Bethany UCC: Recent Episodes
Bethany UCC Chicago
Pastor Vince delivers a sermon considering the “hodgepodge” that makes up a church and how we might find strength and value in our differences.
This week, congregation members Dave Scott, Johnny Buranosky, and Mary Ellen Monzella shared some beautiful testimonies about their time at in Biloxi, MS working with the Back Bay Mission. We hope you enjoy!
This week, we started our new series "Setting the Table", a theme centering storytelling and hospitality. Bethany congregation member Ron Romasanta set the table for communion this week and shared a bit of his story, which we've included as part of this week's podcast. We also hear a sermon from Pastor Rebecca on Genesis 18.
Vince's sermon this week was, yet again, about St. Cuthbert 😂 But from there, he moves into a sermon contemplating curses, anxiety and tree roots near water.
In his sermon this week, Pastor Vince looks at faith not as a simple, one time promise, but rather as a continuous commitment towards community and relationship.
Pastor Rebecca kicked off our “Hand to God” series with a hard story about what is and isn’t ours to promise. She preached about a summer spent with "no body-talk" and how it changed her.
Pastor Vince's sermon this week is all about Darwin, God’s unnecessary love and a quest to understand the mysteries of birdsong. If you listen, you'll even get to hear Vince's impersonation of the White-Throated Sparrow!
Pastor Vince's sermon this week reminds us that there’s no shortcut past the anxiety of not knowing. But, he reminds us that God is always present to us, in the ups and the downs.
Pastor Rebecca's sermon this week was all about bread, yeast and community. "Jesus said the kingdom of God is like leaven. It’s at work among us all the time, without our input. It’s alive. When we put our attention, hands, and energy to it, we can be co-creators of something delicious."
Pastor Rebecca kicks off our “Everything That Has Breath” series with a sermon about pool safety, deep diving, gym rats, lung capacity, and the Holy Spirit. Give it a listen!
Happy Easter! Pastor Vince starts his sermon by claiming "no one has ever believed the story of resurrection". See if you agree with him by giving the sermon a listen!
Pastor Vince's sermon this week surprisingly begins with naval history! Along the way, he also covers the boardgame "Othello", palm Sunday and dead crows. By the end, he makes a case for reclaiming sacred spaces and finding enchantment everywhere.
Pastor Vince's sermon this week describes two of his recent pilgrimages: one to visit St. Cuthbert's bones, the other to visit the the grave of Matthew Shepard, a young man who was murdered in 1998 for being gay. His sermon weaves these two stories together to examine promises that beg to be fulfilled, stories that long for a resolution.
Pastor Rebecca’s sermon this week is all about beauty; the superficial, the sincere, beauty that is honest, or reverent, or even beauty that is terrifying. Her sermon gathers up all these elements of “God’s beauty standard” and puts them into perspective through stories of connection, loss, honesty and healing.
In his sermon this week, Vince tells the story of some abandoned kittens he encounters on an hike and how he feels there’s nothing he can do to help them. Comparing this experience to stories from the Bible, he delivers a sermon examining the distance between action and miracles, a space that we sometimes have to fill for ourselves.
In her sermon this week, Pastor Rebecca preaches on the subject of superstitions or "enchanted realities", and the power they have to shape our more science-oriented world.
In her guest sermon this past Sunday, Pastor Alaina preached on the power of mistakes (or more specifically, the power of being vulnerable enough to admit to them). Often in Christian culture, we "conflate being without sin with being perfect". But Alaina points to examples of Jesus' humanity, moments where even he makes mistakes and learns from them. She reminds us that we have the opportunity to do the same.
In his sermon this week, Pastor Vince recounts an overly generous gift he recently received and the feelings of anxiety it brought him to accept it. He compares this experience to receiving the grace of God, and considers why we humans are often so weird about receiving good things.
In her sermon this week, Pastor Rebecca challenges typical notions surrounding confession. She asserts that "feeling bad is not the mechanism on which change is made", and centers confession as a means of righting our relationship with God, and with others.
In this sermon, Pastor Vince Amlin describes the repetitive cycles in our lives that feel like déjà vu (the hardships we face with incredulousness, thinking: haven't I already fought this battle before?) Reflecting on such moments in his own life, Pastor Vince helps to give meaning to these repetitive cycles.
