Sacrament Church: Recent Episodes
Preston Sharpe
Description: In this special event, Fr. Preston walks through all of the movements of a liturgical worship service: vestments, processional, readings, liturgy, etc. explaining some of the meaning behind them.
Sunday, June 16, 2024
Resources:
Eugene H. Peterson, First and Second Samuel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999).
N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians (London: SPCK, 2003, 2004).
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 11:3.
Rowan Williams, Meeting God in Mark: Reflections for the Season of Lent, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox).
Hilary of Poitiers, On Matthew, 13.4.
Ambrose, “Six Days of Creation,” 3.
Sunday, May 19, 2024
Resources:
Willie James Jennings, Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
Rowan Williams, “Pentecost Eucharist at St Gregory’s Tredington,” Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury, May 27, 2012,http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2513/pentecost-eucharist-at-st-gregorys-tredington.html.
Wright, Romans for Everyone: Part 1, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004).
Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
Thomas F. Torrance, Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2015).
Eugene H. Peterson, “I Am Leaving…I Am Sending,” As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God, (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 2017).
James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2009).
Frederick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Resources:
N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone: Part 1, Chapters 1-12 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Willie James Jennings, Acts (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).
D. Moody Smith, First, Second, and Third John (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1991)
Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III, A Pneumatology of Race in the Gospel of John: An Ethnocritical Study (Eugene: Pickwick, 2019).
Michael Ramsey, The Gospel and the Catholic Church (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009).
Frederick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).
Wright, Twelve Months of Sundays: Biblical Meditations on the Christian Years A, B & C (New York: Morehouse, 2000).
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Resources:
Willie James Jennings, Acts (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
Tom Wright, The Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, Judah, and John (Louisville:
Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Frederick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).
Wright, John for Everyone: Part One (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Scot McKnight, Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others (Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2004).
Chris E.W. Green, “God is Not a Master,” Speakeasy Theology, January 16, 2024, https://cewgreen.substack.com/p/god-is-not-a-master.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Resources:
Buzz Aldrin, “Communion in Space,” Guideposts, October 1970, https://web.archive.org/web/20100416070924/http://www.ericmetaxas.com/writing/essays/buzz-aldrin-guideposts-article-full-text/.
Tom Wright, Acts for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Willie James Jennings, Acts (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
Wright, The Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, Judah, and John (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Frederick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Resources:
“Sheep Gets Stuck Jumps Back in Trench,” YouTube, 2022, Accessed on February 29, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Wc8vluyp0.
Tom Wright, Acts for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Willie James Jennings, Acts (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
“Seven Arrested While Serving Food to the Homeless in Tampa,” Tampa Baby Times, http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/seven-arrested-while-serving-food-to-homeless-in-tampa/2308868.
James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009).
Maria,nne Meye Thompson, “His Own Received Him Not,” The Art of Reading Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Resources:
Tom Wright, Acts for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Bede, “On 1 John.”
Eugene H. Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God, Audiobook, (New York: Penguin Random House, 2017).
C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: Macmillan, 1946).
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Meditations on the Cross (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1998).
Palm Royale, AppleTV
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Resources:
Willie James Jennings, Acts (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
Tom Wright, Acts for Everyone, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Wright, Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, (New York: HarperCollins, 2008).
Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve, (San Fransisco: Harper, 1984).
Chris E.W. Green, “Why Does the Resurrection Matter?” Speakeasy Theology, April 2, 2024, https://cewgreen.substack.com/p/why-does-the-resurrection-matter.
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Resources:
Richard Hays, First Corinthians (Louisville: 2011).
Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised Edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited (Grand Rapids:Zondervan, 2011).
Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone (Louisville: John Knox, 2001).
Rowan Williams, Meeting God in Mark: Reflections for the Season of Lent (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014).
Eugene H. Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992).
Wright, John for Everyone, Part 2, (London: SPCK, 2022).
Marianne Meye Thompson, John, A Commentary, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2015).
Sunday, March 24, 2024
N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is, (Downers Grove: IVP, 1999), 34-53.
Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus's Final Week in Jerusalem, (New York: HarperCollins, 2006).
Esau McCaulley, Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2022).
Wright, Mark for Everyone, (Louisville: John Knox, 2001).
Fleming Rutledge, The Undoing of Death: Sermons for Holy Week and Easter, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
Rowan Williams, “Silence in the face of mystery,” Christian Century, August 21, 2018, https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/silence-face-mystery.
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998).
Christopher J.H. Wright, To the Cross: Proclaiming the Gospel from the Upper Room to Calvary (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2017).
Chris E.W. Green, Being Transfigured: Lenten Homilies (Abbotsford, BC: St. Macrina, 2023).
Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time (New York: Random House, 1996).
Wendell Berry, “An Entrance to the Woods,” Recollected Essays 1965-1980, (San Francisco: North Point, 1981).
Tracy Balzer, Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey Into Celtic Christianity, (Abilene: Leafwood, 2013).
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Resources:
John Goldingay, Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing, 2010).
C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, (New York: HarperCollins, 1952).
William Barclay, The Gospel of John, Volume One, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing, 2001).
Gregory of Nazianzus, “Poem 2.”
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Readings:
Exodus 20:1-17
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
Chris E.W. Green, "On Using the Cleansing of the Temple to Justify Violence,” Clarion, January 18, 2021, https://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2021/01/on-using-the-cleansing-of-the-temple-to-justify-violence-chris-green.html.
Tom Wright, John for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001).
Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992).
Marianne Meye Thompson, John: A Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2015).
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Suggested Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982),
Terence E. Fretheim, Abraham: Trials of Family and Faith (Minneapolis: 1517 Media, 2024).
N.T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013).
Wright, Mark for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001).
Rowan Williams, Meeting God in Mark: Reflections for the Season of Lent, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014).
Chris E.W. Green, Being Transfigured: Lenten Homilies (Abbotsford, BC: Marcrina Press, 2023).
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Readings:
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28
Sunday, January 21, 2023
Resources:
Eugene H. Peterson, Under the Predictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992).
Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011).
Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001).
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Backgrounds Commentary, New Testament, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2014).
Sunday, January 14, 2024
Resources:
Eugene H. Peterson, First and Second Samuel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999).
Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011).
Tom Wright, John for Everyone: Part 1, Chapters 1-10, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1958).
Sunday, January 7, 2024
Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
Eugene Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God, (New York: Crown, 2019).
John H. Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate, (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009).
Ray S. Anderson, The Soul of Ministry: Forming Leaders for God’s People, (Westminster John Knox: Louisville, 1997).
Sunday, December24, 2023
Reading:
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38
Suggested Resources:
Eugene H. Peterson, First and Second Samuel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999).
Benjamin Myers, The Apostles Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism (Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2018).
Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (Louisville: Westminister, 2001).
Christopher Knowles, Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes (San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2007).
Sunday, December 17, 2023
Resources:
Jeremy Seifert, “the church forests of Ethiopia,” Aeon, March 4, 2020, https://aeon.co/videos/how-hundreds-of-small-gardens-of-eden-guard-against-total-deforestation-in-ethiopia.
“Dayenu: It Would Have Been Enough,” My Jewish Learning, Accessed on December 11, 2023, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/dayenu-it-would-have-been-enough/.
Scot McKnight, A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God’s Design for Life Together, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014).
Fleming Rutledge, “The Hidden Pathway to Joy,” The Undoing Death: Sermons for Holy Week and Easter, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
Rhett Allain, "5 Things Every Human Should Know About Light,” Wired, February 11, 2015, https://www.wired.com/2015/02/5-things-every-human-know-light/.
Leeaundra Keany, "20 Things You Didn't Know About Light,” Discover, May 17, 2020, http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-light.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015).
Andrew Wilson, “God Knew What He Was Doing When He Gave Jesus Two Family Trees,” Christianity Today, August 17, 2020, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/september/andrew-wilson-jesus-genealogies-matthew-luke.html.
Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Suggested Resources:
Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Robert Alter, “Isaiah,” The Hebrew Bible: Volume 2, the Five Books of the Prophets, a Translation with Commentary (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019).
Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66 (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Company, 1998).
Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001).
Sunday, December 3, 2023
Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001).
Gregory the Great, “Homilies I.”
Shane Claiborne quote: https://twitter.com/ShaneClaiborne/status/1727910987192262946
Ian Simkins Quote: https://x.com/iansimkins/status/1332335057600647173?s=46&t=2k-idvaum331qpiRIW39Zw
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Suggested Resources:
Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians (Louisville: John Knox, 2002).
Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Suggested Resources:
Robert Alter, “Deuteronomy,” The Hebrew Bible: Volume 1, the Five Books of Moses, a Translation with Commentary, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019).
Carolyn J. Sharp, “Commentary on Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25,” Working Preacher, November 8, 2020, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-32/commentary-on-joshua-241-3-14-25.
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, Chapters 16-28 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Brad Jersak, “Parable of the Ten Virgins - What's the Oil? Brad Jersak,” Clarion, March 7, 2015, https://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2015/03/parable-of-the-ten-virgins-whats-the-oil-brad-jersak.html.
Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Sunday, November 5, 2023
Reading:
Revelations 7:9-17
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
Suggested Resources:
Esau McCaulley, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, (Grand Rapids: InterVarsity, 2020).
Eugene H. Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God, Audiobook, (New York: Penguin Random House, 2017).
Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Suggested Resources:
Robert Alter, “Deuteronomy,” The Hebrew Bible: Volume 1, the Five Books of Moses, a Translation with Commentary, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019).
Walter Brueggemann, Texts for Preaching, Year A: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Company, 1995).
Cyril of Jerusalem, “Catechetical Lecture 16.26.”
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 2 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 93-95.
Craig S. Keener, Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009).
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Suggested Resources:
John Goldingay, Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
Martin Luther King, Jr., “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” Stanford, April 3, 1968, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/ive-been-mountaintop.
Augustine, “The Trinity 2.17.28.”
Origen, “Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.15.”
Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. C.S. Lewis Signature Classic, (London: William Collins, 2012).
Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 2 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary, Volume 2, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007).
Sunday, October 16, 2023
Suggested Resources:
John Goldingay, Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone, The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, (London: Wipf and Stock, 2002).
Lynn H. Cohick, Philippians, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Baker: Grand Rapids: 2007).
Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary, Volume 2, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007).
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (First American Edition, Macmillan, 1949).
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Suggested Resources:
John Goldingay, Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
Peter J. Leithart, “Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?” Logos, February 5, 2020, https://www.logos.com/grow/are-the-ten-commandments-still-relevant/.
Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 2 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Baker: Grand Rapids: 2007).
Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgement: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Readings:
Exodus 17:1-7
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
Suggested Resources:
N.T. Wright, Paul: (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005).
Lynn H. Cohick, Philippians, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Baker: Grand Rapids: 2007).
Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgement: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
John Chrysostom, “The Gospel of Matthew Homily 67.3.”
Sunday, September 24, 2023
Suggested Resources:
John Goldingay, Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster, 2010).
Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, (San Francisco: HarperOne, 1942).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Baker: Grand Rapids: 2007).
Sunday, September 17, 2023
Exodus 14:19-31
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
John Goldingay, Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster, 2010).
Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
C.S. Lewis, “The Great Divorce,” Complete Works of C.S. Lewis.
Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgement: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002),
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002).
Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996).
Sunday, September 10, 2023
Exodus 12:1-14
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20
John Goldingay, Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster, 2010).
Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002).
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, (New York: Touchstone, 1959).
Sunday, September 3, 2023
Resources:
Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
John Goldingay, Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone, (Louisville: Westminster, 2010).
Fr. David Harvey is a biblical scholar on the New Testament. He pastors at Westside King’s Church in Calgary, Alberta (https://www.wkc.org/), and is on a great podcast found here:https://www.twotexts.com/
N.T. Wright Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002).
Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, (New York: Random House, 1996).
David Kessler, Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief, (New York: Scribner, 2019).
Sunday, August 27, 2023
On the Nokia 3310:https://www.androidauthority.com/nokia-3310-900425/
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, Chapters 16-28 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
Readings:
Genesis 45:1-15
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15:21-28
Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
Ambrose, “on Joseph 12.68-69.”
Lynn H. Cohick, “The Canaanite Woman of Matthew 15,” Zondervan Academic, October 21, 2008, Accessed on August 14, 2023, https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/the-canaanite-w.
Amy-Jill Levine, “Matthew’s Advice to a Divided Readership,” The Gospel of Matthew in Current Study: Studies in Memory of William G. Thompson, S.J. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).
