Alix Pridgen

Showing Up Matthew 21:23–32 We say, “Let’s get together,” “I’ll pray for you,” or “In a minute.” But sometimes our good intentions never get us out the door. Through Jesus’ parable of the two sons, this sermon explores the commitments that give relationships depth, the unexpected blessings of vineyard work, and the mercy of Christ that makes a fresh start possible. Whatever our first answer has be...

When did disagreement begin to mean separation? Drawing from Romans 14:1–12, “When Convictions Collide” considers how we can hold sincere convictions without judging, despising, or abandoning one another. We may understand faith, politics, and life differently, but God’s welcome is greater than our divisions. We can still love, serve, and stand together—because we are the Lord’s.

Contempt has become one of the defining habits of our time. We see it in the pleasure people take in another person’s humiliation, in the cruelty of social media, in the ease with which disagreement becomes judgment of another human being. Into that darkness Paul announces something almost audacious: “The night is far gone. The day is near.” This sermon explores why Christian hope rests not in our...

Peter believed in Jesus. His problem was that he thought he knew where Jesus ought to go. When Jesus turned toward Jerusalem, Peter tried to redirect him—and Jesus told him to get back behind him and follow. Following Jesus means giving up our insistence on seeing the whole road before we take the next step. Sometimes the future we have planned is good, safe, and reasonable. But what if there is m...

Paul’s image of the church as one body is more than a call to appreciate different gifts. It is a reminder that none of us is complete on our own. Again and again, the things that enrich our lives—our music, food, traditions, knowledge, and even our faith—have come to us through other people. What grace might God intend to give us through the very people we have decided we don’t need?

What about our friends and family members who have never followed Jesus? Or our children or siblings who grew up in the church but have now rejected the faith handed down to them? What will become of people who have lost their faith—or who never had it? Is God’s grace wide enough for them? Paul reminds us that all people dwell in disobedience. All people. Including all of us. We are not saved beca...

What happens when we are doing exactly what Jesus has called us to do—and the wind is still against us? In Matthew 14:22–33, the disciples struggle through the night against a relentless headwind. Peter steps out of the boat at Jesus’ command, only to become overwhelmed when he realizes the strength of the wind around him. This episode explores the headwinds that resist us, the surprising power of...

What story is shaping the way you see your life? Every day the world tells us there isn't enough—not enough money, time, security, opportunity, or hope. Before long, that scarcity story begins to shape our own hearts. But Isaiah 55 and the feeding of the five thousand reveal a different reality. God invites thirsty people to come without money, and Jesus feeds a multitude in the middle of a wilder...

In a world that seems increasingly divided between "good people" and "bad people," Jesus tells a surprising parable about wheat and weeds growing together in the same field. Instead of calling us to judge or uproot others, Christ invites us to trust God's patient work—both in the world and within our own hearts. This sermon explores why we are often mistaken about one another, how grace continues...

When life leaves us feeling stranded—caught between what was and what we hoped would be—we may wonder whether God has forgotten us. Drawing on Isaiah 55:10–13, this sermon explores God's promise that his Word never returns empty. Like rain quietly nourishing the earth, God's grace is already at work beneath the surface, bringing hope where despair has taken root. Through the unforgettable story of...

In a world that celebrates the powerful, the successful, and the highly visible, Jesus tells a very different story. Beginning with a memorable account from preacher Fred Craddock, this sermon explores one of the most surprising promises in the Gospel: that the person who offers something as simple as a cup of cold water stands alongside prophets and the righteous in the Kingdom of God. Through or...

Some decisions are easy. Others leave us awake at night. In this sermon from Genesis 21:8–21, Abraham faces a painful choice between two loves, while Hagar and Ishmael find themselves alone in the wilderness with no clear future. Yet this difficult story reveals a surprising truth: God's faithfulness is larger than our failures, our fears, and the choices that seem impossible to make. When the fut...

Jesus looked at the crowds and saw people who were weary, burdened, and longing for hope. Rather than carrying the work alone, he sent ordinary people to share God's compassion with the world. Drawing on the story of Koinonia Farm and the witness of Clarence Jordan, this sermon explores what happens when Christians take Jesus’ call seriously—living as neighbors, serving those in need, and trusting...

