Living Out Faith: Recent Episodes
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Join us this Pentacost Sunday as we hear a sermon from our new Minister to Students, Rev. Alison Fitzgerald, that continues our sermon series about fierce women in the Bible. This week is focused on Mary Magdalene and the way that history hasn't treated her kindly.
Join us as we gather together as a community of faith in the protective shelter of God’s healing love to pour out our grief, release our anger, to face our emptiness, and to know, above all else that God cares for us, hold us in the palm of his hand and sustain us.
This week we’ll be looking at the story of Ruth and her amazing, bold loyalty. Join us as we learn about Ruth's history, how status as a foreigner, and how she was loved by God.
This week, Rev. Dr. Russ Peterman preached on the story of Rahab. Her’s may not be a familiar story to many of us. It is not read much in church. Rahab’s story is found in the book of Joshua and plays a key role in the battle of Jericho. When going through her story, we will find is that her life is not easily defined; she’s complex. She was not just a hero. She was smart, cunning, and faithful. She was fierce. Our anthem this week was performed by the Singing Girls of Texas choir with our own Janet Pummill on piano.
This Sunday we look at I Peter 3:8-9, specifically from the Message translation by Eugene Peterson. What does blessing mean in terms of our legacy to our family and other? How do our actions know leave a better world for those that come after us? And how does God's blessing correlate to the blessings we leave to others?
This Sunday we’ll talk about DOING. We all know actions speak louder than words. We’ll look at a story in John’s gospel in which Jesus, just before he dies, invites his followers to no longer be servants, but friends who understand they must carry on his actions in the world. They (we) are to become agents of change and possibility. Isn’t that what it means to be followers of Jesus? To be his hands and feet; to carry out his actions? This sermon will end with a very important ask, and an opportunity for you to put your faith into action.
This Sunday we will talk about coherence. What do I mean by coherence? Perhaps it would help to think of the opposite: if someone is incoherent, they don’t make sense. If life is incoherent, it doesn’t make sense. So, for us to thrive, life has to make sense at some level. We have to have a sense that there is a purpose for our being here—that our lives have meaning. For life to make sense there has to be a purpose about who you are and what you are contributing to this world, and, I would argue, living with a sense that “this is what God wants me to do.”
This Sunday at our traditional, sanctuary services as well as our TEN:10 service, I’ll be continuing our series that I’m calling The Leading Causes of Life. During this pandemic we’ve had to think way too much about death lately. I’m tired of talking about death. I want to talk about LIFE! Jesus said that he came “that they might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). So, for the next few weeks we are going to look at the leading causes of LIFE! In this series we are looking at some of the factors in living the life that God intends for us – a life filled with vitality, meaning, and wholeness. This Sunday we will talk about the healing power of our relationships and connections.
I’ll be kicking off a new sermon series this Sunday that I’m calling The Leading Causes of Life. We all know the leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, accidents. But did you know that last year Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States? Not only that, but according to a report released just a couple weeks ago by the CDC, life expectancy in the United States fell by a year and a half in 2020 primarily due to increases in death due to the pandemic. That is the largest drop since World War II. All that to say, we’ve had to think way too much about death lately. In fact, I’m tired of talking about death. I want to talk about LIFE! Jesus said that he came “that they might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). So, for the next few weeks we are going to look at the leading causes of LIFE!