The Church We Hope For: Recent Episodes
The Church We Hope For
We are a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus.
For more info, visit www.thechurchwehopefor.com
September 22, 2024 | Maren Jo Schneider | Genesis 24
We've all heard that we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but when you read Genesis like an English major, it's not hard to see that a better name would be the God of Abraham, Rebekah, and Jacob. The text designates Rebekah as a chosen one of God with main character energy, but commentators have struggled to notice because they expect the women of Genesis to stick to supporting roles. Rebekah boldly subverts those expectations and, beyond biology, serves her crucial role in growing a people called to do righteousness and justice.
Keywords: Rebekah, Abraham, Women in Genesis
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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September 15, 2024 | Nicola Patton | Joshua 2
The story of Rahab teaches us that morality is often a luxury but that God provides for the powerless. God is the God of radical inclusion and a border-crossing God who looks to tear down walls for us to belong together, not so that we can destroy each other.
Keywords: Rahab, Belonging, Inclusion
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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September 8, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Gen 16:7-16
Mother Hagar is the first human and first foreign woman to name God, the God who sees. This is in response to God naming her son, Ishmael, which means, God hears. She finds herself in a difficult predicament after being taken advantage of. Yet, God earnestly pursues her, provides a name for her son, and promises to his descendants.
Keywords: Hagar, Ishmael, God who sees
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 18, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Matthew 5:9 Pastora Inés grounds reconciliation in the work of Jesus on the cross in Ephesians 2:11-22. She centers peacemaking within the context of the upside kingdom of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:9.
Keywords: Reconciliation, Peacemaking
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 11, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde and Nicola Patton | Hebrews 6:12-19 The VoiceIn this communal sermon, Pastoras Nicola and Inés hold a conversation about hope. Hope is a habit that grows in the dark and hope has a root system. We created a communal poem of hope with the congregation because hope is not just one thing and there is not one way to hope!
Keywords: Hope, Community, Anchor
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 4, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Matthew 6:33 NRSVGod is the author, architect and arbiter of justice. From the Old Testament to the New, we see that God always has protested injustice and has a preferential treatment for the marginalized. In the life and ethical work of Jesus, we are invited to live into the verbs of Jesus which are the seeds of justice.
Keywords: Jesus, Justice, Margins
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 28, 2024 | Armando David Scott-Canchola | Luke 4
As we look at the love of Jesus, we see how God is not retributive, but a God who is radically forgiving, co-suffering, and sacrificial. A God who teaches us to love all, including our enemy. Jesus invites us to follow His expansive Cross-shaped love, first revealed in His Gospel of Julibee found in His hometown sermon in Luke 4.
Keywords: Cruciform Theology, Cross-shaped Love, Radical Love, Enemy Love, Gospel of Jubilee
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 14, 2024 | Bobby Harrison | Matthew 14
As we look at the life of Jesus, we see a God who draws near. And it’s the eyes of Christ, filled with compassion, that moves Jesus first toward us. May we be moved, as he was moved, to be the eyes of Christ to one another.
Keywords: Church, Compassion, Familia, Holiness, Jesus, Love, Nearness
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 7, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde
The Holy Spirit is life, light and speaks a language. Pastora Inés gives an overview of how we see the power and presence of the Spirit as the 3rd person of the Trinity who was here from the beginning giving life-giving breath to all. We see the Spirit as the light of wisdom that falls over ordinary people like prophets, prophetesses, and even Jesus to raise him from the dead. We imagine that the language of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians that begins with ordinary seeds.
Keywords: Holy Spirit, Ruach
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 23, 2024 | Bobby Harrison We begin a new series focused on our Vision as a church, starting with "We are a Beloved Community." Hear how we've embodied this truth over the years and aim to continue to live into it with the triune love of God as our center.
Keywords: Beloved, Community, Grace, Identity, Hope, Jesus, Redemption
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 16, 2024 | Dr. Phil Allen, Jr. | Matt 11:28; Psalm 46:10; Luke 22:31-32; 39-46
The liminal spaces and seasons (the in-between), also called transitions, can be challenging, scary, and confusing, but also exciting and hopeful. Jesus’s life, from his birth to death, resurrection, and ascension, is thirty-three years of an in-between season in the broader human history. In his life and ministry we have examples of how to navigate transitions in healthy ways: with rest, rituals of grief and joy, and communal rhythms.
Keywords: Transition, Rest, Rituals, Community
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 9, 2024 | Bobby Harrison | Matthew 11:28-30This past Sunday, I shared with our familia that I will be transitioning out of my role as Co-Lead Pastor. If you missed the message, I believe watching and hearing the story will be most helpful in holding the sacredness of the story. I also wrote a letter (https://thechurchwehopefor.com/pastor-bobby-harrisons-transition) about this movement in my life – and the life of our church – to our congregation last week that you can read here.I want you to know how profoundly grateful I am for the compassion and care so many of you met me and my family with in that moment. Your words, your eyes, your embrace, your presence. To see your faces was to see the face of God. Over and again, each person anew. And the texts and emails and calls this week have been a gift I will long treasure. The Church We Hope For is that rare community that can hold a community’s story of loss while still honoring a pastor’s (and person’s) reality of pain. What embodied grace. What expansive love. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.Pastora Inés has begun a transition plan that she outlined below my announcement here (https://thechurchwehopefor.com/pastor-bobby-harrisons-transition) as well. And please know, familia, there is already a deeply thoughtful and intentional vision for our community being implemented in real time. More of this will continue to be communicated each step of the way. But as a people that take grief and practices of lament seriously, we also don’t want to abruptly move too quickly beyond the gravity of this moment. All of this is being taken into great consideration and care, with that deep balance of compassion and wisdom.
Keywords: Embodiment, Faith, Discernment, Transition
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 2, 2024 | Nicola Patton | Acts 2:41-47 NRSV
After Pentecost comes ordinary life in community among the believers. And within that community, we find unity that celebrates diversity. The differences among believers are not prerequisites for belonging but unique aspects that contribute to the beloved community. The group had everything in common and that looked like belonging together in safety.
Keywords: Belonging, Community, Resurrection, Unity
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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May 19, 2024 | Janette Hur Ok | Acts 2:1-13; 1 Corinthians 12:12, 21-26Diversity is both a gift and a challenge because embracing difference is incredibly difficult. We need the continual presence and power of the Spirit to unify our diversity. The Spirit's Christ-centering power empowers us to divest ourselves again and again of any power that hoards resources and opportunities and devalues, disregards, and disadvantages others. It also challenges us to embrace disagreement and difference as a gift of the Spirit.