August 27th- “Come Hell or High Water”
On the Nokia 3310: https://www.androidauthority.com/nokia-3310-900425/
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010).
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, Chapters 16-28 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Scripture Readings:
Genesis 29:15-29
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Readings:
Genesis 28:10-19a
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
This week, we hear of God’s presence in the places of weakness and vulnerability. We discuss the difference between “fixing” and “healing,” and the significance of patience in the story of God and his people.
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
Jerome, Homilies on the Psalms.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis, 54.17.
Augustine, Glaphyra on Genesis, 3-4.
Bede, Homilies on the Gospels, 1.17.
Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part One, Chapters 1-15 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgement: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
Sunday, July 9, 2023
This week, we look at the burdens each of us carry, specifically those of which we need to let go.
Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
John Goldingay, Genesis, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2020).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
Augustine, Sermon 69.2
Sunday, July 2, 2023
This week we hear one of the most challenging stories in all of scripture: God’s command for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. What is up with this story? And what could it possibly tell us about the nature of God?
Resources:
A great book which explores the Old Testament reading is The Art of Reading Scripture, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).
See specifically the following essays:
R.W.L. Moberly, “Living Dangerously: Genesis 22 and the Quest for Good Biblical Interpretation."
Gary A. Anderson, “Joseph and the Passion of our Lord.”
Ellen F. Davis, “Vulnerability, the Condition of the Covenant.”:
See also: Davis, “Radical Trust,” Duke Chapel Archives, June 26, 2011, https://chapel-archives.oit.duke.edu/documents/EllenDavis--Gen22.pdf.
Chris E.W. Green, "The Sacrifice of God,” Speakeasy Theology, June 28, 2023.
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
Christine D. Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999).
Benedict, The Rule of Benedict, ed. Timothy Fry, OSB, (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1981).
Jerome, On Matthew 1.10.40-42.
Sunday, June 25, 2023
This week, we look at two challenging passages: Abraham’s releasing of Ishmael, and Jesus’ imperative “Do not be afraid.” Each speak to us about the things which are central in our lives and how we hold our identities, our stuff, and our families.
Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
Paul Sabatier, The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis, (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2014).
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Today, we hear the story of Abraham and the three visitors, and the radical generosity of the kingdom of God.
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
Ralph C. Wood, “God Repentance-Enabling Forgiveness,” The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor, (Waco: Baylor, 2001).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
Herbert Butterfield, International Conflict in the Twentieth Century, (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1960).
Sunday, June 11, 2023
Today, we hear stories of faith: of following God, of listening, of journeying.
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1982).
Eugene Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God, (New York: Crown, 2019).
Antony the Great, “Letter 1.”
Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel (Sisters, Ore.: Mulnomah Books, 1990).
Sunday, May 28, 2023
This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, when God’s Spirit was poured out on all flesh. Pentecost is also the birth of the church as the Spirit dwells in and through the community of Jesus.
On this day, we celebrate the God who is always giving, sharing, loving, pouring out himself for the world.
Resources:
Dennis R. Cole, Numbers: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, (Nashville: B&H, 2000).
John Goldingay, Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Company, 2010).
G. Herbert Livingston, The Pentateuch in It’s Cultural Environment, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987).
Willie James Jennings, Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
Tom Wright, Acts for Everyone, (Louisville: John Knox, 2008).
Rowan Williams, “Pentecost Eucharist at St Gregory’s Tredington,” Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury, May 27, 2012, http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2513/pentecost-eucharist-at-st-gregorys-tredington.html.
Fredrick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).
Wright, John for Everyone, Part 1, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009).
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Today, we hear the story of Christ’s ascension into heaven and how it demonstrates God’s character and the nature of humanity. We also look at the church's calling to be “witnesses” in the world.
Resources:
Tom Wright, Acts for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Rowan Williams, “‘A sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Ascension Day Sung Eucharist.”
Glenn Packiam, “What Does the Ascension of Jesus Mean?” https://www.glennpackiam.com/post/what-does-the-ascension-of-jesus-mean.
Ben Meyers, The Apostles Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism, (Bellingham: Lexham, 2018).
Fredrick Dale Bruner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).
Chris E.W. Green, “On Ascension,” https://cewgreen.substack.com/p/on-ascension
The clip from “Friends” can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTjqz0_wsZo
Sunday, May 14, 2023
This week we hear the Good News that God is always “turning toward” his world in love.
Resources:
Tom Wright, Acts for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Willie James Jennings, Acts (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017).
Wright, Paul: A Biography, (New York: HarperCollins, 2018).
Scot McKnight, 1 Peter, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996).
Wright, John for Everyone, Part 2, (Louisville: Westminster, 2004).
Sunday, April 16, 2023
As we continue in the Easter season, we hear the good news in times of doubt.
N.T. Wright, Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, (New York: HarperCollins, 2008),
Brian Rohan, “AP Explains: Who are Egypt’s Coptic Christians?” AP News, April 10, 2017, https://apnews.com/article/579769f1c074476089cf21593732a5b2.
“Forgiveness Incarnated,” The Bible Society of Egypt, 2017, https://vimeo.com/212755977?ref=fb-share.
Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve, (San Fransisco: Harper, 1984).
John Chrysostom, “Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 4.”
Sunday, April 2, 2023
On Palm Sunday, we hear the story of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry and Passion. We reflect on the way of suffering and how it contrasts with our expectations.
Fleming Rutledge, The Undoing of Death (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline, (New York: Harper, 1959).
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part 2,(Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
James H. Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2011).
Sunday, March 26, 2023
This week, we look at the reality of grief and loss, how God enters our pain and, in doing so, reveals the promise.
I gleaned a lot on the Ezekiel reading from a sermon given by Rev. Fleming Rutledge at the Washington National Cathedral in 2008. Unfortunately, the sermon appears to no longer be available. But here is the link where I originally found it.
https://generousorthodoxy.org/schedule/preaching-during-the-celebration-of-american-preaching-at-washington-national-cathedral-1115-am/.
Robert W. Jenson, Ezekiel, (London: SCM, 2009).
Irenaeus, “Against Heresies 5.10.2.”
Chris E.W. Green, Surprised by God: How and Why What We Think about the Divine Matters, (Eugene: Cascade, 2018).
Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1978).
Rowan Williams, “Go to where it hurts the most,” Sermon at Christ’s College, Christchurch, New Zealand, November 6, 2012, https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/pressreleases/archbishops-sermon-in-christchurch-go-to-where-it-hurts-the-most-2/.
Sunday, March 19, 2023
This Sunday, our readings challenge us to consider our perspective. In what ways might we be too confident in our ability to see things clearly?
Resources:
Eugene H. Peterson, First and Second Samuel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999).
Peter J. Leithart, A Son to Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2003).
Tim Keller, “David’s Anointing,” Redeemer Presbyterian Church, April 26, 2015.
Lynn H. Cohick, Ephesians, (Eugene: Cascade, 2010).
John Chrysostom, “Homily on Ephesians."
Eugene H. Peterson, Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 2491-2552.
Chris E.W. Green, Surpised by God: How and Why What We Think About the Divine Matters, (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2018).
Fleming Rutledge, “Was Blind but Now I See,” Duke University, Chapel, February 17, 1980, Accessed on July 15, 2020, https://repository.duke.edu/dc/dukechapel/dcrau001953.
Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Each of our readings this week are about thirst. We explore the idea of dependence, and the choices made in the context of need, suffering, and pain.
Lynn Cohick, “Session 6: The Samaritan Woman,” YouVersion, Accessed on March 7, 2023, https://www.bible.com/videos/40738-session-6-the-samaritan-woman.
Lynn Cohick, Women in the World of the Earliest Christians: Illuminating Ancient Ways of Life, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009).
Sunday, March 5, 2023
This week, we hear the good news that God speaks in the midst of barrenness. Abram brought nothing to the table, but God “reckoned” him as righteous. Jesus tells Nicodemus that a complete transformation is necessary, and it only comes from God.
Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1982).
Eugene Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God, (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 2017).
Ray S. Anderson, The Soul of Ministry: Forming Leaders for God’s People, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1997).
Antony the Great, “Letter 1.”
Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015).
N.T. Wright, Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009).
Augustine, “Tractate 33,” Tractates on the Gospel of John.
C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1955).
C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, (New York: HarperCollins, 1952).
Sunday, February 26, 2023
This week, we hear two stories of temptation and are challenged to rest in God's faithfulness.
Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1982).
Chris E.W. Green, “First Sunday in Lent,”https://medium.com/@cewgreen/first-sunday-in-lent-f435d49e4eb3.
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part One, Chapters 1-15 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Sunday, February 19, 2023
On Transfiguration Sunday, we hear about the moment when Jesus appeared before his disciples in dazzling white, flanked by Moses and Elijah. The voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, whom I love. In him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
Fr. Preston explores what’s going on when we experience God in profound ways (with a brief discussion on the Asbury awakening), but also what’s going on when we do not experience God.
Ultimately, we are called to hold the transfiguration and the cross together. God is with us through it all.
Resources:
For more on “thin places,”: Tracy Balzer, Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey into Celtic Christianity, (Abilene: Leafwood, 2007).
Chris E.W. Green, Being Transfigured: Lenten Homilies, (Abbotsford, BC: Marcrina Press, 2023)..
Chris E.W. Green, Surprised By God: How and Why What We Think About the Divine Matters, (Eugene: Cascade, 2018).
For the boat metaphor: Leonard Sweet, AquaChurch 2.0: Piloting Your Church in Today’s Fluid Culture, (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2010).
Sunday, February 12, 2023
It is not news to anyone that the Bible is full of laws. There are clear directions for what to do as well as what not to do. But why is this the case? How does the law of God fit with the love of God? This week, we hear Jesus addressing three major and controversial topics: Anger, Lust, and Lies.
Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011).
N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part One, Chapters 1-15 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
Miroslav Wolf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996).
Bo Emerson, “When Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart,” AJC, September 28, 2017, https://www.ajc.com/news/when-jimmy-carter-lusted-his-heart/kzdD5pLXvT3qnf5RyJlIiK/.
Richard Beck,Trains, Jesus, and Murder: The Gospel According to Johnny Cash, (Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2019).
Sunday, February 5, 2023
This week, we hear Christ’s words that God’s people are “Salt” and “Light.” That sounds nice, but what does it look like? Beyond mere moral commands or inspirational pep talks, the call to be such people is an incredible gift which finds its home in the Giver.
Augustine, “Commentary on Isaiah 18.58.3.”
Jerome, “Letter 22.37.”
Bill Moyers, "Bernice Johnson Reagon on ‘This Little Light of Mine,’" Bill Moyers, May 3, 2013, https://billmoyers.com/2013/05/03/moyers-moment-1991-bernice-johnson-reagon-on-this-little-light-of-mine/.
Sunday, January 29, 2023
This Sunday, we look at the Beatitudes, which describe what God’s kingdom in Jesus looks like. Drawing from the commands of the prophet Micah and Paul’s words about the foolishness of the cross, Fr. Preston preaches on what is so counter-intuitive about God’s kingdom.
N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003).
Richard Hays, First Corinthians, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011).
Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
Sunday, January 22, 2023
We hear the good news that Jesus breaks oppression, Jesus mends factions; and Jesus plucks out of chaos.
Resources:
Leslie Newbigin, Good Shepherd, 1974.
Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009).
Gregory the Great “Forty Gospel Homilies."
Sunday, January 15, 2023
What does it mean that Jesus is the “Lamb of God?” Join us as we reflect on who we are in Christ.
Resources:
John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 40-55, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998).
Brian Zahnd, When Everything’s On Fire: Faith Forged From the Ashes, (Downers Grove: IVP, 2021).
Martin Luther King, Jr., “When Jesus Called a Man a Fool,” Delivered at Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois (27 August 1967)
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, (New York: Collier Books, 1950).
N.T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part 1, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002).
James B. Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1996).
Fleming Rutledge, The Undoing of Death: Sermons for Holy Week and Easter, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
Sunday, January 8, 2023
This Sunday, we explored the significance of Jesus’ baptism and what it says about His identity as well as our own.
Eugene H. Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God, (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 2017).
Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III, A Pneumatology of Race in the Gospel of John: An Ethnocritical Study, (Eugene: Pickwick, 2019).
Timothy C. Tennent, “Theology in the Context of World Christianity,” Zondervan Academic, https://masterlectures.zondervanacademic.com/theology-in-the-context-of-world-christianity-timothy-c-tennent.
