Second on the Mount: Recent Episodes
Second Presbyterian Church
No matter where you are on the journey of faith, God’s Word has something to say to you. Second on the Mount is a collection of sermons from Second Presbyterian Church on Mountain Avenue in Roanoke, VA. Listen to the encouraging words of ministers George Anderson, Elizabeth Link, Ben Brannan, and occasional guests as we journey together, finding direction by following Jesus. We hope you’ll return to this podcast, visit our website www.spres.org for more, or visit us in person!
Matthew 14:13-21
Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, August 2, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Genesis 32:22-31
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 26, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, July 19, 2026.
"There are enough seeds to waste. God is not an efficient investor. God does not wait until the conditions are perfect before sowing grace, God scatters mercy where we would never bother, God plants hope in places that seem barren, God keeps speaking the Word of the Kingdom into lives that everyone else has given up on."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Sung Prayer for Illumination: "Open My Eyes, That I May See." TEXT and MUSIC: Clara H. Scott, 1895. Public domain.
CCLI #20105821 | ONE LICENSE, License #A-742472
Genesis 28:10-19a
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 12, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, July 5, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Genesis 22:1-14
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 28, 2026.
"The God who sees Hagar in the wilderness, who sees Isaac on the mountain is still the God who sees every vulnerable child, every wounded neighbor, every forgotten person. Perhaps That’s what 'the LORD will see' has meant all along. God is still calling God’s people to become interrupters of violence rather than participants in it."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Genesis 12:1-4a
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, June 21, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Genesis 12:1-4a
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, June 14, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 13:10-17
Sermon by Dr. John McCall, guest preacher and our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Sunday, June 7, 2026.
"When we live with a nagging fear of scarcity, we really can’t hear God’s voice. When we live under constant pressure of missing out, we have to respond immediately to every sound from our smartphone. But Jesus never seems to be in a hurry. He was never controlled by the tyranny of the moment. In order to see God at work in daily life, in order to tell ordinary stories of God’s spirit at work on the farm, in the store, in our families, Jesus often paused to listen and observe. But in a world of constant stimuli, in a world where we have no peace if our cell phone is not our constant companion… how do we learn to pause and to listen? How do we learn to pause and to see?"
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Romans 12:9-21
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2026.
"'Bless those who persecute you.' Can we really do that?
"This is where Christianity stops being theoretical. Loving people who love us is not especially difficult. Most people can manage that. But praying for people who wound us, refusing retaliation, refusing cruelty, refusing to dehumanize those we oppose, it doesn’t get much more countercultural than that. That kind of living requires transformation.
". . . And that transformation is desperately needed today. Because the world does not need more Christians who merely claim the name of Jesus. The world needs Christians who resemble Jesus. The world needs people who are genuine, who bless instead of curse, who refuse to repay evil for evil, who practice hospitality, who honor others, who overcome evil with good."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Sung Prayer for Illumination: "Open My Eyes, That I May See." TEXT and MUSIC: Clara H. Scott, 1895. Public domain.
CCLI #20105821 | ONE LICENSE, License #A-742472
Acts 2:1-21
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Mark 4:30-32
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 17, 2026.
"The greatness of the kingdom is not found in spectacle or domination. Its greatness is found in the life it makes possible… the life it shelters.
"Perhaps that is the impressiveness of Jesus himself. We call him 'king,' yet he commands no armies and occupies no palace. Instead, he heals the sick, touches lepers, welcomes the outcast, forgives sinners, feeds the hungry, and announces good news to people who really need to hear some good news.
"Jesus teaches people to see differently. To see greatness where others see weakness. To see possibility where others see insignificance."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Mark 4:1-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 10, 2026.
"In the Bible, the sea is never just water. It is the place where things come undone. And the beach—where land meets sea—is where order meets chaos.
"So, while many of us go to the beach for vacation, Jesus goes to the beach to work. For where better to do his work than right there at the edge—where things feel like they could come apart?"
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Luke 18:1-8
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, May 3, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Luke 12:13-22
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 26, 2026.
"The problem is not that the man had a good year. The problem is that he could not imagine that his life still belonged to God. And so his world shrank… to himself.
"But when God is present—really present—everything changes.
• Abundance becomes opportunity.
• Resources become relationships.
• And life becomes something to give… not just something to store."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
John 21 (selected verses)
Part VIII and conclusion of the Lenten Sermon Series "On This Rock"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, April 12, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
John 20:1-10
Part VII of the Lenten Sermon Series "On This Rock"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026.
"We belong here… you and I.
• "Whether our faith feels strong or uncertain,
• Whether our life feels settled or unresolved,
• Whether we are celebrating with confidence,
or simply hoping something true might still meet us.
"Easter is not just a celebration at the end of a journey. It is a celebration at the beginning, too.
"Easter does not require that our faith be complete or our life be resolved. It declares something that is true before we fully understand it:
that Christ is risen—for all of us."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
John 18:1-14
Part VI of the Lenten Sermon Series "On This Rock"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 22, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 16:21-27
Part V of the Lenten Sermon Series "On This Rock"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 22, 2026.
"This rebuke isn’t just for [Peter]. It’s for us—when the path feels too hard. It shows up in small, ordinary moments.
- "When we know we need to say something that is true—
- but we soften it so much that it is no longer true anymore.
- When we need to have a hard conversation—
- and we keep putting it off.
- When we sense God calling us to step into something—
- and we quietly step back instead.
- When we think we’re being kind—
- when we’re really just being careful.
"Not because we don’t care,
but because it might cost us."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 16:13-20
Part IV of the Lenten Sermon Series "On This Rock"
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, March 15, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at:https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 16:13-20
Part III of the Lenten Sermon Series "On This Rock"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 8, 2026.
"The church is not built on Peter’s person or perfection. It is built on the grace that kept calling Peter back.
• Peter confessed boldly.
• He failed publicly.
• And he was forgiven again and again.
"And that is the kind of church Jesus builds.
• A human one.
• A community whose Founder already knows we will fail—
and still calls us anyway."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 14:22-33
Part II of the Lenten Sermon Series "On This Rock"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 1, 2026.
"Let’s return to Peter’s shining moment—the moment when he truly models faithfulness. No, it is not when he steps onto the water. It is when he cries out, 'Lord, save me!' That is where he shines. The moment he knows he cannot save himself.
"Faith is not proven in walking on water. Faith is revealed in knowing whose hand to grasp when you begin to sink."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Luke 5:1-11
Part I of the Lenten Sermon Series "On This Rock"
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, February 22, 2026.
"Simon is not exaggerating here. He is simply telling the truth. His truth. The truth of someone who has reached the limit of his own capacity. 'Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.' I can imagine Simon leaving a pregnant pause, hoping Jesus would say, 'No worries. I know you’re tired. We can pick this up another time.' But he didn’t. Nothing was said. Nothing was shared, except a gaze that lingered between Jesus and Simon, a gaze penetrating and inviting—penetrating Simon’s heart and inviting his soul.
"Then, out of the heavy silence, Simon adds five words that change everything."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Romans 7:7-25
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 15, 2026.
"You already belong to Christ. He loves you. You love him. You already stand in communion with the One whose heart is aligned with the Father’s.
"Stay there. Even if you are well aware of how far short you fall, stay there! Don’t have a spiritual affair with some other social, political or personal ideology. Stay in relationship with the Jesus of the Gospels. Because over time, remaining with Jesus changes you. His love changes how you love, and what once looked beautiful to you but is ugly in his eyes… begins to lose its shine.
- Revenge becomes thin.
- Reconciliation becomes radiant.
- Cruelty looks ugly,
- Kindness looks lovely.
- Power looks smaller.
- Peace looks stronger.
"Desire is not converted by force. It is converted by fellowship.
"And that is why Paul can move from, 'Wretched man that I am,' to 'Thanks be to God.'"
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Genesis 1:1-25 (summarized), 26-27
From Youth Sunday, February 8, 2026.
Sermons by graduating seniors Ryan I'Anson (3:34) and Madelyn Lyons (11:42). Our Youth Group theme for the year is "Nurture Your Nature." May God's spirit remind you of who you are, that you might come to know more fully the love of God by which you were made.
Micah 6:1-8
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, February 1, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Psalm 121, Matthew 19:13-25
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 25, 2026.
"God guards not only our bodies, but our identities.
God holds not only our actions, but our worth.
In a culture that says we are what we achieve, what we post, and how we compare, the church dares to speak a deeper truth:
We are God’s children.
We are held.
We are known.
And we are loved."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
John 1:29-42
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, January 18, 2026.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
John 15:12-17
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 11, 2026.
"What can be shocking today is when realize that Jesus wants us to be his friend. The kind of friend who speaks for him, acts on his behalf, and bears his love into the world even when it is uncomfortable, inconvenient, or risky. It means going to the places he went, welcoming the people he welcomed. It means not embarrassing his reputation by speaking and acting in selfish, cruel, unkind, or prejudicial ways and then pretending that this is what Jesus would do.
"I want you to think about that, because Jesus is asking you to be his friend."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Colossians 3:1-17
Sermon title comes from James K. A. Smith’s book, You Are What
You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit,* published in 2016.
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 4, 2026.
"Friends, we worship today at the beginning of a new year. And we do so in anxious and uncertain days – days when many voices compete for our allegiance, our attention, and our trust. Knowing this, may we be a community that helps one another notice what we’re swimming in, and gently points one another back to Christ. May we be a community that bears with one another when it’s hard, that forgives when it would be easier to walk away, that sings the songs of Zion together, especially in a foreign place, until they begin to sound more familiar than the noise around us."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 25:31-46
Part VI of the Advent Sermon Series "Once Upon an Advent"
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from the First Sunday of Christmas, December 28, 2025.
"There is a temptation to sentimentalize the Christmas season—to wrap it in nostalgia and soft lighting and comforting music. But Jesus won’t let us do that because Christmas has consequences. Christmas, at its heart, is the declaration that God has chosen to be found not in power, but in presence. Not in domination, but in dignity. Not in abstraction, but in flesh and blood. If God has truly taken on human flesh, then every human body matters. Every person is an image bearer. Every life carries divine weight.
"The Word became flesh—and that flesh looks like you and me and the neighbor who needs help today. This is not an easy truth. It disrupts our assumptions about who is deserving and who is not. It challenges the narratives we tell ourselves about poverty, incarceration, addiction, immigration, and illness. Jesus does not ask us to decide whether the person who is hungry earned their hunger or the person in prisoner earned their sentence. He simply says, 'That’s where I am.'"
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Luke 2:1-20, John 1
Part V of the Advent Sermon Series "Once Upon an Advent"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Luke 1:26-38, I John 4:7-12
Part IV of the Advent Sermon Series "Once Upon an Advent"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 21, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Isaiah 35:1-10, Luke 2:8-20
Part III of the Advent Sermon Series "Once Upon an Advent"
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from the Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 3:1-6
Part II of the Advent Sermon Series "Once Upon an Advent"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the Second Sunday of Advent, December 7, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Isaiah 11 (selected verses), Luke 1 (selected verses)
Part I of the Advent Sermon Series "Once Upon an Advent"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the first Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2025.
"No matter where we are or how we feel this Advent Sunday, God is still telling the same story:
• Hope doesn’t wait for perfect conditions.
• Hope grows in unexpected places.
• Hope shines through ordinary things touched by love.
• Hope is God’s quiet, stubborn insistence that the story is not over."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Luke 23:33-43
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Christ the King Sunday, November 23, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
II Corinthians 1:3–7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 16, 2025.
• "Sometimes encouragement looks like holding someone steady when they cannot hold steady themselves.
• "Sometimes it looks like absorbing the angry words of another without firing back—letting them sit with what they said without the comfort of your having said worse.
• "Sometimes it looks like sitting in a hospital room and saying nothing because nothing can be said that will help.
• "Sometimes it looks like offering a small word of support that helps another keep going during a very bad day.
• "And sometimes it looks like being the one person who doesn’t walk away when others do.
"This is the ministry Paul is naming—the ministry of presence that draws its strength from the God who is present with us. The God who in Jesus Christ stepped into our sorrow and our joy, into our failures and our hope, into our living and even into our dying."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
John 14:1-3
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from All Saints' Sunday, November 2, 2025.
"Jesus comforts his disciples with the promise that he goes to prepare a place for them—but even more, that his Spirit will dwell within them now. To be a resurrection people is to live in the current of that coming world—
• to forgive,
• to create,
• to mend what is broken,
trusting that God’s life is already flowing downstream through us. Every act of compassion, every choice for justice, every word of mercy—that is resurrection life spilling downstream."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
I Samuel 8:4-22, Galatians 1:6-9
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 26, 2025.
"Young People—feeling the pressure to keep up, to prove yourselves, to stay relevant. Remember, your worth is not measured by speed, likes, or novelty. You are loved by God, fully and unconditionally. Creativity is a gift, not a requirement.
"Workers—those working in offices, shops, schools, factories or at home, who are asked to adapt constantly, to innovate on demand. Rhythms of prayer, worship, and Sabbath can restore what the world drains.
"Parents and caregivers—juggling the endless demands of home and work: You cannot do everything. Grace meets you in ordinary acts of love, which shape lives more profoundly than any trend.
"Retired or Older Adults—who may feel overlooked in a culture obsessed with youth: Your wisdom, presence, and memory of what is true and what sustains, are invaluable. You can guide and sustain younger generations.
"No matter our age or work status, God’s grace sustains us. God helps us live in a world of rapid change without being consumed by it. We create, we learn, we innovate—but always from a place rooted in God’s steadfast love."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; Luke 17:11-19
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Preschool Sunday, October 19, 2025.
"It’s what Jesus does over and over again. He gathers the ones we’ve been taught to fear or exclude. He restores a body, and also a community. He returns dignity, identity, and participation. And he says, in every way that matters, you belong.
"In a world where exile, in one way or another, touches nearly all of us, this is good news. And it’s the same, surprising, good news he gives to exiles in Babylon: 'Seek the welfare—the shalom—of the place where I have sent you, for in its shalom you will find your own.'
"This is what Jesus offers—not just healing, but shalom. Not just survival, but salvation. Not just being made clean but being made whole.
"The question for us is: how do we respond to such incredible grace?"
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
John 1:6-9, II Corinthians 4:5-7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Commitment Sunday, October 12, 2025.
"The one essential fact about light is that it is separate from what bears it.
• The light of the sun isn’t the sun itself.
• The light of a fire isn’t the wood that burns.
• Even the glow from a candle or a bulb isn’t the wax or the filament.
"Paul echoes the same truth in his own way. He’s not speaking of John, but of all of us who call ourselves Christians. He is even speaking of every congregation: 'We do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus as Lord… We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power to save is of God and does not come from us.'
"We are not the flame—we are the candle. We are not the light—we are the lantern.
"That’s worth thinking about as a congregation on Commitment Sunday."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Luke 5:27-32, 17:7-10
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from World Communion Sunday, October 5, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
This sermon was originally intended to be a visual experience. We encourage you to watch the original live streamed recording of this sermon on YouTube.
Video: "The Light We Shine"
Thank you to Andrea Boone, Jane Winders Frank, Ginger Poole Avis, and the wonderful staff and technicians at Mill Mountain Theatre.
. . .
Matthew 5:14-16
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 28, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Mark 1:21-39, Acts 17: 24-28
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 21, 2025.
"You are the living church when you forgive in a culture of vengeance. You are the living church when you speak truth in the face of lies. You are the living church when you love your neighbor more than your comfort. You are the living church when you sow compassion in a world that rewards cruelty. You are the living church when you refuse to bow to fear and choose hope and generosity instead.
"This is what it means to pray and live “Thy kingdom come.” May we follow Christ even when it leads us beyond the maps. May we be the living church in a world that needs it now more than ever."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Isaiah 53:2-3, Philippians 4:8
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 14, 2025.
"In the aftermath of [Charlie Kirk's] shooting—as with so many other publicized acts of violence, and the countless unseen ones—we all should be asking ourselves: Do our words carry the same ugliness we say we condemn and are we contributing to this dangerous climate?
"Whether you're a leader, a public voice, someone on X, or with a Facebook page, or an Instagram account, or a loud voice in the neighborhood or at the dinner table—
If you speak of those you disagree with as enemies…
If you repeat wild claims that stoke fear and cast others as villains…
If you talk like a war is starting…
You’re not calling out violence.
You’re contributing to it.
"...I don’t want to preach a gospel that takes partisan sides and becomes another form of ugliness. I want to preach the beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ—the one who absorbed the world’s ugliest violence and answered it with love, grace, and peace."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Exodus 14:10-16
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, September 7, 2025.
"The ways in which God is calling you to show your faith might surprise you. It might require courage. It might require you to risk comfort and convenience for the sake of love. It might require you to silence the bickering noise of the world and courageously take one step forward—and then maybe another."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 4:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 31, 2025.
"The temptations Jesus faces may sound distant from our lives—turning stones to bread, leaping from a tower, bowing to the devil—but what they represent is very real, and just as present in Roanoke as they were in the wilderness. . . . Just as a tuning fork causes an internal string to vibrate, these three temptations strike chords within us as they did with Jesus—our desires, our fears, our arrogant self-righteousness, our certainties, our longings for significance, control, or reassurance."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Matthew 5:13-16
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from our Rally Day Picnic on Sunday, August 24, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
Scripture: Luke 12:49-53
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 17, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"By Faith" – Hebrews 11:1-10, 12:1-2
Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, August 10, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"The Armor of God" – Ephesians 6:10-20
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, August 3, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Grace in Letting Go" – John 12:20-26, Philippians 3:7-14
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 27, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Why?" – Luke 13:1-9
Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, July 20, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"God's Consolation" – II Corinthians 1:3-7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 13, 2025.
"Your self is a good gift. It helps you dream, build, grow and relate, live your life. But it’s a perishable item.
"Thank God you are not just a self with a shelf-life. You are a soul—named, known, and beloved, not because of what you do, but because of who God is.
"And when the self is lost, the soul remains. That… is God’s consolation."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Burdensome Work" – Galatians 6:1-16
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 6, 2025.
"The life of faith was never meant to be lived in silos of self-sufficiency. It is a web of interdependence—each carrying their own load, yes, but never bearing the overwhelming burdens alone. But this burdensome work isn’t limited to individuals. Paul’s letter is saturated with communal responsibility. He says, 'Whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.' Not just for the insiders. Not just for the ones who fit the mold. . . . Not just for those who carry the right label or check the right theological or political boxes. For the good of all."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Let Go, Let God" – Matthew 6:25-34
Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, June 29, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"The Blame Game" – Luke 8:26-39
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, June 22, 2025.
"Friends, this moment calls us to something deeper. Something braver. Because we live in a world of scapegoating. A world eager to name enemies so we don’t have to name our fears. A world quick to assign blame so we don’t have to shoulder responsibility, shoulder any responsibility for our economic instability, our divided communities, our imbalance of power and wealth, our climate disasters, our fragile mental health.
"But we must not play along.
- Who have we chained so we don’t have to face our collective anxiety?