Keywords: Pentecost, Body of Christ, Unity, Diversity, Holy Spirit, Power
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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May 12, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Joel 2:23-29Before the wind of Pentecost, we find the waiting of the prophetic fulfillment of Joel 2:23-29. The promises are for the restoration of all things, beginning with the soil, the animals, and humankind. God sees our devastation and promises to restore the years that the locusts have stolen.
Keywords: Eastertide, Joel, Locusts
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 28, 2024 | Bobby Harrison | Deuteronomy 38-40
This sermon looks at the relationship between death and resurrection, particularly by looking at the end of the life of Moses. In his story, we see ways we may be led to resist death alongside paths of receiving death. And this just may inform how we can live into these realities in our own lives.
Keywords: Death, Resurrection, Peace, Resistance, Trust
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 21, 2024 | Salena Marie Scott | Earth Day – Eastertide
Salena Scott shares her unique journey of how caring for creation began to care for her disabled body in return, and why she thinks Jesus calls us to commune with the land we live on. Salena is a poet and an advocate of renewing the California indigenous story through native plants.
Keywords: Creation, Earth Day, Healing, Indigenous Jesus
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 14, 2024 | John Williams | Matthew 5:6The sermon explores the concept of Restorative Justice and its vital role in building a beloved community. Through the framework of the Sermon on the Mount, the address invites congregants to embrace deep humility, courageous listening, unintimidated speech, and the amplification of the stories of the racially oppressed.
Keywords: Restorative Justice, Racial Reconciliation, Community Building
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 7, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 24:36-43
After the revelation at the table at the end of the road to Emmaus, Jesus again appears to his disciples and introduces himself saying, “Peace be with you”. Through a wordcloud exercise, Pastora Inés invites our congregations to a communal reflection of Scripture asking what keywords, emotions, images, and phrases stand out to us from this passage. Our road to resurrection is still ongoing and our people are the teachers.
Keywords: Road to Emmaus, Resurrection, Peace
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 31, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 24:28-35
After the resurrection, Jesus goes searching for his friends and listens to their dashed hopes on the road to Emmaus. The disciples don’t recognize him until he takes the bread, gives thanks, and shares it. Resurrection is a road and a ritual where Jesus’ presence comes after us so that we may see him.
Keywords: Road to Emmaus, Resurrection, Ritual, Table
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 29, 2024 | Mondo and Salena Scott, Mike Hale
A contemplative liturgy of sight, sound, and solidarity as we center a table of remembrance and reflect on the cross of Christ. This Good Friday Observance included musical, poetic, and visual exploration where we meditated on the unjust crucifixion of Jesus and sought solace in the divine mystery of our God fully revealed in Christ crucified.
Station of the Cross art by Scott Erickson - https://scottericksonartshop.com
Keywords: Good Friday, Stations of the Cross
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 24, 2024 | Bobby Harrison | Mark 11
In our bilingual Palm Sunday service, we reimagined the biblical narrative of Jesus riding in on a donkey through the eyes of a little girl and her family. May this immersive, imaginative tale bring new eyes and ears to a familiar pillar of our Easter experience. And in it, may Jesus be revealed to you again and anew, as a King who cries.
Keywords: Story, Lament, Hope, Imagination, Faith, Familia
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 17, 2024 | Sandy Lee Schaupp | Matthew 26:26-29, Revelations 7:9
This sermon explores the question, "What keeps us from pondering heaven?" Sandy vulnerably shares her own journey with how the fear of death or assumptions about who gets to be in heaven blocked her from pondering heaven. She invites listeners to actively nurture a robust vision of heaven which would increase our hope and joy now and into eternity.
Keywords: Death, Heaven, Hope, Feasting, Deconstructing
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 10, 2024 | Bobby Harrison | John 12:23-25
In this sermon, we look at the invitation Jesus gives us in the Gospel of John to release our whole lives unto God in order for the fullness of God to have its way with us.
Keywords: Hope, Surrender, Release, Redemption, Life, Healing
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 3, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | John 6:1-14 In the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, if we count women and children, Jesus actually fed about 15,000+. Jesus sees the marginalized and hungry crowds and invites his disciples to provide. A young boy brings his sack lunch that maybe his mom baked and his tio caught the fish. Jesus gives thanks for the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish and miraculously provides for the masses. What would it look like for Jesus to provide living bread for you in this season now? What would it look like if we all brought our “5 and 2”?
Keywords: Feeding of 5000, Barley, Bread, Fish
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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Feb 25, 2024 | Angela Scott Lee
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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February 18, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | John 6:25-36 THE VOICE translationPastora Inés introduces us to our Lent series: Bread and Body which will carry us all the way to Easter. In this story, Jesus invites us to the tables that he sets and calls himself the "bread of life". As we enter into Lent, how may we retrain our appetites to hunger for the true bread that gives life? How might we be attentive to our bodies? How might we fast from or add a rhythm in our life that purges us from false breads and moldy water?
Keywords: Lent, Bread, Body
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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February 4, 2024 | Bobby Harrison | Luke 15
In this online service, we took time to re-read together the story of the prodigal sons in Luke 15. And through the lenses of social locations and cultural backgrounds, we gave ourselves the gift of reimagining this story in such beautiful, collaborative ways. The reflections we all shared back throughout the service helped cultivate together a sermon like never before.
Keywords: Grace, Forgiveness, Healing, Communal, Bible, Joy, Liberation
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 28, 2024 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Mark 4:1-10In the parable of the sower, Jesus invites the conditions that would make the seed of the Word to remain, take root, sprout, and bring forth fruit. Soils need sustainable rhythms to receive this word. Instead of asking “What soil am I?” perhaps our agency invites us to choose what soil we will be.
Keywords: Soil, Seed, Sower
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 7, 2023 | Bobby Harrison
In this sermon, we look at wilderness seasons and stories throughout the Scriptures, from cover to cover. And we see our own stories, and receive a deeper understanding that so much of life is found in “wilderness seasons”. What we then are called to ask, is how God can meet us even — and especially — here.
Keywords: Grace, Hope, Jesus, Justice, Wilderness
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 21, 2024 | Nicola Patton | Psalm 133
It’s easy to get caught up in doing so much church that we forget about community. But God cares more about community than about church. We have been created in and for community by a communal God. It is part of our human nature to need each other and exist fully together. Sometimes we want to love people without needing them. But we lose our humanity when we lose sight of community, when we lose the truth of community, when we lose the safety and love of community. It is scary and risky to be vulnerable with each other but community is where we find God.