Why does Jesus choose to sit with sinners? And what does that mean for us? In this episode, we explore a powerful moment from the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus shares a table with those society rejects—and challenges the assumptions of those watching from a distance. What unfolds is not a denial of brokenness, but a profound declaration of grace: we are all in need of the healing mercy of God. Thi...

In Acts 2, the disciples are waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit — but Pentecost does not arrive as quiet comfort or private reassurance. It comes as wind, fire, noise, movement, and courage. In this sermon, “From Fear to Fire,” Rev. Dr. Alix D. Pridgen reflects on how the Spirit transforms frightened people into witnesses, turning silence into speech and fear into faithful action. Through...

In this episode, we reflect on Acts 1 and the moment after Jesus’ ascension, when the disciples are left in uncertainty. Instead of rushing into action, they gather in prayer, learning the discipline of waiting. [Easter 7A 2026 | Word] Through the stories of Apollo 13 and early wagon trains, we explore how restraint and careful discernment can be the difference between wisdom and disaster. When pr...

This week’s sermon reflects on Jesus’ promise in John 14 that we are never left alone. Long before the disciples understood what was coming, Jesus began preparing them—not with certainty or easy answers, but with the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Through stories of parents preparing children for the road, strangers showing up after disasters, voices of love that stay with us for decades, an...

Stephen stands before the powers of his world with nothing but his faith, his voice, and a vision of Christ. In this episode, we reflect on Acts 7 and John 14 through the lens of “lifting our eyes” in a fearful and angry world. Drawing on stories of courage, endurance, and grace from the Black experience in the Jim Crow South, this sermon explores how what we focus on has the power to shape us—and...

When faith falls apart, we don’t always make a dramatic exit—we simply begin to walk away. In this sermon on Luke 24:13–35, two disciples leave Jerusalem carrying the weight of shattered hope: “We had hoped…” What they believed about God no longer holds. And somewhere along that road of disappointment and confusion, a stranger comes near. This episode explores the kind of crisis that causes faith...

In this Easter sermon, the story begins where we often live—managing what feels finished, adjusting to disappointment, and learning how to carry what hasn’t changed. But resurrection doesn’t leave those assumptions intact. It disrupts them. The ground moves. The stone rolls away. And suddenly, the future is no longer what we thought it would be. This episode explores what it means to live in a wor...

Saved From the Grave What do you do when God feels late? In John 11, Mary and Martha send for Jesus as their brother Lazarus lies dying. They believe he will come. They believe he will heal. But he doesn’t. By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been in the grave four days—beyond hope, beyond help, beyond anything they imagined God might still do. We know this place. The place where prayers didn’t...

In this episode, Rev. Dr. Alix D. Pridgen reflects on John 4:5–42, the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. In a world filled with tension, fear, and lines that divide people from one another, this ancient encounter speaks with surprising clarity to our own moment. Lent 3A 2026 Jesus deliberately crosses a boundary his culture had learned to avoid, entering Samaria and sitting besid...

“The Spirit is like the wind. It blows where it will. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes.” Faith, Jesus is saying, doesn’t always begin with certainty. Sometimes it begins the way wind begins — quietly, mysteriously, moving through places we didn’t expect. I once knew someone who wandered into church almost by accident. She didn’t know the stories. She didn...

“Be attentive… as to a light shining in a dark place” — a word for a loud and unsettled age. The world feels loud right now — constant news, constant reaction, constant pressure to respond. In this Transfiguration sermon on 2 Peter 1:16–21, we listen to Peter’s calm witness: Christian faith is not built on speculation or spin, but on encounter — “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Rather than o...

Blessed Are You—Even Now Epiphany 4A | Matthew 5:1–12 | Numbers 6:24–26 We often think of blessing as evidence that life is going well—health, stability, success, peace. But in the Beatitudes, Jesus speaks blessing in places we would least expect: poverty of spirit, grief, mercy-weariness, persecution, longing, and quiet endurance. In this sermon for Epiphany, Rev. Dr. Alix Pridgen invites us to h...