In this sermon, guest preacher Xander King questions whether leaps of faith require an abstract faith in God, or if we might allow our morals and principles to lead us to God, telling us when it's time to leap.
In our first sermon of 2024, Guest Preacher Johnny Buranosky recollects on his childhood and considers the many "leaps" he's taken in regards to life, faith and queerness.
Pastor Rebecca preaches on the subject of happiness this week, thinking on when joy is a thing that comes passively, versus seeking it out with intention.
Pastor Vince used the metaphor of "desire paths" in this sermon to describe the repeated, well worn paths we walk to find our way to God.
Pastor Vince preached this Sunday, describing advent as a season where we can tell God what we really want, without holding back.
Pastor Rebecca preached on the subject of "choice" this Sunday. What decisions are made for us, and which ones do we have a hand in?
Pastor Vince compares our faith the a threaded string of beads and wonders: what happens in those moments where our faith is tested? What happens when the thread breaks?
Pastor Vince recounts a comment from his Spanish teacher that "the world is so bad now". In this sermon, he wrestles with this idea: how do we hold joy in the midst of so much suffering?
Pastor Alaina received a standing ovation for her final sermon at Bethany UCC. Give it a listen here!
Bethany Member and University of Chicago Divinity Student Xander King preaches our final sermon for October, finishing out our theme of Apocalypse Now.
On Sunday, Rev. Vince delivered this sermon centering New Revelations, being present in the current moment and exploring endings. Give it a listen here...
Kate Leeman was preaching last Sunday, thinking about awe and wonder. About all that is bigger, and stranger, and more beautiful than we can take in.
Which is what worship is about. Whether you’re already in that awe-filled place, or coming off of an awful week, you’re welcome here. We hope you will find a little of what you need here.
Pastor Alaina preached this last Sunday, in partnership with the Lighthouse Foundation, they were asking CARE churches to partner alongside them and preach a sermon on the importance of Workforce Development for Black LGBTQ+ folx and how accomplices can participate in that work. Here is an interpretation of the Parables of the Talents.
Pastor Alaina gave the sermon this past Sunday on how animals bless us by participating in our spiritual care. Listen now.
Rev. Vince is preaching the sermon about making believe we are God! Taking a God’s eye view of others and of ourselves. Continuing the Make Believe theme, we're thinking about seeing ourselves as God sees us.
We welcome you to listen to our Rev. Pastor Vince Amlin speak on from Sunday, September 10th on our Make Believe theme with the focus on eye contact, seeing from the marginalized perspective, All the people Jesus chooses to see, to make eye contact with. Imagining ourselves as the ones who are seen. Imagining ourselves as the ones looking away.
From this past Sunday, we welcome guest Virginia Gilbert as she preaches the sermon this week speaking on seeing the light, trusting our experiences, experiences of understanding, recognition, being understood and recognized.
Rev. Vince Amlin preaches about the idea of "Desperation Pie", how the humblest foods become the favorites, desperation becomes pie.
Pastor Alaina gave a sermon this past Sunday on spiritual comfort food as part of our August sermon series on “Family Recipes.”
Rev. Vince is back to talk about ruminating on marinating on tradition, slow cooking, and how so many family recipes are based on taking time. Listen now!
Pastor Alaina is preaching about this month's theme: Family Recipe. Sometimes we add too much to a recipe over time and lose what a recipe is supposed to really taste like. Christianity can have a lot of filler added that dramatically impacts flavor. What is it supposed to taste like? Love.
Rev. Rebecca Anderson gives her last sermon before she leaves on a 3 month Sabbatical. How can Bethany UCC learn to sing together? Let's come together, understand other perspectives and sing. Listen now.
Our sabbatical pastor Alaina continued our "Living in Harmony" series with a sermon on conflict. How do we fight and fight well while living in harmony? As well as some commentary on the abuse of various scripture, listen for a sermon on harmonious conflict.
Rev. Rebecca continues out "Living in Harmony" series by co-preaching with the incredible Elise laBarge about learning to live in harmony. Its all about coming to understand what the others will do (and each their own tendencies).
Pastor Alaina preached for our "Living in Harmony" series with what harmony means. Harmony is adding your own tune to someone else’s song—not just obeying their melody or remaining silent. We each bring something to add!