Keywords: Community, Humanity, Unity
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 17, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Ruth 4:11-12 → Luke 1:46-55
Mother Ruth secures the steps and seeds of the Messiah and we hear echoes of her hope in Mary's Magnificat. Our very own Nicola Patton re-writes Mary's Magnificat in Ruth's voice. We linger in Mary's words. She speaks from her soul. She magnifies El Shaddai which means "from the bosom of the mother". And she sings overshadowed by the Spirit. Ruth and Mary invite us to sing a song ourselves.
Keywords: Ruth, Mary, Magnificat, Advent
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 10, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Ruth 1, 4
In this sermon, we look at the story of Naomi in the book of Ruth. And from this matriarch of the faith, we find space for blessing to be birthed even in bitterness. Asking God to do just the same in us and our lives. And honestly holding space for the weariness we’re feeling while longing for more.
Keywords: Hope, Lament, Loss, Blessing, Belief, Advent
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 3, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Ruth 2:8-12 NRSV
In Ruth 2, we observe that the steps of Ruth plant the seeds of the Messiah and prepare the way for the Messiah. Mother Ruth, a foreign Moabite woman steps into the field of prophetic promise where God has been cultivating a path of shalom for generations. She reaps the compassion that she has sown onto Naomi, and she plants the seeds of the inbreaking of the Kingdom.
Keywords: Ruth, Boaz, Advent, seeds
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 19, 2023 | Armando David Scott-Canchola | Matthew 14:13-12, 15:12-39
In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, we chose to honor the land we occupy by delving into its history and acknowledging its original indigenous inhabitants. Among our community, Armando David Scott-Canchola centered the ancestral lineage of his maternal Chumash Native heritage. Through the telling of a Chumash creation story, Armando interwove the narrative with the subversive teachings of Jesus, offering a unique perspective on identity and spirituality, revealing that all are welcome at the Table of the Lord.
Keywords: Native Storytelling, Native American Christian, Chumash, Canaanite woman
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 12, 2023 | Bobby Harrsion | John 11:33-44
As Jesus makes his way to the stone-cold tomb where Lazarus is sealed shut, we’re invited to see the “tomb seasons” in our own lives. The spaces and places where we find ourselves in lament and loss. And where we ultimately long for God to comfort us and call us back to holy and whole healing.
Keywords: Lament, Loss, Grief, Hope, Healing, Community, Migration, Resurrection
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 5, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Ruth 1:16-18
Migration is a means of God's love and God's company. In the story of Comadre Ruth and Naomi, we see the embodied hesed love of God in the friendship vows that Ruth makes to Naomi in times of crisis and duress. Comadre Ruth did not know that she carried the seed of the Messiah and her actions secured his arrival in the coming generations.
Keywords: Ruth, Naomi, migration, comadre
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 22, 2023 | Camille Hernandez | Judges 4:17-22As we continue to witness the atrocity of war, retaliation, and genocide let us turn our eyes to the actions of Jael who teaches us how to boldly go where God leads and end conflict. This is a sermon that is meant to meet this moment while also honoring the genocide victims in Palestine, the Philippines, and throughout the globe. Using a nonviolent approach and trauma-informed analysis, we will use the story of Jael to understand our role as peacemakers and justice pursuers.
Keywords: Jael, Israel, Palestine, genocide, peacemaking
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 15, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Mark 5:25-29In this sermon, we look at the woman in Mark 5 who has been bleeding for 12 years. And we let her story lead us to look at an even more ancient shared suffering of blood between Israelis and Palestinians. While asking Jesus to end this loss of so much life. It’s ultimately a word of shalom seeking more shalom for our broken world.
Keywords: Suffering, Mercy, Shalom, Jesus, War, Tragedy, Loss, Hope
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 8, 2023 | Meleca Consultado | Genesis 16: 7-8
As I (Meleca) have been sitting with Spirit this last week, She brought me back to a story that has ministered to me more times than I can remember. The story of an Egyptian slave girl, Hagar, who had to endure wickedness and abuse done to her, who lacked power, was vulnerable and might have been erased from the biblical narrative altogether until she was met in the wilderness by the angel of the Lord, who asked her two questions, that I find grounding amidst this liminal space that is staring into one's past while wondering what sort of future awaits you/us.
The question(s): “where have you come from, and where are you going?”
And the invitation I have for you Pamilya, will you carry this story with me?
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 1, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Matthew 1-2
We look at the story of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus as they are forced to migrate over 1,200 miles over the course of three years. And in their perilous journey, we find glimpses of our stories of movement. All the while reflecting on how God's faithfulness and our ancestors' faith made a way for us to make today.
Keywords: Faith, Ancestors, Migration, Movement, Spirit, Doubt, Jesus
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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September 24, 2023 As we celebrated our 3-year church anniversary, our community shared honestly, vulnerable, and joyfully what this place has meant to them as a faith community. We also marked our last day at the Missiongathering church building where we made our first in-person home since the Fall of 2021. As of October 1st, we migrated to a new church home at the Pasadena Mennonite Church property four blocks north!
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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September 10, 2023 | Armando David Canchola Scott | Isaiah 11:1-9
This Sunday was the beginning of a season where our church familia began to center and celebrate Latinx Heritage Month. In honor of that, Armando David Canchola Scott explored Isaiah 11:1-9, where the poet prophets give audacious vision of hope and peace; and how that connected to his own story of his own cultural heritage.
Keywords: chicana, chicano, Isaiah 11, Latinx, Latinx heritage month, multicultural church, Peace, shalom, Zion
About:
The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 27, 2023 | Nicola Patton | 1 Kings 19:1-15 We won’t always be dazzled by the Spirit. Much of our lives are spent in mundane, even wilderness places. But the Spirit meets us in all those places and moments, creating space for us to be quiet and reflect. It’s in that silence we can take the time to hear the Spirit gently and curiously ask, “What are you doing here?”
Keywords: Holy Spirit, Silence, Rest
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 13, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Luke 3:21-22
In this sermon, we look at the /Spirit’s involvement in Jesus’ baptism. And the Belovedness that is spoken over him in that moment. And we do so as a recognition that this same Belovedness has been gifted to us as well.
Keywords: Belovedness, Grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Love
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 6, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | 1 Cor. 12:4-14 (NRSV)
Paul reminds the Corinthian believers that God has dispensed power from above for them to live the resurrected life. This same Spirit grants individual spiritual gifts that are meant for the common good and to edify the body. Lastly, this power is power from in-between as each member of the body helps the body move, and live and breathe and have its being.
Keywords: Corinthians, Holy Spirit, Paul
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 30, 2023
In this service, we do not have a sermon. Instead, we embody the listening practices engaged in the month of July and have a communal time of reflection beginning with the lighting of Palo Santo until Communion. The stories are the sermon as we engage with art, wordless worship, palo santo, and the word bank.
