Title: Tongues of Fire Date: September 13, 2009 Texts: James 3:1-12 Author: Isaac Villegas “The tongue is set on fire by hell” (James 3:6). That’s what James says. Are we really to believe that our words have so much power, the power of hell’s fire? I know that words can hurt sometimes, but it seems… 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
~
Desperate
Title: Desperate Texts: Mark 7:24-37 Date: Sept 6, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas Jesus wants to keep a low profile in Tyre. He’s in Gentile country, far away from the Jewish masses that flock to him wherever he goes. A woman comes to him. She’s desperate. Her daughter needs to be set free from an unclean… More
Come away
Title: “Come away” Date: August 30, 2009 Text: Song of Songs 2:8-13 Author: Isaac Villegas Our passage from the Song of Songs is an excerpt of a love poem. That simple fact is important. Our bible, this book that is central to our faith, is full of poems. The bible isn’t a book full of… More
Solomon’s request
Title: Solomon’s Request Texts: Psalm 111, 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58 Date: August 16, 2009 Author: Tom Lehman Psalm 111 was read a few minutes ago; it is an acrostic. After the opening “Praise to the Lord” there are 22 lines, each beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. (Waltner)… More
Absalom, Absalom
Title: Absalom, Absalom Texts: 2 Sam 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 Date: August 9, 2009 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son” (2 Sam 18:33). With these words David is at his end. It’s too much for… More
Being Church
Title: Being Church Texts: Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:24-35 Date: August 2, 2009 Author: Dave Nickel Last summer, I was asked if I would be interested in doing an internship with the five congregations of Eastern Carolina District. I said yes, but I had some reservations. Most of them were pragmatic: How would my time be… More
Power: a meditation on peace
I gave a short meditation during a worship service for our Virginia Mennonite Conference summer assembly: “Jesus is our peace.” They asked me to share about Jesus’ beatitude on peacemaking from Matthew 5: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Below is what I came up with. ————————————————————– Isaac S.… More
Desire
Title: Desire Date: July 12, 2009 Texts: 2 Sam 6:1-5, 12b-19; Mk 6:14-29 Author: Isaac Villegas Lord of life, lead us into your grace and truth. Give us eyes to see the truth about ourselves, and the grace to not run away from what we see, but receive your new life. Amen. Sometimes the truth… More
Weakness and Perseverance
Title: Weakness and Perseverance Texts: Mk 6:1-13, 2 Cor 12:2-10 Date: July 5th, 2009 Author: Dave Nickel 1. The church we attended in Phoenix had a “mentoring” program. Through this program, I was asked to mentor a high school student named Dan. I agreed to try, but I didn’t know what it meant to… More
Available
Title: Available Date: June 28, 2009 Texts: 2 Sam 1:1, 17-27; Ps 130; Mark 5:21-43 Author: Isaac Villegas “God made everything that is made for love; and the same love sustains everything, and shall do so for ever.” ~ Julian of Norwich I’ve never seen a grown man beg like Jairus. He came to Jesus… More
David and Goliath
Title: David and Goliath Date: June 21, 2009 Texts: I Sam 17:32-49, Mk 4:35-41 Author: Isaac Villegas I used to play a lot of soccer growing up. I was part of a club team, which basically means High School soccer wasn’t good enough for us. We played all year round, traveling all over the country… More
Closer: sermon on the Trinity
Title: Closer Date: June 7, 2009 (Trinity Sunday) Texts: Isa 6:1-8, Ps 29, Rom 8:12-17 Author: Isaac Villegas In April, celebrities took over downtown Durham. Hollywood came to town. They were filming a movie called Main Street. Most of the young ladies were very interested in the star of this movie, which is Orlando Bloom.… More
The miracle of communion
Title: The miracle of communion (Pentecost) Date: May 31, 2009 Texts: Rom 8:22-27, Ac 2:1-21 Author: Isaac Villegas I’ve been thinking a lot about Ben’s sermon last week, his sermon on Ascension. And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that Jesus goes away, that he ascends to the Father, that… More
Love one another
Title: Love one another Date: May 17, 2009 Text: John 15:9-17 Author: Monica Schmucker Love. Our lectionary texts seem to be marinating us in passages on love these past few weeks. Our gospel text this week comes from one of my favorite parts of John. These scenes are an intimate portrait of Jesus with his… More
Abide in me
Title: Abide in me Texts: John 15:1-8, Acts 8:26-40, I John 4:7-21 Date: May 10, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas “Abide in me.” Jesus says that’s what we are supposed to do. “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither… More
Who are you?
Title: Who are you? Date: May 3, 2009 Texts: Acts 4:5-12; I Jn 3:16-24 Author: Isaac Villegas Who are you? There are a number of ways to answer that question. You can give your name: Hi, I’m Isaac. Or maybe your job, or talk about your parents, or about where you’re from. Who are you?… More
The boundaries of God’s love
Title: The boundaries of God’s love Date: April 26, 2009 (3rd Sunday of Easter) Texts: Psalm 4, Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48 Author: Thomas Lehman When I started to prepare this message I was drawn to the passage from 1 John Ch. 3. Verse two deserves special mention before I take up the… More
Those who haven’t seen
Title: Those who have not seen Date: April 19 (Easter 2) Texts: Acts 4:32-35, Ps 133, I Jn 1:1-2:2, Jn 20:19-31 Author: Isaac Villegas “if the church does not live by miracles she does not live at all.” ~ John H. Yoder Last week was Easter. And we heard the story of Mary’s encounter with… More
To practice love: Maundy Thursday
Title: To practice love Date: April 9, 2009; Maundy Thursday, foot-washing service Texts: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Author: Isaac Villegas In a few minutes you will walk up here and stand in line, waiting your turn to wash feet and have your feet washed. You will sit down on a chair. Take off your shoes. Then… More
The way of the donkey
Title: The Way of the Donkey Date: April 5, 2009 Texts: Phil 2:5-11, Mk 11:1-11 Author: Isaac Villegas What’s with the donkey? This is the most important publicity moment in Jesus’ life. And he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. We all know that image matters. People notice the details when you’re important. Just think… More
Love heals
Title: Love Heals Date: March 22, 2009 Texts: Num 21:4-9, Eph 2:1-10, Jn 3:14-21 Author: Isaac Villegas “What would not have been assumed would not have been healed.” ~ Gregory of Nazianzus “The God who created us without us will not save us without us.” ~ Augustine What a strange story. The people encounter poisonous… More
Anger
Title: Jesus comes with a whip Date: March 15, 2008 (3rd Sunday of Lent) Texts: Ex 20:1-17, Jn 2:13-22 Author: Isaac Villegas Jesus, like any good Jew, takes a trip to the temple in Jerusalem for Passover. And when he finally gets there, after his long trip, he is disgusted. It’s not the holy place… More
Work: Ash Wed sermon
Title: Work Date: February 25, 2009 (Ash Wednesday) Texts: Genesis 3:17-19 Author: Isaac Villegas Work. The alarm clock wakes you up on Monday morning. You lie there for a few minutes, getting ready to do it all over again this week. Or it’s Friday: you get home after the week of work, you are tired,… More
Now what?
Title: Now what? Date: February 15, 2009 Texts: Psalm 30, I Cor 9:24-27, Mk 1:40-45 Author: Isaac Villegas My dad grew up running. Not from the law; just running. He ran track when he was a kid in Colombia. And he was good at it. His coach said he had a future. So my dad… More