Textual Intercourse

The story of Mary and Martha isn’t a personality quiz; it’s a priorities check. This sermon names the spiritual art of offering a true yes (which always includes a no), the courage to choose people over perfection, and how Jesus reorders our holiday hustle toward the “one thing” that won’t be taken away. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get acce...

Advent hope isn’t passive nostalgia; it’s path-building. Mark opens not with a manger but with John in the wilderness, calling us to prepare the way. This sermon uses a four-step trail-building guide (mark the route, clear the small stuff, reinforce weak spots, post signs) to name our Advent work—then points to Taizé’s Brother Roger as a peacemaker who kept pointing away from himself toward Christ...

Advent begins with Jeremiah’s promise to exiles: God will raise a righteous branch who brings justice and righteousness. This sermon contrasts airport-style optimism (“maybe 20 more minutes…”) with true hope —honest about the dark, stubbornly communal, and aimed at justice. With stories of labor, ordination, and the Stockdale Paradox. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this wit...

On Christ the King Sunday we don’t get a triumphant coronation—we get Jesus before Pilate. This sermon contrasts Pilate’s grasping for control with Jesus’ letting go, and asks what it would look like to loosen our grip on power, nostalgia, and image to receive the kingdom Jesus embodies. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episo...

Joseph has no money and no freedom—yet he still practices stewardship. In prison he offers what he does have: attention, energy, and a God-given gift for interpreting dreams. This sermon widens stewardship beyond dollars to “everything on the table,” with a nod to Apollo 13 and the holy work of using what we have for the good of others. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this w...

If our passion is mostly about protecting comfort, control, or the way we’ve always done it, we’ll end up guarding doilies while sending kids back into the streets. But if our passion is the common good—the house of prayer that welcomes and restores—then some plaques may get scratched, some tables may get repurposed, and, yes, some tables might get turned, but love will abide. Palm Sunday isn’t ju...

We often reduce belief to intellectual agreement: collect information, decide yes/no, done. Christians sometimes reinforce that with a single “decision moment” that proves faith forever. Decision matters—but John 3:16 lives inside a story : Nicodemus sneaks out at night to find Jesus. He already believes Jesus is from God, but he doesn’t yet trust Jesus with his whole life. Jesus calls him (and us...

Post-exile neighbors show up ready to help rebuild the temple—“Let us build with you”—but are shut out. Isaiah answers with God’s counter-vision: a house of prayer for all peoples . There's a difference between tolerating people and truly including them—moving from “everyone’s welcome” to “we built this with you in mind.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subsc...

Jesus, Mark 9, corrects the disciples’ gatekeeping—“Whoever isn’t against us is for us”—and calls us to become teammates in the kingdom rather than competitors. On World Communion Sunday we remember the global table, tell the story of the “man with the golden arm,” and practice being a church that sets more places instead of building more gates. This is a public episode. If you would like to discu...

The “dishonest manager” in Luke 16 might be Jesus’ trickiest parable. Rather than praising corruption, Jesus spotlights one redeeming quality—shrewd creativity—and invites his disciples to learn how to love even “unlovable” people. A sermon about love in real life: parking-lot scammers, childhood bullies, and the practice of finding one thing to love. This is a public episode. If you would like to...

Biblical justice notices when something is off—and then seeks to make it right. Pastor Sarah on John 5. Kids have a fierce sense of “fair.” (Some of us once measured juice to the millimeter!) But our adult “justice” can still shrink to protecting our interests and punishing others . Scripture’s imagination is deeper: justice is putting things right —noticing what’s off and actively mending it. Joh...

In famine and grief, Naomi reads her life as a curse from God. Ruth refuses that script, clinging to Naomi with stubborn, embodied love—“Where you go, I will go.” This sermon invites us to stop looking up for rescue and start looking over to the hope God plants in our relationships, with a companion story from Viktor Frankl. https://www.youtube.com/@Analog_G?app=desktop This is a public episode. I...

John wants churches under empire to resist fear, shame, and control—but in Revelation 14 his purity language tips into a harmful moral hierarchy. Pastor Garrett names how “empire tactics in prophetic drag” still harm women and queer neighbors, then returns us to Jesus’ lens of mercy: truth without domination. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get...

Pastor Garrett on Revelation 12: John isn’t forecasting horror; he’s teaching churches under empire how real evil is overcome: by self-giving love and people who tell the truth even when it costs. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit textualintercourse.substack.com

Churches are good at putting up gates—but what if we were better at throwing parties? Jesus tells two “lost and found” parables in Luke 15 to religious gatekeepers—and flips the script. Pastor Sarah invites churches (and us) to trade gatekeeping for celebration, throwing parties when people are found and opening our doors wide. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other...

https://www.youtube.com/@Analog_G?app=desktop This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit textualintercourse.substack.com

https://www.youtube.com/@Analog_G?app=desktop This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit textualintercourse.substack.com

Our scripture text this morning comes from Revelation chapter five. Listen for a Word from God. Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one seated on the throne. It had writing on the front and the back. It was sealed with seven seals. I saw a powerful angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals, but no one in heaven or on earth or under the eart...

A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. Christ made it known by sending it through his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, including all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who listen and keep what is written in it, fo...

Then the Israelites set out from Mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. The people became impatient because of the journey. So the people spoke against God and Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There’s no food and no water, and we’re disgusted with this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,...

Rooted in Matthew 22, Sarah explores where empire’s imprint shows up in our lives and asks us to give back to God what already belongs to God: us. Whether you're deconstructing, rebuilding, or just wondering what faith looks like beyond dogma—this is for you. music provided by: https://www.youtube.com/@Analog_G ✉️ Subscribe to the written version of this sermon and future reflections at: https://e...