Keywords: Listening, Communal Reflection, Worship
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 23, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | 2 Cor. 2:14-17
Christ is sufficient and the Spirit is supreme to make us competent to fulfill our calling. In Christ, we are empowered to be the aroma of Christ and sometimes, well, Jesus smells like a mango empanada.
Keywords: Aroma, Fragrance, 2 Corinthians
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 16, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | 2 Cor. 3:1-6
The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church a letter of encouragement about their witness. They are letters. Letters of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the ink. Letters that give life and liberation. We can be confident that God is competent to write our stories and not only that, that we are co-creating a Spirit-story with our very own lives.
Keywords: Corinthians, Paul, Letters, Holy Spirit
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 9, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Romans 8:22-27
In this sermon, we look at lament and grief. And all the ways it comes to fruition in our lives. But as we continue in our series, The Story of the Spirit, we realize that the Holy Spirit is not just our comforter in times of grief. But actually prays for us on our behalf.
Keywords: Lament, Grief, Hope, Love, Waiting, Longing, Praying, Holy Spirit
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 25, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 16
We look at the story of Paul and Silas in Acts 16 to see how the Spirit is moving them to unveil a more expansive vision of the gospel than most of us inherited growing up. It’s right in line with Jesus’ call in Luke 4 to set captives free. Our hope is that we would continue to say Yes to this gospel growing in us in even more expansive ways.
Keywords: Gospel, Salvation, Justice, Equity, Good News, Faith, Spirit
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 18, 2023 | Phil Allen, Jr. | Luke 4:18
The experience of the enslaved who were actually free in Texas long before 1865 (what we now celebrate as Juneteenth), like the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness who were set free from Egypt, become metaphors for a liberating God who remembers us and is attentive to us when opposing forces attempt to keep us in bondage. This message is about discerning the truth-proclaiming, liberating Spirit of God over the spirit of oppression and lies during liminal, uncertain times. We know the Spirit of liberation by knowing and being faithful to the truth she proclaims. If the Son makes you free, you will be free, indeed (John 8:36). Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17).
Keywords: Juneteenth, Freedom, Liberation, Holy Spirit, Truth
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 11, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 16:1-10
The Holy Spirit pulls some stops in Paul, Silas & Timothy's journey on their way to Philippi. The Spirit actually stops and redirects them 2 times. When we pause and read in between the lines we see the gift of uncertainty that holds space for listening to the Spirit and releasing our control of life's twists and turns. Uncertainty lends itself to listening to the Spirit as a practice that is contextual, habitual, and communal.
Keywords: Paul, Philippi, Holy Spirit, Uncertainty
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 4, 2023 | Rev. Bert Newton | Isaiah, Leviticus, Ezekiel, Luke, Matthew
Rev. Bert Newton of Making Housing and Communities Happen in Pasadena joined to cast a Biblical vision of equitable housing and stewardship of the land. We looked from cover to cover in the Scriptures, from Jubilee to Jesus, to bear witness to God’s heart for all people.
Keywords: Housing, Justice, Equity, Shalom
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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May 21, 2023 | Dr. Cindy Lee | Ezekiel 37:1-10
What does an East Asian worldview teach us about engaging with and experiencing the Spirit? This message, based on Ezekiel 37:1-10, looks at the Spirit as a life-giving force and breath of life within us known as qi in a Chinese worldview.
Keywords: Chinese spirituality, Chi, Qi, Ezekiel, Holy Spirit
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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May 14, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Philippians 2, John 20
In this sermon, we look at Spirit Christology: the theological exploration of Jesus’ life lived fully empowered by the Holy Spirit. And as Jesus exhales his divinity — lives into his humanity — and breathes in the Spirit, so we are invited to do the same.
Keywords: Breath, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Power
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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May 7, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Exodus 15:1-13
Miriam leaves the place of slavery in Egypt and the one thing she brings is a tambourine. Jewish tradition teaches that Miriam led the women and people of Israel in song and dance at God’s liberation. She danced on dry land. Her tambourine is a witness of her trust in God’s faithfulness out of slavery into liberation.
Keywords: Exodus, Miriam, Song, Tambourine
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 30, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Zechariah 1-8
In this sermon, we lean into the Spirit’s writing through the prophet, Zechariah. And we imagine a world without walls — a vision of humanity where all that has historically divided has now been cast aside in the name of coming together in Spirit-shaped oneness.
Keywords: Oneness, Grace, Division, Justice, Hope, Healing, Peacemaking, Holy Spirit
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 23, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 1:1-3
Pastora Inés dives into an overview of the Ruach Elohim and scans the presence and power of the Spirit within the Old Testament. The same Spirit that hovers over the waters of creation falls upon prophets and prophetesses. She leans into the language we use to talk about the Spirit to reclaim the feminine divine in metaphors and images. She invites us to pay attention.
Keywords: Ruach, Holy Spirit, Feminine Devine
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 16, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | John 20-21, Luke 24Jesus’ post-Resurrection life is filled with such simple but profoundly meaningful moments of reconnecting and reconciling with those closest to him. Let’s look at three vignettes of these sacred stories together. And then remember and recall the resurrection stories the Spirit is writing in our own lives.
Keywords: Forgiveness, Restoration, Reconciliation, Grace, Resurrection, Humanity, Holy Spirit
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 9, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | John 20:1-18
In this Easter sermon, we followed the footsteps of Mary Magdalene as she bravely stayed at the tomb, even as others had fled. We also took note of Mary’s courage in looking into the tomb and we're invited to look into the tombs of our own lives as well. And in so doing, to be met by the Resurrected Christ who awaits us there amidst darkness and death.
Keywords: Resurrection, Life, Death, Hope, Faith, Courage, Waiting, Longing, Lament, Joy
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 2, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 19:35-40
Triumphal entries were a thing in ancient Rome. Kings would come back from a conquest showing off their spoils of war by marching in a procession in a conquered city. Victors would show off the conquered (enslaved) peoples, conquered kings and queens, and seized property/land. In contrast, Jesus has to prep his own parade with a borrowed donkey and no signs of enslaved peoples, no stolen land in his resume, and no enemies colonized. Our humble king walks in triumphing by a different ethic of love and mercy.
Keywords: Palm Sunday, Triumphal Entry, Donkey
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 26, 2023 | Sarah Dornbos & Inés Velásquez-McBryde | 2 Thess. 5:23-24, Mark 12:30-31In this message, we’re reminded that spiritual transformation is an ongoing process that involves our bodies, spirits, and souls (not just our minds)! Spiritual Direction is one resource mentioned to help us sustain a faith that is both Holy & Whole. A guided Contemplative Body Scan is also provided.