- Whose torment are we tolerating to maintain the illusion of homeostasis?
- Whose name have we replaced with our fear?
- And what would happen if we stopped? If we listened? If we asked with compassion, 'What is your name?' and stayed long enough to hear the truth beneath the trauma?
- What if the ones we’ve tried to silence are the very ones Jesus sends back to us, clothed and in their right mind, to proclaim what God has done?"
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at:https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Saving Time for What?" – Ephesians 5:15-16, Luke 10:38-42
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 15, 2025.
"Ephesians reminds us that if all our time-saving just leads to more rushing and more anxiety, maybe we’re not saving time at all. Maybe we’re losing it. To 'make the most of time' is not to fill every moment, but to remember that time itself is a gift from God.
"It’s a subtle distinction, but
• do we rush to save time to spend it,
• or do we live wisely within the time God has given us?"
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Endurance" – Job 42:1-6, James 5:7-11
Sermon by Dr. Ed McLeod, our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Sunday, June 8, 2025.
"What Makes Patience a Virtue" – Romans 8:18-25
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 1, 2025.
"...all of us are living with situations we can’t fix. Never mind the global problems, or the social or political realities we’d love to see change. We live with people we can’t change. Pain we can’t escape. And in those places, what might hopeful endurance look like?
"What difference might patience make in a relationship that can’t, right now, be fixed? Well—
- How many friendships survived and grew stronger because an argument ended with a comma, not a period?
- How many marriages celebrate anniversaries because one or both refused to give up when marital stress was real?
- How many children were empowered because they had parents who waited, prayed, and hoped—when a diagnosis, behavior, or a season made that hard?
"...when someone waits with love that often groans—waits not passively, but prayerfully—things can change."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Peace Be With You" – John 14:23-29
Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, May 25, 2025.
"Jesus, who promised peace to his disciples the night before his own crucifixion, never promised us a life without hardship or a world without troubles, but he did offer us a way forward through the gift of his deep and abiding peace. No matter what difficulties we face in our lives or what challenges the world presents, we can trust in the powerful peace of Christ that comes from the love of God."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Who Goes With You?" – Revelation 21:1-6
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Senior Recognition Sunday, May 18, 2025.
"'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.' And in that declaration, God makes a claim—not just over cosmic history, but over your story.
"When your beginning feels uncertain, or your ending unclear, God still speaks: 'I am with you. I am your beginning and your end.'
"There has not been a place in your story where God has not already been. And there is not a moment ahead where God will not be waiting for you."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Teach Me How to Pray" – Luke 11:1-4
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 11, 2025.
"What difference would it make to remember God is in the room?
"It doesn’t necessarily mean you stop being frustrated or stop being angry. That awareness doesn’t mean silencing conviction. Stay honest. Keep caring about what you believe is right and true. But remembering God’s presence might also slow your speech. Open your ears. Inspire humility. Help you see your own blind spots. Soften your heart just enough to wonder what grace might ask of you."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"A Calling Passed On" – Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 6:19-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Legacy Sunday, May 4, 2025.
"What does it mean to live well when you believe in a God who loves selflessly—and calls you to love others the same way? The boy, in his conversation with the mole, leaps right to Micah’s answer.
"'What do you want to be when you grow up?'
"The boy doesn’t say he wants to be a
- superhero or famous athlete,
- astronaut,
- jet pilot, race car driver, or train conductor,
- general, or president, or veterinarian.
"He knows the question isn’t about doing. It is about being. And he wants to be… kind."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Ready for New Lenses?" – John 20:19-31, Revelation 1:4-8
On the occasion of the 2025 Kittye Susan Trent Symposium for Newly Ordained Ministers, Dr. Ken McFayden, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean of Union Presbyterian Seminary, was invited to preach at the 8:45 and 11:00 a.m. worship services.
"Wisdom Resurrected" – Luke 24:13-27
Part VII of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025.
"Friends in Christ, much of the wisdom we need right now is the wisdom we’ve forgotten. But it’s an old wisdom that can be resurrected. Just as Jesus rose from a tomb, this wisdom can be resurrected from Scripture.
"And because Jesus is risen, he is with us even when we do not recognize him, talking to us if we will listen. He is teaching us… reminding us… what we know to be true: That God so loves the world."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Wisdom Crucified" – Matthew 27:45-50, Acts 3:14-18
Part VI of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom"
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025.
"This is not for someone else. This is for us. For those of us who follow Jesus, who sit in pews, who pray unceasingly and sincerely and yet still carry assumptions and perspectives that betray the very Gospel we claim and the very Jesus we love. . . . And like Peter, we are not called to shame each other, to point fingers, blame and deflect—but to tell the truth, the God’s-honest truth to each other. To acknowledge our ignorance so that grace can do its work. To confront our illusions so that real transformation can begin."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"New Wisdom" – Matthew 5:1-12, 38-45
Part V of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, April 6, 2025.
"'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' This idea was meant to limit the escalation of violent retaliation. It was intended to break the cycle of violence by ensuring the punishment never became greater than the crime. The concept was about seeking true justice. But justice in God’s kingdom brings about something greater than quid pro quo. In God’s kingdom, justice is about restoration and healing. It’s an entirely different way to relate to each other—relationships governed not by power, but by vulnerability and love."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Broken Wisdom" – I Corinthians 1:18-25
Part IV of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 30, 2025.
"There is a phrase that might be over-used, but I think is so helpful in talking about how to move forward. It is living into a “new normal.” Your old wisdom about how to live in the world won’t serve you anymore because your world has changed. The only healthy way forward is to figure out how things are now and deal with them well.
"The Bible is all about this. Some say it isn’t, that when it comes to the Bible as the Word of the Lord, wisdom doesn’t get broken. It is fixed. Only then you read the Bible and you see that wisdom is not something fixed but is fluid. That fluidity has been called the work of the Holy Spirit, the dynamic presence of God that speaks new words for each new day."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"A Chorus of Wisdom" – Psalm 150, Luke 18:9-14
Part III of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom"
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from March 23, 2025.
"If we want to reach Psalm 150’s unshackled praise, we must not only humble ourselves before God—we must also release the false belief that others are beyond God’s mercy, set free our notion that some people are just too far gone from God’s love, and swing open the prison doors of our hearts that so often commodify God’s grace. The praise of Psalm 150 is not exclusive; it’s not reserved for only those we deem worthy. It does not say, 'Let all who have lived rightly,' or 'Let all who have been faithful in every season' praise the Lord. No! It is an all-encompassing, all-inclusive invitation to 'everything that has breath.'"
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Forgotten Wisdom" – Hosea 4:1-6, Luke 16:19-31
Part II of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 16, 2025.
"Jesus uses his stark parable about eternity to make a point about life right now… his now, and our now. He reminds us that in any life-giving, community-enhancing moral tradition, there is a conservative streak. We need to conserve the moral tradition that has brought us this far, the tradition that demands justice and compassion. No matter how fast things change, no matter what popular influencers are telling us should be acceptable, it is dangerous to ignore old wisdom about how to live in a way that is responsible and compassionate.
"Later in the sermon series, you’re going to hear about the progressive streak that has to be in any healthy wisdom tradition. Wisdom adapts as the world changes… and, I guess, as time speeds up. . . . but today, I want to remind us that most of the best wisdom for how to live good and faithful lives has already been figured out, if we will only remember it."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/
"Honor Your Grandparents" – Proverbs 1:1-7
Part I of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 9, 2025.
"Wisdom isn’t about having all the answers. Wisdom is about having the courage to question the status quo. It is the willingness to question, reflect, and remain open to God’s Spirit. It is about listening and remembering where we come from—not this kingdom, but God’s."
Read the manuscript: https://www.spres.org/wisdom-honor-your-grandparents/
"Daily Duties – Romans 7:14-25
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 2, 2025.
"Here is how I would, today, boil down Paul’s perspective on how to live the best life in following Jesus, with falling short being part of the equation:
- Be humble because you cannot be God,
- Be stubbornly grateful even in hard times (sometimes for the hard times),
- Be honest about yourself and accept, not deny, your flaws and mistakes,
- When you have wronged others, ask for forgiveness…, and be ready to forgive,
- Deal with others with the grace with which God deals with you."
Read the manuscript: https://www.spres.org/daily-duties/
"Love as an Action Verb" – Luke 6:27-38
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, February 23, 2025.
"Friends, love of enemies, forgiveness as we have been forgiven, these actions, these decisions do not always come swiftly. They often do not come easily.
"This is where and why I think it’s important to note – I think it’s important for you to remember – that Jesus preached this sermon to a great number. This command wasn’t to one or even to a few. It was to the community. There is no way we’d be able to live the commands of
Luke 6 on our own. . . . set yourself in a community that helps do this with you, that can help do this for you.
"When you can’t find the strength to do it on your own, look around you, look within you, seek God’s help to find it for you."
Read the manuscript: https://www.spres.org/love-as-an-action-verb/
"One" – John 8:12
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 16, 2025. "Not that I know what I’m talking about, but it seems to me that checking out a church online is like using a dating app. It is a way to check out a church from a safe distance before taking the risk of an in-person meeting. The rest of my sermon is for everyone, but I have those online visitors especially in mind. As an introduction for them and as a reminder for the rest of us, I want to describe the kind of church community we are..."
"Deep Dive: Part 2" – Luke 5:1-11
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, February 9, 2025. "Yet if we go even deeper, we find that casting our nets for our own sake is not enough. There is more. It is in the deep waters of transformation that our purpose is redefined: 'From now on you will be catching people.'
"So, I wonder if the invitation and call to deeper waters and to cast our nets is not about us at all. I wonder if it is more about lifting others up from the deep waters they are experiencing. And if so, looking at this passage, we see the need for two things: proximity and praxis."
Read the manuscript: https://www.spres.org/deep-dive-part-2/
"Deep Dive" Youth Sunday Sermons 2025 – Ephesians 3:14-21
Sermons by graduating seniors McLure Bailey (2:12), Sebastien Croteau (6:08), Kylie Young (13:58), Kit Polly (18:53), and Cara Wardell (23:19). Our Youth Group theme for the year is "Deep Dive." May God's spirit touch the deepest parts of you are, that you might experience the breadth, length, height, and depth of God's love made known in Jesus Christ.
"A Prophet in His Hometown" – Luke 4:16-30
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 26, 2025.
"When we approach scripture, we ought to do it with the intelligence, wisdom, and insight God has given us. And when we interpret scripture, it should be with the heart of Jesus Christ himself who extended welcome, healed without question, loved with abandon, and calls us to do likewise.
"When Jesus preached his inaugural sermon to his home congregation, he made people he loved uncomfortable. Perhaps we need to accept the possibility, the nudge of holy discomfort. . . . It’s one thing to look out on the horizon for the someday of God’s kingdom, but it’s another to live boldly in that kingdom now.
"This is where we are called to be countercultural. This is where it gets tricky to be a Christian in the midst of a crowd that values privilege for some and not love and grace for all. Living, extending, testifying to that kingdom now—Jesus never said it would be easy; he never promised we would be comfortable. But he did say we’d never have to go alone. Jesus walks that road before us. Jesus calls us to follow."
Read the manuscript: https://www.spres.org/a-prophet-in-his-hometown/
"Preacher Paul" – Acts 20:7-12
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 19, 2025. "And what is Paul’s message? All those idols are promising something they cannot deliver. Because here’s the deal: There is no deal! While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We are saved by the unmerited grace of God. There are no political leaders, not even Caesar himself, who should be given the status of gods. There is no Law of rules that can be followed that will secure your place in God’s good graces. There is nothing you can buy that will buy out your guilt or buy you a better seat in heaven. Be Roman or not be Roman, be Jewish or not be Jewish. Whatever you are, be loving, be kind, be compassionate because while we were yet sinners and deserving no place in God’s good company, God showed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that there is room for us."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/preacher-paul/
"God's Nickname" – Exodus 3:7-17
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 12, 2025. "God knows each of us by name… which is to say that God knows what makes you 'you' and knows what makes me 'me.' I hope you understand that. I hope you understand that you specifically matter to God for specific reasons. And . . . I hope you understand that you matter specifically to the world because you are going to have a specific impact on it. The good that you do, and the harm you do—to yourselves, to others, and to the world—is very specific to who you have been, who you are, and who you will become."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/gods-nickname/
"What's Next" – Jeremiah 31:7-14
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, January 5, 2025. "Nobody wants to hear that pain comes before healing, or darkness comes before light, or dishonor before glory. But it is a pattern that is repeated in all aspects of faith. . . . Beloved, no matter where you are in that cycle, hear this: God is there with you. God is in the pain. God is in the darkness. God is there, wherever you are, extending grace and love."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/whats-next/
"Simeon and Anna" – Luke 2:22-40
Part VI of the Advent Sermon Series "Sing in Exultation"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, December 29, 2024. "What is it that makes us feel like worth, value, specialness are a matter of comparison? That in order for one person to be really special, they have to be more special than other people."
Read the manuscript: https://www.spres.org/sing-in-exultation-simeon-and-anna/
"A New Song" – Psalm 96
Part V of the Advent Sermon Series "Sing in Exultation"
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Christmas Eve, December 24, 2024.
"Angels" – Luke 2:8-14
Part IV of the Advent Sermon Series "Sing in Exultation"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the fourth Sunday of Advent, December 22, 2024. "From paying the fees of psychics to sending probes into outer space, finding answers to life’s mysteries can cost a lot of money. But these shepherds can only afford to live their lives. Yet, it is to them that a revelation comes that so many hope for when they look to the stars."
Read the manuscript: https://www.spres.org/sing-in-exultation-angels/
"Mary" – Luke 1:46-50
Part III of the Advent Sermon Series "Sing in Exultation"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the third Sunday of Advent, December 15, 2024. "So, what does Mary’s song mean for Christians who are to bear the image of Christ and we as the church that is called to be the body of Christ? It means that we are called to bear the heart of Mary and of Jesus—that we are to be the intercessors for the poor, advocates for the oppressed, and bearers of good news to those who need it most. We are to offer the sanctuary of worship, the kindness of those who care, and the assistance of those who offer signs of God’s grace. That is why our ministries of outreach and compassion matter so deeply. They are the ways we echo Mary’s song and offer evidence of her joy."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/sing-in-exultation-mary/
"Elizabeth" – Luke 1:39-45
Part II of the Advent Sermon Series "Sing in Exultation"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the second Sunday of Advent, December 8, 2024.
"Zechariah" – Luke 1:67-79
Part I of the Advent Sermon Series "Sing in Exultation"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the first Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2024. "Within the classroom of silence, Zechariah’s faith is reconstructed. The one who kept the rituals of faith but lost confidence in God working salvation regains the faith of a child who can sing with awe and wonder. He has the headspace of someone for whom God’s love is miraculously real despite the circumstances of his times. He sings as someone so convinced of God’s reign that he sings as if Israel’s messiah has already come, that God has already saved Israel from her enemies and brought relief from all that burdens Israel’s people. For him, the miracle of the saving grace of God is as real as what he can see right in front of him..."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/sing-in-exultation-zechariah/
"Stretch the Truth" – John 18:33-38
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, November 24, 2024. "Beloved, the truth is both a gift and a calling. It is a gift in that Christ himself is the truth, a truth that stretches from eternity to eternity. It is also a calling in that we are invited to pause and listen to and follow the voice of truth.
"As we find ourselves in the liminal moments of life, I wonder what truth God is calling you to live into and where you might pray, 'Lord, stretch me'?”
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/stretch-the-truth/
"Illusions and Dreams" – Isaiah 43:19-21
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 17, 2024. "... we should always be asking these questions of ourselves:
• Who am I now?
• What do I now believe?
• What, by grace, can I become?
"And ask the same kinds of questions of our relationships and communities:
• Who are we now?
• What beliefs are we now living by?
• What, by grace, can we become?
"These questions are good guides for prayer that could be summed up to be this: 'Help me, Lord, surrender my illusions and dream what can be knowing that whatever the future holds, you are in it.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/illusions-and-dreams/
"Christ Alone" – Colossians 1:15-23
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 10, 2024. "There will be those who will speak of Jesus as if he is a chaplain of their certainty—the chaplain of whatever social or political agenda they are pushing.
"So, what are we to do but—again—be reminded. Go to the Jesus of the Gospels. Pay attention to what Jesus does and who he is with. Remember how he attends to the needs of the masses when they are hungry, and how he ignores the masses when one hurting and ignored woman grabs the hem of his garment. Remember how he heals the sick without judgement of their need, and how he argues with the self-righteous without rejecting them. Remember how he honors the Law of the Jews, and how he praises the theological insights of the Samaritan woman.
"Watch him. Watch him and listen to him."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/christ-alone/
"Jesus Wept" – John 11 (selected verses)
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from All Saints' Sunday, November 3, 2024. "The good news of the Gospel is that the God who weeps for us and with us is also the God who resurrects. God is not finished yet. May we be instruments of God’s resurrection power and life here and now."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-wept/
"Chaos, Passion, and Pause" – Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 27, 2024. "God responds [to Job] out of the calm center of a chaotic whirlwind. In the middle of the storm of chaos, in the stillness of its eye, there is a pause.
What a gift a pause can be in the middle of chaotic conversations. . . . What the pause can give you is perspective. Not answers. Not explanations. Not resolution. Perspective."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/chaos-passion-and-pause/
"What Story Are You Telling" – Job 38:1-7, 34-41
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, October 20, 2024. "So, what story are you telling? To your children? To yourself?
"Beloved, may the story you tell be one of God’s vast and mysterious love, a love that has been with you and has held you since the beginning of time! And may you believe the story of God’s love to be true for you, as well."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/what-story-are-you-telling/
"The Witness of Hope" – Romans 8:24-25, Matthew 13:24-30
Part V of the Sermon Series "Invest in Hope"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Commitment Sunday, October 13, 2024. "Wheat among weeds is what Jesus wants Second Presbyterian Church to be. . . . Our calling is to bear witness to the hope that God’s grace is real and shows itself when we resist what is unjust, work to mend what is broken, and heal what is hurt... when we show evidence that lives can be lived with purpose, meaning and joy."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/invest-in-hope-the-witness-of-hope/
"Hope for the World" – Matthew 5:38-48
Part IV of the Sermon Series "Invest in Hope"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from World Communion Sunday, October 6, 2024. "Violence persists in this world, and so what are we, the Body of Christ, to do?
"In our passage, Jesus is trying to tell his disciples—Jesus is trying to tell us what to do. We get this piece of wisdom in Matthew 5 about loving our enemies because Jesus cares deeply how we, disciples then and now, practice this thing he calls the 'kingdom of heaven.' This sermon of his is about bending, bending, bending that arc towards justice, all while pointing to a new heaven and a new earth made possible through the hope of Jesus Christ. "
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/invest-in-hope-hope-for-the-world/
"Hope in Action" – Matthew 5:14
Part III of the Sermon Series "Invest in Hope"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 29, 2024.
"• When we feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide help to those who need medical care, but hunger, homelessness and the untreated sick remain...