N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part One, Chapters 1-12, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2008).
Willie James Jennings, Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2017)
Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
Sunday, January 1, 2023
This Sunday is January 1st, which falls on “The Feast of the Holy Name.” On this Sunday, we reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ circumcision and naming.
Resources:
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon 15 On the Song of Songs
St. Ephrem, Madrashe on Faith.
N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, (New York: Harper Collins, 2008).
Chris EW Green, “A Sermon for the Feast of the Holy Name,” https://cewgreen.substack.com/p/a-sermon-for-the-feast-of-the-holy
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Reflecting on the reality of Christmas, we hear the story of Christ’s birth in the shadow of a pagan, oppressive empire. The story reveals a contrast between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world.
Resources:
Timothy Mackie, “Isaiah and the Messianic King,” April 22, 2017, https://bibleproject.com/blog/isaiah-messianic-king/.
John Oswalt, “For to Us a Child Is Born: The Meaning of Isaiah 9:6,” Zondervan Academic Blog, December 20, 2018..
John Chrysostom, “Homilies on Titus 5”
N.T. Wright, “The Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulders,” NT Wright Page, December 24, 2008, https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/03/30/the-government-shall-be-upon-his-shoulders/.
Sunday, December 18, 2022
On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we hear the Good News that God does not meet humanity in our strength but in our weakness. This is grace.
Resources:
Jerome, “Against Jovinianus.”
Brené Brown, “Brené Brown on Empathy,” RSA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw.
Michael F. Bird, Romans (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016).
N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part 1: Chapters 1-8 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004).
John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 1.
Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline (London: SCM, 1949).
Ben Myers, The Apostles Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism (Bellingham: Lexham, 2018).
Sunday, December 11, 2022
On “Gaudete” Sunday (The third Sunday of Advent), we explore the good news of Christ’s restoration, the beauty and frustration of patience, and how Jesus responds to John’s doubts.
Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 204).
Flannery O’Connor, Letters of Flannery O’Connor: The Habit of Being, (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1979).
Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Sunday, December 4, 2022
On the 2nd Sunday of Advent, we explore the role of judgement in this season and the ways in which the Church lives God’s future world here and now.
Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Jeremy Seifert, “the church forests of Ethiopia,” Aeon, March 4, 2020, https://aeon.co/videos/how- hundreds-of-small-gardens-of-eden-guard-against-total-deforestation-in-ethiopia.
Stanley Hauerwas, “Stanley Hauerwas—Why Religious Diversity is a Bad Idea—Program 5015,” 30 Good Minutes, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sViQjvFITPc.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: HarperCollins, 1952).
Sunday, November 20, 2022
This Sunday, we acknowledge and celebrate the kingship of Christ. But what does “kingship” mean in a world suspicious of power?
Resources:
Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir, (New York: HarperCollins, 2011).
Scot McKnight, The Jesus Creed: Living God, Loving Others, (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2004).
Simon Chan, Liturgical Theology: The Church as Worshiping Community, (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2006).
Wright, Luke for Everyone, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001).
Fleming Rutledge, The Undoing of Death, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005).
Sunday, November 13, 2022
This Sunday, our readings call us to imagine the promise of God’s new world.
Resources:
Walter Brueggemann, Peace, (Danvers: Chalice Press, 2001), 15-16.
John N. Oswalt, the Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 657-662.
Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 154-157.
Wright, Luke for Everyone, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 250-253.
Sunday, November 6, 2022
This Sunday, Bishop Beth Owen preaches on the significance of the Sacrament of Confirmation and the Feast of All Saints.
Sunday, October 30, 2022
How do we hold together the reality of human goodness and human brokenness? This week, we look at the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) and what it speaks to us about Christ’s mission.
Resources:
Martin Buber- I and Thou, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1958).
Fleming Rutledge- Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Ben Witherington- 1 and 2 Thessalonians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).
Augustine, On Grace and Free Will 1.18.38.
The Allender Center, “Gratitude and Repentance, Part One,” The Allender Center, https://theallendercenter.org/2019/11/gratitude-repentance-1/.
John Wesley, “On Family Religion,” https://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/sermons.vi.xli.html.
Gordon Fee, The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 244-251, 263-267.
Augustine, “Sermon 174.3.”
Sunday, October 23, 2022
This week we ask what will last? Does anything I do matter? If so, what are those things? How do we find them, or identify them?
Resources:
John Goldingay, Daniel and the Twelve Prophets for Everyone, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing, 2016)
Tertullian, “On the Resurrection of the Flesh,” New Advent, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0316.htm.
Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life, (Grand Rapids: Intervaristy, 2016).
https://www.orthodoxweddingcrowns.com/
Why is it that everyone longs for justice, but we can’t seem to achieve it?
Resources:
N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, (New York: HarperCollins, 2006).
Craig Greenfield, “Justice, Prayer and Outrage Fatigue,” Relevant, February 20, 2017, https://relevantmagazine.com/current/nation/justice-prayer-and-outrage-fatigue/.
David Lyle Jeffrey, Luke, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012).
Justo Gonzalez, Luke: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing, 2010).
Why is it that everyone longs for justice, but we can’t seem to achieve it?
Resources:
N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, (New York: HarperCollins, 2006).
Craig Greenfield, “Justice, Prayer and Outrage Fatigue,” Relevant, February 20, 2017, https://relevantmagazine.com/current/nation/justice-prayer-and-outrage-fatigue/.
David Lyle Jeffrey, Luke, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012).
Justo Gonzalez, Luke: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing, 2010).
This Sunday we explore the importance of gratefulness and the reality of God’s work in unlikely places.
Resources:
Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007).
Eugene Peterson, Run With the Horses: The Quest for Life at its Best, (Grand Rapids: Intervarsity, 2009).
Theodoret of Cyr, Interpretation of the Second Letter to Timothy.
This Sunday we explore the importance of gratefulness and the reality of God’s work in unlikely places.
Resources:
Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007).
Eugene Peterson, Run With the Horses: The Quest for Life at its Best, (Grand Rapids: Intervarsity, 2009).
Theodoret of Cyr, Interpretation of the Second Letter to Timothy.
Resources:
Hasidic Tales, as quoted in Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006)
N.T. Wright, "Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It's Not Supposed To,” Time, March 29, 2020, https://time.com/5808495/coronavirus-christianity/
Glenn Packiam, “Five Things to Know About Lament,” NT Wright Online, https://www.ntwrightonline.org/five-things-to-know-about-lament/
Esau McCaulley, "Ahmaud Arbery and the America That Doesn’t Exist,” NewYork Times, May 10, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/opinion/ahmaud-arbery-justice.html
Augustine, “Sermon 246.3."
Resources:
Preston Sharpe
Walter Brueggemann
Robert Farrar Capon
Chris Green
Tim Mackie
Resources:
Preston Sharpe
Walter Brueggemann
Robert Farrar Capon
Chris Green
Tim Mackie
Resources:
Esau McCaulley, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation As an Exercise in Hope (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2019).
Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985).
Fleming Rutledge, “We Will Be There,” Advent: the Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Resources:
Esau McCaulley, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation As an Exercise in Hope (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2019).
Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985).
Fleming Rutledge, “We Will Be There,” Advent: the Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
Resources:
Eugene H. Peterson, Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best (Downers Grove: IVP, 2009).
Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, (London: SPCK, 2003).
Peter Rollins, “The Payoff,” The Orthodox Heretic: And Other Impossible Tales, (Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2009).
Henri Nouwen, Can You Drink the Cup, (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1996).
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, we invite you to donate to the work of Sacrament Church at www.sacramentchurch.com/give
Resources:
Eugene H. Peterson, Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best (Downers Grove: IVP, 2009).
Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, (London: SPCK, 2003).
Peter Rollins, “The Payoff,” The Orthodox Heretic: And Other Impossible Tales, (Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2009).
Henri Nouwen, Can You Drink the Cup, (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1996).
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, we invite you to donate to the work of Sacrament Church at www.sacramentchurch.com/give
Our theme for this season is Desert People as we seek to live our lives in full dependence on the one who created us, sustains us, and has redeemed us.
Our church is literally in a "wandering" season right now as we seek out our new meeting space. Please pray for our building committee as we meet for the first time this week. Pray for wisdom and an ear attuned to the voice of God.
Also, as we approach Easter, please continue to pray for those in our city without a church home. Pray that Sacrament might continue to be a loving shelter for those who are wandering.
Next Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent, a time when the Church has focused on repentance, prayer, and cultivating humility. It’s kind of like a “Spring cleaning for the soul.” This is a good time to lean in to faith by giving up some things (fasting) and taking on some things (prayer, worship, serving).
At Sacrament Church, we have several ways that we are orienting towards this season. Our theme is “Desert People” as we seek to walk with God through desert seasons.
This Sunday, we will hear the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. This is the moment where Jesus is revealed in glory all while pointing us to the cross.
Most of you know that I have a 6 1/2 year old little girl named Lucy. As any parent knows, one of the important parts of parenting is setting boundaries, rules, guidelines for behavior. This is always one of the hardest parts for me. We are constantly asking ourselves, "Is it appropriate for her to be doing this?" I find myself vacillating back and forth between permissiveness and strictness.
Why do we have rules at all? Because we want what is best for our little girl. We want her to 1) hurt herself (pretty basic stuff here); 2) grow up to live in harmony with others and the world. 3) To be a blessing to the world! Our desire is not to oppress her or burden her, though she may feel oppressed and burdened in the moment (cleaning her room is SO HARD!).
We understand this when it comes to parenting. But what if we understood God's laws this way? God sets the path of life before us. He calls us to walk that path because it is the way to life! The other paths won't do. They lead to emptiness and to death.
The reality is that we can never seem to keep our toes on the path of life. We are "prone to wander" as the old song says. The good news is that there is one who was fully faithful, even when we failed.
This week, we hear the part of Jesus' sermon about anger, lust, and lies. Each of these are dangerous and need to be squashed at the earliest opportunity. Even as we struggle, we trust in the one who pushed each of these aside for our sake.
Every week we are reminded of who we are as the people of God. By his grace, God has called us into something special.
In Matthew 5, Jesus says that we are salt. What does salt do? It adds flavor and it preserves. The Church is invited and called to join God is becoming the flavor of the world, keeping the world from the rot of sin.
Jesus also says that we are light. What does that mean? In a polarized world of bickering camps, broken people and broken systems, the Church somehow stands apart, shining the light of Christ into the darkness.
Join us as we hear the good news of who God is and the kingdom he has invited us to join.
This Sunday, our texts remind us that the way revealed in Jesus will always look like foolishness according to the other narratives in our world.
Sometimes, we think that life is about the quick-fix. We are instead told that God desires a transformation of our entire being (Micah 6:1-8)!
When we find ourselves looking for a sign of victory or drawn to flashy things, we are pointed instead to the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).
In the kingdom of God, everything is different! As Christians, we are called to live into that different way (Matthew 5:1-12).
This Sunday, we discussed a passage which is often misunderstood, but which is central to the mission of the church. In Matthew 4, Jesus calls his disciples. They are compelled to leave their lives as fishermen and follow him as he calls them to be "fishers of men."
Without cultural context, it's easy for us to think that Jesus is telling them to be sneaky and "reel people in;" or, even worse, that people are in some way to be "consumed" or sold for a profit! Unfortunately, many Christians have thought about evangelism like this.
And yet, there is a different way to think about Jesus' words. Join us this Sunday as we learn what it means to be "People-fishers."
This Sunday is the second Sunday in the season of Epiphany, a season where we celebrate the light of Christ which goes into all the world.
Throughout this season, we hear stories about the moments in scripture when Jesus' was revealed in a unique way. This week, Jesus is shown as "The Lamb of God," the one who takes away the sins of the world.
While the title "Lamb of God," may seem opaque to us, it means that he brings forgiveness and freedom.
Epiphany is a season of light! This is such a great time to re-orient our lives around the light of Christ. This past Sunday, we heard some dreams and goals for us for the first few months of 2020.
This Sunday, we will reflect on the Baptism of Jesus and how the reality of it changes everything.
We are wrapping up the Christmas season and excited for the dawn of a New Year!
January 6th marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany. On this day we remember the coming of the magi who visited Jesus when he was a small child. This day also begins the season of Epiphany.
"Epiphany" means "revelation." In this season we recognize that the call goes out to all people. There are no "insiders" or "outsiders" to God's invitation.