Keywords: Spirit, Soul, Body, Mind, Transformation, Embodiment, Witness, Grounding Practices, Contemplation & Action, Spiritual Direction, Lent
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 19, 2023 | Bobby Harrison, Eleanor Baylan, Rocio Kang, & Jed Meyers | Matthew 11:28-30
In this panel, we listen and learn from three mental health practitioners in our local church and community. We leaned into Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11 as our framework. And we talked about the importance of fully integrating our faith alongside mental health care.
Keywords: Anxiety, Faith, Mental Health, Soul Care, Spiritual Formation
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 12, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde and Nicola Patton | Psalm 32:1-11
The psalm shows an anatomy of confession: it moves through reflection and confession all the way to joy. We learn from it that there is indeed nothing that can keep us from God and that confession is good for our souls and bodies. Unconfessed sin burdens and dirties us, but it does not change that God calls us good: holy and whole.
Keywords: Confession, Holy and Whole, Lent, Original Goodness, Original Sin
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 5, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24In this sermon, we look to Jesus as our source of peace, while naming the human reality of anxiety in our lives. The hope is that Jesus becomes our center as we seek a peace of mind. While also being compassionate to ourselves in our own journeys of mental health.
Keywords: Peace, Mental Health, Anxiety, Prayer, Fear, Rest
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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February 19, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Phil. 4:4-7 NRSV
Joy is such a wild and elusive word that the Apostle Paul invites us to rejoice not once but twice! He writes from the prison of his own house arrest in Rome and yet has the audacity to call us to rejoice, to not be anxious, to pray and give thanks, and present our requests to God. The challenge to our rejoicing is our current reality.
Keywords: Absence, Anxiety, Joy, Paul, Prayer, Presence, Rejoice, Rhythms of Justice
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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February 5, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Exodus 3In this sermon, we look at a very familia story — Moses and the Burning Bush. But we do so through an entirely new lens: God is on fire. We take time to ask why God is on fire in the first place in this story. And we connect it to our call to follow the “justice of Jesus” as followers of Christ.
Keywords: Deconstruction, Discipleship, Faith, Injustice, Rhythms of Justice, Renewal
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 29, 2023 | Manny Arteaga | Revelation 5:-14
We live in the tension of a victorious lamb on the throne and the reality of our present-day Patmos, a place of suffering, pain, and injustice. Today we worship with our tears. We weep because it hurts, but not because we believe pain is final.
Keywords: Grief, Pain, Lament, Worship, Tears, Victory, Lamb, Revelation, Ryhthms of Justice
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 22, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Matthew 15:21-28
The kingdom of heaven is like a Canaanite mother who crosses the border seeking mercy for her demonized daughter. This immigrant mother exhibits courage as a rhythm to demand justice. She asks for what she needs, believes in the identity and authority of Jesus, stands in solidarity with her daughter, and risks rejection. Her repetitive courage is disruptive even as she is a dreamer who dreams of a future without demons for her daughter and her community.
Keywords: Canaanite, Healing, Courage, Rhythms of Justice
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 15, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Matthew 2:22-36As we continue in our Rhythms of Justice series, we look at Peter’s “desperate” prayer in Matthew 14. And in so doing, we allow ourselves to be inspired to cry out to God in our desperate places just as Peter did to Jesus.
Keywords: Desperation, Faith, Hope, Justice, Prayer, Trust
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 8, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Matthew 2:9-13This past Sunday we began a monthlong new series: Rhythms of Justice to explore the rhythms of life that sustain it.
We celebrated Epiphany and the way the magi in Matthew 2:9-13 returned home by a different way: they performed an act of civil disobedience by ignoring Herod’s malicious executive orders. They encountered Jesus and were overwhelmed by joy. Paid homage and allegiance to the true King. Brought their gifts to serve him. And chose to walk by the way of Justicia.
Their joy led them by the way of justice. A Jesus-centered justice and a Joy-shaped justice. Joy becomes a spiritual practice to do this work!
Keywords: Epiphany, Jesus, Joy, Justice
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 18, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, Luke 1-2On the last Sunday of Advent, we looked at snapshots of three characters in the Christmas story: Zechariah, the Shepherds, and Mary. And we did so through the lens of that which is veiled in their lives before their encounter with God. And that which becomes unveiled as they behold Jesus.
Keywords: Transformation, Behold, Witnesses, Glory, Healing, Fear, Redemption
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 11, 2022 | Nicola Patton | Luke 1:26-38
We easily rush through Advent to get to Christmas but it’s important to take the time to reflect on the pauses, to notice the piece in each story. Maybe it’s within the tension of hope and promises that God shows up. Maybe surrender is where we find ourselves most secure. And each of the ordinary moments of tension is holy.
Keywords: Advent, Mary, Holy
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 4, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Matthew 2:1-10
In the story of the magi, revelation comes to the least expected. A group of ancient Persian astrologers sees the rising of the star that leads them on a journey to Jesus. The star becomes the main witness. They woke up in the night, walked, and watched for months until arriving at the fulfillment of this revelation. Many receive the invitation, but few accept the revelation.
Keywords: Magi, Persian, Astrology, Jesus, Advent
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 27, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 1:67-79
Welcome to our Advent series: Honest Waiting. On this first Sunday of Advent, John's name and calling extend an invitation in the waiting. John's name means "God is gracious". His calling as a prophet is to give knowledge of salvation, to give light in the darkness, and to guide our feet to peace. What is the grace that you need in this season of waiting?
Keywords: Resistance, Redemption, Healing, Freedom, Resurrection
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 13, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 13:50-51We are called to live in between the dust in this life—for dust is where we are from and where are headed. But dust that has been thrown our way in this world is not the life we’ve been promised by God. So in this message, we aim to name the dust we’re still carrying and shake it off as an act of resistance, redemption, and healing.
Keywords: Resistance, Redemption, Healing, Freedom, Resurrection
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 6, 2022 | Meleca Consultado | Acts 13:32-52In Acts 13 we see Paul and Barnabas following the leading of the Holy Spirit to leave Jerusalem and to begin to share the Good News of Jesus in Pampos and Antioch. And though they experience disbelief and rejection with the Nation of Israel, the reception of the Good News is powerfully and gladly received by the multi-ethnic hearers in Antioch. We now see the Gospel moving from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the end of the earth. In this sermon, we pause to examine the differing response given to the message of Christ and the reality that the full message of Christ can feel like holy disruptions to our former ways of thinking, our beliefs and value, and even our vision for the future. We wrestle with what might our response be telling us of what God is seeking to do in our lives.