• When we try to help with addiction and mental illness, but half of what we try doesn’t work, and half of what does work helps only for a while...
• When we try to address those collective illnesses of the soul—those “isms” like classism, racism, nationalism—ways that the vulnerable are manipulated and the weak are dominated, and those sins remain, or return, or, like adaptive viruses, find new ways to spread...
"we can’t think that what we do doesn’t matter because we failed to be God and save the world.
"No. We are not saviors, we’re servants. What we do matters because we are expressing our faith, we are showing our love, we are witnessing to the grace of God. God is using us to witness to hope… ultimately the hope of the resurrection."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/invest-in-hope-hope-in-action/
"Lived Hope" – Acts 1:1-11
Part II of the Sermon Series "Invest in Hope"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 22, 2024. "Actively wait. Invest yourself in a community of those who will wait with you. Be open. Listen. Try things. And since I’m talking about the church, I’ll add worship, learn, pray, be there for others, and meet needs when you can. You see, so often the direction one is looking for is not found in isolation. It is found in being a part of a community of people seeking direction together while waiting for the Holy Spirit to provide it. It is so often in relationship with others, and with God, that life finds its purpose and hope. "
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/invest-in-hope-lived-hope/
"Hope in Christ" – Romans 8:18-25
Part I of the Sermon Series "Invest in Hope"
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 15, 2024. "Given the high rate of despair, one could make the argument that we, as Americans, aren’t placing our hope in the right things. In fact, one could argue that the problem is that we are placing our hope in things. The Apostle Paul might say we are placing our hope in the kinds of people or things that are in fact perishable, subject to corruption, and depreciation of value—when what we really need is a hope that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
"What we need, is the kind of hope that is grounded on something beyond this present world and time. What we need is a living hope, grounded on the grace of our triune God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/invest-in-hope-hope-in-christ/
"Getting to Know Jesus" – Luke 24:13-35
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 8, 2024. "This is the God that sees us for all that we are capable of being—the best and the worst of us—and who loves us anyway. With this God in our lives, we can be and do better because this God’s love meets us at our very worst. This is the God of the cross, where his son who is dying asks that God forgive the world that is doing this to him."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/getting-to-know-jesus/
"The How of Jesus" – Matthew 10:1-4, 22:15-22
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 1, 2024. "In a way, Jesus is forming his own party, but here is how he goes about doing it. He doesn’t start with ideology. He starts with the person. He starts with making a relationship with the person in front of him: Jew or Gentile, Samaritan or Roman, somebody or nobody, acceptable or unacceptable. Jesus gets to know the one in front of him. Then through meals, through conversation, through study and prayer with them and through other spiritual practices, he builds a community around him. He embraces debate among them as they try to figure out together what it means to keep the command of God to love God and others. They do not ignore the issues or the needs of the day. Of course they don’t. But, it is on the basis of relationships and as a community that they do so. It is not ideology first. It is not issue first. It is relationship first."
"Stay in the Boat" – Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, August 11, 2024. "Faith isn’t about performing miracles or achieving the impossible on our own. Faith is seeing the boat for what it is: a shared experience in community, where we lean on one another, find support, and face adversity together, all while trusting that God is with us."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/stay-in-the-boat/
“Just One More Thing…” – Micah 6:8, Mark 10:17-23
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 4, 2024. "Can we catch a glimpse of God’s will in what Micah tells us to do—to do justice and show kindness without separating the two? When we are wronged, or see wrongs in the world, can we remain kind? That’s a hard question to ask of us as individuals, and certainly a hard question to ask of us as communities of people. But should we ever deny the lifeline to others that we need when we have been understood and rightly judged for having failed?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/just-one-more-thing/
"Penetrable Souls" – Acts 10, selected verses
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 28, 2024.
"On the Move" – 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, July 21, 2024. "To think we have God figured out, to think we know all we need to know about God, to think God believes and wants exactly what we believe and want is to try to build a box around God. But God is here to say to Nathan, God is here to say to us, not, 'Thanks for the shiny box,' but instead, 'Try to keep up.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/on-the-move/
"Are You In?" – Galatians 2:11-21
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 14, 2024. "Paul raises up the cross and calls for faith—Jesus’ faith, not the faith of an eye-for-an-eye and revenge. He calls for Christ to live in and through us. And Christ will, when and where people embody his heart for peace despite what their fantasies might be."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/are-you-in/
"No Place Like Home" – Mark 6:1-13
Sermon by the Rev. Rachel H. Vogado, PCUSA minister and Media Assistant at Second Presbyterian Church, who was invited to preach on Sunday, July 7 while the pastors were away.
"Open Wide Your Hearts" – 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, June 30, 2024. "Beloved, open wide your hearts to the reconciling love and grace of God, for now is the time, today is the day; open wide your hearts so that having been reconciled by God you may be reconciled to one another. Whether rich or poor, honor or dishonor, known or unknown, in need or in plenty, in sorrow or in joy, whether black, white, or brown, whether republican, democrat, or independent, whether Dominican, American, or any other nationality, open wide your hearts, receive the grace and love of God, and receive the new life in Christ, a life that is shared, a life that is abundant and eternal, and experience a life that really is life."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/open-wide-your-hearts/
"Not Just a Children's Story" – 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 23, 2024. "[David and Goliath] is a story the people of God need to remember. It’s a story that reminds us God’s help can come from unlikely places. It’s a story that tells us outward appearance isn’t everything. It’s a reminder that we have an invisible ally who loves and supports us."
"Family Recognition" – Luke 15:11-32
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 16, 2024. "At the end of God’s day, we are all related. At the end of God’s day, we’re all family; Jew and Gentile, sinner and saint, male and female. In the biblical worldview, all human issues are family issues, and all human problems are family problems. . . . When harm is done to another, whether of the spirit or the body, the Father is saying, 'Oh, this brother of yours. This sister of yours.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/family-recognition/
"Say That Again" – Luke 15:3-10
Sermon by the Rev. Tom Are, Jr., Interim Pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL and our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Sunday, June 9, 2024. "Jesus is telling us that we have no idea how much joy God finds in us. In you. That just your existence is a source of joy for the living God. Jesus is clear. God knows an unreasonable amount of joy because of you—and that is something Jesus evidently thinks we need to hear more than once."
"God's Memory" – Exodus 16:2-13, Psalm 105:37-45
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 2, 2024.
"Buying In" – Acts 8:1-24
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024. "We can all lose perspective at times and think it is about us. We can all get tricked into believing that this world is going to be saved by some pristine political or social ideology or agenda and the church just needs to fall in line and help. What our passage reminds us is that all we do even in addressing issues and serving others will not solve the world’s problems. What it all can be is a witness to God’s unconditional love and saving grace."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/buying-in/
"Seeing What Cannot Be Seen" – Acts 2:1-13, Romans 8:22-27
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024. "Here we don’t have to get lost in God told me this or God showed me that. We can focus on this inner realization that the person sitting beside you in the pew right now, and the people you least understand out there, and the people who are constantly being defined to you as different—and maybe even people to demonize—every single one of them is connected to you. They are no different from you. We are all children of God. We all need the same grace, and the same hope."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/seeing-what-cannot-be-seen/
Sung Prayer for Illumination: Spirit of the Living God. TEXT and MUSIC: Daniel Iverson, 1926. Text and Music © 1935 Birdwing Music (admin. EMICMGPublishing.com). CCLI Song #23488. Used by permission, CCLI #20105821.
"Bridging the Gap" – John 17:6-21
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 12, 2024. "Jesus was sent into the world, set apart for a unique purpose to reveal the love and grace of God to a world that he knows will not listen, yet it is the same world that God so loves, as the famous verse puts it. As the Son of God and the Son of Man, Jesus bridges the gap between God and humanity, between heaven and earth, between power and principalities and the poor and the oppressed. Being sanctified in the truth of God’s word, the disciples then—as we, the disciples now—are set apart to do the same."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/bridging-the-gap/
"Upside Down Kingdom" – Matthew 18:15-20
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, May 5, 2024.
"Church: Seen and Unseen" – Matthew 18:15-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 28, 2024.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/church-seen-and-unseen/
"Owning Up or Doubling Down?" – Acts 4:5-22
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 21, 2024.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/owning-up-or-doubling-down/
"Seeing Good" – Acts 3:12-21
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, April 14, 2024.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/seeing-good/
"It's Not About You, Thomas" – John 20:19-31
Sermon by Dr. Jacqueline E. Lapsley, President of Union Presbyterian Seminary, on the Sunday of the Kitty Susan Trent Symposium for Newly Ordained Ministers, April 7, 2024.
"Following: Loving, and so Following" – Mark 16:1-8
Lenten Sermon Series Part VII
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024. "...so many cling to the resurrection hope in a desperate way, hoping for an out when death must come. Sadly, what often comes of this escapist hope is an escape from the moral demands of life. But a true resurrection hope is this: It is finding hope in God even after all other hopes fail you. . . . It is the hope that God will not let death and all it represents—injustice, toxicity, cruelty, despair—have the last word."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/following-loving-and-so-following/
"Following: The Crowds" – Matthew 21:6-15, 27:15-23
Lenten Sermon Series Part VI
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/following-the-crowds/
"Following: Following at One's Own Pace" – John 3:1-8, 7:50-51, 19:38-40
Lenten Sermon Series Part V
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 17, 2024.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/following-following-at-ones-own-pace/
"Following: Paul's Conversion and Call to Follow" – Acts 9:1-20
Lenten Sermon Series Part IV
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, March 10, 2024. "When the voice of God calls out to us, when the voice of the Lord calls us to follow, we enter into something bigger and deeper than individual salvation and vocation. Conversion is never an end in and of itself. It is a beginning. We step into something new for ourselves and for the community to which we belong. A new reality. A new chapter in the life of the church, a new initiative or mission, and a new life in Christ for the individual. Following Jesus is both individual and communal, you can’t have one without the other. The individual receives the call; the community affirms the call.
"And in the conversion and call and life of Paul we see a reminder that following Jesus involves a series of conversions, a series of journeys, encounters, pilgrimages, and turnings as we venture into unexplored territory."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/following-pauls-conversion-and-call-to-follow/
"Following: Jesus Is Being Followed?" – Matthew 12:9-14
Lenten Sermon Series Part III
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 3, 2024. "We all have biases. Even Jesus in our story has a bias. He clearly stated a bias in the passage. You heard it. He prefers compassion and mercy over the literal keeping of a law that would prevent a man with a need from receiving help. His bias is toward seeing the person in front of him and acting in that person’s best interests. He shows it here in healing the man. He later says we need to do this even if the person in front of us is someone we would call 'an enemy.'
"What would that bias look like in the way we follow those who have their hooks in us: our family, our friends, our enemies, those who are described by others as being a type (Jews, Palestinians, criminals, refugees, the poor, the rich) but which we know are human beings? What would happen if we stubbornly kept to
• a bias toward empathy and understanding so the person can be seen,
• a bias toward reconciliation over retribution,
• a bias toward common good over what’s good just for me?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/following-jesus-is-being-followed/
"Following: Who Said She Could Follow?" – Mark 5:25-34
Lenten Sermon Series Part II
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 25, 2024. "Who says she can follow Jesus? Not the crowd. Not even Jesus who doesn’t know she is behind him. She follows Jesus because she gets it. She gets what makes it possible for any of us to follow Jesus, no matter how worthy we think we already are.
"What she gets is grace. She knows that despite what anyone says . . . that she has a place in Jesus’ company. It is not because she is well or unwell, acceptable or unacceptable, guilty or innocent, clean or unclean. It is because God’s grace, which welcomes others, welcomes her. Jesus makes that clear to her when he says, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well.' The woman’s embrace of grace is the faith that has saved her—which, by the way is a better translation than 'made you well.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/following-who-said-she-could-follow/
"Following: Peter, the Rock" – John 18:15-17, 25-27 and 21:15-19
Lenten Sermon Series Part I
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, February 18, 2024. "What is it that makes us chicken out—whether we’re 11 years old, 41 years old, or 81 years old? Why are we afraid to speak up? To live what we claim to believe? What is it that makes us vulnerable to this kind of behavior—the kind of behavior Peter shows on Good Friday? The kind of statements Peter makes in the courtyard that night?
". . . Jesus knows we are more than the worst things we’ve done (or left undone). He knows we are prone to choose wrong, and we are prone to shame and self-hatred. He knows how to meet us, to build the fire, and prepare the meal that will heal and restore."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/following-peter-the-rock/
Sung Prayer for Illumination: O Word of God Incarnate. TEXT: William Walsham How, 1867, alt. MUSIC: Neuvermehrtes Meiningiches Gesangbuch, 1963; adapt. Felix Mendelssohn, 1847. Public domain. CCLI Song #121971. CCLI #2642604.
"Fan the Flame" Youth Sunday Sermons 2024 – 2 Timothy 1:3-7
Sermons by graduating seniors Trevor Waters (2:00), Claire Thielecke and Caroline Kepley (7:09), and Ellen Mikkelson (13:21) from Youth Sunday, February 11, 2024. Our Youth Group theme for the year is "Fan the Flame." May the flame of faith that lives inside of you burn brighter and become a guiding light in the world!
"Not Alone, but Lonely" – Mark 1:29-39
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 2, 2024. "We are all lonely sometimes. No one can reach those inner parts of you that only God can reach. I encourage you to embrace sacred loneliness. In being alone with God, become comfortable with being alone with yourself. . . . Find your identity in being alone with God. That is where your clarity and strength will come while being among others as one who follows Jesus... the one who calls for justice, shows mercy, and works for reconciliation in the world."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/not-alone-but-lonely/
"Truth: God Is Here" – Mark 1:21-28, 1 Corinthians 8:1-3
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, January 28, 2024. "There are demons—whether they be personal, communal, global, or even cosmic—that draw us away from Jesus. Yet, with God’s boundary-breaking power and love made know in Jesus Christ, we can stand up to the demons and be freed.
"How might we speak with authority to these demons just as Jesus did to the demon in the synagogue? Well, for starters we can name them. We can acknowledge the truth of their reality; thus, we recognize they exist. We name the demon of unbelief, and we continue to name others we encounter: racism, inequality, religious and ideological intolerance, nationalism, classism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, bigotry, violence at home and at school, bullying, poverty, greed, war, human trafficking, terrorism, globalization for exploitation, information manipulation, media-infused fear. This is certainly not an exhaustive list.
"'But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.' We should do well to name not only our demons, but also our privilege."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/truth-god-is-here/
"Waiting Work" – Acts 1:13-26
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 21, 2024. "Prayer is sometimes dismissed as avoiding responsibility, such as when people who actually can do something about a problem say instead, 'Let’s pray about it.' But though prayer can be used to avoid the truth and dodge responsibility, it can also be a means by which to face the truth and deal with it. . . .
"Prayer is grounding oneself in God and remembering you are not alone. It is reminding oneself of God’s love; It is asking to be forgiven and it is asking to forgive; It is seeking some guidance, and asking for patience while waiting for the guidance; It is listening for some truth that so far hasn’t been heard; It is asking for a path forward that so far cannot be seen... Prayer is Waiting Work."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/waiting-work/
"Come and See" – John 1:29-46
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 14, 2024. "The invitation to 'come and see' is an invitation to leave our comfort zones. To 'come and see' is an invitation to approach all of life with a grace-filled curiosity. To 'come and see' is to enter into the joy of being deeply seen and deeply known. . . .
"Is there anything that feels lonelier than the experience of being unseen? And is there anything more lifegiving than the experience of being seen for who we truly are?
"'Come and see,' Jesus says."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/come-and-see/
"Under the Apple Tree" – Genesis 2:15-17, Romans 12:1-2
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 7, 2024.
Can one believe what both science and the Bible have to say? Dr. Anderson explores this question by looking to epiphanies under the apple tree by Adam and Eve, Sir Isaac Newton, and Karl Barth. "Though God is a mystery beyond proof, I believe in God because I have had my own epiphanies of being known, loved and claimed by God. Intellectually, I can’t prove it; I even doubt it sometimes. But my being loved and claimed by God defines me. I can’t prove it, but I’m trying to live it. That is my witness."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/under-the-apple-tree/
"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Mother's Name)" – Luke 1:26-38
Advent Sermon Series Part V
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, December 31, 2023.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-mothers-name/
"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Father's Name)" – John 1:14-18
Advent Sermon Series Part IV
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Christmas Eve Sunday, December 24, 2023. "But, as I said before, in saying God, something more needs to be said. . . . Something must be added to what is meant by God or we end up adding whatever we want God to mean. God can mean 'Merciless Judge' if the blanket is just a quilt of God’s demands. God can mean 'Absent Creator' if the blanket is only the idea that someone had to make the universe and keep it running. God can mean 'Me' if God is defined in my image. Then I can pick and choose passages to line up with what I already think and want. Narcissists love that sort of blanket.
"What we have written as 'Name of Father' will work fine as long as we remember that it is on the same birth certificate with the 'Name of Son.' John says that Jesus, as God’s only son, makes God known. The Gospel presents Jesus as God’s spitting image. Jesus is the blanket that the Gospels use to throw on the mystery that is God to give the mystery shape."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-fathers-name/
"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Place of Birth)" – Micah 5:2, Luke 2:4
Advent Sermon Series Part III
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, December 17, 2023. "The birth of the Messiah will be a sign to the world of healing and life. This child was born with a name, born at a time in history, born in a place we know. In Bethlehem, heaven has come down. In Bethlehem, House of Bread, we encounter the Bread of Life.
"Where we come from matters. Where we have been, what we have lived through and experienced shapes who we are. I am, in part, who I am because of where I come from. You can take the boy of out Bethlehem, but you cannot take Bethlehem out of the boy."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-place-of-birth/
"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Date)" – Luke 2:1-7
Advent Sermon Series Part II
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, December 10, 2023. "Jesus was born when Quirinius was governor of Syria and was charged with conducting the registration, a symbol of Roman authority and oppression. To this, Jesus was born as the Messiah who would overthrow the powerful and lift up the oppressed.
"In those days, Jesus was born, period. Against and amid all that was happening in the world at that particular time, Jesus was born, born into this world, born into a family, born into a community, born into human history.
