Cokesbury Memorial United Methodist Church: Recent Episodes
Cokesbury Memorial United Methodist Church
While some traditions lead you to faith in Christ, many simply bring you to the foot of the cross and leave you there. For John Wesley, he believed it is as important to live as a Christian as it is to become a Christian. His theology provides a model...
In this sermon we examine Martin Luther's insight that it is God's mercy in Jesus Christ and not human attempts to satisfy God that makes reconciliation between God and humanity possible. In this picture of Christianity--rooted in gratitude...
In this sermon we turn to one of the great minds of the church's history, St. Augustine. From him we learn a way of thinking about our loves or desires. We learn as well the nature of sin which uses these very desires to turn us away from God...
Is Christianity more about what we believe or how we act? What does Christian faith have to do with my everyday behavior? What tools do I need to form a Christian ethic? How can I live a life worthy of the gospel? Most of us don't do enough bad...
"It's OK to judge. It's OK to condemn. It's OK to write off, avoid, criticize, dislike, and even hate people whose lifestyle repulses you. The more sinful they are, the more it's permissible to bash them."
Sadly...
“If you really loved God, you’d be good. Obviously, you don’t love God. Why do you keep falling into the same sin over and over again? Why do you keep failing like you do? You must not be a very serious Christian." We have all told ourselves...
God cannot forgive me.” “I’ve gone too far and God doesn’t want anything to do with me.” In an age of zero tolerance and no room for error, we often struggle with the notion of forgiveness and free grace. In this sermon based on the book, “10 Things...
When a young King Josiah found the book of the law in the temple he became passionate about teaching people what God's laws were and how to follow them. After studying the book of the law King Josiah led the people of Judah in a "covenant...
We don’t have much authoritative information on Jesus life before he reached the age of 30 which was solidly middle-aged for his time. What was the boy Jesus like? What did he know about his identity as the Son of God? Was Jesus shown favoritism or...
Micah promised that one was coming into the world to shepherd the people, bring an end to evil, and to usher in an era of peace. Whereas we do apply this scripture to Jesus, God has sent and empowered many individuals throughout history to stand in...
In an All Saints Day message, Rev. Frankie explores the history and meaning of Saints in the Church.
Preaching on the Book of Job, Rev. Frankie calls Job, "42 chapters of extended argument against the idea that the righteous are rewarded and the wicked are punished." At the end, Job comes to the spiritual way. Rev. Frankie paraphrases...
Pastor Frankie tells us stories from the New Testament and how, as Christians, we have not come to be served but to serve.
Jeanne Calment of France lived to 122 years old despite smoking and eating lots of chocolate. That doesn't make her a bad person but it makes her longevity surprising. Preachers of the "prosperity gospel" often tell us that God rewards...
Pastor Frankie tells us a traditional story of John bringing a boy to a bishop. After baptizing the boy, the bishop becomes more relaxed in his protectiveness and the boy eventually turns to crime -- and away from God. The story illustrates that...
People often ask for a list of sins so they can avoid committing any. Guest preacher Art Justice explains that while sin can be many things, sin is really a singular word and there is no comprehensive list of sins. "It is whatever causes you to...
Guest preacher Art Justice preaches from the passage in Mark in which Jesus responds to the Disciples' argument about who among them is the greatest and best able to continue Jesus' teaching. Interpreting Jesus' metaphor of the little...
In his previous sermon, guest preacher Art Justice said teachers are his favorite people in the world. This week, he tempered that message with a caution based on the epistle of James. Teachers have to be incredibly careful with the power they have to...
Guest preacher Art Justice sheds light on the confusing passage from the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus honors the faith of the woman born in Syrian Phoenicia. In addition to providing critical context for understanding Jesus' words -- and the...
Guest preacher Art Justice discusses Jesus' view of laws. The sermon is based on the rebuke of the Pharisees who criticized Jesus and his disciples for eating with unwashed hands.
Guest preacher Art Justice talks about the choices we make to come to church or not, to read the Bible or not, to take Communion or not. Of Communion, Art compares it to a check engine light in a car: "Think of it as that light that's going...
As a church, what opportunities are we not seizing because acting upon them would be inconvenient.
Pastor Frankie returns to the theme of the vision for the church. He tackles the idea that to attract more people you need to do more things. "We're not doing this to manage programs. We're doing this to change lives," Frankie...