Interim Pastor Alaina wraps up our Beyond the Binary series with a sermon on Joseph's coat of blessing. We're finishing this series (for now) with the blessing of beyond the gender binary in the Bible with Joseph.
Ann Ridge provided an amazing sermon on the climate crisis for our first worship of July. Hellfire and brimstone: the state that people are living in right now. Hell and fire are here now. She reminds us that we are people of action. We’re people with responsibility. We’re able to take action.
Rev. Rebecca preached our third week of "Beyond the Binary" about the good happening in-between. In pastoral care class in grad school, a guest speaker talked about the ways people early in romantic relationships tend to project onto each other, to the extent that they miss some of what’s really there. If and when those relationships deepen, people often go through a painful but necessary pulling back, which allows the other to exist fully. He summed it up by saying that “everything good — play, music, conversation, sex — happens in the in-between.”
We had the AMAZING Johnny Buranosky as a guest preacher with us to continue our June series! In this sermon, Johnny is expanding beyond the binary of thinking we will walk only one path. Dolly Parton famously said “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
Interim Pastor Alaina kicked off our June series with a sermon about nourishment for body and soul. This Pride month we are going beyond the binary where we are looking for God in the wide colorful expanse beyond this it that, black and white, either/or, thinking!
Guest preacher and Bethany member in discernment, Xander King, provides our next sermon in the weirdest stories of the Bible series! With Numbers 25 as the base, it's just a scriptural mess but it could be an interesting exploration of how the "weird" and disturbing stories in the Bible are often the result of historical tension in the story itself. Tune in to hear!
Interim Pastor Alaina continues our series by addressing how we interpret the story of the blind man in Mark 8. It's often interpreted to be only about healing and therefore miss the vision of the blind man. Listen as she uplifts a different understanding of disability and interprets this message in a non-ablest light.
Rev. Rebecca kicks off our May series with the weird, weirder, and weirdest stories of the Bible. This time, we're covering the she-bears and why they are in 2 Kings. Tune in all month for the wackiest stories and most unusual of characters!
Catch Rev Vince's last sermon before leaving for sabbatical for three months! He's gearing up for sabbatical with a sermon....about not necessarily being ready.
Rev Rebecca continues "Feast Days" with remembering through feasts. Freezing wedding cake, backpacking food, and final meals as well as what it means to re-constitute feasts.
Pastoral Intern Alaina (very soon to be Interim Pastor Alaina) kicked off our theme of Feast Days. She preaches about the Sukkot, Feast of Tabernacles and other aspects of spring feasts! Get your dancing shoes on and give her sermon a listen!
Listen to Rev. Rebecca preach on Easter Sunday! Cloth, weaving, images, and more! We celebrate the Risen Lord together
Rev Vince covered our last "Sacred Sketchbook" theme with the image of the recognizable God. God as ordinary. God as familiar.
Rev. Rebecca is sharing another sacred sketchbook image of God. God as parent as connected to reclamation project.
Rev. Vince covers this week's Sacred Sketchbook image of God as the iconoclast. Famous artworks attacked or destroyed, such as Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch," Velazquez’ “Rokeby Venus,” climate activists gluing themselves to the frame of The Last Supper, and “Mona Lisa” attacked at least five times, in protest of accessibility, citizenship, climate crisis. Tune in to hear all the details of an image-smashing God.
Rev Vince continues our Lenten theme with a sermon on the mystery of God. Multiplying images. Lots of pictures, but no one sees them exactly. We're going on expeditions for God.
Pastoral Intern Alana kicks off our Lenten series "Sacred Sketchbook" with the dark night of the soul. A sermon on when Alana stopped feeling God the way she had been. Sermon image provided by Zoom participant, who draws while they listen to the sermon.
Rev Rebecca is preaching our sermon this Shrove Sunday (otherwise known as Pancake/Waffle Breakfast)! We're talking loving, caring, and serving as we approach Lent.
Rev. Rebecca is using all the "flower stuff" this week for our theme of "Bleeding Hearts." Be tender. Deeply rooted. Tenderness and reserves. All will be covered in this sermon!
Rev. Vince kicks off our new February series, "Bleeding Hearts," with the difference of earnestness and irony. Wholehearted faith vs halfhearted, half measures. Being unmixed, not hedging your bets, hot or cold not hot and cold.