"Why does the date of Jesus’ birth matter? Because we see in it that Jesus the Christ was born into a world of tyranny, inequality, and pride. Born to be a light in that darkness. A world and darkness we also know all too well."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-date/
“Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Name)” – Matthew 1:18-25
Advent Sermon Series Part I
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 3, 2023. "Let’s put a formal name on the certificate, and in that day, the most formal way someone was introduced was not only by name but also by relationship. So, let’s imagine Joseph answering the question, 'What is the child’s name?' in this way: 'Yeshua Ben Yosef,' or 'Jesus, Son of Joseph.' Our imagining Joseph answering in this way honors the spirit of the passage and the glory of Joseph. The glory of Joseph is that despite his and Mary’s reputation being opened to question, he adopts his fiancé’s child that is not his own. He does what is right after being tempted to do what is righteous in the world’s eyes. Another way of putting this is that Joseph, as a righteous man, is led by God’s Spirit to do what Jesus will later ask other righteous people to do. Joseph is asked to reconsider what being righteous really means."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-name/
"Sheep and Goats" – Matthew 25:31-45
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, November 26, 2023. "Over the centuries, this passage has been described as the 'Judgement of the Pagans' or the 'Last Judgement.' Jesus is seen separating sheep and goats, rewarding them or condemning them according to their actions, or lack thereof. . . . when we pay attention to what Matthew is saying, the question here is not, 'Am I going to heaven?' or 'Will I be saved?' or 'Am I a sheep or a goat?' If we were asking these questions, Matthew would say we have missed the point. I think that the question rightly asked here is not what happens at the end of things, but more like how are we supposed to be living right now? How does Jesus call us to live? What would our lives be like—how would our lives be different if we lived as though Christ were King?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/sheep-and-goats/
"Inside the Hard Crust" – Colossians 1:11-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 19, 2023. "But Paul has the vision to see the beauty past the crust, and it is that vision he shares in the passage I read. . . . For if Paul is right, God in Christ will make every life—no matter how short, tragic, hard, or regret-filled—every life reach its completion through the healing of reconciliation."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/inside-the-hard-crust/
"No One Has Ever Seen God" – I John 4:7-12
Sermon by Peter Enns (Ph.D.), Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, author, and our guest speaker for the 2023 Edmunds Lecture Series, from Sunday, November 12, 2023.
"Take It In" – 1 Thessalonians 2:5-13
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from All Saints' Sunday, November 5, 2023. "Paul praises the Thessalonian church for receiving the gospel they proclaimed. Not only did they take it to then share it with others, but they took it in, they took it into themselves. It became part of their being. And they took it in, not as a human word, but as what it really is, God’s word, God’s living and actionable word, which is also at work in and through you.
"I wonder if there is anything that holds us back from fully sharing our souls with our siblings in our family of faith. And I wonder what it means for us today, to receive the gospel of God and take it in, take into ourselves, making it a part of who we are, to then live a life worthy of God..."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/take-it-in/
"Love" – Matthew 22:34-46
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, October 29, 2023. "Love God; love neighbor. It’s every bit as simple, and every bit as hard as it sounds. We live in a culture that throws the word love around all the time. . . . We associate it with the feelings that arise out of our own enjoyment of things. We don’t think of it as a discipline, as a practice, as exercise, as something that requires effort. . . . But this is not how Jesus describes love. Jesus doesn’t say, 'I hope love happens to you.' He says, 'Love is the greatest and first commandment.' It’s not a matter of luck or accident. It’s not something that always comes easy. It’s something you do. It’s something you choose. It’s a matter of obedience, Jesus says, to the one we call Lord. So, if this is the great commandment—to love—we ought to ask ourselves, are we living this way? Are we living as though love were the greatest commandment of all? What would it cost us to take Jesus’s version of love seriously?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/love/
"Gift and Burden" – Romans 5:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Preschool Sunday, October 22, 2023. "Even when we are at our worst, when we are the broken lamp, shredded curtain or muddy rug, instead of discarding us as ruined and no longer of use, God takes on the sacrifice of our restoring. Even when we are weak, Paul says—which is a way of saying that even when we are such burdens that God must do for us what we cannot do for ourselves—God won’t quit us. Even when we are enemies, Paul says—even when we are actively trying to oppose what God stands for in the world—God won’t quit us.
"This is the suffering of God’s love. And that is why Paul can say, 'I give thanks for my suffering for the sake of others,' because that is a love that comes from God. It is a love shared with God. Thus, it is a love that brings one closer to God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/gift-and-burden/
"Between the Gasp and Grasp" – John 2:1-11
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, October 15, 2023. "The mother of Jesus sees her son as someone who could—and should—meet need. And the question of theodicy stands beside her in this moment. Why is [the wine running out at the Wedding at Cana] not a concern for Jesus? . . . We see a world in desperate need and we, too, turn to Jesus, as someone who could—and should—meet need. And the question of theodicy stands beside us today, as well."
Sermon title comes from the poem “The Wedding” by Terry Chapman, Presbyterian CREDO Spiritual Faculty.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/between-the-gasp-and-grasp/
"Second Alive: A Fundamental Reason" – Matthew 18:15-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 8, 2023. "So much healing of community wounds would not be happening without Second Presbyterian and other communities that refuse to remain isolated from problems but engage them. . . . Grounded in God’s love, we gain strength that we can be more the healers than the harmed, more the gracious than the mean, more the reconcilers than the dividers when we engage in other relationships where love sometimes has too many strings and demands taking a side. We hear these truths, we pray about them, and we discover that the reconciling work we can do in the world is possible because of the reconciling work God does within our own hearts and lives."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/second-alive-a-fundamental-reason/
"Children of God" – I John 3:1-3, I Corinthians 11:23-26, 33
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, October 1, 2023. "Nearly 2,000 years ago, when Jesus sat around that Passover table with his friends, he was sharing a family meal. He took food that was familiar to them—each item on their plates told a story. And then after dinner, with his words and his actions, he gave the most basic and simplest of foods—bread and wine—new meaning. Years later, his disciples would remember that night, and they would strive to recreate it. . . . That special meal was the church’s family meal. And at that table, all were welcome, regardless of gender, race, age, ability, or ethnicity. All were called beloved children of God. But as we know, children don’t always get along."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/children-of-god/
"The Only Healing Left" – Luke 5:17-26
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 24, 2023. "Jesus speaks with the voice of God in telling you that even now, 'Your sins are forgiven. Now go and live your life. Live out an identity not defined by the accumulation of success and failure, but as a child loved by God. For that is who you are.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-only-healing-left/
"On Forgiveness" – Matthew 18:21-33
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 17, 2023. "This is a difficult parable. The narrative swings back and forth between extreme mercy and severe judgment. Underneath it all, though, is a simple reality: forgiveness is not easy. We know this to be true. Sometimes, what others have done to us or people we love is so hurtful that we don’t want to forgive them. Sometimes, people are so dependent on their guilt or shame that they don’t want to be forgiven. It’s tricky and it’s hard. But forgiveness is one of the things that the church does well, that Christians do—or ought to do—that very few other sectors in our society talk about."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/on-forgiveness/
"Enough" – John 1:35-42, 21:15-19
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 10, 2023. "What can you and I do in order to be worthy? What can we do to prove to God and to ourselves that we are enough to be loved and accepted? I hope you know the answer to that question because we talk about it all the time in church. You cannot come to worship at Second Presbyterian Church without hearing multiple times from this pulpit that the answer is, 'Nothing.' We are saved solely by the grace of God. That God loves us is what makes us enough."
"H of G" – Romans 12:9-21
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, September 3, 2023. "As a community of faith, a community that claims God is creating something new, a new heaven and a new earth, through the love made known in Jesus Christ, we are called to not simply approach people with the hermeneutic of generosity. Rather, knowing that the grace of God is freely given to sinner and saint alike, that while we were all still sinners, Christ died for us all, we are to approach life with the hermeneutic of grace."
Sung Prayer for Illumination: "Open My Eyes, That I May See" TEXT and MUSIC: Clara H. Fiske Scott, 1895. Public domain.
"All Ate and Were Filled" – Matthew 14:13-21
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, August 6, 2023. "The people aren’t asking Jesus for anything. They just want to be with him. He is so different from any leader they had ever seen before. They are hungry, they are frightened, they are hurt—and they hang on Jesus’ every word and action. He has shown them something special. He has given them a glimmer of hope. And he has shown them that the character of the God he reveals can be captured in one word: compassion. . . . A God who cares: this is the first real miracle in the scene."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/all-ate-and-were-filled/
"Kingdom Consciousness" – Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 30, 2023. "These parables, as mashal, offer us riddles that open our eyes to the kingdom of heaven in the here and now, teasing the mind into reflection and response. They draw us into a kingdom of consciousness."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/kingdom-consciousness/
"Two Faiths" – Jonah 4:1-5
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 23, 2023. "In this sanctuary, we remember who we are and keep the tension alive. We don’t let our faith break into two. We pray for our enemies and work for the blessing of all people. While it is admirable to love our families and community, and while it is admirable to love and serve one’s country, the Bible and our theological tradition demands that our core identity is in Christ. This is where we pray for our enemies and work for compassion and justice for all people."
"Next" – Luke 3:15-22
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 16, 2023. "Luke is talking about a moment where it doesn’t matter whether you are a Pharisee or a Sadducee, a Zealot or an Essene, a person of substance or a person of the streets. It doesn’t matter what you have done to build up a reputation, to make a name for yourself, to accomplish something, even selfless and kind. In the moment, none of that matters. Standing in that line, you are simply a person in need of grace. But what is there to gawk at? What is there to mock? For 'Jesus also was baptized.' There’s the best kind of dignity there is. It is the dignity we proclaim at baptism where God knows no favorites but adopts us all as children. And it is the dignity we must hope for at death where there is nothing left but God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/next/
"To What Will I Compare This Generation" – Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 9, 2023.
"In This Together" – Luke 10:1-11
Sermon by Nancy Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation at Second Presbyterian Church, from Sunday, July 2, 2023.
"Jesus Chooses Kairos Time" – Genesis 2:3, Exodus 20:8-11, Matthew 12:1-8
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 25, 2023. "I don’t know about you, but it can feel like I’m all over the map sometimes. There is so much to do, so much to produce. It can feel like my life lacks prayerful attention. And because my attention is so scattered, it can feel like I don’t have enough time for the kind of Kairos moments Jesus makes possible here. It can feel like we’re hungry for some grain, but we don’t know how to stop and pluck it."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-chooses-kairos-time/
"Final Interview" – Matthew 25:31-46
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 18, 2023. "'Were you kind?' Oh dear! Even without being literal about end-times, that question is intimidating. The question Matthew’s Jesus leaves us with in his last sermon is that one. In the parable, the question is in the past tense so that we’ll ask it in the present one: 'Are you kind?' Never mind the unforgivable sin, that is the unavoidable question."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/final-interview/
"Handing Out Invitations" – Luke 14:1, 16-24
Sermon by the Rev. Millie Snyder, Executive Pastor of Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC and our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Sunday, June 11, 2023.
"Unqualified Teaching" – Matthew 28:16-20
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Trinity Sunday, June 4, 2023. "Much like the disciples and the early church, as we teach, we gain a better understanding of what we believe, we become more comfortable in sharing our beliefs, and through practice we develop the ability to ask different and deeper questions, to look beyond the surface for meaning and connection. And teaching goes beyond the classroom. Jesus charged his disciples—from the first church to today— to Go. Make. Baptize. Teach. Go, leave your comfort zone; Make, that is to be in relationship with others; Baptize, call others into the family of God; and Teach, humble yourselves in the way of Christ and relinquish control, so that others may come to better understand the good news of the gospel!"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/unqualified-teaching/
"Let There Be Church" – Acts 2:1-4
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Pentecost Sunday, May 28, 2023. "How liberating it is to have removed from us the pressure of the responsibility to find on our own our own identity, create our own meaning, and establish our own significance… all of which would die when we die. But life has meaning even at death because it is a life shared with God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/let-there-be-church/
"A Blessing" – Luke 24:44-53
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, May 21, 2023. "While God came to us in the flesh and blood of Jesus, the ascension reminds us that we cannot restrict God to any one place. Thus, Jesus’ ascension isn’t about his leaving—his disciples, us, the world—but rather it is about the simultaneous confession that God has chosen to be located in our physical world so that God may be accessible to us, and God refuses to be limited even to those important places. No building, no people, no book, no church can limit God’s ability to be accessible to others. Instead, the ascension it challenges us to ask ourselves, how are we witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ? How do we recognize Christ’s presence among us?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/a-blessing/
"Known Mystery" – Acts 17:22-31
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 14, 2023. "Embrace the scandalous idea of eternal life, the scandalous idea that grace is more powerful than guilt, and that love has once and for all conquered death in Jesus Christ. And let us not be afraid to question, to explore, to challenge and be challenged, and to seek after God, the Creator God who is revealed in creation, a God who invites us into relationship, who wants us to seek after what our hearts most longs for."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/known-mystery/
"Body Memory" – I Corinthians 12:12-13
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 7, 2023. "We worship to build Body Memory so as to instinctively love God and serve the world. Serving the world looks different today than it did in Paul’s day. Then it was about giving alms, taking a collection from some members when other members are in trouble, giving a cloak away if one has two, providing a sojourner a meal and room to sleep in one’s home. Today, with the church’s expanded size and resources, it might look like:
- an afterschool program for children,
- a church or a hospital being built,
- supporting a clinic providing mental health care to the underserved,
- committing to efforts to overcoming class and race inequities,
- sending thousands of dollars and teams of volunteers to disaster sites,
- providing a temporary home for those with housing instability,
- and supporting a seminary and maybe hosting symposiums to train future church leaders.
Paul would be amazed."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/body-memory/
"Write Your Life" – Genesis 1:1-3a, John 1, Rev. 14:13, II Corinthians 3:2-3, Colossians 3:12-17
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 30, 2023. "But the question that is asked of all of us, at whatever level we are capable of answering, is, 'What will be the story we tell in life?' 'Will the Word be heard through who we are and how we live, or not?' It is not a question about how successful you are, even in being able to do good in the world. Chance, opportunity, and freedoms play huge roles in how much good we are allowed to do. The question is really about how, within what is possible for us, we are going to live. What witness we make as we write the chapter that is our life."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/write-your-life/
"What Is Fair?" – Matthew 20:1-16
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, April 23, 2023. "We are quick to allegorize parables. We are quick to explain Jesus’ stories as all about heaven and salvation and glory and a kingdom to come, but he’s most often not talking about salvation or the life to come. More often than not, Jesus is talking about how we can sanctify daily living. He’s talking about the mess of daily life, our pocketbooks, our responsibilities, our ethics."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/what-is-fair/
"Shock and Awe" – Psalm 27:1-4, Mark 16:1-8
Sermon by Dr. Ed McLeod, Minister and Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC and facilitator of the Kitty Susan Trent Symposium, from Sunday, April 16, 2023.
"He Is Raised" – Matthew 28
Part 7 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023. "The realm of God is not bound by borders or legislated by a government. No, the ream of God is forever and today. It is Already-News. The realm is known in baptism when all allegiances give way to an allegiance to God that is then shown when one’s heart is for compassion, one’s agenda is justice, one’s motivation is gratitude, and one’s habit is reconciliation."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/he-is-raised-part-7-of-the-sermon-series-lift-high-the-cross/
"The Throne" – John 12:12-13, 19:1-22
Part 6 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross."
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Palm Sunday, April 4, 2023.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-throne-part-6-of-the-sermon-series-lift-high-the-cross/
"Carried" – Matthew 16:21-26
Part 5 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross."
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, March 26, 2023. "If we can understand that all suffering and crucifixion is of the “one body,” then we are open to the crosses others carry, and it is then that we may join in the reconciling work of Christ’s cross for all. It is then that we realize that my salvation is a part of your salvation. It is then we realize that my liberation is bound up in the liberation of the other. It is then we realize that my reconciliation, is the reconciliation of all creation, through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/carried-part-5-of-the-sermon-series-lift-high-the-cross/
"Reconciled" – Luke 15:11-32, 23:32-34a
Part 4 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 19, 2023. "The cross is the intersection of the vertical embrace of God’s unconditional love, and the horizonal work of reconciliation that heals what is broken. Once you understand that about the cross—once you understand that it reveals both the separation of sin and the embrace of reconciliation—you begin to see the cross everywhere."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reconciled-part-4-of-the-sermon-series-lift-high-the-cross/
"History Revealed" – Mark 15:1-15Part 3 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross."
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 12, 2023.
"God Revealed: Part 2 of the Sermon Series Lift High the Cross" – Philippians 2:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 5, 2023. "What I want to talk about is whether through Jesus God became a better version of God’s self or whether in Jesus we can see more clearly who God has always been. Revelation, not change, is what Paul is talking about in our passage, I think. Look at the picture he draws with his passage. He speaks of Jesus being with God from the beginning. So, whatever we say is true about Jesus was true about God from the beginning."
"Revealed: Part 1 of the Sermon Series Lift High the Cross" – John 13:36-14:7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 26, 2023. "The cross reveals our sin. Yes, it does and you are going to hear that point made multiple times in our sermon series. But I think even more, the cross reveals our humanity. The cross reveals that we are not gods who can rise above our limits, but we are human and we need to accept it. Because Jesus, who dies, submits to the limits of being human, there is more to be found in the truth of the cross than the condemnation of sin. There can be found the affirmation that God found human life worth living. We will not be perfect, but if God finds life among us worth living despite having to die… then life is worth living despite our having to die. By accepting death, Jesus showed us how to live."
"Lift High the Cross: Enough of Formulas" – 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 19, 2023. "For me, it gets down to this. Make of any illustration of the Atonement—any illustration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—a definition; and the cross becomes a fix rather than a revelation. I think the cross is a revelation, not a fix. The cross doesn’t change reality but reveals it. And because it is a revelation, it is something that we can turn this way and that in order to understand how sacrificial love can be the bridge between sinners and God and how sacrificial love can be the means by which we can be reconciled with each other."
"The Choice is Yours" – Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Sermon by Rev. Benjamin S. Brannan from Sunday, February 12, 2023. "What does it mean to choose life, prosperity, and blessings? According to Moses, it means to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. Throughout his sermon, Moses illustrates the good life: forgiving debts, guarding against excessive wealth, defending human dignity, protecting the oppressed, paying employees fairly, offering part of the harvest for those in need. And as he nears the end of his sermon, the moment becomes holy."
"The Provoking Smile" – 1 John 4:7-21
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 29, 2023. "We need to habitually put ourselves in places where we learn, see, and practice what God’s love is like. We worship over and over again so that we truly love the one we worship. We return to the stories of faith again and again until they become the stories we live. We practice selfless acts till we learn how to be selfless, we act with kindness so we can learn to be kind, we practice apologies until we mean them, and we practice forgiving until we become forgiving people.."