This is a time and a season for us to intentionally think about our family, friends, and neighbors who do not know Jesus. Perhaps they have not heard the good news of Jesus, or they have heard it kinda "sideways." In what ways might we share the invitation of Jesus, through our words and our lives?
This Sunday, I am excited to share some dreams that God has placed in my heart for 2020. Our community is such a blessing and it has always been my heart to invite those in Middle Tennessee with no home church to join in. I encourage you to make an effort to be there this Sunday to hear more!
Did you know that Christmas is not over? In the church calendar, Christmas is a season, a 12 day celebration which culminates at Epiphany (January 6th)! (This is the reason for the song "the 12 Days of Christmas.")
This Sunday, we celebrate Christmastide. Sacrament members Sarah Carpenter and Jessica Rider will be preaching as we bask in the Incarnation.
This Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Advent, this season of anticipating the presence of God, of preparation, and repentance.
On this Sunday, we anticipate the great love of God expressed in his giving His Son.
God's rescue operation in Christ is an act of his free grace. God endeavors to save humanity, not because of what we have accomplished, but because He loves us.
One of the names for Jesus is “Emmanuel,” which means "God with us." Our God is not one who lives far away and decides to dip his toe in the waters of humanity from time to time. He is always active. He is always with us. Matthew wants us to know this in his telling of the story. He begins his gospel with this story of “God with us” (Matt. 1). He ends his gospel saying that he will be “with” his people to the very end of the age (28:20).
Are you feeling lost this week? Know that our God is close. He embraces you right where you are.
We are living into the season of Advent, a time of anticipating Christ's arrival in our midst.
One of my favorite preachers, Fleming Rutlege, says "Advent begins in the dark." In this season, we recognizes the places in our lives and in the world that are in need of God's light. So, Advent is actually about preparation for judgement! This is so counter-cultural in a world where this season insists on glitz and merriment.
Don't get me wrong I'm all about merriment, but in Advent the Church has chosen to stop and say...Before we can celebrate, we anticipate.
Our gospel text this Sunday gives us this picture rather starkly. John the Baptist, wearing camel's hair and wild honey, calls out for people to repent. And if that isn't enough, he calls the leaders of the day "Brood of Vipers!" How would you like that on your Advent calendar?
The good news of Advent is that God, by his great love, calls us to wake up, to repent, to examine the places in our lives and in our world that are broken, to lay them down and to take up his kingdom.
This Sunday begins the season of Advent, a season of anticipation, of longing.
In Advent we look back, joining with "the hopes and fears of all the years" which were met in the birth of Jesus Christ. This first coming is called the Adventus redemptionis.
In advent we are also reminded of God' s presence with us now. We anticipate what God wants to do in our lives as we live into his presence in Word and sacrament. (Adventus sanctificationis)
And finally, we look forward to the day of Christ's second coming when he will return "in glory to judge the living and the dead" and all will be made right. (Adventus glorificamus).
Guest Speaker: David Walley
This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the final week of the church year. The following Sunday begins the season of Advent and the beginning of a new year!
It is perhaps the best way to end the year: celebrating the kingship of Jesus Christ and remembering that Christ leads us in a way that is radically different from all other earthly authorities. In our culture, authority is often defined by coercion, domination, and selfishness. In the Kingdom of God, authority is centered in incarnation, forgiveness, and self-giving love.
This Sunday, we continue our two-part series on Christian hope.
Last week we looked at the source of Christian hope: the resurrection. In the midst of dreams that seem unfulfilled, circumstances are difficult, or in times when it is hard to believe, we cling on to this great hope.
God has called us to a greater glory and when we have eyes to see, we recognize the beauty of the things in this world that are centered on faith, hope, and love.
This Sunday, we look forward to the day when all will be made right. In a world inaugurated by the resurrection, impossible things happen: weeping and crying will go away because their cries have been heard and responded to! Tragedies such as untimely death are no more! Work has deeper meaning and is wasted! Wolves and lambs feed together (Isaiah 65:17-25)! What might it mean for us to live this new world here and now?
In order for the new to emerge, the old must be torn down. In Luke 21:5-19, Jesus prepares his disciples for the day when everything that they've ever known, all they've ever trusted in, will be destroyed. What are the things we cling onto in this world that are destined for destruction? In what ways is God calling us to trust the new and let go of the old?
What do Christians hope for? Where is this all going? There are many seasons in life where we have high expectations and yet at times it can all feel so underwhelming, challenging, or even difficult believe.
Let's explore the ways that we are called to live out Christian hope.
This Sunday, we will observe All Saints Sunday, one of the four high holy days in the church calendar along with Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. It is an important day of remembering that we are part of a larger story than ourselves.
We are also excited to celebrate baptisms into Christ's one, holy, catholic Church. Baptism is the sacrament of entrance into the Christian church, marking the beginning of our life in Christ. Baptism is also an act of congregational worship, shared by all of God's gathered people.
Somehow, in baptism, those who are baptized join the communion of the saints. This is a special moment not just in their lives, but in the life of our local parish. It is a special moment not only in the life of our parish, but in the life of the Church.
We are approaching All Saints Sunday (NEXT WEEK), and this Sunday we reflect on the Christian life.
In his second letter to Timothy, Paul reflects on where he is later in his life.
He says that his life is being "poured out." Paul believes that his life, and even the extinguishing of his life, is an offering to God.
Can you imagine how we might live if we truly saw every part of our life as a sacrifice to God that we know would one day be “poured out?” How much of our time and energy would be spend pursuing hollow counterfeits? And how much of our time would we spend centering our lives on him?
Paul then switches metaphors. It's like he's been running a race, and he is about to achieve the crown (the prize for the winner of a Greek athletic event). But, unlike an athletic event, Paul's crown will not be used as a status symbol and does not prove that he is the one and only winner. This crown is a "crown of righteousness." It means that, in spite of all the people who have rejected Paul, all those who turned their back on him and despised him, God will one day declare that he is "in the right."
The race that we run as Christians is quite different from other ways of achieving. We don't live for Christ because it is practical, has great "upside," growth potential, or because it is the best path to self-fulfillment (though, in a different way, it is all those things). We live for Christ because we know it is what we were created for! And we are confident in that day when all of that will be fully know.
The longing for justice is an inherently human one. We all somehow know in our bones that things are not right with the world: the rich and powerful often use their wealth and power to oppress, while the poor and the marginalized are trampled.
This longing for justice isn't something that has to be taught. Even the youngest child, when around other children for very long, will shout "That's not fair!"
We want justice for Atatiana Jefferson, the 28 year old black woman who was babysitting her nephew in her home when she was fatally shot by a police officer.
We want justice for the Kurdish people as they are being invaded by Turkish forces.
We want justice for children stranded from their parents at our country’s southern border.
We can't pretend we don't hear the voice calling for justice or that it's a myth. We can't say that justice is only something that will happen in a far away heaven.
N.T. Wright said it this way,
"Those who follow Jesus are committed, as he taught us to pray, to God's will being 'done on earth as it is in heaven.' And that means that God's passion for justice must become ours too."
This Sunday, let's hear God's Word about the Christian hope for justice and what it means to live that out here and now.
One of the major themes we see throughout the scriptures is the theme of “exile.” God's people are challenged to live faithfully in foreign lands.
The Jews spent many years in exile in Babylon, and then Persia, Greece, and Rome.
The early Christians found themselves under the shadow of a Roman Empire that worshipped the emperor himself as god.
We can imagine that none of that felt comfortable.
And yet, they are never under the mandate to “win” the culture for Jesus. In Jeremiah 29, the children of Israel are commanded to go about living their lives faithfully, working and praying for the welfare of the city.
In the midst of their exile, God shows them is his desire to work everywhere, among everyone.
Christians are a people in a place. We are called to seek its highest good and to recognize where God is already at work.
In the midst of persecution, Paul challenges Timothy to always look to Jesus, his resurrection, and the fact that he is the fulfillment of the story of God's people (2 Timothy 2:8-15).
The resurrection means that no matter where we find ourselves, God is at work. By God's grace, we are invited to live faithfully, seeking the best for our city.
At Sacrament, we believe that we are part of a story, a faith that has been passed down from generation to generation. At the beginning of Paul's second letter to Timothy, he says to his apprentice, "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." (2 Tim. 1:5)
Some of us have parents and grandparents who handed down this faith to us. The challenge for us is to celebrate this beautiful story, and their faithfulness to pass it on, even if our faith looks a little (or a lot) different from theirs.
Some us us are new to the faith and didn't grow up in a Christian home. The challenge for us is remember that we have inherited a faith from our Christian family, the body of Christ. Even if the faith is new to you, you have brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and grandparents spurring you on in the family of God.
Some of us now have kiddos of our own. We are challenged by what it means to live out formative habits and virtues in our family life that will translate to the next generation.
Paul says that the Spirit God gave us when we first stepped into this family is not a Spirit of fear, but a Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline (vs. 7).
We need the family of God to surround us, reminding us of who we are and what we have been given.
From the very beginning, human beings have been called as stewards, cultivators, overseers of God's beautiful world. We haven't always taken that responsibility seriously, often turning our calling into domination rather than cultivation. Jesus invites us to remember our calling.
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16), is sometimes called Jesus' most difficult parable. It's about money, but it's actually about much more than money. It shows us something about our responsibility to care for the world, not placing unreasonable barriers or restrictions on those who seek to enter the kingdom of God.
We are reminded that God desires all that we are, but not more than that. Because of the love of Christ, we are not hopelessly indebted. God wants our hearts, for us to surrender to His kingship in Jesus, and he meets us where we are with his love, inviting us on the path of deeper life. This Sunday, we explore this idea of stewardship, cultivation, blessing, and the "Bare Essentials" of the gospel.
Throughout the scriptures, we are confronted with two seemingly contrasting realities: the deep brokenness of humanity and the extravagant love of God.
Jeremiah 4 paints a picture of human sinfulness. Left to our own devices, we move not only towards destruction, but towards utter desolation. We see this in our individual tendencies, our relationships, and the systems of our world which always seem to bend towards oppression.
And yet, our God is not content to leave us there. By the overflow of his grace, He calls us even when we are far away (1 Timothy 1:12-17).
This extravagant grace is messy as it calls to the outsiders, those who would not otherwise be invited into "proper" religious circles. And it is not a gentle call, but a reckless, journey to find those who are lost.
The extravagant grace of God both comforts and (appropriately) freaks us out. It comforts us because it means that our mission is not dependent on what we do. It freaks us out because our mission is not dependent on what we do. And it means that we don't get to control who is part of God's family.
Join us Sunday as we see to live in this genuinely re-orienting reality of grace.
This Sunday, we are finishing our series on faith. Every major figure in the Bible has had significant identifiable weakness.
Abraham and Sarah were too old to have kids, and yet their entire calling depended on them having kids.
Moses was not a good speaker.
Gideon was the weakest in his tribe.
Hannah could not have a son.
David was the youngest in his family, also showed significant lapses in moral judgement.
Jeremiah is too young.
Mary was a virgin (how could she bear a son?)
John the Baptist lived in the desert.
Peter was impulsive and uneducated.
Matthew was a tax collector.
Paul persecuted Christians.
The Bible does not try to hide these weaknesses. If anything, it BRAGS about them. Why? Because God calls us in the midst of our weaknesses.
Faith is trusting that God is at work even in the places where we are shaky. And, somehow, through God's work, "we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken." (Hebrews 12:29)
In this sermon we will be asking the question, “What is faith?” Faith is often described as something like “intellectual assent” or “power to overcome.” But, what happens when we come to the end of our intellect? And what happens when we don’t feel very powerful? Have we lost our faith? Have we lost God?
God is with us in every season and struggle of life. Join us as we explore a faith that has room for doubt, struggle, and pain, while being anchored in a great hope.
The resurrection is good news! It means that everything has changed. Christians are called to live this out, which requires radical reorientation.
In the Christian life, we are constantly challenged by two temptations:
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We are tempted to simply “go with the flow,” thinking that the Christian life just comes naturally. This path causes us to focus our gaze inside of ourselves rather than Christ. We become susceptible to believing the other narratives in our world which speak about “the good life”: the pursuit of money, sex, power, approval, etc.
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On the other hand, we are tempted by legalism, the belief that, to be Christian is to follow a very stringent set of rules.