Pastoral Intern Alaina continued our January series on the beginning of visions. The journey is where the visions begin, not before it begins. A faster, good decision is better than a slower, perfect decision. Give this sermon a listen as Alaina lets 'er rip!
Our November series, "Bethany Speaks," had three, amazing preachers as we prepared for Thanksgiving. We welcomed Mare, Ann, and Xander this week to share their wisdom in themes of Thanksgiving!
Rev. Rebecca tears into January with our new series, "Let 'er Rip!" Lydia saw something new (in the Jesus movement) that she thought was worth pouring herself into. It’s not their story anymore; it’s ours! The picture for this podcast showcases Pastoral Intern Alaina's liturgy for communion where she and a friend are at the river where Paul and Lydia met.
Rev Rebecca kicked off 2023 by welcoming us to the new year. New starts, new challenges, and getting ready for what's next are all welcome into our schedules. In this podcast, you can listen along to the guided meditation used during the service!
Rev. Vince gave Christmas an "edge" at our Christmas Eve service. In line with our theme "Holy Darkness," Christmas needs a reason, and the reason is suffering; the reason is oppression; the reason is evil. And the answer is joy.
Pastoral Intern Alaina continues our Advent theme with stories in the shadows. How are some of our best stories born in shadows? What does it mean to create in darkness?
Rev. Rebecca continues our Advent series with darkness therapy. We store food in cool, dark places in order to have them keep longer, but what about ourselves?
Rev. Vince continues our advent series with a sermon on beginning our day with the night. In Jewish tradition, the new day begins at night rather than the morning. Though it can feel uncomfortable to be “in the dark” it’s where something new can happen, for us and for our world.
Rev. Rebecca launches our new series and the advent season with a sermon all about the ways darkness keeps us safe. In a world full of light pollution, how can we find safety in the darkness of night?
Our November series, "Bethany Speaks," continued with three, amazing preachers. We will be welcomed Nathan, Kate, and Bud to share their wisdom in themes of Witnessing, Listening, and Pentecost!
We had four INCREDIBLE preachers kick off our new sermon series, "Bethany Speaks!" All month, we are having members of the congregation give their sermons they've been working on. Up first, we have our four preachers for Sunday: Johnny, Scott, Joey, and Virginia!
Intern Pastor, Alaina, finished our October series with the catch-22 of hope. Having hope can be really scary, so join us to hear what she has to say about facing that fear and keeping hope anyway.
Rev Vince continued our series by talking about the fear of God. What does it mean to be God-fearing? Does perfect love cast out fear? How does Narnia fit into all this? Find out with us by listening to what he has to say!
Rev. Rebecca continued our October series with her fears of dying alone in the parlor. Well, sort of. Maybe something more along the lines of what it takes to name what we need, and the fear of that.
Rev. Vince launches our October series (for real this time!) by standing firm in the face of fear. From Exodus to key changes, we're not afraid of God's deliverance.
We had four amazing storytellers provide us with stories of their pets. Shoutout to Sandra, Judy, Martha, and Nathan for sharing their tales! Give their stories a listen as you think of your own pet stories.
Rev Rebecca continues our fairytale and reflections series with some secret powers and ridiculous jokes. From Rapunzel to Samson, listen to hear if the plot points even matter. We're telling tales of shape, patterns, and super powers.
Rev. Rebecca tells the story of the ugly duckling and the great longing to feel at home. Hear about the "homely" Hans Christian Andersen, who came from nothing and the Halls of Faith in Hebrews. The ending of the sermon and the ending of the story might not be what you expect...but is the one that's promised.
Rev. Vince finishes our "Wildflower" series with the work that can be easy to take for granted until you need grounded roots. If you build them and nurture them, they're there when you need them.
Rev. Vince continues our wildflower series with good fires. Fire is something to fear and there's also gifts in letting things fall apart.
Rev. Vince kicks off our new August series, "Wildflowers: Growing Outside the Lines." From Jesus' words on lilies to Adele lyrics, listen to be told to do nothing but be.
Rev. Rebecca delivers a sermon on origin stories - super, "regular," and biblical. Listen to hear what it means to find your origin story and help make the way for God.