"Until Our Hearts Find a Home" – Matthew 4:12-23
Sermon by Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 22, 2023. "Often, when we think of calling, we think of these first disciples and all that they gave up – two leaving their father, all leaving their livelihoods. Or perhaps when you think of calling, you may picture a priest or a pastor. It’s easy to look at someone in a robe or a clerical collar and recognize a calling. But it’s not always so obvious. I bet a lot of people have a hard time seeing a direct connection between what they do for a living and what they believe. But I believe that calling is less about what we do than who we are. God’s call isn’t simply to do something, but to be something."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/until-our-hearts-find-a-home/
"Servanthood" – Isaiah 42:1-9
Sermon by Rev. Benjamin S. Brannan from Sunday, January 15, 2023. "Just as the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended on Jesus, God’s love washes over us through the waters of baptism as we are called beloved children of God, with whom God is well-pleased. So too, it is our commissioning to a vocation of Servanthood. "
"Real World Faith" – Galatians 2:15-21
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 8, 2023. "Any Christian faith- any faith in a God among us as the Word made flesh- fleshed in life and in history- has to be a faith about life as it is lived in the world as it is. See the world as it is, and then love the world as it is because God loves the world as it is. Then work for the causes of the kingdom in ways that are possible and can actually make a difference."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/real-world-faith/
"A Different sort of Resolution" – Philippians 1:9-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 1, 2023. "Yes, learn what Christians should learn. But become. Worship weekly, pray daily, give generously…I encourage the disciplines of church, but not because church is the point. Becoming is the point. Becoming those described by Paul’s fruits of the Spirit is the point. So, resolve yourself to habits.Show kindness to learn to love being kindBe empathetic to learn to love others for who they are,Be generous to learn to love being generous,Forgive regularly to learn to love reconciliation."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/a-different-sort-of-resolution/
"Seek" – Luke 2:8-15Part IV of the Advent sermon series, "While We Are Waiting."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 18, 2022. "Could this passage be inviting us to seek signs of God coming not just into the world, notjust in history, but into the lives we live. Are we not invited to a Confirmation Bias of a different sort, a bias that seeks the signs that God is here, and that, by God’s grace, we can be led to peace? If that is true, looking for God to come could be the most practical thing we can do because grace, mercy and peace—if they are out there—should be sought."
"Watch" – Matthew 25:1-13Part III of the Advent sermon series, "While We Are Waiting."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 11, 2022.
"Prepare" – Isaiah 11:1-10Part II of the Advent sermon series, "While We Are Waiting."
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, December 4, 2022. "• A man who thought he’d never find joy after the death of a beloved spouse, opens himself to new people and relationships.• A parent who’s experienced the excruciating loss of a child returns to worship and, despite grief and pain and doubt, finds new meaning in service.• A woman who felt belittled and judged by her childhood church, somehow finds the strength to open herself to a new community to ask questions and explore God’s word in a whole new way.• A son who is honest about who he is, and a family that grows to not only accept him but to advocate for him.
The list could go on.
From the outside, these signs of hope may not look like much—a shoot coming out of a stump, a branch springing forth from a root, a step forward, an opening, a light—but it’s enough, Isaiah says. Sometimes, that’s all it takes. But seeing such a sign of hope doesn’t always come naturally to us. So we have to watch, get ready for it, pay attention for when it comes."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/while-we-are-waiting-prepare/
"Repent" – Matthew 3:1-6 Part I of the Advent sermon series, "While We Are Waiting."
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, November 27, 2022. "Frustration. Anxiousness. This is not the waiting Advent calls us into. The waiting Advent calls us into is one of hopeful anticipation. Advent-waiting is not only to celebrate something that has already happened. Yes, we are to celebrate the incarnate birth. But we now wait for something different! We are waiting for the coming of the Lord in a way that we have not yet seen; we wait for something we have not experienced before."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/while-we-are-waiting-repent/
"Remembering Thankfully" – Deuteronomy 16:1-15
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 20, 2022. "The goodness we have to offer comes of the good we choose to remember. Fear, resentment, hatred provide great cause to cling to what we have. Remembering thankfully gives clear cause to do for others the kindnesses done for you."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/remembering-thankfully/
"When Wrong is OK" – Luke 5:29-32
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Preschool Sunday, November 13, 2022. "...I am suggesting that the way to authentic self-esteem begins with authentic self-acceptance. And the first thing to accept is that we’re human. We’re going to mess up. We want to get it right, but we are going to make mistakes. We want to be right—to be good and decent human beings—but we are going to do what is wrong. . . . What I hope for children at home and children in this preschool is that they be seen and loved for who they are. . . . What I hope for is that they know grace, which helps them gain an honest and thus healthy self-acceptance and true self-esteem. We all need that grace. We all need to know that it is OK to be human."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/when-wrong-is-ok/
"That Still Small Voice" – 1 Kings 19
Sermon by Dr. Ben Witherington III, renowned New Testament scholar and our guest speaker for the 2022 Edmunds Lecture Series, from Sunday, November 6, 2022.
"Zacchaeus" – Luke 19:1-10
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, October 30, 2022.
"What Wonder Below" – Psalm 8, Genesis 1:26-28
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 23, 2022. "And among the creatures placed upon the land are humans; 'male and female he created them.' There is something different about these creatures for there is placed within them the image of God. This means at least in part that humans are to be God’s representatives—God’s stewards—on earth. They are put in the garden to tend it and keep it. They are not put there to be owners of the land who are accountable only to themselves. They are put there to be stewards of the land accountable to God. Progress is encouraged: 'Be fruitful and multiply.' But, progress should not mean exploitation; expansion should not lead to extinction. The reason is simple. As God’s representatives, we are here to love what God loves."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/what-wonder-below/
"Covenant Hearts" – Jeremiah 31:31-34
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Commitment Sunday, October 16, 2022. "Into the darkness God is speaking. From the darkness the light of hope glimmers, if only we see it faintly, forcing us to seek it out and respond. And in the darkness of exile, in the darkness of generational trauma, generational blame that made the people point fingers saying, 'The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge'... into this generational darkness, Jeremiah lights a candle of hope, a bright light that will roll back the exile’s darkness."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/covenant-hearts/
"The Fruits of Faith" – Philippians 2:12-13, Galatians 5:22-23
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 9, 2022. "Paul is not writing to individuals but to bodies of believers. Considering the fruits of the Spirit that he listed, he would want us as a body of believers . . . to consider the impact we can make if you would bear the fruit that comes of knowing that we are loved by God and saved by grace. We can look for the best in each other while seeing with grace the worst in each other. We can be forgiving. We can be patient and kind. We can be generous and giving. We can show some self-control as we place a priority over what benefits us all over what benefits just ourselves."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-fruits-of-faith/
Narrative Budget Video: https://youtu.be/_Y2G_qNmuvg
"The Man Who Said Thank You" – Luke 17:11-19
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from World Communion Sunday, October 2, 2022. "At first glance, this is a healing story. Ten men were healed, and one man said, 'Thank you.' But on a deeper level, our story is about gratitude from an unlikely place. . . . And it’s about the kingdom of God. It tells us something important about who is invited, who belongs, and who thrives in the realm where God dwells."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-man-who-said-thank-you/
"Moral Joy" – Philippians 2:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 25, 2022. "The Gospel doesn’t promise happiness. The promise is for a life with God, and that comes with an 'Uh oh!' as much as an 'Oh boy!' . . . When happiness is the promised blessing of faith, then being unhappy is just one more thing to feel guilty about. Here’s the problem: We speak of God’s blessings, and then we confuse 'happiness' with what the Bible calls 'joy.' They are not the same…. at least as far as scripture is concerned."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/moral-joy/
"Who Counts?" – Luke 15:1-10
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 18, 2022. "In the Christian tradition, people often understand parables as allegories. For example, many consider the sheep and the coin to represent repentant sinners; and the man who seeks the lost sheep or the woman who searched high and low for the coin are symbols for God. I have often interpreted them this way. But I want us to consider an additional understanding—that these stories are meant to tell us something about counting, about searching for what is missing, and celebrating becoming whole again."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/who-counts/
"The Middle Rings" – Philippians 2:14-18
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Rally Day Sunday, September 11, 2022. "[Paul's] whole letter goes back to what I read as our scripture lesson: 'Do all things without murmuring and arguing. Shine like stars in your witness to give cause for what we all need, for we are living in a crooked and perverse time that needs cause to rejoice.' Paul writes with his heart on his sleeve in writing the church in Philippi because he knew the world needed faith communities like it to be a force of reconciliation and peace. I preach this sermon with my own heart on the sleeve of this robe because I think our world today needs faith communities like this one more than ever. I say that because I feel and sense what Dunkelman talks about—that there has been an erosion of middle ring communities that are formed to bind us rather than to reinforce what divides us."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-middle-rings/
"Self-Inventory" – Luke 14:25-33
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, September 4, 2022."Have you taken inventory of yourself? Have you considered who you are and what you have in order to more fully, and more completely, follow Jesus? . . . The cost of discipleship is high because the cost of discipleship is transformation. And this transformation is entering into an intimate relationship with God in Christ, who is inviting us to take inventory of who we are and who we hope to become."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/self-inventory/
"What Glory!" – Isaiah 40:3-5, John 1:14
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the Mission Build Campaign Worship Service of Celebration held on Sunday, August 28, 2022. "Our worship service celebrates the successful completion of the Mission Build Campaign. On the surface, it might seem that our celebration is more of what can be built to impress. . . . But God’s glory will not be seen in the buildings… unless we see ministries of compassion and grace that take place within them, ministries that lift those who have been brought low. . . . Do you have minds and hearts today to see God in needs met and lives transformed?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/what-glory/
"Sabbath Freedom" – Luke 13:10-17
Sermon by the Rev. Ann-Henley Nicholson, Director of Alumni Relations at Princeton Theological Seminary, from Sunday, August 21, 2022.
"A God Nearby" – Hebrews 11:29-12:2, Jeremiah 23:23-24
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, August 14, 2022.
"Tell Me What to Do" – Proverbs 1:1-7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 7, 2022. "The Bible is, in its entirety, from stem to stern, a book about the way of wisdom. It is a book of moral discernment as people in their own circumstances strive to understand what it means to be a people who are devoted to God and who walk in the ways of justice, mercy and peace. . . . The Bible shows us how to [embrace the way of wisdom] with its different perspectives, with its debates about God’s will for new times and situations. The Bible embraces what has been passed on, like the commandments, but also considers what experience and reason have to offer."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/tell-me-what-to-do/
"Tell Me What to Do" – Proverbs 1:1-7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 7, 2022. "The Bible is, in its entirety, from stem to stern, a book about the way of wisdom. It is a book of moral discernment as people in their own circumstances strive to understand what it means to be a people who are devoted to God and who walk in the ways of justice, mercy and peace. . . . The Bible shows us how to [embrace the way of wisdom] with its different perspectives, with its debates about God’s will for new times and situations."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/tell-me-what-to-do/
"Tell Me What to Do" – Proverbs 1:1-7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 7, 2022. "The Bible is, in its entirety, from stem to stern, a book about the way of wisdom. It is a book of moral discernment as people in their own circumstances strive to understand what it means to be a people who are devoted to God and who walk in the ways of justice, mercy and peace. . . . The Bible shows us how to [embrace the way of wisdom] with its different perspectives, with its debates about God’s will for new times and situations. The Bible embraces what has been passed on, like the commandments, but also considers what experience and reason have to offer."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/tell-me-what-to-do/
"Tell Me What to Do" – Proverbs 1:1-7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 7, 2022. "The Bible is, in its entirety, from stem to stern, a book about the way of wisdom. It is a book of moral discernment as people in their own circumstances strive to understand what it means to be a people who are devoted to God and who walk in the ways of justice, mercy and peace. . . . The Bible shows us how to [embrace the way of wisdom] with its different perspectives, with its debates about God’s will for new times and situations. The Bible embraces what has been passed on, like the commandments, but also considers what experience and reason have to offer."
Read the manuscript on our website:
"Tell Me What to Do" – Proverbs 1:1-7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 7, 2022. "The Bible is, in its entirety, from stem to stern, a book about the way of wisdom. It is a book of moral discernment as people in their own circumstances strive to understand what it means to be a people who are devoted to God and who walk in the ways of justice, mercy and peace. . . . The Bible shows us how to [embrace the way of wisdom] with its different perspectives, with its debates about God’s will for new times and situations. The Bible embraces what has been passed on, like the commandments, but also considers what experience and reason have to offer."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/tell-me-what-to-do/
"A Better Barn" – Luke 12:13-21
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 31, 2022. "As we continue to make decisions about money in our nation, in our city, in our church, and in our families, who do we need to invite to be part of the conversation that isn’t currently heard? Whose voice should be valued that is left sitting off to the side?
"To the man in the parable, a bigger barn was the answer. But that very night his life was being demanded of him. His obituary might have been entitled, 'Barn Man Dies a Bare Man.' Or he could have changed his ways, much like Alfred Nobel did, to use his abundance to build a better barn, one that was open and charitable, offering his abundance to those in want. Perhaps then his obituary read 'Rich Man Turned Rich Toward God.'
"Instead of banking on more barns and larger barns, God invites us all, rich and poor, into the eternal economy of grace and mercy."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/a-better-barn/
"When an Iceberg Knows a Crystal" – I Corinthians 13:8-13
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 24, 2022. "Bias can really mess up a friendship. It can mess up a marriage, too. It can mess up faith in God. When we are so clear within ourselves about who others are supposed to be―including God―we can give up on them. . . . The greatest pastoral care Paul can offer when two parties become judgmental about each other while feeling victimized by each other is this: 'Remember, your window is also dark. Your mirror is also fogged.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/when-an-iceberg-knows-a-crystal/
"Lord, Do You Not Care...?" – Luke 10:38-42
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, July 18, 2022. "Jesus found Martha in just such a state of fragmentation—a condition in which she could not enjoy his company, savor his presence, find inspiration in her work, receive anything he wished to offer her, or show him genuine love. Instead, all she could do was question his love ('Lord, do you not care?'), fixate on herself ('My sister has left me to do all the work by myself') and triangulate ('Tell her then to help me.”). Does any of this sound familiar? What has you worried? Distracted? Fragmented and frazzled? It could be because of a myriad of things—not just about household chores, but also perhaps the relationships that mean the most to you. It could stem from the state of our country to the sad state of humankind. There is a lot that might have you worried and distracted..."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/lord-do-you-not-care/
"Original Virtue" – Genesis 1:26-28, 3:1-5; Luke 15:7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 10, 2022. "'I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance,' Jesus said. No need to repent? Who really believes that… except each one of the 99 who have 98 others around them telling them they have nothing for which to repent? It is not just Adam and Eve who took a bite. Entire tribes, entire movements, entire ideological silos, eat the fruit of the tree and become convinced they alone have knowledge of good and evil. Together, we can encourage each other to do evil by convincing each other that we are doing what is right. But let’s not forget, we can also encourage each other to recognize the evil that's in and among us and do better."
"Mission Mindset" – Luke 10:1-11
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 3, 2022. "'Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace to this house!"' This peace is not a simple hello or greeting. This is a peace that is representative of God’s salvation, that is God’s salvific shalom. This shalom is to be the opening word to all people. . . . As we engage with others, as the 70 did long ago, we must be grounded first in God’s peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding. It is more than a calming presence. It is confidence in God’s abiding presence with us that then allows us to share that presence with others. This peace is the enfolding reality of God’s love. It is the fulfilment of the promise as we read in the first chapter of Luke. It is a peace made known in the birth of Jesus Christ, who came 'to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace' (Luke 1:79)."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/mission-mindset/
"Do This" – Luke 10:25-37
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 26, 2022. "What shall we do to inherit eternal life? “Go,” Jesus says, “and do likewise.” Do this. Draw close. Show mercy. Extend kindness. See yourself in the victim and recognize the humanity in the one you hate the most. Do this and you will truly live."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/do-this/
"Wiser Than Its Members" – Hebrews 12:1-2
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 19, 2022. "Sometimes―many times―the church is wiser than its members. I use the term 'church' loosely to refer not only to a faith community, but also to that faith and tradition that feeds that community. . . . Don’t let our individual sins―those we know and those we don’t know―cling so closely that our generation skips making its own witness of compassion. . . . There is out there, and I think there is within this congregation, a faith and a tradition that will carry us as we become the next generation of those who do not let our sins cling so closely but who continue to look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/wiser-than-its-members/
"Slowly Won" – John 15:1-17
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 12, 2022. "How many times have you won someone over by arguing with them? If you’re good at it, maybe you could have taught Jesus a thing or two. When I think through the Gospels, I can think of only one time when in the midst of a debate with someone else who came into the conversation to win that debate that Jesus won someone over… only one instance where the other said something like, 'Wow, you know what? I haven’t thought about it that way but you’re right.' I’m going to have to step out of the Gospel of John to tell you about it."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/slowly-won/
"The Case for Going to Church" – Matthew 7:24-29
Sermon by the Rev. Howard Dudley, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Dunn, NC and our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Picnic Sunday, June 5, 2022.
"Speak Up" – Acts 16:16-34
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 29, 2022. "But our story today is a story of a different color and tone. It is full of paganism, oppression, and slavery, complete with evil spirits, exploitation, and Anti-Semitism, topped off with violence, abuse, and imprisonment. Yet, even in the deepest, darkest, dungeons of life, the Gospel can save. . . . Now is the time to be honest with ourselves and with others. To speak up about what is going in our lives and speak up in concern and care and compassion for others. We have been through quite a lot as a world, nation, and community. If not now, when?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/speak-up/
"The Beloved Community" – Acts 11:1-18
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, May 22, 2022. "Certainly, the past matters. The church exists because God has spoken in the past, and without a sense of that history we lack clarity about our current path and journey. But the past, though important, is never the point for the life of faith. The point is the present moment with the living God who is with us now. The God who speaks to us now calls us into the risk of hearing a new word, a word that orients us toward the unanticipated and unprecedented where the reconciling God is active."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-beloved-community/
"If Not for the Honor" – Luke 6:46-49
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 15, 2022. "'They call me ‘Lord,’ but they don’t follow,' Jesus says. . . . Jesus doesn’t want to be called 'Lord' for his own glorification. He wants followers in his life to know and share God’s love. To call him 'Lord' in the way he would accept is to find through him, with him, and in following him, a way to God… and thus find a way to their true selves as children of God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/if-not-for-the-honor/
"A Call to Worship" – I Chronicles 16:28-34; Revelation 7:9-17
Sermon by Dr. Ed McLeod, Minister and Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC and facilitator of the Kitty Susan Trent Symposium, from Sunday, May 8, 2022.
