Sermons

Title: Our God comes Text: Mk 9:2-9 Date: Feb 19, 2012 Author: Matt Elia Our God comes, the Psalmist says, and does not keep silence. This is my beloved son, shouts a darkness in the clouds, listen to him. Our God comes—and does not keep silence. This is my son—listen to him. Several Saturdays ago,… More

Tile: Healing Text: 2 Kings 5:1-14, Mark 1:40-45, Ps 30 Date: Feb 12, 2012 Author: Isaac S. Villegas   I was in New York City last week, which turned out to be the right place for the Superbowl, although I didn’t have the endurance to stay up late and watch the Giants win. While in… More

Title: What does it mean to be healed? Text: Mark 1:29-39 Date: Feb 5, 1012 Author: Scott Schomburg Mark’s gospel begins in the middle. His first written lines form our imaginations for the rest of the story.  He writes, “This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus.”  What follows is the narrative of… More

Tile: The Church of the Exorcism. Text: Mark 1:21-28, 1 Cor 8:1-13 Date: Jan 29, 2012 Author: Isaac S. Villegas   It is the Sabbath and Jesus is worshiping in the local synagogue. He preaches the good news and the people are impressed. All of a sudden an unclean spirit reveals itself, having taken possession… More

Tile: This world is passing away Text: 1 Cor 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20 Date: Jan 22, 2012 Author: Isaac S. Villegas   Let’s start with talking about what Paul doesn’t mean, what 1 Corinthians doesn’t mean when we hear a line like, “from now on, let those who have wives be as though they had none”… More

Title: In the beginning Texts: Gen 1:1-5, Ps 29 Date: Jan 8, 2012 Author: Tom Lehman The book of Genesis probably reached its present text about six centuries before the birth of Christ. Prior to that it existed, at least in part, as oral tradition–stories told by one generation to the next. The first book… More

Tile: The Lord is with you Text: Luke 1:26-38 Date: Dec 18, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas   Prayer: May the Holy Spirit come upon us, and the power of the Most High overshadow us. May it be done to us according to your word. During Christmas, we remember that God has come close, that… More

Title: Occupying the Wilderness of God Text: Mark 1:1-8 Date: Dec 4, 2011 Author: Martha King I was going to start with: It was a dark and stormy night… only it wasn’t stormy at all—the night was actually quite clear.  I do remember the wild darkness, however, and the crisp cool of summer nights up… More

Tile: An apocalyptic advent Texts: Isa 64:1-9; Ps 80:1-7, 17-19; Mk 13:24-37 Date: Nov 27, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “See the sunlight, we ain’t stoppin’ / Keep on dancing till the world ends / If you feel it, let it happen / Keep on dancing till the world ends / Keep on dancing till… More

Tile: Life in the flesh Texts: Ezek 34:11-24, Ps 95:1-7, Eph 1:15-23, Matt 25:31-46 Date: Nov 20, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “If I said my heart was beating loud / If I said I want your body now / Would you hold it against me / If I said my heart was beating loud… More

Title: Nursing Rocks and the Image of God Texts: Isa 46:3-9, Deut 32:1-18, Gen 1:26-27, 2 Cor 3:12-18 Date: Nov 13, 2011 Author: Catherine Lee I’m going to talk tonight about God, the mother of Israel. That statement invites a few qualifications, especially at this point in our sermon series and discussion. For one thing,… More

Title: Imaging the invisible God Texts: Ps 131, Isa 66:10-13, Lk 13:31-35 Date: Nov 6, 2011 Author: Nate Rauh One of the central beliefs of the Jewish and Christian faiths, is that God is invisible. God is unseen. This is one of the central beliefs, and it can also be one of the most frustrating… More

Title: “How Can This Be?” Texts: Proverbs 8-9, 1 Corinthians 1:24-30, Luke 7:31-35 Date: Oct 30, 2011 Author: Meghan Florian Since we are in the midst of a sermon series specifically focusing on God and gender, our texts have been chosen to direct us to a particular topic – Jesus, Woman Wisdom. And, I admit,… More

Title: Learning to speak is learning to touch Text: Isaiah 42:13-17 Date: Oct 23, 2011 Author: M. Elia I first met the Lord Jesus in an enormous Baptist megachurch. Imagine the Durham Bulls stadium, but slightly larger and with a roof over it, only with no alcohol and fewer hotdogs. (Though our church did have… More

Tile: The Father’s Womb Texts: Psalm 110; Isaiah 49:1-3, 13-18; John 1:14-18 Date: Oct 9, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas I’m struggling with patriarchy these days, patriarchy and God, thinking of God as a Father, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” as we say in the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, that Jesus taught us… More

Tile: She is not a man, nor is He a woman Texts: Exodus 3:13-15, Matthew 28:16-20 Date: Oct 9, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas   This week kicks off our series on passages in the bible that mess with our imagination, with our images of God, especially our images of God’s gender. The church, by… More

Tile: Uprooted and replanted Texts: Isaiah 5:1-8, Ps 80:7-15, Philip 3:4-14, Matt 21:33-46 Date: Oct 2, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas   Scattered here and there in our Scriptures for today are images of God’s people, Israel, as vines, planted, uprooted, and replanted; vineyards that need care in order to thrive, to produce good fruit… More

Title:  Divine Deal-making and A Painful Patience Texts:  Jeremiah 15:15-21; Psalm 26; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28 Date:  August 28, 2011 Author:  Ben D.   “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause… More

Tile: Forgiveness comes first Texts: Matt 18:21-35 Date: September 11, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas   How many times do I have to forgive? It’s a good question. After someone has wronged you again and again, at some point, don’t you have to be done with him or her? At some point, aren’t you justified… More

Title: Love is the Fulfilling of the Law Text: Romans 13:8-14 Date: Sept 4, 2011 Author: Meghan Florian We are a people deeply indebted – indebted to love. It is, one might say an infinite debt. One which we can never repay. Yet here we are, in the epistle to the Romans, being told in… More

Tile: In heaven as it is on earth Texts: Isa 51:1-6, Ps 138, Matt 16:13-20 Date: August 21, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas This past summer I’ve been teaching a class at the Durham prison, a class on autobiography. We read and discussed memoirs like Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott and the Autobiography of Malcolm… More

Title: Strange Encounters Texts: Isa 56.1, 6-8; Matt 15.21-28 Date: August 14, 2011 Author: Nathan Rauh One of the things I’ve come to realize this summer is how much this community has been working on me, teaching me to sit in the tension with difficult texts and let them work on me. Catherine exemplified that… More

Title: The Voice of the Lord Text: 1 Kings 19:9-18 Date: Aug 7, 2011 Author: Catherine Lee So in the mold of the “summer of stories,” I’m going to tell you one.  But only one.  I’m pretty much just going to riff on one really good story from 1 Kings.  But don’t worry, there’s lots… More

Tile: Bread of life Texts: Isaiah 55:1-5, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:13-21 Date: July 31, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Jesus withdrew to a solitary place, away from the towns, “a deserted place by himself” (Matt 14:13a)—perhaps to mourn the death of John the Baptist, who was just beheaded by king Herod. “But,” the text says,… More