Title: Becoming Fire Text: Matt 3:1-12 Date: Dec 5, 2010 Author: Isaac Villegas John the Baptist appears in the wilderness and says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt 3:11). First John… More
Sermons
Worship is more than preaching. Each worship gathering draws from the wealth of gifts of the community. We have rotations of volunteers who share the responsibilities of preaching, song leading, and service planning. We take turns reading the assigned Scripture readings for the day. The high point of our worship is our time for response and sharing. Since we believe that anyone can offer an interpretation of the Bible, we provide time in our worship for people to offer their own reflections on the Scriptures and the sermon.
Click here to search our complete sermon archive
~
Our tortured king
Title: Our tortured king Texts: Col 1:11-20, Lk 23:33-43 Date: Novemeber 21, 2010 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Hanging on the cross, tortured, nearing death, a convicted rebel asks Jesus to remember him. Don’t forget me, he says, just before he dies alongside Jesus. We’re usually very good at running away from death. But our passage… More
Former glory
Title: Former Glory Date: November 6, 2010 Texts: Haggai 1:15b-2:9; Ps 145:1-5, 17-21 Author: Isaac Villegas Ah, the glory days. I’m sure you can remember them. We look back to some era of our lives, and think: Yes, those were the days. For me, I think back to the soccer field. Playing hard at weekend… More
The just shall live by faith
Title: The just shall live by faith Texts: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; Luke 19:1-10 Date: October 31, 2010 Author: Thomas Lehman As today is Halloween, Chapel Hill’s most celebrated holiday, it is appropriate to say that the word means the hallowed evening before November 1, All Saints Day, a holiday in Europe and elsewhere. In the… More
The beginning and the end
Title: The beginning and the end Texts: Gen 1:1-3, Ps 84, Jn 1:1-5, Rev 22:16-17, 20-21 Date: Oct. 24, 2010 Author: Isaac Villegas “The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen 1:2). The first chapter of Genesis is… More
Lighthouse Mennonite
Title: Waiting for God at Lighthouse Mennonite Date: October 17, 2010 Texts: I Cor 14:26-33 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Waiting. Waiting for God. After Catherine’s sermon last Sunday, I’ve been thinking about what it means for us to wait for God. Catherine preached from the book of Jeremiah, about the Jews who had to live… More
New
Title: New Text: Jeremiah 29: 1-7 Date: Oct 10, 2010 Author: Catherine Thiel Lee This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the survivors…This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and… More
The crumbs are enough
Title: The Crumbs Are Enough Texts: 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:19-31 Author: Meghan Florian Date: Sept 26, 2010 “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment.” Paul begins with the need to be content – we brought nothing into this world, he writes, and we take nothing out of it. This passage ends with… More
Faithful Witnesses (Alexanderwohl)
Title: Faithful witnesses Date: September 19, 2010 Texts: Isa 43:6-12, Isa 62:1-3, Rev 2:12-17 Author: Isaac Villegas “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne” (Rev 2:13). With those ominous words, Jesus addresses the church in Pergamum at the beginning of the book of Revelation. “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne.”… More
Slaves of Christ
Title: Slaves of Christ Texts: Philemon 1-21 Date: Sept 5, 2010 Author: Chris Gooding After I graduated from college, I spent a year living in Bombay, India. I moved there to work for a non-profit known as International Justice Mission. IJM helps people with a variety of legal issues worldwide, but what they are best… More
Pilgrimage to Zion
Title: Pilgrimage to Zion Texts: Psalm 122, 126, 129, 137 Date: August 29, 2010 Author: Isaac Villegas “Where are you from?” I’ve been hearing that question a lot these past few months as I have been traveling around visiting different Mennonite communities. “Where are you from?” If you’ve recently moved into the area for work… More
These far by faith
Title: These far by faith Text: Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Date: August 15, 2010 Author: Monica Schmucker This week the lectionary gives us another chunk of that legendary Hebrews chapter that we started on last week. As I read it over during this past week, I was looking for the things that would jump out at me… More
Seeking a homeland
Title: Seeking a homeland Text: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Date: Aug 8, 2010 Author: Meghan Florian “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” – or, in another translation I memorized as a child, “faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do… More
Will it make me happy?