In Colossians 3, Paul challenges the Church to seek “Things Above,” living out Christ’s resurrection and anticipating his new world by the cultivation of Christian virtue.
Living Christianly requires vigilance, habits, and focus—all directed by the self-giving love of God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Join us this Sunday, as we explore what this looks like in our lives and in our community.
At the beginning of his letter to the Colossians, Paul makes some radical statements about Jesus. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. All things were created through him and for him. Everything holds together in him. God’s fullness dwells in him and he has reconciled all things to himself through the Son!
Big, heady stuff. Why does Paul use such big language? Why does Paul the need to say this in so many different ways, over and over again? The Colossians (like all of us) were distracted. They had many things, narratives, images around them beckoning them towards a certain kind of life.
In Christ, “all things” hold together. When we get distracted, the “many things” take our focus away from the one thing, the person of Jesus. Join us Sunday as we are challenged to see the many in light of the One.
In Luke 10, Jesus responds to the question “Who is my neighbor?” With perhaps the most recognizable of all of his parables: The Good Samaritan.
The term “Good Samaritan” is now a pervasive term in culture. Whenever someone helps out, we say that they are a “Good Samaritan.” The term is used to refer to those who rescue or assist.
But a fresh look at Jesus’ parable challenges our assumptions about what it means to be a neighbor. The story has incredible implications about the kingdom of God which transcends tribal identities.
Just as the church has asked for centuries, this Sunday we will ask the question afresh: “Who is my neighbor?”
The proclamation that Jesus is Lord is a proclamation of peace. The Lordship of Christ means that the world is being made right, liberation has come, new creation is springing up.
And, the proclamation that Jesus is Lord is also a proclamation of woe. It means woe to the other things that we have trusted in, the idols we have built, the narratives that have enslaved the world.
The hinge point is the question: “Who will we trust?” Will we cling to our previous identities, our fading stories, our cultural status? Or will we trust in the better way?
This Sunday, we are confronted with three texts about our weakness and God’s strength.
Naaman (2 Kings 5) trusted in his military strength but had to come to grips with a weakness that he could not shake.
The Galatians (Galatians 6) were being tempted to trust in their cultural identity rather than the cross.
Some Villagers (Luke 10), were tempted to trust their own political agendas rather than embracing the peace found only in Jesus.
Join us as we seek to live as the people of the better way!
This Sunday we celebrate the reality of the Trinity. One God, three persons.
“O mystic marvel! The universal Father is one, and one the universal Word; and the Holy Spirit is one and the same everywhere,” - Clement of Alexandria (AD 153-217)
In this sermon, we will ask, "What would it look like if God ran things? What would it look like if my life (and my world) was led by the Spirit?"
Spoiler alert: It might look like self-giving love.
All throughout scripture, God’s people marked times and places where God had proven himself faithful to them; and that’s what we will do this Sunday. We will be looking at the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 11. Resurrection changes the rules and all are invited in!
Easter means a New World. This Sunday is historically called “Good Shepherd Sunday” as we read from John 10 where Jesus is described as the Shepherd whose sheep hear his voice. It is also Mothers Day! We will celebrate all the ladies in the ⛪️ with flowers!
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This Sunday, we continue in the season of Easter, exploring this New World in which we live because of the resurrection.
This week, we look at two stories of radical reversals, dramatic changes that result in this New World: The story of Saul/Paul and the story of Simon Peter. Both awaken us to the ways that God works outside of our boxes, and the redemptive nature of grace.
We will look at the story of Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus who needed tangible proof in order to believe.
We often disparage Thomas, even giving him the nickname “Doubting Thomas,” But that’s not quite fair. This sermon gives us the opportunity to explore the interchange between doubt and faith.
Easter Sunday marks the pivotal event in the life of the Church: Jesus Christ has risen from the dead!
It has been a special Holy Week in our church: Maundy Thursday; Good Friday Tenebrae; Holy Saturday. Tomorrow, we celebrate the fact that Christ has conquered sin and death.
N.T. Wright says of Easter,
[Easter] ought to be an eight-day festival, with champagne served after Morning Prayer or even before, with lots of alleluias and extra hymns and spectacular anthems. Is it any wonder people find it hard to believe in the resurrection of Jesus if we don’t throw our hats in the air? Is it any wonder we find it hard to live the resurrection if we don’t do it exuberantly in our liturgies? Is it any wonder the world doesn’t take much notice if Easter is celebrated as simple the one-day happy ending tacked onto forty days of fasting and gloom? It’s long overdue that we took a hard look at how we keep Easter in the Church, at home, in our personal lives, right through the system. And if it means rethinking some cherished habits, well, maybe it’s time to wake up. That always comes as a surprise.
Let's all be surprised together!
we step into Holy Week, the most important week in the life of the Church. This Sunday, we will celebrate Palm Sunday, recognizing that the kingship of Jesus is drastically different from all the kingdoms of our world.
Message by guest speaker, Father Chad Jarnagin.
This Sunday is the Fifth Sunday in Lent.
This Sunday, we are exploring the idea of Giving Up. How's that for a pep talk?
Jesus calls us to give up the old ways, give up the times that we’ve trusted in ourselves, give up thinking that we have all the answers.
In giving up, we surrender to God and we allow Him to invite us to think about and live our lives differently.
This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. This Sunday, our story leads us to look at God's provision and for us in the desert, and the times when we feel like we need more.
Like the children of Israel who were provided manna in the desert, our God knows our needs and cares for us. And yet, we think that we know better.
In Luke 15, the Prodigal Son turns away from the provision of his father's home and squanders his inheritance on reckless living. The first part of this story leads us to the acknowledgement that WE ALL DO THAT. We all run away from God's best for our lives.
And yet...God's heart towards us is always love. He is the God who welcomes us, and desires reconciliation.
We are living into this season of repentance, of recognizing our dependence on God.
While somber, Lent is not a season of hopelessness or despair. There is great joy in remembering that we need God. It is in the place of dependence where healing begins. Knowing that our identity is wrapped up in Christ, we live in anticipation of Easter!
In Exodus 3, Moses was a man without a country. He felt this in his bones, so much so that he named his child "stranger in a foreign land." Born an Israelite, raised an Egyptian, and living as a Midianite shepherd, Moses heard the call of God from a burning bush.
God was taking Moses' despair, confusion, and broken past, and inviting Him into God's grand rescue operation--for Israel and for the world.
This week, may we learn to embrace our dependence, our weakness, our struggle, and to find God's invitation on holy ground.
We have stepped into the season of Lent. This is a season of repentance, of recognizing our dependence on God.
One of the major images of Lent is the desert. The desert is the place where trust is cultivated. The desert provides us the opportunity to remember who we are and what we trust as we cling (often with the tips of our fingers) to the hope of Easter.
One of the ways that we cultivate this trust is through rhythms, disciplines, which orient our mind, body, and will towards Christ. These may include fasting, prayer, and scripture reading. Here are a couple of great resources for this season.
The Daily Prayer App is a simple, beautifully designed guide for prayer and scripture reading throughout the day. It is a simplified form of the Daily Office in the Book of Common Prayer. This app will help you to create space (and reminders) for regular prayer.
Lent Begins next Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. Lent is a season of repentance, of making room for God in our lives. Some of the images associated with Lent are desert, ashes (we come from dust and will return to dust, without God we are only dust), and oil. Many choose to fast something during Lent. An important thing to remember about fasting: All Can. Some Should. None Must. Fasting is never to be done in order to attempt to earn something from God or prove our holiness. Fasting is a spiritual discipline, a way of forming our hearts towards dependence on him.
This Sunday, the Church reads the stories of Moses descending from the mountain after being given the covenant, and Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is a great way to begin Lent because both stories speak of God's empowerment and revealing of himself before a difficult journey ahead. Both stories also speak to the the human calling to radiate with God's presence into the world.
This Sunday, we continue our series on The Sacred Journey that is the Christian faith.
We have celebrated what it means to encounter God as well as explored how revolutionary it is to follow Jesus. This Sunday we will explore the new world that Christ calls us into. Specifically? What does it mean to live as a Christian? We will look at the idea of Christian virtue.
God has always been the God of forgiveness, the God who reaches out to those who have been alienated and brings about redemption. This Sunday, we see this played out in the story of Joseph and his embrace of his brothers (Genesis 45:3-11, 15); Paul's explanation of how life is brought out of death in the resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50); and Jesus' invitation into the posture we should have towards our enemies (Luke 6:27-38).
Join us as we seek to live into this new grace-filled world!
This Sunday, we continue our series on The Sacred Journey that is the Christian faith.
Last Sunday, we celebrated the beauty of what it means to encounter God. It is such an amazing thing that God desires to be close to us! In God's presence we are called to worship; we are aware of our brokenness; we are healed in by his Word and in communion with him; and we are sent into the world with a new vocation (as fishers of people).
This Sunday, we look at what happens when we are challenged by that thing to which we have been called. After all, the Sacred Journey is not just one of many other paths; it is completely counter-intuitive. It is revolutionary!
Specifically, we have chosen the path of dependence rather than independence (Jeremiah 17:5-10). We have chosen the reality of resurrection, even when the world says that is not a thing (1 Corinthians 15:12-20). We have chosen a path which leads blessing for those who are hurting now and woe to those who have trusted in the ways of of a broken world (Luke 6:17-26).
This Sunday, we begin a new series on our life with Christ. The texts for each week will lead us to explore various stages in the Christian life. We hope you'll join us on this journey!
This Sunday- "People Catchers"- What does it mean to encounter God? We will be looking at what happened when the prophet Isaiah met with God in the heavenly throne room as well as how the disciple's lives changed because of their first encounter with Jesus.
February 17th- "The Path to Revolution"- How is the Christian Story different from anything else? We will be looking at Jesus' revolutionary call.
February 24th- "After You Believe"- How do we live out this revolution of forgiveness, love, and hope? We will look at Jesus' command to love our enemies.
March 3rd- "Water for the Desert"- What does it mean that God is with us in difficult times? We will prepare for the season of Lent by remembering that God is always with us.
We are in the middle of our series called "A Light," exploring what it means that the call of God always goes out into the world. We are being challenged to see ourselves as participating in the healing, sight-giving, forgiving work of God in the world.
We have been encouraging you to think about those in your life who need to hear the good news of God's love and grace. Who do you know in need of liberation? What might this mean for the structures of our world?
This Sunday, we look at how the Word of God always goes out. God's speaking changes us and changes the world. We will look at the response of the people to God's Word in Nehemiah 8; the ways that the church always looks different from, and upends traditional power structures (1 Corinthians 12); and how Jesus embodies the mission of God's people to heal and liberate (Luke 4:14-21).
We live in an interesting cultural moment. Many of us have grown up in a society where Christianity is the majority religion. And yet, that is changing.
Many Christians respond to this changing world with fear. We are afraid that our kids will not grow up in the faith, will not be surrounded by influences that foster the faith. Sometimes we respond to this fear with the desire to fiercely defend, convincing others that they are wrong and we are right.
Some of us have a different kind of fear. We are afraid that being openly Christian will make us stick out awkwardly. We are aware of the ways that others have tried to fiercely defend, the ways many minority religious groups have been marginalized, so we are almost silent about our own faith. We act as if faith is something private, without much to say about the world in which we live.
The Light of Christ will always lead to outward expression. That outward expression will lead us away from fear and towards love. Christians love our neighbors, celebrating the fact that each person was created in God's image. And Christians seek to allow Christ's light to shine through us.
This Sunday, as we continue into the tide of Epiphany, we are beginning a new series that we are calling "A Light." Our scripture texts will lead us to four themes: Beloved, Illumined, Shining, and Proclaiming.
Join us as we explore what it truly means for Christ to be The Light of the World, and what it means that he calls us to join Him as he is the Light in the darkness.
Did you know that Christmas is not just a day, but a season? We are currently in the "12 Days of Christmas." Historically, the season of Christmas begins on Christmas Day and continues until Epiphany (January 6th).
Christmas is not simply a day we rush towards, are finished with, and move on. Christmas is a time for living into the reality of the Incarnation, an extended time of celebrating God's rescue and redemption.
This Sunday, David Walley will be preaching and leading the service. It will be a special time of Christmas reflection.
Over the past couple of weeks, we have been exploring this Advent season. We have looked at big themes like judgement, repentance, and anticipation.
This Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent, traditionally called "Gaudete Sunday." Gaudete means "Rejoice." In the midst of waiting, we also rejoice. We look back on what God has done for us, on who he is, and we celebrate that.