Pastor Frankie recounts the Old Testament story of King David moving the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, with a special emphasis on Uzzah's fatal mistake.
Usually when a preacher starts out in a new town, there's a honeymoon period. The congregation is open to hearing new messages and the preacher gets a warm reception. That wasn't Jesus experience when he returned to Galilee and began...
Preaching on verses between the lectionary readings, Pastor Frankie examines Saul's death and David's response.
In a sermon marking the confirmation of four teens from the congregation, Pastor Frankie draws parallels between the challenges they will face and the story of David versus Goliath.
Lay Leader Brian Donley offers a Father's Day sermon. "We can do no better thing for our children than to personally walk in the way that we should go."
In the Methodist tradition, baptism is something that is done once. The sacrament brings responsibilities for the parents, the sponsors and the congregation at large. Most of the work, as usual, is done by God.
A recent tragedy on the grounds of Cokesbury Memorial provides a stark reminder of the need in the community for our congregation to reach out.
One of the most fantastic episodes in the New Testament is when the resurrected Jesus in his resurrected body ascended into Heaven. Lay Leader Marianne Potter explores the meaning of this event.
In this Mother's Day message, Pastor Frankie looks at the original Christian "vision team." Of all his thousands of followers, Jesus chose to concentrate on the 12 who would become the disciples.
Tending to our faith is never easy. To follow in Jesus' footsteps is very hard. Some guidance comes from Jesus' sayings about the vine and the branches.
A sermon inspired by Jesus' sayings about shepherds deals with the behavior of reliable, caring shepherds versus the sometime carelessness of hired hands.
There is a hard passage in the first letter of John, verses 6-7. "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." Does this mean that as God's chosen, as the beloved people of...
Who is the most important person in the congregation? Some might argue that it's the person with the most money to contribute to church missions. Others that it's the person with the most knowledge of the Bible. The story of Thomas...
Peter's words and actions around the time of the crucifixion and resurrection provide important lessons for our own spiritual journeys. Peter had gotten a little weak in the faith department because he thought he could do it all by himself. Even...
This Palm Sunday sermon explores what it means that Jesus was fully God and fully human, and asks what Jesus' suffering means for our own?
Regular confession can provide a powerful fuel for spiritual growth, especially when performed in small groups. Pastor Frankie looks to John Wesley's Journal for its inspiration as a guide for a daily attitude of confession. Wesley recorded...
At the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah joined Jesus on the mountaintop. This glorious image of Jesus shining in his robes is how we like to think about him all the time. Peter, one of the three apostles on hand, wanted to build a shrine to the...
Many workplace rules make no sense. Some laws on the books in the United States are completely crazy. You'd have a hard time living the rules listed in Leviticus in America (without ending up in jail). As Christians, we have a good example that...
There's a saying among churches, "Win the lost at any cost." But Pastor Frankie argues an important caveat: We cannot misrepresent ourselves in any way in order to spread the Gospel.
One of Jesus’ first miracles involved casting a demon out of a possessed man in Capernaum. Pastor Frankie looks into the First Century views of demons, and explores what the Biblical story means to us today.
In a special message, Pastor Frankie leads the Cokesbury congregation in a Wesley Covenant Service. The service is a 250-year-old tradition in the Methodist Church that John Wesley intended for congregations to undertake once a year in order to open...
In part 3 of the "How is Our Vision" series, guest preacher and lay leader Bruce Riley looks at the story in Acts when the Holy Spirit came down from heaven as tongues of fire to give the disciples the ability to speak in tongues. A diverse...
Anytime a congregation charts a new course, they'll look at a map with the blank spots of which old sailors used to say, "There be dragons." While this church's traditions seem safest, in fact, this church like most others was...
When Isiah was called by God, it shook him up and he had to view everything differently after that. Isiah's experience challenges us to see things from a new perspective as well.
At Christmas, we celebrate that Jesus is God's gift to the world. But the gift isn't necessarily what we expect. Jesus doesn't come to wave his hand and solve our problems.
In the second sermon in the Journey series for Advent, Pastor Frankie looks at what the Bible tells us about Joseph and reconstructs the wrenching decision he had to make about whether to go through with his marriage to Mary.
In the first of a series running through Christmas, Pastor Frankie examines what the Bible tells us about Mary and draws lessons for our modern day faith journeys from the social struggles of this young mother, who knew she was favored by God.