Title: Will it make me happy? Texts: Luke 12:13-21, Colossians 3:5 Date: August 1, 2010 Author: Thomas Lehman Although today’s scripture passages contain enough attractive material for sermons on several subjects, preparation has been more than usually challenging, and in at least one respect humbling. Preaching to listeners that include our three grandchildren is a… More
Renting
Title: Renting Date: July 18, 2010 Texts: Num 9:15-23, Jer 29:4-9, 1 Pet 2:9-12 Author: Isaac S. Villegas We are wanders—all of us. Most of us did not grew up here in North Carolina. Even if we did, our ancestors didn’t. We live in a foreign land. I’ve been here for seven years, and I’m… More
Oh that, would that, if only…
Title: Oh that, would that, if only… Text: 2 Kings 5:1-14 Date: July 4, 2010 Author: Catherine Thiel Lee Our story tonight comes from 2 Kings and it is about a man named Naaman. Naaman is a “great man.” Hebrew narrators are usually sparse, even terse with their descriptions. But here the narrator goes on… More
Life of the dead
Title: The life of the dead Date: June 27, 2010 Texts: Gen 49:29-50:24, Heb 11:32-12:1, Lk 23:50-24:3 Author: Isaac S. Villegas I think there’s a new theme developing in my sermons over the past year or so. I really think the gospel is about our whole bodies. The good news is about our material lives,… More
Waiting for Elijah
Title: Waiting for Elijah Text: 1 Kgs 21 Date: 6.13.2010 Author: Chris Gooding The ministry of the prophet Elijah only takes up five and a half chapters of 1st and 2nd Kings. Six and a half in the entire Bible, if you include the nasty letter that he writes to king Jehoram in 2 Chronicles… More
What are we doing here
Title: What are we doing here? Text: Luke 8:26-39, 1 Kings 19:1-15 Date: June 20, 2010 Author: Thomas Lehman Eight years ago I took up a new hobby: I gamble. I have never purchased even one lottery ticket, and I don’t sneak off to Las Vegas or Atlantic City or the nearest Native American casino… More
Pallbearers
Title: Pallbearers Text: Luke 7:11-17 Date: June 6, 2010 Author: Catherine Thiel Lee I have a friend who makes icons. Well…she doesn’t really make icons, but kind of. I’m not talking about the symbols on your computer that show a little picture of your file. I mean religious icons, pictures of Jesus or Mary or… More
This Wisdom uttered made the sky
Title: “This Wisdom uttered made the sky…” Date: May 30, 2010 Text: Proverbs 8 Author: Meghan Florian Absolute in flame beyond us Seed and source of Dark and Day Maker whom we beg to be Our mother father comrade mate… Be here Be now ~ James Taylor & Reynolds Price Does not wisdom call, and… More
The Pueblo of God
Title: The Pueblo of God Date: May 16, 2010 Texts: Exod 18:13-26, Ac 1:15-26 Author: Isaac S. Villegas It’s good to be back here at church with you. As most of you already know, these past two Sundays I was in Dallas, Texas, visiting a Mennonite congregation—Iglesia Menonita Luz del Evangelio, trans. Light of the… More
Burst upon us
Title: Burst upon us Text: Acts 6:36-43 Date: April 25, 2010 Author: Catherine Thiel Lee Well, I sort of laughed to myself last week at Isaac’s sermon. He preached about the story of Jesus eating breakfast after his resurrection with his disciples, on how ordinary it all was, and on what it means for us… More
153
Title: 153 Date: April 14, 2010 Texts: John 21:1-14, Acts 9:1-6 Author: Isaac S. Villegas I love this story about Jesus, this story in John’s Gospel about his appearance to the disciples. I love it for the details, the strange details; the care John shows in getting the story right. Usually, the Gospel of John… More