This may seem strange to us: celebrating while we wait. But the Bible is full of stories which play around with time. These stories recognize God has already arrived. Yet, even as He is here, He is still (in another sense) not yet here. After the angel gives Mary the news that she will give birth to Jesus, she sings,
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. Luke 1:51-53
Is Mary singing about what God has already done? Or about what he will do? The answer is "Yes!" The God who has done is the God who will do.
This means that suffering and rejoicing can exist side by side. We recognize the severe brokenness in our world, while celebrating the goodness of the God.
This week is an opportunity to reflect on the goodness of God. We recognize that God has brought us through so much already, even as we anticipate that He will one day make all wrong things right.
What are you wrestling with today? What has God brought you through?
This week we are challenged to ask those questions together.
This Sunday marks the second week of Advent. Advent is about judgment, about God’s loving presence to reveal and to heal the world. Last Sunday, we talked about how the world longs for justice, and that justice always comes with judgment.
This week, we talk about the response to judgement: repentance. Malachi speaks of "refiners fire" and "fuller's soap," both images that are stark, but both images of purification. Contrary to how it is often talked about, God’s judgment is always rooted in God’s righteousness...his character...his goodness...his love. We have talked about how judgment is like a doctor shining light on our sickness. It is for the purpose of healing! And yet, that doesn’t mean that it’s not scary. It stings. Sometimes healing hurts. And yet we trust in the character of the healer.
This Sunday marks the beginning of the season of Advent. Advent is a season of watching and waiting. We are watchmen/women, longing for his return. We join the chorus of Israel and sing, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," anticipating the birth of Jesus. And we stand on our tiptoes waiting for that day when the world will be made right.
This is a season when we celebrate:
1) The past: God's initiative toward the world in Christ (the upcoming season of Christmas); 2) The future: God's coming victory in Christ, the second coming when the world will be made right. 3) The present: A cross-shaped life of love for the world in the present time.
Over the next four weeks, we will stand as a people waiting on the God who makes all things new.
Today is a wonderful opportunity to remind ourselves of the goodness of God: that our God created us and the world out of his love, he sustains us and the world by his love, that he has conquered sin and death, and one day all wrongs will be undone. It is also an opportunity to reflect on those times in our lives where we have seen God's faithfulness in specific ways.
A prayer for Thanksgiving, Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
This Sunday is the last Sunday of the church calendar. It is the feast of Christ the King. Join us as David Walley guest preaches.
This Sunday, we will hear the story of Hannah and the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:4-20). Our gospel text reveal Jesus' cryptic words about the coming fate of the temple (Mark 13:1-8).
These stories challenge us about where we put our hope: for strength, security, healing, identity, etc. Our dreams for life are often self-focused, me-centered. These two stories challenge our often myopic imaginations by inviting us to see a bigger picture. Perhaps, as we surrender our hopes and dreams to God, there is something different and yet better than we could ever imagine.
Join us this Sunday as we are challenged to trust in a truer strength.
This Sunday, the lectionary texts lead us to look at the power of weakness. The story of Ruth (3:1-5; 4:13-17) shows us two women who lost everything, including their identity. They took small steps, opening themselves up to healing and restoration. The passage in the book of Hebrews (9:24-28), reminds us that the Christian life is not primarily dependent on our work, but on Christ's work. And our gospel text (Mark 12:38-44) tells the beautiful story of a widow who gave out of her poverty, out of her weakness, and yet Jesus said that she gave more than anyone.
The Christian faith is about responding in weakness rather than strength, a culturally counter-intuitive movement. When we follow Christ, we offer not only our strengths, but our weaknesses, our shame and our hurt--all that we have and all that we are.
This Sunday, we celebrate All Saints Day (which was yesterday). We commemorate those Christians who have gone before, often called "The Church Triumphant."
We stand in the beautiful reality that we are part of a larger Story than just our own. This is also an important time for us to reflect on Christ’s prayer in John 17, that his followers may be one as He and the Father are one.
We pray together,
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)
This Sunday, our guest preacher will be Tracy Balzer, as she continues our series "The Words and Music" on selected Psalms. Tracy will lead us through Psalm 73 around the theme of perspective.
Tracy is the author of several books on spiritual formation including her most recent book, Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey Into Celtic Christianity. She is an experienced traveler to the Isle of Iona (a significant place in Church history and Celtic Christianity) and is the founder of Sea & Stone Journeys where she leads pilgrimages to the island. Tracy is also the Dir. of Christian Formation at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.
You may also know Tracy as Langley Burton's mom! Tracy and her husband Cary have been friends to Sacrament and we are so excited to welcome them this Sunday.
This Sunday, we begin a new series called "The Words and the Music" looking at selected Psalms.
The Psalms are the prayerbook of scripture and provide language for the breadth of human emotion and expression. As we sing and pray the Psalms we seek to be transformed as part of the ongoing prayers of the people of God throughout history. This first week, we will explore Psalm 8, a reflection on the "bigness" of God, and how he creates and sustains the world.
Let’s celebrate new life in Christ!
Baptism is the sacrament of entrance into the Christian church, marking the beginning of our life in Christ; and it is also an act of the congregation in worship.
After service, we will have a potluck. All are invited to bring a dish to share.
Join us as we pray for Pets! All furry, scaly, and feathered creatures are welcome!
We will be set-up outside of Riverfront Park (1st Avenue North), sharing a short liturgy together at 11am. We will be set up for blessing from 10am-1pm.
A Blessing of Animals witnesses to God's and the Church's love, care, and concern for creation. We recognize our mutual interdependence with God's creatures and our call to the stewardship of creation. Especially great for kids!
This Sunday, we continue our series: "A People," drawing from the lectionary texts.
This week, we explore what it means to be A Deferring People. Christian virtue is characterized by a kind of humility. Our strength, identity, value and significance comes from somewhere else. Namely, it comes from God.
Christians are constantly remembering and reorienting to the fact that we are dependent on God; we take our cues from God. We, therefore, must not primarily be concerned with things that are temporary--positioning for power, how we are seen in the eyes of others, material wealth and status, etc.--but with things that last.
Our prayer of the Church for this upcoming week:
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This Sunday, we are kicking off a three week series that we are calling "A People," drawing from the lectionary texts. Sacrament’s very own Ian Cullen will kick off our series looking at what it means to be "A Confessing People"-- the confession of Jesus as Lord and the implications it has for the words we speak to one another. I am so thankful to Ian for stepping in on short notice as my family and I attend the funeral of my grandfather.
Ian and Katie have been a part of Sacrament Church for a few years now.
Ian is on the pastoral staff at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a chaplain. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Oakland City University, and his Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Prior to working at Vanderbilt he served as the Clinical Pastoral Education Resident for Vanderbilt University Medical Center and was a Clinical Pastoral Education Intern with the Veteran’s Administration Tennessee Valley Healthcare System Nashville Campus, and he has also served as a youth pastor.
Following in the way of Jesus requires us to look at the world differently. It requires us to look at others differently.
Maybe it's just good ole' southern hospitality, but we all inherently know that it is better to be accepting, loving, welcoming. We intuitively get that hospitality is valuable. And yet often our hospitality does not go deeper than the surface. We tend to really value those who a) we can get something from or; b) are like us.
This Sunday, our texts weave together to tell us something about God's radical hospitality, his value for those previously considered "outsiders." Isaiah 35: 4-7a describes a future world where healing happens for all people, where "waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert." James 2 says that God has "chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him." And in Mark 7, Jesus is approached by a woman from "outside" of God's children, one who was frequently called a "dog" by the insiders.
Jesus' approach to this woman catches us off guard, makes us uncomfortable and teaches us something about the specificity and wideness of the Kingdom of God.
This kind of hospitality is not just a moral imperative for Christians. It is who our God is.
This Sunday we are blessed to hear from Sacrament's very own Dr. David Walley.
David and his wife Ellen have been part of Sacrament for the past several months, and have already been such a blessing in the life of our church. David is a counselor in private practice in Nashville. He holds a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Philosophy.
David has worked on several church staffs over the past thirty-five years and for two years was a consultant for a large local publishing company. He is the father of three grown children, and grandfather to a handsome little guy in Mississippi named Shepherd.
David will be sharing a message called "Abba's Children," reflecting on the importance of knowing our identity as God's child, and how that shapes who we are.
This Sunday, we are continuing our series through the first few chapters of Ephesians, looking at what it means to be "Resurrection People." Paul shares some very practical fruit of this new life. There are certain things that we are called to reject (falsehood, stealing, unwholesome talk, bitterness, rage and anger, brawling slander, malice). And there are certain things that we are called to take on (usefulness, talk that builds up, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, love, and self-giving). We are to do this as an offering to God.
We want to suggest that this way of living is not just a good idea, not just what's appropriate for good citizenship. It is much more than that. This way of being in the world has societal (and even cosmic) implications. Resurrection people live as a signpost of God's new world, which has been inaugurated in the resurrection.
When we gather week after week, as we come together to the Table of the Lord, we do so not simply to be inspired or to mingle with our friends (though we hope that you are inspired and we do believe that powerful friendships are formed in Christian community), but to worship the Living God who shapes us as Resurrection People.
In the C.S. Lewis classic The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the four Pevensie children wander into the strange land of Narnia, a land plagued by a great curse. As a result of this curse, it it is always winter, but never Christmas.
The children take refuge at the home of a Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who tell them that the King, the Lord of the whole world, Aslan, is on the move. The Beavers quote an old Narnian prophecy,
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
When the children find out that Aslan is a lion, they ask, "Is he safe?"
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Of course, Aslan is the Jesus character of the Narnia stories, a way for Lewis to speak of God and bring elements of his character to light in the genre of myth.
Our God is good, all the way through. His love, goodness, and beauty endure forever.
And, in the face of pure goodness, true love, and radiant beauty, our pale and broken world is a dangerous place to be. The way of Jesus is always uncomfortable and treacherous in a world of counterfeit stories.
This comes into focus in our texts this Sunday as Jesus is ridiculed in his hometown, as he prepares his disciples for the rejection they will experience as they go from house to house casting out demons, and as Paul tells the story of his "thorn in the flesh."
Join us as we worship and are formed by the God who makes wrongs right.
The author of the gospel of Mark likes to use a very specific literary device where he squeezes one little story inside a bigger story. It's often called a "Markan Sandwich." The two stories then play off of each other and inform each other in rich ways.
Mark is telling us something about Jesus in Mark 5:21-43, the stories of the healing of Jairus' daughter and the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. They tell about the One who meets us and our world in the midst of our fears, in our vulnerabilities, when we've come to the end of our rope.
The miracles of Jesus are never just about the miracles themselves, but about the One who is making all things new.
Join us as we take a look at Jesus as the God who remakes us and remakes our world.
This Sunday, we will continue our series on "The Breath of New Creation," looking at Jesus' parable of the Sower in Mark 4:26-34 and what we mean when we say that God is cultivatinghis kingdom in our midst.
This is such an important story for us as we seek to be a people who follow in the way of Jesus, a way that is primarily unseen,in a world that values being seen.We will pray together that God will root us in our new neighborhood as co-creators and participants in His work of bringing heaven to earth...a resurrection people in the city of Nashville!
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, and we are so excited to welcome Dr. Chris Green to preach and lead us to the table.
Chris is Associate Professor of Theology at Pentecostal Theological Seminary (Cleveland, TN).
He is the author of many works including: Foretasting the Kingdom: Toward a Pentecostal theology of the Lord's Supper; Sanctifying Interpretation; and his recently published The End is Music: A Companion to Robert W. Jenson's Theology. Dr. Green has also served as a pastor, a church-planter, and a teaching pastor at our sending church, Sanctuary (Tulsa, OK). He is part of the Bishop's Council of the Diocese of Saint Anthony, the Order in which we are both walking through ordination.
Dr. Green has multiple theology degrees including a B.S., Southwestern Christian University; M.M., Southwestern Christian University; M.S.T.S., Southwestern Assemblies of God University; D.Min., Oral Roberts University, and his
Ph.D.; Bangor University,
I am so excited to announce that Sacrament will be moving to 618 Ewing on June 17th.Last month, we announced that Sacrament was looking for a new home as we have had to quickly transition from Sparkworks Union. We have found the right place, and it is beyond what we even hoped for!