"Taking a Re-Personal Day" – Exodus10:24-27, 31:16-17
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 1, 2022. "I invite you all, once a week, to take a personal day and rest. I also invite you to take a 'Re-Personed Day' for worship. Find yourself again as God’s child and as God’s children. Let yourself be re-formed and the body of the church formed on a day when we can remember who we are in God’s eyes."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/taking-a-re-personal-day/
"Can I Get a Witness" – Acts 5:27-32
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, April 24, 2022. "The Easter story is a story of resurrection, restoration, and renewal, a story of love, hope, and forgiveness, a story that must be shared and honored, witnessed to by our words and actions, here in our community and around the world! It is a story of for all the earth, a resurrection story for land, sea and sky, for birds and beasts, for fish and fowl, for you and for me. . . . What is your story of Easter resurrection? Whatever it is, tell your story!"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/can-i-get-a-witness/
"The Right Kind of Homecoming" – John 20:19-23, Revelation 21:1-4, Philippians 2:1-11 Part VIII and conclusion of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022. "Today, let’s consider what is the right kind of homecoming, and that is finding God where we are. I want us to honor: Jesus as a king in the line of David―but a different kind of king; Jerusalem as a holy city―but not the Jerusalem that Jesus entered; the kingdom of God―but not a kingdom with defined and defended borders; the Law of God―being the commands of Love, not of the State. I want us to honor the God of Exile by celebrating the God of the Resurrection."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-right-kind-of-homecoming/
"The Wrong Kind of Homecoming" – Luke 19:28-40; Zechariah 9:9 Part VII of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by the Rev Elizabeth N.H. Link from Palm Sunday, April 10, 2022. "Jesus accepts today’s blessings and hosannas, knowing that the crowds will turn on him, his disciples will desert him, and the only crown that awaits him is pain. Here we stand at the threshold of another Holy Week. Here we are, and here is our God. In glittering sadness, let us take up our cross and follow him."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-wrong-kind-of-homecoming/
"The Found Word" – Psalm 1; John 1:1-5, 14-18 Part VI of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 3, 2022. "I hope by now you realize that a great way to get to know this living Jesus is to realize that he is the God who we know in Exile. Jesus is the God we can meet at the table in our own homes. The living tradition of God—which is relentlessly about love of God and neighbor as commanded in the Torah, as demanded by the prophets, and as reflected in the writings—is real only when it becomes faith that is embraced in our hearts and lived in our lives and embodied in community. We give this living Word of God a name. And we find our identity as God’s children in knowing him, and our place in the living tradition of justice and grace by following him."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-found-word/
"The Lost Ark" – Micah 6:6-8, Luke 4:16-21 Part V of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 27, 2022. "No matter the circumstances, and no matter whether we are together or apart, true worship means finding ways to remain open to the Spirit of the Lord being upon us and responding with the worship of our hearts and the commandment-keeping of our lives. True worship doesn’t mean leaving it to the professionals, but finding each other so that together we can do justice and love kindness while walking humbly with God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-lost-ark/
"Settle In" – Jeremiah 29:1, 4-11 Part IV of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 20, 2022. "Sometimes, exile is a statement of geography, and sometimes it is a condition of the soul. It is whenever we are thrust into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable place. When the darkness feels too deep. When the unknowns loom too large. When you would give anything for just a little peace of mind. It was to those people enduring that sort of situation that Jeremiah says, 'Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. Grow a family, create a community, and care about the city all around you, even if it isn’t the home you remember.' In other words, 'Keep going, as best you can. Life will still emerge, even from the strangest and least likely of places.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-settle-in/
"The Good Ole Days" – Psalm 137, Matthew 9:14-17 Part III of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 13, 2022. "Today, I want to talk about the first step of the journey—the moment-after-the-moment—the moment after the initial shock of the world changing, and the understandable longing for it never to have happened, and to go back to the way it was. It is the moment following a death, a relationship ending, a job lost, a business failing. It is the moment after economic collapse, or a war beginning, or a pandemic shutting a world down. It is after reality sets in and now you are dealing with the fantasies that are defined by emotion—grief maybe, or anger. How is one to react?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-good-ole-days/
"The Moment" – II Kings 25:8-17, Lamentations 1:1-7a Part II of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 6, 2022. "Again and again throughout the history of God’s people, and in the person of Jesus, we are reminded that God is with the victim. God is on the side of the oppressed, the outcast, the alien. Even in the dark moments and hours of fear, loss, and destruction, God is there. Judah need not worry about God’s presence without the Temple still standing. We need not wonder whether God sees evil and cares what becomes of us. God was there in the exile. God is here in this exile."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-moment/
"It's Happening" – Jeremiah 6:13-15, Luke 19:41-44 Part I of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Transfiguration Sunday, February 27, 2022. "'Open your eyes and face it because it’s happening!' is [Jeremiah's] message. And right now, he offers no 'but.' It is not the time to jump quickly to, 'We’ll get over it.' It is not the time to speak of how lemonade is made or how a smile is the reverse of a frown, or how when a door closes a window might be found open. Yes, our whole sermon series will be about wonders and blessings that can be found in loss. But at the point of denial, the true prophet’s best work is to inspire grief over what was thought to be eternal… but is not. This hard moment can be the beginning of the miracle of a healing, and the beginning of a journey to real peace."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-its-happening/
"Merciful Love" – Luke 6:27-36
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, February 20, 2022. "Forgiveness is not forgetting. Praying is not an abstract gesture. Lending is no longer irrational. The call to love our enemies is not a passive or submissive stance. It takes courage. Moving toward a person in mercy is the first step to love that is revolutionary. It is a choice. A difficult choice, but one that embodies the now and not-yet reality of God’s beloved community."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/merciful-love/
"Love Hazard" – Romans 5:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 13, 2022. "And what is God’s love according to Paul? What he says is in keeping with those poets who know what risk is taken when one fully loves, and what cost can come from having loved another fully. God’s love is Agape love―the full, vulnerable, selfless love of one who does not calculate the risk and accepts the cost. . . . That love is transformative. We are loved in that way, Paul is telling us. And we can love others in that way, he is telling us. And by such love, hearts are broken and remade, lives are transformed, and salvation comes."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/love-hazard/
"We Are One" Youth Sunday Sermons 2022 – Galatians 3:23-29, John 13:31-34
Sermons by graduating seniors Elizabeth Moore (2:53), Isabel Blackshaw (5:45), Ann Foust Bailey (8:45), Patrick Clevenger (12:32), Caroline Moore (16:27), Silvia Wardell (18:53), and Philip Smith (23:02) from Youth Sunday, February 6, 2022. Our Youth Group theme for the year is "We Are One." May our shared identity in Christ draw us closer to each other and to God. For we are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.
"Bible Struggle" – Luke 4:14-30
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 30, 2022. "Confirmation bias is something we all bring to the Bible. If we are going to get past reading scripture and get to scripture reading us, then we need to realize from the get-go that we bring that bias with us. When we accept that we always have an internal editor on call―then we are ready to accept that a Bible Study sometimes needs to be a Bible Struggle."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/bible-struggle/
"Full" – John 2:1-11
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 23, 2022. "Yet, something incredible is revealed in this moment. It’s not a revelation of awe or judgment. But a revelation, a miracle of abundance, surprise, and delight. Jesus’ first miracle, his sign, of abundance is revealing God’s glory—and then follows the miracle that the disciples believed. This miracle, this sign, points to God revealing God’s self in Jesus. This is the kind of work God is about. It’s more than a story about how great God is, it’s also a story about how when God is revealed, there is laughter, astonishment, joy."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/full/
"The Joyful Harvest of a Tearful Sowing" – Philippians 3:4-14
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 16, 2022. "The psalm frames a question for us when we face difficult times: 'To sow or not to sow?' Though I’m playing off of Hamlet’s question, I do not mean to be frivolous in asking it. When facing challenges like getting through a pandemic, or facing difficult issues like the legacy of racism in America, or a terrible tragedy like the death of a child, the major question is about stewardship. Is one going to be a steward of challenge, loss, and pain? Sometimes there are lessons to be learned from what is lost (the prophets made that clear to the exiles), and sometimes terrible things happen because that’s the risk of life (the book of Job made that clear to the exiles). But always there is… for lack of a better word… a choice to be made. Am I to find reasons to live forward with hope and faith…or not?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-joyful-harvest-of-a-tearful-sowing/
"Stars in Plain Sight" – Psalm 8 and Matthew 2:1-6 Part VIII and conclusion of the sermon series, "Advent in Plain Sight." Roughly based on a devotional written by Jill Duffield.
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 9, 2022. "Imagine all of scripture being a mass of stars in the night sky. We need to be as sea-faring adventurers once were who identified signature stars to help them make sense of the night sky and chart the way to where they wanted to go. Find first the passages that speak to the central and primary good news that God so loved the world that he lived upon it. Begin there. Begin with the passages that bear the bright, shining light, that God’s unconditional love lives among us. Then, from there, find the constellation of passages that help bring sense and order to the sky and allow you to navigate your life."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/stars-in-plain-sight/
"Gold in Plain Sight" – Matthew 5:17-20, Psalm 19:1-10 Part VII of the sermon series, "Advent in Plain Sight." Roughly based on a devotional written by Jill Duffield.
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, January 2, 2022. "God’s glory is all around us: in the sway of the tree branches, in far off beams of light from Saturn, in the chirp of a bird, in the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup, in the silence of space and in the silence of the morning, and in the cry of a baby. . . . And so, with the Word made flesh, Emanuel, God-with-us, we have been given the opportunity to see God’s beauty and goodness and loveliness in everyone and in everything and tell the story of God’s glory with the heavens forevermore."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/gold-in-plain-sight/
"Hearts in Plain Sight" – Psalm 51:6-12 and Luke 2:8-20 Part VI of the sermon series, "Advent in Plain Sight." Roughly based on a devotional written by Jill Duffield.
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, December 26, 2021. "No road, no life is without twists and turns, detours and dead ends. But when we remain open, we will be surprised at what we may find—hope, where we thought there was no hope, and life, where we couldn’t imagine that life could thrive."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/hearts-in-plain-sight/
"The Child in Plain Sight" – Luke 2:1-20 Part V of the sermon series, "Advent in Plain Sight." Roughly based on a devotional written by Jill Duffield.
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Christmas Eve, December 24, 2021. "We need to know from the get-go that life remains fragile, even with God. Yet even in the fragility, and even through the vulnerability, the unbreakable love of God and the persistent power of God to forgive and to save, shines in this life that Jesus leads."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-child-in-plain-sight/
"Trees in Plain Sight" – Psalm 1, Isaiah 11:1 Part IV of the sermon series, "Advent in Plain Sight." Roughly based on a devotional written by Jill Duffield.
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 19, 2021. "The poet, prophet and Jesus—in calling for good fruit, in calling for a quality of living—would ask those kind of questions in a different way. They would ask: If I am healthy, am I contributing to the health of others? Am I helping to address and ease pain? Am I seeing and responding to those who have mental or financial anxiety? Am I helping others move from surviving to possibly thriving? Am I serving those who serve me? Am I building community? Am I spreading love? Am I helping others to be happy? They ask the questions in this way because happy are those who bear good fruit."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/trees-in-plain-sight/
"Belts in Plain Sight" – Ephesians 6:10-17, Isaiah 11:1-6 Part III of the sermon series, "Advent in Plain Sight." Roughly based on a devotional written by Jill Duffield.
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, December 12, 2021. "The season of Advent offers us a reminder that change is drawing near. The Messiah comes to usher in God’s great kingdom, as the powerful are pained with the plight of the poor, the mighty stand in solidarity with the meek. A kingdom where a lion and lamb can share a drink at the bar together, where the laws of the jungle are rewritten with the pen strokes of righteousness and equity. This vision is the hope of Advent, a hope we are called to participate in. And we, too, are called to wrap around our waist the belt of truth, a truth that reminds us to see one another as complex image-bearers of God, as a member of the body of Christ."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/belts-in-plain-sight/
"Tears in Plain Sight" – Luke 19:41-44 Part II of the sermon series, "Advent in Plain Sight." Roughly based on a devotional written by Jill Duffield.
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 5, 2021. "When our tears are for the sake of others, they are sacramental for we join in weeping for those who God weeps. They are a physical means of something holy breaking into human life. They start with the recognition of something that in God’s eyes is wrong, or is broken, or lost forever. Then, if we truly honor the tears, there can be planted not only a hope that it can be better, but also a conviction that it must be."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/tears-in-plain-sight/
"Advent in Plain Sight: Gates" – Genesis 28:10-19a, Matthew 24:29-35 Part I of the sermon series, "Advent in Plain Sight." Roughly based on a devotional written by Jill Duffield.
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, November 28, 2021. "Today, we wait at the gate with hope once more. We stand in the thin place of Advent―in the midst of the uncertainty of life, in the anticipation of what awaits our world. We hope for what we do not have, trusting that God’s promises will come. We must pay attention to the signs―pay attention to the signs of hope around us."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/advent-in-plain-sight-gates/
"Reimagined: Mission" – Mark 16:1-8 Part X of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 21, 2021. "What are we to hear in all this? Maybe if we are looking for Jesus, it won’t be in some house that he has in heaven, but in the midst of our lives. . . . out in the world where character matters―the neighborhood and the workplace, in messy politics, in hard conversations, in all that can be done to help our world reflect just a little bit more the vision of the realm Jesus described when he spoke of and demonstrated the Kingdom of God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-mission/
"Reimagined: Prayer" – Mark 14:32-42 Part IX of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, November 14, 2021. “In [Mark 14:36 Jesus] joins all of us who have prayed to escape suffering, prayed for healing, prayed for a way through, only to face the very suffering, disease, or dead end we feared. ‘Yet not what I want, but what you want,’ Lord. Jesus comes to want what God wants. Perhaps here we have an image of prayer changing the one praying rather than changing God or external circumstances. Prayer changes the person offering the prayer.”
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-prayer/
"Reimagined: Anointing" – Mark 14:1-11 Part VIII of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from All Saints Sunday, November 7, 2021. "It is the extravagance of hope, of faith. When the woman breaks the alabaster jar and anoints Jesus’ head, she is letting something out. She does something physical to express something personal. Sometimes we just have to do that because we are symbolic creatures. Theologically speaking, we are wired sacramentally. Sometimes we have to show the world what is in us."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-anointing/
“What's Love Got to Do With It” – Mark 12:28-34
Sermon by guest preacher the Rev. Dr. Brian K. Blount from Sunday, October 31, 2021. Dr. Blount is President and Professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA and Charlotte, NC. He is a renowned New Testament scholar and author of a commentary on the Gospel of Mark.
“To love God is to pull yourself out of your focus on you and what you have, who you are and who is around you, to value something bigger than yourself, more than yourself... and then it requires that you treat others with the same ferocious attention and care.”
"Reimagined: Commitment" – Mark 10:17-31 Part VII of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, October 24, 2021. "Transitions are hard. Transitions involve change, and change involves loss, and loss involves grief. But the thread of God’s love runs through it all. Love is the basis of commitment. Love is the call. To love through change, to love through loss, and to love through grief. Love then carries us to commit again to depend on and trust in God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-commitment/
"Reimagined: Inheritance" – Mark 10:13-16 Part VI of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, October 17, 2021. "Brothers and sisters, we have work to do. . . . Our Lord Jesus says, 'Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them.' It is our job to do the same. To welcome those children, to welcome their questions and wonder, to protect them, to pray for them, to look to them as exemplars of joy, trust, and possibility."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-inheritance/
"Reimagined: Confession" – Mark 8:27-38 Part V of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 10, 2021. "Then, Jesus asks them a second question: 'Who do you say that I am?' That’s when Peter blurts out what we, the readers of Mark have known since the very first verse, but no one in the story has said out loud. Peter blurts it out: 'You are the Christ.' A suspicion turned into a confession; an opinion becoming a proclamation."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-confession/
"Reimagined: Meal" – Mark 6:30-44 Part IV of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, October 3, 2021. "By reimagining meals as an experience of the divine in community, our meals might look more like this great banquet—a meal where all are welcome, just as they are, just as you are, a meal to remember and do, a meal of thanksgiving, a meal to give and a meal to be fed. A meal where our Savior is present, seated beside you, forever extending compassion and love."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-meal/
"Reimagined: House" – Mark 2:13-17 Part III of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 26, 2021. "Wherever Jesus goes, he turns norms and expectations upside-down. From the outside, Mark’s house might look simple―but looking in, as the Pharisees saw, it is a glorious scene not just of a hodgepodge banquet table way back then―but of a Table to come."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-house/
"Reimagined: Call" – Mark 1:14-20, 2:13-14 Part II of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 19, 2021. "...we can remember that being called by Jesus is being called into fellowship with him and with each other. It is to be in fellowship with a cause: to live by, and witness to, the good news of God’s grace, however that is possible given the moment."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-call/
"Reimagined: Baptism" – Mark 1:1-11 Part I of the sermon series, "Reimagined."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Rally Day Sunday, September 12, 2021. "The moment of Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel has the shape of Jesus’ ultimate destination in the Gospel; the shape of the cross. . . . During the rest of the story of Mark’s Gospel, the vertical love of God for Jesus shines horizontally as Jesus teaches, heals, and sacrifices for others. This love which seems uniquely for Jesus ends up being love shown through Jesus for all."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reimagined-baptism/
“Labor of Faith” – James 2:1-10, 14-17
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, September 5, 2021. "James urges his readers to adopt a whole-hearted faith, one that is lived out, acted upon, and bestowed to those whom God has shown particular care, the widows and orphans. James says, 'God has chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that God has promised.' Whole-hearted faith is works as a grace-response. A faith that is alive in you will come alive in and through your actions."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/labor-of-faith/
“Salvation to a Soundbite” – John 3:1-17
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, August 29, 2021. "If God were to make God’s love conditional, then we would have tremendous power. Then we could negotiate, we could threaten to reject God’s love, we could even tell God to get lost. But when God just loves us, steadfastly and unconditionally and sends God’s son for us, then there’s nothing we can do about it. God in Jesus has made that decision—a decision that is for us, no matter what. If that’s not good news we need to hear right now, then I don’t know what is."
Sung Prayer for Illumination: "Open My Eyes, That I May See" TEXT and MUSIC: Clara H. Fiske Scott, 1895. Public domain.