Keywords: Holy Disruptions, Holy Spirit, The Good News, Jews AND Gentiles
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 30, 2022 | Jennifer Guerra | Acts 12
Recap from Pastora Inés:
Sunday at The Church We Hope For was magical and I keep rewriting this post 100 ways. If you weren’t there, it’ll be hard for me to translate the JOY, movement, and liberación that was had. Please watch on YouTube because we are constantly trying to reimagine Iglesia, and there are no words for how the Spirit fell upon us and danced among us.
In Spanish, “joy” is both a noun and a VERB which makes it difficult to translate. I imagined over a month ago and wanted our Iglesia “to joy”. In this justice work, we need to fight for joy and joy to lead the way. I imagined something I’d never seen before.
This is where the brown church is a means of grace, movimiento, gozo y liberación.
- Jenn arias welcoming our familia bilingually
- Praying for a new Latinx church plant in the city in a spirit of collaboration not competition
- A MARIACHI band singing songs connected to moments and memories of quinceañeras, weddings, funerals, a loved one, a holiday
- I felt the Spirit move me to dance and I just went for it, and grabbed Jenn, and pretty soon we were all dancing including the people in the sound booth in the back! (Listen…this is taboo for many Latinx traditional churches.) Sandy Schaupp bringing one of the babies up to dance. Just. JOY!
- My amazing comadre, amiga, pastora, profesora @jennifer_guerraaldana preaching Acts 12 like you’ve never EVER heard before. She brought her full, free, Guatemalan, bilingual-Spanish-first sermon cooked with cantos de liberación y vigilias de oración. Halfway through I decided to retire from preaching. Almost threw my chancla 17 times.
- We celebrated a new pastora Sarah Dornbos getting licensed after years of preparation!
- Lastly, my bestie Nicola Patton prayed over us both pastors, my first Pastor Appreciation Month in 20 years of pastoral ministry!
I’ll finish with words of affirmation about how Bobby perceived this day as “disruptive in love and surprising in joy… un canto de liberación y poema de alegría”.
Here’s to all the dreamers asking the Holy Spirit to reimagine church. If you let the Ruach lead, She will meet you where She leads you. And She will heal you.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 23, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 11:15-21
The early church is a case study of group formation from segregation to desegregation to integration of bodies and souls. In Peter's sermon and conversation with Jerusalem religious believers, they bear witness to the disruptive Holy Spirit that falls upon Gentiles as well as Jews. It forces them to see the limitations of their hospitality. In this "us versus them" the Spirit is creating a new people group that moves to "we and our".
Keywords: Gentile, Jew, Segregation, Integration, Peter
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 16, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 10
The Spirit moves Peter toward Cornelius, and Cornelius toward Peter. And in this mutual, Spirit-moved moment, God draws together Jew and Gentile, breaking down barriers that have long divided. What might the Spirit be moving in you to live into a more expansive, inclusive life?
Keywords: Grace, Hope, Restoration, Spirit, Reconciliation, Redemption
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 9, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde & Bobby Harrison | Acts 9
In this sermon, we look at two vignettes in Acts 9. And in so doing, we find disciples of Jesus showing us glimpses of the Kingdom among us. We are called to the hard and holy work of advocacy by the witness of Barnabas. And we are called to rise into the resurrection of living into our whole callings through the witness of Tabitha.
Keywords: Justice, Advocacy, Reconciliation, Resurrection, Women, Healing, Hope
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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September 25, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 9:1-17 Saul is a religious fanatic killing in the name of righteousness. On the road to Damascus, he experiences a dramatic encounter with Jesus who asks, "Why are you hurting me?" and Saul responds, "Who are you Lord?" The road from Who-Are-You-Lord to Here-I-Am-Lord is disorienting because when our belief systems crumble before us, they can disorient the face of Jesus.
Keywords: Saul, Ananias, Jesus, Light, Disorientation, Deconstruction
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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September 18, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 1:1-11
In this message, we look back at the beginning of the book of Acts. And we invite ourselves to see Jesus not only in this opening chapter, but also to see him throughout the rest of the story. And also in our lives as well.
Keywords: Seeking, Finding, Jesus, Gospel, Acts
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 28, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 8:26-39 For over 2,000 years, historians and theologians have tried to place The Ethiopian Eunuch of Acts 8 into a million little boxes. But if we’re faithful to listen, we’ll learn that this man actually embodies a myriad of undefinable ambiguities. So what are we to make of that? And how does God’s Divine Desire meet him right in the midst of all those uncertainties? And what about us — does our God pursue us with love just like this? These are the things we explore as we venture into this sacred text together.
Keywords: Baptism, Communion, Compassion, Inclusion, Love, Solidarity
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 21, 2022 | Phil Allen, Jr. | Acts 8:9-25
Access to the power of the Holy Spirit is not obtained through the currency of our own resources (gifts, skills, talents, network, social status, or wealth). But access does cost. We tap into and become stewards of the power of the Spirit with the currency of our lives.
Keywords: Power, Holy Spirit, Currency
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 14, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 8:1-8
In this message, we talk about how our whole lives are a “living word”, a proclamation or “sermon” that represents Jesus to one another and the world.
Keywords: Grace, Joy, Resilience, Oneness
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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August 7, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 7:54-60
We arrive at the end of Stephen's life but not the end of his legacy. We find the Trinity, God, Son, and Spirit bearing witness to Stephen's grace. Each member of the Trinity knows their place in life. God in heaven. Jesus standing at God's right hand. The Spirit indwelling and empowering Stephen. Do you know your place in life? Grace is ordinary as it travels through Stephen in order to reach & forgive Saul in this thin place of grace.
Keywords: Grace, Stephen, Saul, Paul, Grace carriers, Legacy
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 31, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 7
In this sermon, we look at Stephen’s response to the religious leaders. And we follow the thread of Stephen highlighting how God works in the everyday and the ordinary. May this give us hope that every moment has the capability of being a God moment.
Keywords: Hope, Spirit, Legacy, Faithfulness
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 24, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 6:8-15 In the story of Stephen, he is described as someone full of grace and power. As we see Stephen courageously stand on trial, in the steps of Jesus, we see that grace is a sign and a greater power, as he faces the powers of this world who cannot stand the grace of Christ. God longs to be gracious to us and God hopes to be gracious through us.
Keywords: Grace, Stephen, Power
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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July 17, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 5:17-21
In this message, we’re reminded that we’ve been moved by the Spirit toward liberation! We’re a people set free! And in our freedom, we’re called to pursue life! Both for ourselves and for those in our communities.
Keywords: Freedom, Peace, Life, Liberation, Hope
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 26, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 2:42-47
The community of the early church engaged in communal practices of belonging and living into this new reality of Jew and Gentile doing life and faith together. In this seminal passage we find that love is belonging, love is a verb and love is solidarity. In light of the recent Supreme Court decisions, now more than ever we have to all wrestle with what it means to belong to one another and create a beloved community where all belong.