Sacrament is excited to partner with the owners of 618 Ewing and Flavor Catering in an elegant, beautiful space with kids room, convenient parking, on-site storage, and the potential for midweek activities.
Set-up and tear down will be simplified as we hang speakers, projector and screen; we are also in the process of streamlining our sound system for plug-and-play capability. This place will give us room to grow, opportunities for outreach in an lively area accessible to most of Middle Tennessee.
What’s the Transition Timeline?Here’s what the next few weeks look like for our community:
May 27th- Trinity Sunday @ Sparkworks with special guest Dr. Chris Green.
June 3rd- Second Sunday after Pentecost @ Sparkworks with special guest Pastor Deborah Jackson.
June 10th- Outdoor Gathering @ at nearby park (stay tuned!).
June 17th- First Sunday @ 618 Ewing
Where is this Place?618 Ewing is easily accessible from East Nashville via Korean Veterans Boulevard. After crossing the bridge, turn left at the roundabout on to Lafayette, and then a right onto Ewing (at City Winery). The building is on your left, right next to Hot Diggety Dog. It is also easy to get to from Highways 65, 24, or 40.
Wait...That’s not East Nashville.Well…you’re right! Those who have been around Sacrament for awhile know that we have always considered ourselves an East Nashville neighborhood church. So, the decision to move away from the Eastside has been tough.
When Ashley, Lucy and I moved to Nashville five years ago, we had the neighborhoods of East Nashville firmly in our sights. At the time, there were not many new churches in these neighborhoods. As the neighborhood has grown and changed, several young churches have moved in, which is awesome!
Also, over the past year, we have wondered if the Spirit was gently encouraging us to other possibilities. While we still have a core of people who live in East Nashville, since moving to Sparkworks, most of our new members do not live in East Nashville, with congregants driving from Germantown, Antioch, Madison, Hendersonville, Old Hickory, Murfreesboro, Springfield, and Greenbrier! We wonder if a more centralized location may be the right next step for us. And, this new location is just a few minutes from the old location on a Sunday morning.
We are excited to dig into the neighborhood of Pie Town, home of Nashville Rescue Mission and a wide range of socio-economic conditions. A creative neighborhood, Pie Town is also home to City Winery and Third Man Records and 618 Ewing is right at the intersection of the Pie Town, SoBro, and Gulch neighborhoods.
Kick-OffWe will step into our new space on June 17th! Join us for our “Intro to Sacrament” lunch after service to learn more about the vision of Sacrament!
We are reminded once again of God’s great faithfulness to his people, and we are confident in His mission.
Grace and Peace,
Preston Sharpe
Lead Pastor
Sacrament Church
Hello Sacrament Family, Friends, and Partners
The adventure of church-planting is often about change—the kind that is exhilarating and beautiful, and the kind that is treacherous and difficult. We don’t always know what is in store, but we do believe that the Holy Spirit goes ahead of us.
Yesterday we announced that Sacrament will be moving out of Sparkworks Union in June.
When we first moved into the space last September, we knew that there was always the potential that Sparkworks would find a full-time, long-term tenant and that would mean that we would need to find a new meeting place. Of course, we always hoped that this possibility would be sometime in the distant future.
We only found out about this move a couple of weeks ago, and did not expect such a short turn-around, but we are facing the next steps with great hope and trust.
And there is a lot to be hopeful about! During our time here at Sparkworks, we have made some great friends, one of them being Liza Kawaller, the property manager at Sparkworks. She speaks very highly of our congregation and is helping us find a place that may be an even better fit than our current location! Through Liza’s connections in the event space/real estate world, we have identified 15 potential new homes for our church. We are now in the process of contacting, vetting, and conversing with each of these places. We already have at least one solid option and we have made some great progress in just over one week’s time.
The possibilities have allowed us to dream in some creative ways in the midst of this transition as we look for a place in the urban core of Nashville that will be welcoming and have great kids space in a neighborhood where our church could grow and serve.
Here’s how you can help:
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Pray for Sacrament. Prayer helps to align our priorities with God’s voice. Please pray that we would listen for the voice of the Spirit and sense his desire for our congregation.
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Keep your ear to the ground. Do you know of a place? It just might be the place. Let us know!
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If Sacrament is your home, we ask that you would do all of the normal “church member” stuff: attend regularly, tithe, join a volunteer team. This stuff is especially important/valuable in times of transition.
Here is our Transition Schedule:
May 20th- Pentecost Sunday @ Sparkworks. We celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. Everyone is encouraged to wear red as a reminder of the fire of the Holy Spirit.
May 27th- Trinity Sunday @ Sparkworks with special guest Dr. Chris Green.
June 3rd- Second Sunday after Pentecost @ Sparkworks with special guest Pastor Deborah Jackson.
June 10th- Outdoor Gathering @ Sparkworks.
June 17th- First Sunday in a new space TBD
In the scriptural story, God’s people often find themselves in transition: wilderness wanderings, exiles, and missionary movements. It could be said that God works in a special way during these seasons. Let us choose to lean into this and see what He will do.
Grace and Peace,
Preston Sharpe
Lead Pastor
Sacrament
Five years ago, Ashley, Lucy, and I moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Nashville, Tennessee to plant a church. We are so glad that we did. Ours is a “parachute” church plant, meaning that we did not have a pre-established root system in the city, and we only knew a few people We moved in, planted roots, and started gathering people. We have made a ton of mistakes, our character has been refined, and we have been so incredibly blessed.
Over the years, I have learned a few things that I would like to pass on to church-planters. First, a few of disclaimers: 1) I am not an “expert” in any way (e.g. our church is still very small). 2) every situation (city, neighborhood, support system, demographics) is different. These are “tips,” not formulas. 3) These tips are for you and your heart/mind. There are so many great resources about how to care for your city or your congregation. There are fewer resources about your own formation. I am convinced that fruitful ministry must come from a heart centered on identity in Christ.
So, here it goes...
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Decide How You Will Measure ProgressSomething you have to come to grips with: as an church-planter, your church growth will be slow, often painfully so. There are a variety of factors associated with this including but not limited to:
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We live in a world where more and more people are resistant to church. In this sense, church-planting is “against the tide” culturally. This movement is even stronger in urban areas and is exacerbated by the fact that urban areas are full of younger people with transient lifestyles.
- Because you are a transplant, you will more likely connect with “transplants” to your city (I wish I could say more about this…), and this means that there will be fewer “family systems” to naturally connect with your church.
There are, of course, examples of church-plants who have grown exponentially in a short period of time, but these are the outliers. Let me say it clearly because others may not: you need to assume that this will not be you.
So…decide what you are going to measure/value when tangible progress seems non-existent. How is God changing lives in your congregation? Who is that person who is part of your church who had previously given up on church all together? Focus on the enthusiasm of your leaders.
I decided that I was going to focus on formation, the daily act of gathering a congregation and pastoring them. I focused on showing up, loving people, preaching and serving communion, etc. I have two resources that I pick up whenever I am feeling discouraged by lack of tangible results: One is Eugene Peterson’s autobiography The Pastor. I pick it up, read a few pages, and I’m quickly in a much better place. The second is this documentary. Both resources focus on what it means to pastor a people in a place.
- Hold People Lovingly And LooselyAnother scary but true statement: Everyone will leave your church at some point. And they will all leave sooner than you would want them to. We have found that this happens more poignantly in urban areas, but it true for a lot of church-plants for a few reasons:
Young couples and singles tend the be the primary demographics drawn to church plants, and their lives tend to change quickly. Planting in a city, we found that when couples have children, the draw to the suburbs becomes much stronger (space, cost of living, etc.) as well as the draw to attend churches in the suburbs. In all church-plants, you will have singles and couples in your church who feel like they need to join a “grown-up” church after awhile.
But people leave churches in general for all kinds of reasons. People will leave your church for a church that is just a little bit more trendy; people will leave your church for a church that is nothing like yours and you will be baffled; people will leave in the most kind way possible; people will just leave and never say a word. People are complex.
Also…people will leave faith altogether. You can’t blame yourself for that. One of Billy Graham’s best friends left the faith and Graham couldn’t do anything about it. Billy freaking Graham.
We have to learn to love people fully, but not put our hope, or the hope of the church, in them. It’s not a balance. It’s seeking to do both. Be kind when they leave; send them and aggressively try not to harbor bitterness. Because, here’s the thing…at some point, you will leave too, and you want to create a sending culture.
- Embrace Simplicity In church-planting, you are making a conscious choice to live simply. We moved into a tiny shoebox apartment in the middle of our city. That feels romantic in the beginning, and it is fun! But, over time, you start feeling the limits of your space. Almost five years later, we still live there.
Realize, that in 21st century America, you are a missionary, not a CEO. Ask your friends who are missionaries overseas about their lives. They know more about this than we do. Resist “keeping up with the Joneses” and avoid consumerism like the plague! You have a different calling.
We sold all of our stuff when we moved to Nashville, and bought cheap furniture from IKEA. Of course, you can replace it over time when there is more stability in your life. You will probably move to a different place eventually. But simplicity should always be an aim. Resist messages saying you have failed because of your housing situation/simple life.
With that, make a practical choice regarding your car. Will you have a car? In NYC/Chicago you may not need or want one. In Nashville, it’s pretty much a necessity. We started out with two, tiny cars. What to consider:
- What is the parking like in your city? You will be in and out of coffee shops, office spaces, hospitals, etc. Tiny cars are great for this!
- Carrying the inevitable church stuff around. Big cars are good for this; we became very dependent on people in our congregation with trucks.
- You will make a lot of road trips, especially your first year. You will go back home, go on fundraising trips, trainings, and networking meetings. You need something reliable.
There is not a right or wrong answer here. After almost five years, we now have two large vehicles, but I think having one of each would have been wise.
- Get an Office As Soon as PossibleI always thought of having an office as a luxury a church-planter could ill-afford. What a waste!…I thought…Coffee shops have free internet, and let’s be honest, I’m going to go there anyway...I thought...Or, I can just work from home!...I thought.
Get behind me Satan! This is a lie. Let me beak down this counterfeit message:
Yes, coffee shops have free internet, but it’s inconsistent, and in the city, power outlets and seating are limited. You can’t make private phone calls (think about all the things you have to tell your mentor/coach/bishop that you do not want the world to hear), or meet with anyone without others overhearing your conversation; plus, you usually end up having to purchase two beverages a day, which gets pricey.
You could work from home, and if you are blessed with a medium-size to large home that is probably a good option; but most church planters aren’t blessed with this. If you have young children, this is a non-starter. They will want to be all-in-your business all the time. Our second year of planting, I walked into our living room and my wonderful two-year-old daughter was slamming my iPad on the concrete floor (cracked it). I realized…I have to do something different.
Office space is expensive, so you have to get creative. Is there another church that would let you rent an office from them? How about a company? The best answer for us has been a co-working space. Usually, coffee, internet, and copying are included on some level at a co-working space as well so no more overpaying at Fed-Ex/Office Depot to print church bulletins!
Do what you have to do (if coffee shops are your only option, you’ll have the grace to do that), and find out what works best for you.
- Have Close Pastor Friends; Don’t just go to a lot of Pastor Events We are blessed in Nashville with a variety of pastor networking opportunities. I love them and have attended a lot of them. However, I found early on that I could easily fill up my schedule with pastor networking events.
What has been the most life giving to me are the few close relationships that I have with pastor friends.
Networking meetings and events are good to compare notes, learn strategies, and help each other. All great things! But, it is important to have a few people with whom you can be completely honest without fear that they will judge you or that you are complicating a pastoral relationship.
I have been blessed with one very close friend who pastors in Middle Tennessee,. Our hearts for ministry are consistent, but our contexts are radically different. He’s been someone I can call regularly.
Other than that, cultivate friendships outside of your city. You need people who you can call at the drop of a hat, who will celebrate victories and grieve losses with you.
- Remember: The World is Your Parish John Wesley once said, “the world is your parish.” Don’t just limit love, care, and ministry to those in your congregation or potential “recruits.” Love the people in your city. You will get to know people at the coffee shop who will never visit your church (notice a coffee theme I got going on here?). You are not wasting your time with them. Love them! Pastor them! Care for them!
Volunteer at your local school. Be-friend local business owners. You are not “recruiting,” you are loving and pastoring them.
- Be Vicious with Social MediaSocial media is the church-planter's (or humans?) greatest friend and greatest foe. It is an amazing way to meet new people and get a sense of what’s going on in your city. You can friend people when you meet them and keep up to date. You can join community groups and find out about events going on in the city.