“Dress Code” – Ephesians 6:10-20
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, August 22, 2021. "It’s true, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with so much out of our control. We know how the ultimate story ends, but it is God’s to write. So, in the meantime, as we head out to face the evils of our world, we have been given new ways to wage war. We have the weapons of peacemaking, prayer, and the grace of our salvation; we have the armor of faith, taking comfort in God’s word and gaining strength in the prayers that have been prayed through the generations that also watched the world through anxious and lament-filled hearts. We have the weapon of a love that is revolutionary, a love that is brave enough to see no stranger, a love that sees the other as a connected part not yet known."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/dress-code/
“Right” – Genesis 1:31a, Psalm 133, Luke 7:36-50
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 15, 2021. "Last Sunday, I said that because human fallibility makes growth and discovery possible, there is a certain rightness to being wrong. Well, these Pharisees show that there can be a certain wrongness to being right. Jesus sees what the Pharisees do not see and that is the potential of the moment. He doesn’t see a sinner to be shunned but a person wanting to be healed within herself, and within the community. "
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/right/
“Wrong” – II Samuel 12:1-7a, Acts 9:1-9
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 8, 2021. "We have to survive and we should seek to thrive in life, so of course we need to spend most of our time in a zone of rightness. We need to act on what we think we know, and we need to take stands about what we believe is moral, ethical, and important. But let’s remember to embrace the right kind of wrongness. Let’s stop making 'being right' the key to our value and identity as human beings so we can be less defensive, less ready to demonize and attack those who challenge us, more ready to consider data and reasons that might prove us wrong, more able to get out of our own way, and more ready to enjoy the adventure of life. For remember, because it makes us human, there is a certain rightness to being wrong."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/wrong/
“The Gift of Why” – Ephesians 4:1-16
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, August 1, 2021. "As you share stories of what God has done in your life, through love and mercy and grace, I hope you will come to see the unique God-given gifts of your calling, so that you may find your purpose, the reason you do what you do—your Why—and live it out. Paul says, 'some are called apostles, some are preachers, some are teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built up.' What is your purpose? What is the reason that you do what you do? The WHY for your life?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-gift-of-why/
“Institutions” – I Corinthians 12:27-31
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 25, 2021. "I have multiple goals in preaching this sermon about boring good news. I want us to reflect on our need as members of the Roanoke community, as citizens of this country, and as members of the human race to think twice before giving up on, or turning against, the institutions that need reforming, but which are necessary if progress is to be made. And then, because we live in a time when it is so popular to be derisive toward community efforts (like schools, governments, and religions) as a case study, I want to point to good news that is right in front of us here at Second."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/institutions/
“Gospel” – Galatians 1:11-12
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 18, 2021. "We are known, we are loved, we are forgiven, and we are called. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s open our eyes to what is good or can be good in us and around us and join in spreading the goodness to others. So much more of what reflects Jesus’ heart can be done. Let us follow Jesus and join with others who believe in him and join with others who don’t believe in him to help accomplish what Jesus said that God wants accomplished in this world."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/gospel/
“Sheep Without a Shepherd” – Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, July 11, 2021. "The good news is not only that Jesus was attentive to his disciples then, he is attentive to us now. He sees what is pushing and pulling at us as we go throughout our day. He knows what will happen if we fall into the trap of working too hard or trying too hard to fix ourselves without attending to our souls and our spiritual and emotional needs. When we do not stop to think, to ponder, to wonder, to pay attention to pray, Jesus says, 'Come away to a deserted place and rest a while.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/sheep-without-a-shepherd/
“A Rose from Concrete” – Mark 6:1-6
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 4, 2021. "The townspeople looked at Jesus as a rose that grew from concrete: 'Who does he think he is? He was born of us; he grew up here with us. Nobody amounts to anything from here.' Tupac would reply, 'You wouldn’t ask why the rose that grew from concrete had damaged petals. On the contrary, we would celebrate its tenacity. We would love its will to reach the sun!'"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/a-rose-from-concrete/
“Life Restored” – Mark 5:21-43
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 27, 2021. "Today, we are urged to consider where Christ’s healing meets us. Where is his mercy bringing grace? How is his love mending the broken? Who is he calling beloved? Where are you in this story? The healing, the restoration doesn’t always mean the cure. But it does always mean relationship, wholeness, shalom. Christ’s kingdom is breaking in―wait for it, watch for it, and be bold to seek after it."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/life-restored/
“Play” – Genesis 2:1-3, Matthew 18:1-4
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 20, 2021. "In a sense, we come into worship to play. We leave behind the judgement, expectations and supervision of the other six days and we playact. As God’s children, we practice the skills of association by imagining and acting out what it might mean to live the rest of the week as God’s adults in the world."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/play/
“Faith in the Ordinary” – Mark 4:26-34
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 13, 2021. "The kingdom is like a very small seed, often overlooked, unremarkable. It appears in the parts of your life that are not the things you’re most proud of―but when it comes, it takes over everything. When you know you’re forgiven and you’re loved, when you can live with the joy that is knowledge and faith in God’s grace, unmerited grace, it changes everything."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/faith-in-the-ordinary/
“Outside” – Proverbs 6:6-11, 30:24-33
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 6, 2021. "I imagine that the beginning wisdom of such an informed life would know that to live well is to live in harmony with what else needs the same air to breathe, water to drink, and land on which to live. We would learn to be grateful for what sustains us, and to care for what is needed to sustain those to come. We would accept limits to life, but then explore opportunities within those limits. We would see the need to be good neighbors even to other species."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/outside/
“Night of Unknowing” – John 3:1-21
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 30, 2021. "Friends, this is the faith of unknowing. The ability to sit in the dark, reach out a hand, and be lead. This is the faith of unknowing we are called to, and the hand we are to reach for is Jesus Christ’s, the hand of God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/night-of-unknowing/
“Storms” – Mark 4:35-41
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Pentecost, May 23, 2021. "There are two ways to hear this passage: on its own or as part of a story. To hear this passage on its own, with no idea of what just happened or what is about to happen, is to hear a stand-alone story of a miracle and a call to faith. . . . However, in looking at this passage as part of the larger story Mark tells, I wonder what this passage is saying to us when we realize that Jesus can not only lead us out of storms but also into them? . . . Maybe in asking, 'Have you no faith?' Jesus is saying, 'I am sorry we are in this storm and the way is rough, but don’t you understand that we are where God needs us to be?'"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/storms/
“Sent” – John 17:6-19
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 16, 2021. "As you respond to God’s calling and sending, as you encounter struggles in this crazy world in which we are to love and serve, as you wrestle with your own faults and failures and questions of faith, as you stand up and witness to the truth of the gospel, embodying the very union of God and Jesus, remember Jesus prays for you. Just as he prayed for the disciples, Jesus still prays for you."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/sent/
“Eulogy” – Philippians 3:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 9, 2021. "If we know that God can work something good even in our flawed hearts and lives, then we can find real purpose simply in seeking to reflect God’s goodness to others for their sake. Whatever we do, it will be flawed, but maybe when we selflessly live so good can come to others, we will be able to share something far more valuable than what can be found in a résumé: the love of God."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/eulogy/
“Abide in Me” – John 15:1-8
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, May 2, 2021. "Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus has used a number of 'I am' statements to help explain who he is and how he is connected to God. . . . Into this pastoral moment, Jesus offers one last image, 'I am the vine.' He introduces this idea of extraordinary dependence and reliance on the vine, and he introduces them to a way they can hold onto that promise. It’s a deeply relational image, one of mutual dependence. I don’t know about you, but I need something deeply relational after a year like we’ve had. I find myself clinging more and more to the language of grace and love and abiding presence we find in scripture. Perhaps that’s why I was drawn to this particular lectionary passage for today. Jesus is speaking to his disciples’ hearts―and through his words, he touches our own."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/abide-in-me/
“Awe” – Genesis 1:26, Mark 3:1-6
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 25, 2021. "Out of the stillness of awe then comes the movement of our lives as we go back into the world that is created and live. That’s true worship―when to stop is then to stir, to wonder is then to work, to forget is then to find, to rest is then to restore, to be still is to begin something new."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/awe/
“Immortality” – I Corinthians 15:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 18, 2021. "The bodily resurrection reveals in this material world what is eternally true about God. To be in relationship with the eternal God is to be about what Jesus is about in his life. So, it matters how we treat the earth, it matters how we treat others, it matters if we work for justice and reconciliation because from the evidence of Jesus’ life, it clearly matters to God."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/immortality/
“The Twin Renamed” – John 20:19-31
Sermon by The Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, April 11, 2021. "I feel for Thomas. Every Second Sunday of Easter, the lectionary brings us to this passage from John’s gospel. We read of the disciples painted as faithful, and the unwillingness to believe and the skepticism of Thomas. As history has told and retold this story, Thomas has been named “Doubting Thomas”—and I do not think it is fair. So, I wrote Thomas a letter."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/the-twin-renamed/
“Life” – Mark 16:1-8
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021. "Maybe fate or providence has done us a favor by leaving us stuck here at the end of Mark’s Gospel because that is where we get stuck in life—stuck between fear pulling us back and hope pulling us forward. For it is true, isn’t it? When the door is wide open to life with God, we are often afraid to walk through it."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/life/
“Hosanna” – Mark 11:1-11
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021. "The paradox of this day—this week—is not lost on us. God on a donkey. Dying to live. A suffering king. Good Friday. These paradoxes are precisely what give Jesus’ story its shape, its weight."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/hosanna/
“Truth” – John 18:33-38
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the fifth Sunday in Lent, March 21, 2021. "...to some degree our passage from John’s Gospel is about all of us. We are all to some degree members of herds with some kind of group-think going on where we sometimes cannot see the truth even when it is standing in front of us, battered and bruised because of our certainty and sense of self-righteousness. Maybe what we can see, though, is that we can at least do better by trying to be about the work of forgiveness and reconciliation that Jesus calls for from the cross. You see, we don’t have to know the whole truth to begin being the imperfect body of Christ that works for reconciliation. The place to begin is not learning the whole truth and then convincing the world. The place to begin is in humility, knowing that we do not have the whole truth, and that some of the damage to God’s Embodied-Innocence-and-Love is partly our own doing."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/truth/
"Not Like Everyone Else" – Ephesians 2:1-10
Sermon by The Rev. Jen Brothers from the fourth Sunday in Lent, March 14, 2021. "[Paul's vision] is a vision of the church when we are at our best—when we understand ourselves as beloved, forgiven, and co-raised with Christ to become co-conspirators with God’s plan to restore all creation to unity. Can you picture it? Paul’s vision of creation in full harmony is cosmic, and he wants his hearers to understand that God’s plan is the emergence of a new humanity united and held together in Christ."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/not-like-everyone-else/
"And Follow Me" – Mark 8:31-38
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the third Sunday in Lent, March 7, 2021. "For Mark, and for Jesus in Mark, there is no understanding of greatness or discipleship apart from the cross. Only in its shadow do we see that God’s power is not displayed in coercive force, but in wondrous, sacrificial love. Though we may have done it some other way, the God we worship chose the power of a cross to bring life to a dead world. The challenge of discipleship is to live as if this is true."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/and-follow-me/
“Connection” – Philippians 1:3-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the second Sunday in Lent, February 28, 2021. "Paul’s view that the world is broken by sin is reflected throughout his writings. He writes of the waste that comes of greed and hoarding, of abuses of power and of weakly accepting the abuse. He writes of broken promises, broken hearts, broken families and broken communities. Bringing healing to those broken places is why Jesus lived and was why he died… and why Paul himself may later die. So God, whose love the Philippians know, wants them to show their love for the world by being a part of the world’s healing because that is why the Gospel came to them to begin with."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/connection/
“Journey to Wholeness” – Genesis 3:8-19, Romans 6:1-5, 11
Sermon by The Rev. Jen Brothers from the first Sunday in Lent, February 21, 2021. "As long as we have breath, we get to walk toward the new creation which God has birthed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So, let us bravely face our individual and corporate sins. Let us name them. Let us not hide in shame. We cannot die to our old ways if we do not know what those old ways are."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/journey-to-wholeness/
“Authority” – John 16:12-15
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from February 14, 2021. "We are given a way to hear the voice of the Spirit that Jesus, as our friend who loves us, wants us to hear. It is the voice that tells us to love others in the way he loves us. That is the voice that has final authority."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/authority/
“Youth Sunday Sermons 2021”
Sermons by graduating seniors Allison Hammond and Madalyn Cook from Youth Sunday, February 7, 2021. Our Youth Group theme for the year is “Live in Love.” May you be blessed by these sermons as our youth preachers share through scripture and story what living in God's love means to them.
“A Single Act” – Mark 1:21-28
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from January 31, 2021. "The exorcism of the unclean spirit is Jesus’ first act in Mark. Jesus crosses into those spaces where no one else is willing to go. That’s who God is―that’s what God does. Jesus has ushered in God’s kingdom, opened up a future of possibility and hope, and equips us to live in that kingdom now. A single act. One man helped. A single life changed for the better. If we are to follow, perhaps that’s where we are called to start."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/a-single-act/
“Freedom” – I Corinthians 9
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from January 24, 2021. "'We live in the land of the free,' say we as Americans. But as Christians, should we not then choose how to be free? Being free in Christ is to say 'No' to what is false, what destroys, what is evil and what is selfish; and to say 'Yes' to what is true, what heals, what is good, and what is loving. That’s the freedom of those who take up their cross to follow Jesus. They say many 'Nos' in order to live their best 'Yes.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/freedom/
“The Voice to Trust” – Mark 1:1-15
Sermon by The Rev. Jen Brothers from January 17, 2021. "God’s reign has come near, Jesus said. And then he came closer to show us what God’s reign looks like. He healed diseases of the body and mind, he brought dignity to women and immigrants. He challenged the civic values and religious practices that created boundaries between people. He welcomed everyone to the table, and he spoke out against those who created circles to define who was in and who was out, who was worthy and who was worthless."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/the-voice-to-trust/
“Order” – Genesis 1:1-10, Mark 5:1-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from January 10, 2021. "Do not wait for chaos to be calmed in the nation before finding order within. Right now, we can center ourselves on God’s love, we can remind ourselves of the virtues that should guide us, and we can commit ourselves to making a witness without insisting that we have to win or be seen as right."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/order/
“Happiness” – Matthew 5:3-12
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from January 3, 2021. "How did we handle the circumstances of the year? ...was it possible that some of us could have been happier even under the circumstances? Jesus says we can, but to get what it is he is saying is possible―what he might even be offering as a gift to us―we need to understand what sort of happiness Jesus is talking about."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/happiness/
“About the Child” – Luke 2:22-40
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from December 27, 2020. "As we approach a new year, may we be reminded of the call to lean into the future with hope. We know not what 2021 holds for us, but we do know that God goes before us. The trials of this life aren’t easy. The trials of this past year have not been easy. But we worship a Savior who became flesh and dwelt among us. Who chose to walk the path of humanhood, to live and love and grieve and suffer and die―showing us the lengths God goes to―showing us the truth of God’s deep love."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/about-the-child/
"Love" – Matthew 1:18-25 Part IV of the Advent sermon series, "What Can't Wait?"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the fourth Sunday of Advent, December 20, 2020. "But God wants more of Joseph than good behavior. In fact, God wants more goodness than Joseph can willfully give on his own. And what happens next can only be described as a conversion of Joseph’s insides; a conversion of his soul, his heart, his head. A voice from outside of Joseph is heard―a goodness beyond Joseph is given him. . . . Let’s celebrate this beautiful moment of utter selflessness for the sake of Mary, and the child and, most importantly, the world."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/what-cant-wait-love/
"Joy" – Isaiah 35:1-10, Luke 1:46-55 Part III of the Advent sermon series, "What Can't Wait?"
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the third Sunday of Advent, December 13, 2020. "A word of joy may seem out of place this year. But it is exactly the word a people of faith are commanded to proclaim. Ours is the joy of Isaiah in the exile. Ours is the joy of Mary in a world that gives her no voice. Ours is the joy of the faithful throughout all generations who are holding us in these days and reminding us we are not alone."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/what-cant-wait-joy/
"Peace" – Jeremiah 6:13-15, Luke 2:8-14 Part II of the Advent sermon series, "What Can't Wait?"
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the second Sunday of Advent, December 6, 2020. "Peace for Jeremiah is going to have to be busy, disruptive, lively, active, noisy. It is going to be that way because the peace the prophet looks for, that peace that the Bible calls “Shalom,” is something alive and working. Shalom is what God’s love looks like, and that means it looks like a community actively and sacrificially working for justice and showing compassion. It is people actively putting other’s interests ahead of their own because the wellbeing of everyone is everyone’s concern. . . . What needs to change…for more of the Shalom of God’s kingdom to be more real in your life?"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/what-cant-wait-peace/
"God’s Promised Day of Hope Can’t Wait" – Isaiah 2:1-5 Part I of the Advent sermon series, "What Can't Wait?"