Rev. Vince delivers a sermon of what how things can be written over, but never erased. Our do-overs may look or feel completely rewritten, but they don't require we be returned to a blank slate.
Rev. Rebecca talks about do-overs with dances, childhood bath time, and wrong decisions. Listen in for a sermon on second chances and not getting stuck.
Rev. Vince shares stories of when it feels too late to start something new and doing it anyway. Even though we didn't catch the full sermon, this is a sermon to hear when feeling like you're too old or it's too late to try again.
Rev. Rebecca kicks off our new July series by talking about the ultimate offering of redemption. Using the two stories (or are they??) of creation, we're talking about the do-overs in the Bible.
Rev. Vince talks about love, family, and children's books in context with our queer siblings. This final sermon in our series is reminding us what it means to follow Jesus' example, to riot, and to love.
Rev. Rebecca continues our series of saying anything with a sermon about racism. Using Jesus' response on carrying oil, we're saying what it means to be a church that talks about racism.
Rev. Vince is saying "trans" by addressing transphobia in the church, saying what should be obvious about loving all of God's children, and sharing experiences of when the truth is stated.
Rev. Rebecca kicks off our new series on Pentecost Sunday about the body and all the ways we experience living in our bodies. Say anything means tackling the things holding us back from living into those bodies, especially if it means covering "taboo" subjects.
Guest preacher, Hannah Phillips Mollenkamp is wrapping up our series by talking about putting all the spiritual types together. Filled with Avatar: The Last Airbender references, this sermon tackles what it means to come together with all of our parts.
Rev. Vince is talking about complex machines doing relatively simple tasks, much like our own hearts. Listen to hear about how leading with your heart works to connect with God.
Three storytellers - Rev. Rebecca, Paul Monzella, and John Magallanez - are sharing their stories of putting their hands to work. This service of real stories, from real people showcases the energy of finding God through actions.
Rev. Rebecca preaches about Mother's Day, what it means to lead with spirit, and the power of silence.
Rev. Vince is kicking off our new sermon series "Four Ways to God" with a powerful sermon on what is means to be "head." Listen to hear what it means to seek God through reason, knowledge, concrete concepts.
Guest preacher, Virginia Gilbert, is speaking about what happens after Holy Week ends? Is the season over? What do we do now? Listen to this sermon and hear what she has to say about figuring out what happens next.
Rev. Vince is speaking about new life in the resurrection of Jesus and in our own lives. Preaching about driving safely, what it means to be patient, and the meaning of Jesus being released from the grave.
Rev. Rebecca is tackling combining our ongoing theme of release with Palm Sunday. What compels you to take action? What frees you up to take action even before you think you ready?
Rev. Vince is preaching about the difficulties of letting those around us flounder when you know you can help and letting them do it on their own.
Rev. Rebecca continues our theme of breaking free and how the prayer of commendation connects. We're talking funerals, weddings, and the realities of death.
The theme of breaking free continues this week as Rev. Vince is talking about the importance of breaking rules that hold us back. Time to stop feeling guilty for letting go of life-limiting rules.
Rev. Vince Amlin kicks off our new sermon series, I Shall Be Released, while back in our sanctuary after two, long years. We're talking about joyous celebrations maybe being too soon... or are they?
Rev. Rebecca Anderson wraps-up our series of Hollier Than Thou while preaching about Perpetua and Felicity.
Rev Vince Amlin finally preaches about St Francis, three whole weeks into this series. On the possibility of singing with hope, through all things.
Rev. Rebecca Anderson preaches the first Sunday of our Holier Than Thou series about St Brigid, whose feast day is Feb 1.
Vince preaches about the spirituality of (another) lockdown. What do the magi have to teach us about staying put?
On Christmas Eve, we retell the ancient story — that is always, actually, a story about what's coming next. Rev Rebecca Anderson, preacher.
Rev Vince Amlin preaches the end of our Foundational series, from Nehemiah 8. Why now — just when things are getting better (aren't they?) — would people head back out into the unknown? Includes: falling elevators (but everyone's ok), the festival of booths, and why we might keep worshipping on Zoom or in the gym, at least once in a while, forever.
What to do with a plan as simple as "It gets better."
A sermon by Rev. Rebecca Anderson at Bethany UCC.