BUT, it will be tempting to measure your worth and success as a church-planter on social media. How many likes/followers/friends/shares/posts you have can actually drive you crazy.
The truth is, social media gives you a very small snapshot (thumbnail?) into the life of your church. It does not measure your health or success. And, it can kill your confidence and vision.
Most people don’t think about church throughout the week like you do. They don’t use social media the same way that you do. Facebooks algorithms are changing constantly so your views of your community will change. DON’T BE ROCKED BY THIS.
In fact, have disciplines for your social media consumption. Maybe only use it during office hours or on certain days. It’s not worth giving up your sanity.
- Be Rigid with your personal and Family Rhythms; Loose with your work rhythmsYeah, this one may be controversial, but as a pastor, your personal and family rhythms are more important than anything else. I once had a friend tell me that my only goal in the early days of church-planting should be to make sure I take care of my family. That sounds extreme, but this foundation is key. I am sorry to say, I have failed at this constantly.
Have personal devotional rhythms that are unwavering. I pray the Daily Office twice per day. I fast a meal once per week. Don’t let that slip, and when you do, just pick it back up again. I am not advocating legalism; I am saying that your habits form you. We must be formed by the right things.
Fight for Sabbath, one day of doing nothing but worship, rest, healthy play, and family time. This is going to be tough because you will probably be juggling two jobs yourself, your spouse’s work and childcare. But you have to fight for it.
Be there for your spouse and your kids. If they need you, its ok to cancel that meeting (I know, it means you miss a networking opportunity/pastoral care responsibility). It’s ok to drop your sermon prep and go home for the day. They are going through as much, if not more, transition than you are; just be there.
Bring them coffee from the coffee shop that you are working at…maybe every time. Try to stop at the Dollar Tree and get a $1 toy to surprise your little one with when you walk in. Take your kids to work with you (sometimes), so that they can see what you do. Many of my first meetings about the church were with a baby carrier in my hand.
As a pastor, most of the things that we do can wait until tomorrow. They are important, but not always time-sensitive. Mess up your schedule for your family.
See a counselor, spiritual director, support group, etc. All of it. Do it.
In Conclusion…I hope this is helpful! I met with a spiritual director recently who said, “Church-planting is THE hardest thing to do in the world.” Ok, this is hyperbole, but it helped me a lot. Keep your head up. Keep moving forward. God is at work and you get to join Him!
This Sunday, our story leads us into an exploring on abiding in Christ. What does it mean that the Christian life is specific? We are called to make our home in God. We are called into a very particular way of being human, a way that is quite different from the other paths of our world.
And yet...that specific story, that abiding or remaining, leads us outwards, beyond ourselves in order to join God as he heals and restores the world.
Sacrament is celebrating four years as a church!
The season of Easter is a time of celebration. On Easter Sunday in 2014, Sacrament Church was launched. God has been faithful every step of the way.
Join us for brunch, a service where our focus will be "Trust and Obey," and other activities.
Let's celebrate God's faithfulness in the past and look to where he might lead us in the future.
All are invited to bring Energy Bars for the Maplewood High School Football Team as they begin summer workouts.
- Sunday, May 6, 2018
- 10:00 AM 11:30 AM
- Sacrament Church935 East Trinity LaneNashville, TN, 37207
This Sunday, we continue in the Easter season as we explore what it means for Christ to be present with us in Story and Table.
Life is full of many pursuits. We seek after dreams, relationships, experiences, success, and fulfillment. These are not bad pursuits on their own, but they too often become the pursuits of our lives.
In Luke 24, two of Jesus' disciples are leaving Jerusalem after his burial. They have lost their dream; their hopes are dashed. And yet, a mysterious figure appears to them and begins to tell them their own story in a fresh way. He begins to remind them that their story as God's people has always been about letting go, about suffering, about trusting.
This mysterious figure (Jesus himself) is only revealed to them in the breaking of bread.
Join us as we explore the importance of Story and Table, in Word and in Sacrament. May we allow him to tell us our own story in a new way, and open our eyes at His table.
Events are important. They are markers. Events matter. In the Old Testament, we see places where God won a significant battle for the Israelites. And, they would mark it with an altar, a stone, what we call an Ebenezer (Do you know that old song that says, "Here I raise my Ebenezer”?).
And yet, life is more than a series of events. We now find ourselves in the season of Easter. Easter is not just a day and then we go on to life as normal. As Americans, we are very focused on events. The Biblical calendar is very focused on seasons and rhythms.
We are living into a season of feasting, of celebration, of jumping into what it means to be a Resurrection People. If Jesus really rose from the dead, that means that everything is different.
N.T. Wright says of the Easter season,
It ought to be an eight-day festival, with champagne served after morning prayer or even before, with lots of alleluias and extra hymns and spectacular anthems. Is it any wonder people find it hard to believe in the resurrection of Jesus if we don’t throw our hats in the air? Is it any wonder we find it hard to live the resurrection if we don’t do it exuberantly in our liturgies? Is it any wonder the world doesn’t take much notice if Easter is celebrated as simply the one-day happy ending tacked on to forty days of fasting and gloom?
…we should be taking steps to celebrate Easter in creative new ways: in art, literature, children’s games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts, anything that comes to mind. This is our greatest festival.
Join us as we live into this great festival and seek to be a Resurrection People.
He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
Christians are resurrection people. We live our lives in a different way because Christ has conquered sin and death. N.T. Wright says, "The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it.” Our full kids class will be available!
A playlist featuring Jessie Early, John Mark McMillan, Melissa Helser, and others
We've also make a playlist for you to listen to during the Easter season on Spotify. Listen below, or follow the playlist!
This Sunday is Palm Sunday! We will step into the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
This Sunday marks the fifth Sunday in Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and making space for God in our lives.
We will explore what it means to "lay down" our lives in the way of Jesus, letting go and trusting the better way to which Jesus invites us.
This Sunday marks the fourth Sunday in Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and making space for God in our lives. And this week we welcome Preston's parents as this week's guest speakers.
Brent and Janis are both Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists and operate a private practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They are pastors at Sanctuary Church in Tulsa, OK and have been involved in full-time pastoral ministry since 1982. Brent and Janis have a passion for helping develop the individual disciple of Jesus, building community in the church and bringing health and wholeness to relationships. They are authors of The Making of a Marriage, a book on the formation of a healthy and thriving marriage. Over the years they have inspired thousands of couples, from the private counseling room to small and large training sessions, in finding the best relationship possible. Brent and Janis have been married for almost forty years and have four kids (including your pastor).
This Sunday marks the third Sunday in Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and making space for God in our lives.
One of the most unsettling things about the Bible is that it's stories, letters, poetry, and prophecy are always provoking towards a different way to be human than what we would normally expect. Jesus resists earthly ways of power: nationalism, military strength, manipulation, etc. and chooses the path of self-giving.
In every time and every culture, Jesus upends cultural idols. Many of the religious systems in first century Judaism practiced a kind of exclusion that came from their ethnic identity as God's people and through keeping the law. They kept Samaritans, Gentiles, the sick, and sinners at a safe distance. For the Greeks, the idol was wisdom (1 Corinthians 1)--always looking to the latest fad teaching for personal enrichment.
Lent provokes us to get in touch with our own "idols," the false things which govern our lives and form who we are. Nashville is a land of experiences. Do we worship the last "moment" that we had or live our whole lives in pursuit of the next one? Or, are we driven by wealth, success, fame, approval, security, or knowledge? Here's a tough question: does our political ideology drive our lives rather than our identity in Christ?
Join us as we allow ourselves to be provoked by Jesus who literally upends the idols of our world (John 2).
This Sunday marks the second Sunday in Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and making space for God in our lives.
In the Gospels (perhaps most clearly in Mark's gospel), we see this interesting development: in a world that was longing for a strong leader, one who would stand up to Israel's enemies and take them back to empire status. Jesus (the one they hoped would be that guy) does a few odd things:
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He heals people and reveals that he is the Messiah, but he tells them not to tell anybody about it (3:12; 5:43; 8:30).
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He also starts talking about his coming death (counter-intuitive, because, to be a revolutionary, you have to be alive). The disciples try to shut that down, maybe thinking that he's speaking figuratively or is just being pessimistic. Peter even has a side-convo with him about it (Mark 8:32).
Then Jesus says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it."
As Christians, we are a people who follow in the way of the cross. Where our tendency is to be self-promoting, Jesus points us towards a kind of hiddenness. Where as we are all about our own security, Jesus calls us to a kind of reckless abandon, living for him with all that we are. And yet, true salvation is found there.
Join us this Sunday as we explore the difficult contradiction of saving and losing.
This Sunday marks the first Sunday in Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and making space for God in our lives.
Lent also becomes about contradictions. The way of Jesus is counter-intuitive. At the cross, we see Death as the way to life; we are called to lose our lives in order to save them; God uses foolish things to confound the wise; Christ is lifted up only after he lays His life down.
The way to the cross will always mess with us as it offers us a better way to be human. Lent is about learning how to live in desert places while holding on to the reality of God's steadfast love.
This Sunday, we step into the story of the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-9), this moment in the life of Jesus where the veil between heaven and earth is lifted, and Jesus is shown in glory. In that powerful moment, the Father speaks and affirms to the disciples Jesus' identity as His Son, and tells them that they are to listen to Him.
The Father's command would be difficult for the disciples to heed as the story moves on. Their faith would be challenged as Jesus leads them, not to evident victory, but to death.
Perhaps this story is important for us as we step into the Lenten season. May we listen to Him wherever he leads us, and trust that it is a road towards a new and better way to be human.
You can download a PDF of our 2018 Lent guide here.
We've also make a playlist for you to listen to during the Lent season on Spotify. Listen below, or follow the playlist!
A playlist featuring Chris Quilala, All Sons & Daughters, Jon Foreman, and others
One of the most interesting and controversial things about Jesus was the way he spoke and embodied a unique kind of authority. In contrast to many of the other rabbis of the time who would attempt to call upon the authority Moses, or an earlier rabbi, Jesus spoke with the authority of God himself.
He proclaimed forgiveness and freedom from sin, freedom from oppression, and freedom from disease. Jesus proclaimed this freedom for individuals and for the whole of God's people.
In 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, the apostle Paul explores this idea of freedom. What does freedom mean? The Corinthian's idea of freedom was that they get to do whatever they want, and that they look down on those who didn't have the same kind of freedom.
But Paul reminds them that we have been set free from sin, oppression, and sickness for a reason: to proclaim and embody the good news to the world!
The way of Jesus calls us into a completely different kind of life: one that is always concerned about the other, especially those who find themselves in bondage.
Join us as we explore what it means to be a people who proclaim and embody the Good News of Jesus.
One of the major concerns present in a good chunk of the New Testament has to do with food. Why? It seems trivial. Why would the New Testament writers take so much time to address the issue of what to eat and how to eat it?
The answer is, at least partially, because of what food represented in the Roman world. Food was often associated with sacrifice, with worship, and, more generally, with culture.
The church was expanding. It was becoming a movement of Jew and Gentile, slave and free, Hebrew-speaking and Greek-speaking.
What is Paul's major concern (specifically in 1 Corinthians and Acts)? That they eat together. Bonds are formed when we eat together.
Since the beginning, the Church has come to the communion table as a diverse people, from different backgrounds and experiences. What might it mean for us to consider these other experiences in Christian life? To eat with those who are different from us? Join us as we explore this question.
Have you ever noticed that human beings have this drive towards exploration, discovery, and surprise. There is something in us that points us outwards, beyond ourselves. Sometimes this drive towards exploration can be unhealthy (in the case of some of the early explorers of "The New World", exploration quickly became exploitation), but the search for something new is deeply intwined in the human heart.
But for what (or whom) are we looking to discover? The way of Jesus is surprising, upending, and revolutionary to our previous ways of thinking and living. The light of Christ points us outwards, not simply to explore, but to love and to share light.
In the Old Testament, the prophet Jonah was called to one of the darkest places on earth (Jonah 3). In the Gospels, Jesus tells his disciples that they are to be "fishers of people" (Mark 1:14-20). Paul tells the church at Corinth that the present world is passing away. Why? Because a new world is coming! The way of Jesus points our longing to be surprised in a specific direction.
Join us this Sunday as we explore what it means that the world is different because of Jesus.