Sermon by Jen Brothers from the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2020. "Despite what things may seem . . . Christians throughout the world are this day lighting the candle of hope. But we don’t stop at candle lighting. God’s coming new day asks something of us . . . To walk toward God’s presence is to constantly re-examine our commitments against God’s commitments. We must learn what it means to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks so we can become the weaponless stewards God created us to be."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/what-cant-wait-gods-promised-day-of-hope-cant-wait/
"Giving in Is Not Giving Up" – Acts 28:17-31 Part X of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 22, 2020. "We have to strive to be better, to do better, to better our world—to promote dignity, to fight against injustice and corruption, to promote the moral rule of Law in personal and communal life. But we do so because we are called to it—called to make a witness. So what if we witness to a grace that falls on deaf ears and dull hearts. It is still a grace that claims and saves us, gives us joy. And when we fail, we only then prove that we have taken up the cross of defeat to witness to God’s final victory of resurrection."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-giving-in-is-not-giving-up/
"More" – Acts 19:1-7 Part IX of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by Jen Brothers from November 15, 2020. "What strikes me most throughout the book of Acts is how unafraid Christ’s disciples seem to be. They are not afraid to change their minds. They are not afraid to try something new. They are not afraid to dream and hope and work for a better day. They are not afraid because they are convinced that Jesus is among them and that a new creation is unfolding. May we not stop short of the more God invites us into."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-more/
"Toward Light and Life" – Acts 17:16-34 Part VIII of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from November 8, 2020. "So, what do we say to those radically different? We start by recognizing the other’s search for something deeper, for something more. We start by remembering each person is 'God’s offspring,' God’s child whom God loves. We start with genuine conversation, and not clickbait memes, soundbites, and headlines."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-toward-light-and-life/
"Forward Remembering" – Acts 2:22-36 Part VII of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from All Saints Sunday, November 1, 2020. "If I could summarize Peter’s sermon it would be to say that he is remembering forward. He remembers David who sees a future for himself because he is forgiven. He remembers Jesus who died, but whose sermons, teachings and works of kindness mean all the more for the future because the one who said and did them is raised and living among them. It is important how we remember."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-forward-remembering/
"The Community That Refuses to Break" – Acts 15:1-21 Part VI of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from October 25, 2020. "The solution is not perfect, but it is a beautiful miracle. . . . The Jews in Jerusalem somehow found it within themselves not 'to settle for the love of their own people but surrender to a love that creates people.' That’s a great way to describe the work of the Holy Spirit. God’s love sees and claims us as we are… liberating us to love others as they are… and making way for the possibility that we might become something beautiful together."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-the-community-that-refuses-to-break/
"The Revolution Comes to Us" – Acts 10:1-23a Part V of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from October 18, 2020. "Throughout the New Testament, it’s like we are seeing Peter’s conversion and reconversion over and over again. God is continually revealing more of God’s self and God’s plan―and with each revelation comes a revolution, a change, an opening. God’s kingdom is growing wider and wider. . . . With God’s work, Peter is slowly being remade, and our understanding of the church is being reshaped, cell by cell, day by day."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-the-revolution-comes-to-us/
"What We Fled Has Found Us" – Matthew 14:13-21
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Commitment Sunday, October 11, 2020. "And what do you think happens when you are in small groups and someone begins to share with them? It is easy to imagine that they look in their own bags to see what they have. . . . In other words, it turns out that the crowd doesn’t just have needs, it has resources. And when they are given the right kind of inspiration, they become part of the solution of their shared problems."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/what-we-fled-has-found-us/
"Behold, an Invitation" – Acts 8:26-40 Part IV of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by Jen Brothers from October 4, 2020. "We are the descendants who get to share the good news that, though Jesus died, he rose again. . . . But the good news isn’t meant to stay within the pages of this book. The story lives on through us. The Holy Spirit dwells within us and among us. The Holy Spirit is in every wilderness, every desert, and on every lonesome road, inviting us to follow, inviting us to make our own contribution to this world God loves so much."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-behold-an-invitation/
"The Shadow of the Church" – Acts 5:12-16 Part III of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from September 27, 2020. "Healing in the shadow. That’s the image of the story that I want to remain with you. For in that image we have an ethical question with a miracle wrapping. The ethical question that Luke is asking of Jesus-followers then and Jesus-followers today is this: 'Will harm or healing be found in your shadow?' Will the shadow cast by your existence in this world be one that brings grace or disgrace?"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-the-shadow-of-the-church/
"Universal Restoration" – Acts 3:1-26 Part II of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from September 20, 2020. "Thanks to the boundary breaking work of the Spirit, all peoples may have a new future in Jesus and a new story to tell. Because of the Spirit, we have hope. We need not follow the way of the many, but the way of the One. May we do our part to seek and work for the peace and justice he has ushered in."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-universal-restoration/
"Out of Reach" – Acts 1:1-14 Part I of the sermon series, "Catching Up With the Spirit."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from September 13, 2020. "And it is precisely then that Jesus rises from them as if to demonstrate that he is not, nor ever will be, in their grasp, or in the grasp of any nation or agenda. The Spirit of Jesus will return and work wonders, and if they want to be with that Spirit, they will want to keep up."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/catching-up-with-the-spirit-out-of-reach/
"A Second Language of Faith" – Proverbs 8:22-31
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from September 6, 2020. "The Wisdom writers sought God’s truth, however it is revealed, and were particularly fascinated with what could be learned from the world in which we live. . . . They saw the study of nature as a means of praise. It is no leap to say that if they had been introduced to modern science, they would have seen scientific study as a means of praising God. . . . When faith learns to speak the language of science, faith becomes the worldview, and science becomes the tool."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/a-second-language-of-faith/
“I Am With You” – Exodus 3:1-15, Matthew 16:21-28
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from August 30, 2020. "I know many of you are hurting, aching for the old rhythms of life we all took for granted. You are not alone. Wherever you are tired or hurting or fearful or insecure or anxious or distressed, Jesus is with you. He hears your lament, he sees your hardship, and he is in it with you. You can count on his presence and power to see you through."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/i-am-with-you/
"The Sacrifice that Matters" – Hebrews 13:10-16
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from August 23, 2020. "And in strange times, a strange passage might be just the right pairing... . . . But what makes the passage not so strange is this 2020 reality for Second Presbyterians: once we normally thought of the offerings of worship happening inside the walls of the church, and now, where are most of our worshippers on Sunday mornings? In dens, kitchens, living rooms, cars, or outdoors on walks. Strange times."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/the-sacrifice-that-matters/
“But who do you say that I am?” – Matthew 16:13-20
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from August 16, 2020. "My friends, who do you say that Jesus is? If you knew no one were looking over your shoulder—if it were you and Jesus standing face to face, how would you express your confession? How does your life reflect what you believe, with your relationships, your bank account, your time, your social media presence, the ways you vote, your energy, and all the rest? Jesus’ question to Peter is an invitation to answer this question for ourselves."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/but-who-do-you-say-that-i-am/
“Signifying Everything” – Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon by Jen Brothers, M.Div, from August 9, 2020. "I imagine the sound and the fury of [this story] signify so much of what you have experienced lately. And yet, here is the good news: this story signifies everything we need to know in this moment. Jesus is in the chaos, Jesus has power over the chaos, and Jesus will deliver us from sinking into the chaos."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/signifying-everything/
"Curiosity" – Psalm 8
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from August 2, 2020. "Curiosity will destroy an unexamined faith, but is the virtue that can lead to a deep faith in God as a mystery, and to truths that are better described as revelations than certainties. It will lead to the kind of faith that is grounded in love, guided by grace, and fueled by hope."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/curiosity/
“Great Faith” – Matthew 15:21-28
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from July 26, 2020. "The more I wrestle with this passage, the more I have come to believe that in this scene, we are witnessing Jesus grow. It is possible that Jesus’ own sense of God’s kingdom is challenged, stretched, and enhanced by his encounter with this fierce and faithful woman. It is possible that he changed his mind."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/great-faith/
"Encouragement" – Hebrews 12:1-17
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from July 19, 2020. "You see, sometimes cheerleading is not enough. Sometimes encouragement has to go beyond “Keep it up,” to being reminded that we are accountable. . . . With how we live, with the decisions we make, and with the hope we bear, let’s hang in there with the one who leads us to joy. Let’s stay with Jesus, and we’ll finish strong."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/encouragement/
“From Death to Life” – 1 John 3:11-18
Sermon by Jen Brothers, M.Div, from July 12, 2020. "Something miraculous happens when we love as Christ loved. When we put the welfare of others above our own need to be right, or comfortable, or in charge, the power of the resurrection becomes manifest. Here, now, on this side of the veil, the forces in opposition to God’s kingdom are overthrown and heaven’s on-earth-border grows. Every day we have the chance to move from death to life."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/from-death-to-life/
“Eating With Jesus” – Luke 5:27-32
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from July 5, 2020. "We are going to come to a table where Jesus is host, and we are going to be invited to be liberated with Jesus. For he takes bread and breaks it and he shares it with the likes of them… and the likes of us… with us all… at our worst and at our best. And maybe we can hang in there with each other at this meal and possibly stop talking so much so that Jesus can get a word in edgewise… a word that might challenge us, push us, affirm us, question us, and change us."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/eating-with-jesus/
“Get Up, Eat, and Go” – I Kings 19:4-15a
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from June 28, 2020. "Often, our listening is at the surface of things. We hear what we want to hear. We hear what we expect to hear. But if we are really turning our attention on God, we may in fact hear what God is saying to us... Somewhere in the midst of the storms swirling around us, God is speaking. We had better listen. We are not alone. And somehow, that is enough."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/get-up-eat-and-go/
“The Calm Within the Storm” – Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32; Mark 4:35-41
Sermon by Dr. Carl Utley, Transitional General Presbyter of Presbytery of the Peaks, from June 21, 2020. "Our calling is to take up the boat’s oars and get to the other side with Jesus, not so that we can relax or get back to normal or simply be among our friends again, but so that we can be about the work of God: healing the sick, helping the confused, lifting up the weak, binding up the brokenhearted, confronting evil, recognizing God at the center of the world and of our lives, and Jesus as the head of the church."
“Hope Does Not Disappoint” – Romans 5:1-8
Sermon by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson Orfield from her final Sunday as Second's Associate Pastor for Youth and Young Adults, June 14, 2020. "With everything you do, with every decision that you make, with everything you have: lean into the hope that the love of God could and does and will radically change this world."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/hope-does-not-disappoint/
“The Call Before the Storm” – Mark 1:16-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from June 7, 2020. "Storms are raging in our world right now. You can hear the howling winds of a pandemic and the thunder of protest. But this worship service provides a moment of calm when we can look to the distant mountains and remember that our help comes in the name of the Lord―which is also to say through the ways of God."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/the-call-before-the-storm/
“I Will Pour Out My Spirit” – 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13, Joel 2:23-29
Sermon by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson Orfield from the Day of Pentecost, May 31, 2020. "Today, on Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate together this truth that our scripture passages so beautifully articulate―that each one of us bears in our being the outpouring of the Spirit of God. We might have different giftings, but it’s the same Spirit working in all of us."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/i-will-pour-out-my-spirit/
"Join Your Struggle to His" – I Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from May 24, 2020. "Peter is not asking his readers to see their struggle as a gift from God, but rather in the midst of whatever struggle that comes to remember the gifts of God’s love, grace and community. When you must struggle, join your struggle to that of Jesus."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/join-your-struggle-to-his/
“The Advocate” – I Corinthians 13:1-13, John 14:15-21
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from May 17, 2020. "Brothers and sisters, you are inheritors of this advocate Spirit Jesus promises. And you cannot receive this Spirit and remain unchanged. The Spirit is among us, abiding within us, creating holy places where authentic, self-sacrificial human love can take root and flourish."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/the-advocate/
“Enough of Utopia” – Luke 15:11-24
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from May 10, 2020. A mother’s loving gaze; a father’s watchful eye. Seeking freedom through severing ties; longing to be reminded of who we are and that we are loved… In his sermon, “Enough of Utopia,” Dr. Anderson draws connections between the thoughts and feelings of the prodigal son, to the thoughts and feelings many of us may have in today’s age of information. "That imperfect but real community of faith is out there to be found."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/enough-of-utopia/
“By Faith” – Hebrews 11:1-10, 32-34; 12:1
Sermon by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson Orfield from May 3, 2020. "In a sense, that’s what faith is, isn’t it? Doing the best that we can to do good, and love others, and follow God. Even when we’re exhausted. When we feel like we have nothing left."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/by-faith/
“Paradigm Shift in the Belly of a Whale” – Jonah 2
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from April 26, 2020. "Getting to joy is a journey that inevitably involves spiritual side trips into places like confusion, anxiety, pain and grief. . . . Let’s hold each other up and get to that better place together."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/paradigm-shift-in-the-belly-of-a-whale/
“Peace be with you.” – John 20:19-31
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from April 19, 2020. "Jesus appears to Thomas in a body that is scarred and wounded. A body that openly bears its traumatic history. A body that refuses to hide its suffering, its sorrow, its brokenness. ...This is really Jesus. Jesus from Friday on the cross. Jesus who felt pain. Jesus who said, 'I am with you,' and meant it. 'I am with you where it hurts. I am with you where you are.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/peace-be-with-you/
"For Thine Is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory Forever" – Mark 16:1-8 Part VII of the Lenten sermon series, "Pray Then In This Way."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. "The risen Jesus is out in the world and can be found wherever there is commitment to each other in a time of separation, there is an affirmation of life in the face of death, of love in the face of hate, and hope for the future within an anxious present."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/pray-then-in-this-way-for-thine-is-the-kingdom/
"Deliver Us from Evil" – Mark 14:32-42 Part VI of the Lenten sermon series, "Pray Then In This Way."
Sermon by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson from Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020. "Evil is real, but Jesus is with us. And his presence with us in our suffering will become our strength. And over time strength becomes courage. And courage becomes hope. And hope does not disappoint. Easter morning is still coming."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/pray-then-in-this-way-deliver-us-from-evil/
"Forgive Us Our Sins" – Matthew 6:14-15 Part V of the Lenten sermon series, "Pray Then In This Way."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from March 29, 2020. "IF I could soften what Jesus says just a bit but without losing its meaning, I suggest that Jesus is saying, 'Forgive others as a way to live into God’s forgiveness. For unless you learn to do that, you have no idea what God’s forgiveness really means.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/pray-then-in-this-way-forgive-us-our-sins/
"Our Daily Bread" – Exodus 16:13-15, Matthew 6:9-11 Part IV of the Lenten sermon series, "Pray Then In This Way."
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from March 22, 2020. "...I know that what I have today, is enough. Even though we are apart, even though we miss the ordinary pleasures of life, it will be okay again. Tomorrow, there will be some new manna–ordinary or not–fresh on the ground. Somehow, God will provide. I believe it."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/pray-then-in-this-way-our-daily-bread/
"Thy Kingdom Come" – Isaiah 52:7, Matthew 4:17, 9:35-38 Part III of the Lenten sermon series, "Pray Then In This Way."
Sermon and benediction by Dr. George C. Anderson from March 15, 2020 (with pastoral prayer by Rachel Thompson). "Let’s remember that there is no heaven without others. God wants a beautiful place where the pearls are justice, gold is reconciliation and neighborhoods are places not of isolation but of reconciled harmony. If you want those treasures, pray for them… and then be a part of heaven coming to earth by remaining connected to each other even during this time of physical separation."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/pray-then-in-this-way-thy-kingdom-come/
"Hallowed Be Thy Name" – Matthew 15:1-11, Matthew 6:9 Part II of the Lenten sermon series, "Pray Then In This Way."
Sermon by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson from March 8, 2020. "I think Jesus is saying that if you want to do your part to make God’s name holy, you can’t just say things that sound holy, you can’t even just do things that look holy. If your holy words and your holy actions look good on the surface but don’t at their heart promote peace, justice and the welfare of your neighbors, then what have you done really for God’s name? How have you helped the world see God?"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/pray-then-in-this-way-hallowed-be-thy-name/
"Our Father, Who Art in Heaven" – Isaiah 55:8-11, Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 Part I of the Lenten sermon series, "Pray Then In This Way."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from March 1, 2020. "It is for healing and reconciling that the Lord’s Prayer most needs to be a prayer of the community praying for the world. We really need the God who is in heaven to come near to us to heal the divides among us."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/pray-then-in-this-way-our-father-who-art-in-heaven/
“Whenever you pray...” – Matthew 6:1-18 Introduction to the Lenten sermon series, "Pray Then In This Way."
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from February 23, 2020. This Lent, we are exploring the depth and meaning of the Lord's Prayer. "I invite you to join us in making space in your life these forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday to savor this ancient prayer. Read it. Recite it. Pray it. And be so bold as to mean it, each and every word."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/pray-then-in-this-way-whenever-you-pray/
“Maturity” – Deuteronomy 30:15-20, I Corinthians 3:1-9
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from February 16, 2020, with special introduction and post-sermon interview. "Neither Moses nor Jesus want us always to jump so quickly to our own personal Assurance of Pardon and the affirmation that 'All will be well.' Their love for their people doesn't keep them from making clear that good and evil have consequences."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/maturity/
“Repairer of the Breach” – Isaiah 58:1-12
Sermon by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson from February 9, 2020. "Isaiah’s words are this beautiful reminder that at the center of the Gospel is the truth that through the love of God we belong to each other. I can’t separate my personal wellbeing from yours because the love of God breaks down all barriers, all divisions. The love of God builds up and redeems and restores–and calls us all to do the same."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/repairer-of-the-breach/
“Youth Sunday Sermons 2020” – Psalm 27:1, 4-5, 13-14; Exodus 13:17-22
Sermons by graduating seniors Lauren Daniel and Kayla Mutter from Youth Sunday, February 2, 2020. Our Youth Group theme for the year is “20/20: Be Thou My Vision.” We have spent the year learning how to look at the world, our relationships and ourselves through God’s perspective. We have celebrated that in God’s sight we are all beloved and made in the image of God.
“Why Do You Look Up?” – Acts 1:6-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson and The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson from Mission Build Kick-Off Sunday on January 26, 2020. "Jesus is telling the disciples that to be his body in the world, their vision and heart has to go where his vision and heart goes. It has to go beyond those who we know, those we love, those who live where we live and those who are just like us or on our side... So let's go... That's where we'll find Jesus."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/why-do-you-look-up/
“Of God” – Galatians 5:16-26
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from January 19, 2020. "But in the middle of it all, Paul left us with this cut-to-the-chase reminder: There are ways we treat each other in the middle of it all that are of God and some that are not."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/of-god-galatians/
"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" (ST. DENIO) by Walter Chalmers Smith, Public Domain.
“Get Up and Go” – Acts 9:1-20
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from January 12, 2020. "God is moving in new directions all the time. And if you want to keep up with God, you have to keep open to where God’s Spirit may be heading."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/get-up-and-go/
“A Tradition Both Heavy and Light” – I Samuel 3:1-10
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 5, 2020. "We want these young people to feel the weight of a faith tradition because they will be sheep led to cultural slaughter without having some grounding and inherited wisdom. But we also want them to have the kind of relationship with God where they can recognize God’s fresh voice, and then say, 'Speak, for I am listening.'"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/a-tradition-both-heavy-and-light/
“Christmas Plans” – Matthew 1:18-25
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from December 22, 2019. "The Christmas Season of planning is based on stories of plans being changed. ...I suggest that there are three things that can and should mess up our plans and disrupt our lives... joy, vision and faith."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/christmas-plans/
“Embodied” – Luke 1:39-56
Sermon written by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link and delivered by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson on December 15, 2019. "Mary knew the power a song could hold. Singing doesn’t just help us to name things, it draws us into the reality we voice. God has promised to change the world, and in singing these promises we enter into that work."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/embodied/
“Answering Angels” – Luke 1:26-38
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from December 8, 2019. The angel Gabriel visits Mary bringing greetings and life-altering news. "Conversation as faith; that's what this is... How will we respond?"
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/answering-angels/
“The People Who Know” – Matthew 24:36-44
Sermon by Jen Brothers, church member and seminary student, from December 1, 2019. "Two people are working in the field, but one knows something the other doesn’t... It’s time to be the people who know."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/the-people-who-know/
“Gospel Eyes” – Matthew 28:17, Mark 6:51, Luke 4:24, John 18:37-38
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from November 24, 2019. “Put on the lens of faith. Look at your life and those around you and far from you with enchanted lens.”
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/gospel-eyes/
“Spectacles of Scripture” – Psalm 119:103-105
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from November 17, 2019. In her sermon, Rev. Link–a history enthusiast–examines how we came to have the Holy Bible and the miracle it is that Christians came to have this collection of books in the first place.
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/spectacles-of-scripture/
“A Question” – Luke 20:27-40
Sermon by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson from November 10, 2019. In an attempt to trap him, some Sadducees asked Jesus a question. “The first step towards growing in our understanding of what God’s good future is like is to let go of the need to be right.”
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/a-question/
“Benediction: The Open Moment” – Luke 2:14, I Corinthians 15:58, Jude 24-25, Revelation 22:21
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from All Saints Sunday, November 3, 2019. “Heard rightly, a benediction is a moment when somehow, we hear the assurance of God.”
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/benediction-the-open-moment/
“The Middle’s Edge” – Jeremiah 2:4-8, Matthew 5:17-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 27, 2019. In today's divisive times, we must remember how to discuss difficult issues in a way that builds community, not divides it.
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/the-middles-edge/
“Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” – Genesis 1:24-27
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Preschool Sunday, October 20, 2019. "God knows you inside and out. Whether that statement is comforting or unsettling, it is true. You are known by God, you are beloved by God. You are a child of God."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/fearfully-and-wonderfully-made/
“Three Types” – Philippians 3:7-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Commitment Sunday, October 13, 2019.
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/three-types/
"Receive" - John 21:1-17
Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from World Communion Sunday, October 6, 2019. "If the Gospel of John ended with chapter 20, we’d think it a fine conclusion. But John 21 comes right on its tails and describes a scene so powerful it begged to be told."
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/receive/
"What We Build" - Proverbs 24:1-4, Ephesians 2:17-22
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from September 29, 2019. Listen to this imaginative journey - you WILL laugh, you might cry, but you certainly will come away with more knowledge of our identity as children of God, and the past, present and possible future identity of Second Presbyterian.
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/what-we-build/
"By Means Of" - Luke 16:1-9
Sermon by The Rev. Rachel C. Thompson from September 22, 2019. Discover a different lens with which to view the Parable of the Dishonest Manager.
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/by-means-of/
"The True Mark of Christian Identity" - Ezekiel 20:19-20, I Peter 3:18-22
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from September 15, 2019.
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/the-true-mark-of-christian-identity/
"Teacher as Exorcist" - Scripture Mark 1:21-28
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Rally Day, September 8, 2019. Rally Day at Second Presbyterian Church signifies the beginning of a new Christian Education year.
Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/teacher-as-exorcist/