Craig J. Sefa - Sermon Podcast

Easter is all about hope, but the truth is that many people are not feeling very hopeful right now. The resurrection stories remind us that Jesus doesn’t meet us in our hope, but first in our grief. It is in Mary’s grief and confusion that Jesus calls her name and invites her into hope for something that she cannot yet fully understand. Where is God reaching out to you in your grief and pain and i...

Join me this Palm Sunday as we reflect on the contrast of the shouting crowds and Jesus' humble silence as he enters Jerusalem. When are you called to shout and when is it better to be silent? Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

“'God has a really bad habit of using people we don’t approve of,'” Rachel Held Evans once said. “'What makes the gospel offensive is not who it keeps out, but who it lets in.'” I might tweak Evans’s formulation and put it this way: God has a really bad habit of loving people we don’t approve of. Or maybe this: God has a really bad habit of showing mercy to people we don’t approve of. Or maybe: Go...

Welcome to our second week of "March Pulpit Madness." Today’s sermon was recorded at Rock Grove United Methodist Church in Salisbury, NC. This week we’re looking at the Parable of the Fig Tree. Often this story is taken as a declaration of judgment from God on those who are not producing good enough fruit, but what if God is actually more like the gardener who desires to pour extra time and attent...

This week I began a series of pulpit swapping in what the local United Methodist Churches in our community are calling "March Pulpit Madness." Today’s sermon was recorded at Bethel United Methodist Church in Salisbury, NC. We are all using the same series based losely on the Narrative Lectionary through Sanctified Art called "Everything [in] between", wrestling with the many extremes posed to us i...

As we begin this Lenten Journey, we meet many suffering people along the way. We also encounter so-called benefactors with eloquent words about their suffering and occasionally a Good Samaritan who actually does something about it. Join us this week as we begin this journey together, and reflect on how we are invited to be with those who are hurting in our world today. Podcast Intro recorded by Ar...

"God does not make the mountains to be inhabited. We ascend to the heights to gain a broader vision of the world below. But we do not stay there. We do not tarry there. The streams begin in the uplands, but they descend quickly to gladden the valleys below" (Henry Drummond, Scottish theologian) As we descend the mountain into the dark valley of the Lenten season and journey with Jesus toward the c...

The Reconciliation and Liberation Story is an alternative seventh story embodied by Jesus. It contrasts sharply with the six dominant narratives of the first century and all of human history.  In Luke 19, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem.  He laments her refusal to embrace the way of peace and foresees the inevitable destruction caused by these other stories. This week in worship we shared in...

The Accumulation Story tells us that the most important thing in life is the accumulation of wealth, and that great wealth comes with great power. Tragically, the effectiveness of this story is built into the very fabric of our consumer capitalist society. As more and more wealth and power is concentrated into the hands of a smaller and smaller few, the rest of the population is discarded as essen...

The Victimization story tells us that there is no hope. It fills us with a spirit of fear and ultimately leads to hatred and bitterness. While it is understandable for those who are truly oppressed to feel this way, Jesus reminds us that the injustice we face does not define us. Even in our suffering, we are blessed because God sees us and loves us. The truth is that God always takes the side of t...

The Purification Story essentially claims that some of us are better than others. When we begin to view those who are “different” in some way as a problem to be solved rather than equal members of our human family, we reject Jesus’ call to inclusion, diversity and compassion. Jesus spent most of his ministry with those who were considered impure and unwanted by society. How can we who follow him i...

For me personally, the isolation story is perhaps the most tempting of all. The idea of holing up in a mountain cabin and tuning out the chaos of the world sounds more and more appealing with every news cycle. It is a story of separation and escapism, as if we could somehow create our own little fantasy world where all the other stories that tear us apart could somehow not follow us. Rather than s...

In a nation built on stories of revolution, it is difficult to imagine a reality where fighting back against those in power over us is not the norm. Yet we see over and over throughout history that every time someone usurps power from another out of a spirit of revenge, they become the oppressors until someone else rises up and seeks revenge on them. How can we break this cycle of violence and rev...

Between now and Lent, we will be unpacking the stories that have shaped and caused great harm to human civilization, stories of domination, revolution, isolation, purification, victimization, and accumulation. Ultimately Jesus challenges each of these stories and models instead the strory of reconciliation and liberation. Join us as we wrestle with the impact of these stories on our lives and seek...

As we move from Advent to Ephiphany, we follow the journey of the magi in our own lives, as we search longingly for a light in the darkness, step out in faith to follow the star into the unknown, bring our gifts before Christ and return home by another route as we are transformed in the presence of God’s love. For my congregations, Grace UMC & Shiloh UMC, this is also a day of new beginnings a...

Join us this Advent & Ephiphany season as we spend Christmas at the homes of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John and Paul, learning from each their unique perspective on the inbreaking of Christ into our world. We often think of the story of Jesus’ life in the four gospels, but let us not forget that Paul also had a great deal to say about the incarnation. In fact, one of the earliest Christian hymns fo...

Join us this Advent season as we spend Christmas at the homes of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John and Paul, learning from each their unique perspective on the inbreaking of Christ into our world. Like Mark, John’s house doesn’t have a nativity or any other traditional decorations, though I imagine it might look a lot like our Christmas Eve Candlelight services as the light shines in the darkness. For Joh...

Join us this Advent season as we spend Christmas at the homes of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John and Paul, learning from each their unique perspective on the inbreaking of Christ into our world. Christmas at Luke’s house is much more familiar to us with the nativity, the angels and the shepherds. It’s the version of the Christmas story we see most in our displays, our Christmas pageants, and songs. But...

Join us this Advent season as we spend Christmas at the homes of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John and Paul, learning from each their unique perspective on the inbreaking of Christ into our world. Matthew's Christmas is filled with the rich tradition and heritage of God's people, Israel. Through his telling, we are reminded that our faith is a gift an an inheritance that we must cherish and carry forward...

Join us this Advent season as we spend Christmas at the homes of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John and Paul, learning from each their unique perspective on the inbreaking of Christ into our world. The Gospel according to Mark, the earliest written record we have of Jesus' life, doesn't even mention the Christmas story. For Mark, the birth of Jesus is not the beginning of the good news, it’s just one small...