Keywords: Beloved Community, Acts, Solidarity, Belonging
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 19, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 2:37-38
As the people gathered in Acts 2 hear the gospel proclaimed, they were moved to respond with their whole hearts. The Apostle Peter used the language of “repentance” here. And we as a church leaned into this truth through the framework of “returning”. May this message be an invitation to simply come home to yourself and your God.
Keywords: Forgiveness, Redemption, Returning, Grace, Mercy, Love
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 12, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Matt. 3:13-17 (FNV and NASB)
As we celebrate our church's first baptism service, we are invited to remember our own baptism. In Jesus' baptism, we see the power of remembrance and the grace of God's belovedness bestowed on Jesus for his work. Remember your belovedness for in it you find belonging even as the many powers and principalities in this world would lie to you otherwise.
Keywords: Baptism, Belovedness
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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June 5, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 2, Acts 1, Joel 2-3
On Pentecost Sunday, we center in on Acts 2. And we look at not only the Holy Spirit flame, but we also take a step back to see how the disciples prepared for the fire to come. We then turned to the prophetic language of New Wine, as we named our Spirit moved familia as a New Wine Community.
Keywords: Holy Spirit, Pentecost, Diversity, Oneness, Prayer, Waiting, Hope
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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May 22, 2022 | Sandy Lee Schaupp | John 21:1-4
Even after Jesus' resurrection, the disciples aren't yet OK as seen in their hiding and in their returning to fish. They seem to be in process, maybe still in pain and confusion. Jesus does the unexpected and comes TO them and serves them and rebuilds trust with them. Do we also need Jesus to rebuild trust with us in our pain and confusion?
Keywords: Trust, Pain, Confusion, Resurrection, Healing, Hope
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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May 8, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Matthew 27 & 28
In this message, we look at the guards at the tomb as they attempt to prevent the miracle of resurrection. We ask ourselves how we do this as well in our day. What are the walls we build when we choose not to experience God’s goodness?
Keywords: Power, Privilege, Compassion, Resurrection, Truth
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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May 1, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 24:36-49
God doesn't give up on us and seeks us in life as well as in death. Jesus seeks us in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. In this resurrection encounter, Jesus walks through walls to get to our hearts. He extends a benediction of peace. He asks curious questions about our doubts and fears. And funny, he invites us to eat a meal in his presence while doing so. Jesus offers his peace, his presence over a piece of fish! Presence is power. Presence precedes resurrection power.
Keywords: Resurrection, Healing, Hope, Presence, Jesus, Lament, Peace
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 24, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24
As we begin our new sermon series — Resurrections — we do so by starting in Acts 1. We look at Jesus returning to his disciples to prove he was alive again, and to call them to bear witness known as the Body of Christ. We also looked at Luke 24 and the women who visited Jesus’ tomb. And we ask ourselves: where are the tomb moments in our life where we might find resurrection power if we’re willing to look?
Keywords: Resurrection, Healing, Hope, Presence, Jesus, Lament, Peace
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 17, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 24:1-12
Why do you look for the living among the dead? Why do you look for the Living One among dead places, dead institutions, dead situations where there aren't signs of his life? The angels encourage the women at the garden tomb to remember the words of Jesus. The women return to the people and retell the story in a community that can hold unbelief, denial, ongoing belief, evolving belief, and belief.
Keywords: Easter, Resurrection, Living, Dead
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 10, 2022 | Nicola Patton | Gen. 39, 45; Matt. 21
The story of Joseph and the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday are familiar to us. But they are not only stories about power. They are also stories about presence because before we need ruling, we need healing. The with-ness of God becomes evident as God sits down beside us in our pain.
Keywords: Presence, Joseph, Palm Sunday, Bread, Power
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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April 3, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 38:1-30
Tucked in between the pages of Joseph as he is sold into slavery and heads to Egypt, is the one-page story of a mother of our faith. Tamar has often been misunderstood and misinterpreted under a patriarchal lens that depicts her as a whore. However, hers is a name that appears in the lineage of Christ. From Genesis to Matthew we will trace her steps and her actions to see her with courage and compassion.
Keywords: Judah, Tamar, Righteousness, Genealogy of Jesus
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 27, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Genesis 37, 43
In this message, we look at the familiar story of Joseph in Genesis 37. But we do so by identifying the deep burdens he carried for his family and his community. And in so doing, we invite ourselves to ask what burdens and dreams we might have as well in our own lives.
Keywords: Burdens, Dreams, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Reconciliation
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 20, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 32:24-31
Jacob, one of the fathers of our faith, has a history of wrestling. From the moment he was in his mother's womb he wrestled with his twin brother Esau. Later in life he lied and deceived his father to steal Esau's birthright blessing. 20 years after being away from home, he wrestles with an angel of the Lord. His wrestling led to his repentance. Wrestling for identity and belonging gave birth to wisdom. And wisdom walks with a limp.
Keywords: Jacob, wrestling, walking with a limp
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 13, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Genesis 22:1-14
We look at the story of God’s call to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. And we consider this story as a way to consider our own faith stories of Construction, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction.
Keywords: Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Faith, Grief, Lament, Transformation
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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March 6, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 16:6b-17
In the story of Hagar, we find the faithfulness of God to an enslaved, marginalized woman whom God sees in her affliction. Hagar becomes the first and only human, and the only woman to name God. God is the God who sees, the God who hears, and the God who heals Hagar and Ishmael. God's presence and promises are present as Hagar and Ishmael weep in the wilderness, in the place least expected to find God.
Keywords: Hagar, Ishmael, El Roi, faithfulness, margins, healing
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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February 27, 2022
In this entirely Black-led worship service, we looked at Remembrance and Resistance as critical postures of honoring God with our whole lives. From our bodies to our hearts to everything in between.
Keywords: Remembrance, Resistance, Worship, Solidarity, Justice, Joy
February 20, 2022 | Phil Allen, Jr. | Genesis 9:25-27
This message challenges our efforts to “deconstruct” our faith/theology through a brief look at Genesis 9:25-27, the so-called “Curse of Ham” passage, and the interpretive malpractice that many theologians engaged in hundreds of years ago. The interpretation of this passage was intended to justify the perpetual enslavement of people of African descent and was passed on to many generations. Through what interpretive lenses are you approaching and viewing Scripture, the culture, and even yourself as the interpreter?
Keywords: Curse of Ham, Noah, Deconstruction, Lenses, Race, Racism, Slavery, Miseducation, Reconstruction
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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February 13, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Genesis 12:1-3
We look at God’s promise to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3. And we see God promise to bless “todas las familias” on earth through it. In this sermon, we come to God as people inheriting this promise, seeking shalom in our world today.
