to another, of switching Christian traditions several times over the past 30 years. As a kid, our family moved from the Roman Catholic Church… More

Begging like dogs Mark 7:24-27 Isaac S. Villegas Sept 9, 2012 I don’t like borrowing tools. I don’t like asking for help. I don’t like bothering anyone. I’d rather figure out how to do it on my own. Well, two weeks ago, in the middle of the afternoon, while I was home alone, I found… More

Hunger John 6:51-61 by Meghan Florian August 19, 2012 I hesitated to preach on the gospel text this week, since it is quite similar to last week’s text, but in the end it seems to me that there’s a good reason the lectionary keeps us here for awhile. So, we shall see what else we… More

“Bob Dylan, Jesus, and misunderstanding” John 6, Exodus 16 by Isaac S. Villegas Aug 5, 2012 Sometimes, when I’m reading the Gospel stories about Jesus, I feel like I’m in the strange world of one of Bob Dylan’s songs, like “Talkin’ World War III Blues from his 1963 album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, or stuck… More

“Prayer Shawls and Barley Loaves” John 6 by Katie Johnson July 30, 2012 My fiancé told me a story of a 5 year old boy in his church whose uncle was dying from cancer.  The boy’s family was going to do a walk for cancer research. He asked his grandma if he gave his birthday… More

“The True Shepherd is Among Us” Jeremiah 23.1-6 – Psalm 23 – Mark 6.30-34, 53-56 – Ephesians 2.11-22 by Nate Rauh July 22, 2012   Psalm 23 is an old prayer. It is prayed, for the most part, from the point-of-view [ewe? sorry] of an individual sheep as it journeys with the rest of its… More

Vampire Economics, Zombie Apocalypse, and the Bible Amos 7:7-15, Mk 6:14-29, Ps 85 by Isaac S. Villegas July 15, 2012 “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; justice and peace will kiss” (Ps 85:10). This beautiful line describes the world of the Psalmist — a world where “God’s glory will dwell in our land” (v. 9),… More

The Lonely Prophet Ezekiel 2:1-8, Mark 6:1-13 by Kathy Roberts July 8, 2012 Prophet:  A divinely inspired person; a divinely inspired interpreter, revealer, or teacher of the will or thought of God or a god; a person who speaks, or is regarded as speaking, for or in the name of God or a god. (OED)… More

Salvation Mk 5:21-43, 2 Cor 8:7-15 by Isaac Villegas July 1, 2012 What is salvation all about? I got to thinking about salvation this week as I was reading the assigned bible passages, especially the one from Mark’s Gospel, about Jesus healing Jarius’ daughter and the woman with the issue of blood. Healing has everything… More

Towering Trees, Pesky Weeds Ezekiel 17:22-24; Mark 4:26-34 by Ryan Koch June 17, 2012 “Love your enemies; do good to them,” (Lk. 6:35) Jesus famously stated. Tonight I want to talk about what might be humanity’s supreme nemesis – trees. Call me crazy, but I believe that somewhere within us, we are envious of trees’… More

Why Fire? Acts 2:1-21 by Catherine Thiel Lee May 27, 2012 Joe asked me what I was preaching about this week. “Pentecost,” I told him.  “Do you remember what happens at Pentecost?”  His eyes got wide and he grinned and nodded.  “There’s fire! And Jesus sends it on their heads.” If I may brag on… More

Wilderness roads Acts 8:26-40, 1 Jn 4:7-21, Jn 15:1-8 by Isaac S. Villegas May 6, 2012 “I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus says to the disciples, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit” (Jn 15:5). There are some grapevines that grow in a little plot of land… More

Cornerstone Acts 4:5-12, 1 John 3:16-24 by Martha King April 29, 2012 It just so happens that I preached the on Good Shepherd Sunday last year; so I’ll admit that instead of writing another sermon on the 23rd Psalm, I decided to look elsewhere in our passages for the week and pick up with Isaac’s… More

Without resentment Acts 3:12-19, Luke 24:36b-48 by Isaac S. Villegas April 22, 2012 When I was a teenager, I’d say that my grudges, my resentments, were based solely on soccer rivalries. I would look, at disgust, at the players from Cyrus, a team from Phoenix, with their choreographed warm up routine, and every player wearing… More

Alive for One Another Acts 4:32-35, John 20:18-31 by Meghan Florian April 15, 2012 I had trouble getting into lent this year. I tried picking up a lenten discipline, but couldn’t find motivation to carry it through; I didn’t even care enough to feel guilty about that. And, during holy week I didn’t set foot… More

“In search of a body” Isaiah 25:6-9, John 20:1-18 by Isaac S. Villegas Easter 2012 Let’s be honest with ourselves. We are a good at making meals. There’s nothing like a Chapel Hill Mennonite potluck, and our Easter potluck is just the culmination of all that is good from our various meals throughout the year.… More

Crucified hope Mark 11:1-11 by Isaac S. Villegas April 1, 2012 Palm Sunday   After 40 days of Lent, days of contemplation, of wandering into our interior life, we find ourselves here, on Palm Sunday, standing at the edge of Lent, leaning toward Easter. Lent has been a time of wandering, a circling deeper and… More

“Ever before me” Jer 31:31-34, Ps 51:1-12 by Isaac S. Villegas March 25, 2012   “To the leader: a psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” That’s the introduction to Psalm 51. There’s a story here, behind the prayer, a familiar story. David, the king… More

“Love and Light” John 3:14-21 by Matt Morin March 18, 2012   It can be seen scrawled on subway doors, or spelled out in smoke by sky-writing airplanes. It has been plastered below the eyes of professional quarterbacks[1] and adapted for use by NASCAR[2]. It is printed at the bottom of paper cups at In-N-Out… More

Title: Cleansing of the Temple Date: March 11, 2012 Text: John 2:13-22 Author: Dave Swanson Preaching is not abstract.  Preaching in Lent is certainly not so.  A few weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday, Isaac introduced Lent as something positive.  I heard him saying it is an invitation to deeper life to which we, as church,… More

Following the plain-spoken Jesus Mark 8: 31-38 by Catherine Thiel Lee March 4, 2012 Apparently, there is a logic to the lectionary. The bits of Scripture we read to each other each week in Lent do two things.  It’s all about anticipation.  First, we get to go back over the stories of Israel and remember… More

Tile: Baptized with a flood Text: Genesis 9:8-17, Mark 1:9-15, 1 Peter 3:18-22 Date: Feb 26, 2012, First Sunday of Lent Author: Isaac S. Villegas “[A] Christian life is nothing else than a daily Baptism, once begun and ever continued.” ~ Martin Luther, 16th century[1] My garden is coming back to life — crocuses, daffodils,… More