Keywords: Equity, Faithfulness, Blessing, Familia
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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February 6, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 8:1-14
The receding of the waters after the flood story serves as a kind of metaphor for the global pandemic from which we continue to emerge from.
Like Noah, we have been in survival mode for a long time. The receding waters invite us into a time of spiritual formation where our former rhythms need repair. We have changed and our rhythms to sustain life, justice and mercy also must change in this next normal.
Keywords: Noah, Flood, Spiritual Formation
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 30, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Genesis 4:1-9
We look into conversation between Cain and God in Genesis 4. And realize how often we find ourselves in this same in between space. With sin beckoning us to fail, and God inviting us to do what is right.
Keywords: God, Spirit, Sin
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 23, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 3:8-19
The curse in the garden has been seen as prescriptive for humanity and has distorted our view of God and each other, which has dehumanized women, men, and the marginalized. However, the curse is descriptive of the fall and not a blessing. The serpent came to separate and isolate and make us question God's goodness, God's god-ness and our belovedness. The Spirit of Christ came to liberate us from the effects of this curse. We must unlearn anemic theology about who is cursed. We must re-learn how to re-commune with God and be re-planted in new soil.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 16, 2022 | Sandy Lee Schaupp, John Williams, Inés Velásquez-McBryde, Bobby Harrison | MLK Sunday Service
Lean in with us as we name the holy work of Deconstruction & Reconstruction in pursuing Racial Justice as followers of Jesus. Pastors Inés and Bobby hosted a panel alongside two of our dearest friends — John Williams and Sandy Lee Schaupp — and dove into the work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on MLK Weekend.
Our church’s vision to become a “Beloved Community” is directly inspired by Dr. King. And so a service like this isn’t just a “token” Sunday for us. But instead a continual lived expression of our shared DNA. A vision that invites us “to follow the life, love, & justice of Jesus.” We can’t wait to hear how that vision plays out in all our lives.
Here’s a little info on these two incredible leaders:
John Williams has served as the Director of the Fellowship Center for Racial Reconciliation since 2016 and has faithfully worked toward racial reconciliation for over 30 years. John is passionate about training groups who seek to increase their awareness around race, racism, and racial reconciliation in the U.S. Mentored by Dr. John Perkins, he brings years of experience and expertise in facilitating and training to this work.
Sandy Lee Schaupp is a 1.5 generation Korean American woman, passionate about pursuing racial justice and healing since her college years. She's been on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for 29 years where she serves as a spiritual director, primarily for ethnic minority staff. She & husband Doug lead the Multiethnic Learning Community at Christian Assembly Church in Eagle Rock to engage with issues of racial justice & reconciliation. She's also the proud Umma to Stephanie, David & Mark.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 9, 2022 | Bobby Harrison | Genesis 1–12
In this message, we take an overhead view of Genesis 1-12 to see the continual pattern of Creation and Uncreation. As we look into the pivotal idea of Deconstruction and Reconstruction, we begin here at the beginning.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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January 2, 2022 | Sarah Dornbos, Sarah Obermeyer, and Nicola Patton | Mark 10:46-52
Sarah Dornbos, Sarah Obermeyer, and Nicola Patton led us through a special Hello / Goodbye service. As you watch the playback of this service in its entirety, slow down and allow yourself to be led in a contemplative time of reflection, prayer and worship. Pause to Remember 2021 and Anticipate 2022. We prayerfully hold all that has happened in 2021 to remember, acknowledge and mourn. Also, we tenderly and courageously receive hope and fight for joy in 2022. Don’t do this alone familia! We are better together. Let’s grow together. All are welcome, familia and friends!
Download the PDF of the Altar of Remembrance and Anticipation here:
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 19, 2021 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 2:8-20
The angels announce to the shepherds that Messiah Jesus was born. The shepherds are the least likely to get an invitation to see a King. Seen as dishonest people working a despised occupation. Yet the sign was that the king would be covered in straw in a manger. They were covered in grass and straw as well! This is the sign that we all belong. This is the Good News of Great Joy for All People. We already belong and we don't have to hustle for our worth.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 12, 2021 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 1:80 & 1:39-45
The story of Elizabeth and Mary is of a friendship that calls out the calling of God in you. Elizabeth sees with spiritual eyes the invisible hope and calls out the unseen. She is filled with the Holy Spirit and affirms and confirms that Mary is pregnant with the hope and light of the world. She herself is mother grace for John means “God is gracious”. We need an Elizabeth in our life that calls us out in the wilderness to remind us what God has said.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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December 5, 2021 | Bobby Harrison | Luke 1:67-79
In this sermon, we look at the song Zechariah sung to his son, John, in Luke 1. It’s a song that rests in the mercy of God, acknowledges the reality of death and darkness in our world, and guides us to the path of peace in Christ.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 28, 2021 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Shining Light Tells the Good Story (Luke 1:67-79)
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 14, 2021 | Bobby Harrison | Genesis 1 and 2
Bobby preaches on the power entrusted to humanity in Genesis 1 and 2. For far too long, we've had to associate the idea of "power" with brokenness and even abuse. But as we go back to God's original design, we see that power was intended for good. How can we as the church and followers of Jesus tap into this greater power? This message explores that idea.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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November 7, 2021 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde and Bobby Harrison | Genesis 2:4-25
Uncreating and recreating what it means to be made “in the image of God.”
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 24, 2021 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Ezekiel 31:12-17
On the last day of creation, God did not only rest, but God created the space and filled it with rest. Rest wasn't an aftermath of creation, but part of the math of creation. God doesn't necessarily prescribe how to rest, but he invites us to rest for the purposes of intimacy and sanctification, as we draw from Ezekiel 31:12-17.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 17, 2021 | Bobby Harrison | Genesis 1:26-27
An invitation from Genesis 1:26-27 to move out of a Me-focused life and live instead into a We-centered world.
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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October 10, 2021 | Bobby Harrison | Genesis 1
A look at the creation story in Genesis 1 and highlight how God first creates a space and then fills it. This invites us to ask the question: what are the spaces God is making in our own lives?
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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September 19, 2021 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 10:1-44
The story of Peter and Cornelius tells us the story of what the Spirit is doing and how the Spirit is on the move. It is only by the Spirit's prompting and purposeful invitation that both men move towards each other, crossing ethno-racial lines that otherwise would have kept them apart due to the socio-religious order of the time. Where is the Spirit inviting us and into whose lives?
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The Church We Hope For is a beloved community moved by the Spirit to follow the life, love, and justice of Jesus. For more information, visit our website www.thechurchwehopefor.com.
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