First Olympia Sermons

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Alexa who continues our Eastertide worship series by preaching on Psalm 23 and the theme of suffering. In her sermon, Pastor Alexa asks “why does Suffering exist”? And reminds us that God loves and walks with us even in our greatest pain.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Heather as we continue our Eastertide worship series by preaching on Acts 2: 36-41 and the theme of salvation. In her sermon, Pastor Heather explores several misconceptions about salvation, and invites us to think about salvation in a new way.

Pastor Heather explores what it means to believe in God. Is belief intellectual assent alone, or something deeper?

Pastor Heather teaches that the story of resurrection is no fairy tale, but comes from the muck and mire of our real lives.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Alexa who concludes our Lenten worship series by preaching on the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus’s last night of prayer. In her sermon, Pastor Alexa shares a story of intense prayer and how we might all put on God’s armor to walk through gauntlets of our own.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Heather who continues our Lenten worship series by preaching on The Last Supper. In her sermon, Pastor Heather focuses on the image of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and his surprising role in this story as servant, instead of honored guest.

This week, we did something a little different in worship. Instead of a traditional sermon, Sue Raymond, one of our lay leaders, shared with us a midrash of the story when Mary anointed Jesus with perfume. A midrash is a dramatic performance that helps us better understand scripture and the context in which it was written. Sue’s midrash was a beautiful way to continue picturing ourselves alongside...

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Alexa who continues our Lenten worship series by preaching on Jesus’s teachings to the Pharisees in the final week of his life. In her sermon, Pastor Alexa shares historical context about “false idols” in this story and an emotional message on fighting school closures in our neighborhood. 

This week, we were joined by Rev. Golden Neal who continued our Lenten worship series by preaching on Jesus’s actions in the temple of Jerusalem. In his message, Pastor Golden gave us context for Jesus’s anger and invited us to ‘clean our own houses’ to make room for God’s Spirit to blow and breathe through us. 

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Heather who began our new Lenten worship series by preaching on Jesus’s entrance into the city of Jerusalem. In her message, Pastor Heather acknowledges discomfort in the story of Holy Week and how Jesus’s entrance on a donkey leads us to understand that salvation does not come in the way we expect; that triumph is found through humility.

This week, we hear a sermon from both Pastors Heather and Alexa who conclude our Epiphany worship series by preaching on the Transfiguration in Mark 9: 2-9. In their message, our pastors discuss “mountain top moments” and the importance of coming back down to do God’s work here on earth.

This week, we hear a sermon from both Pastor Heather and Pastor Alexa, as we continue our Epiphany worship series by preaching on Mark 1: 40-45. In our pastors' message, they conversed about radical hospitality, communion, and how we can create a truly open table.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Heather who continued our Epiphany worship series by preaching on Mark 1: 29-39. In her message, Pastor Heather examines what it means to be the body of Christ "moved into the neighborhood" to do the work of healing.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Alexa who continued our Epiphany worship series by preaching on Mark 1: 14-20. In her message, Pastor Alexa called us to “mend our nets” so that our social fabric might be inclusive of marginalized communities.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Heather who began our new Epiphany worship by preaching on Isaiah 60:1 & Matthew 2: 1-12. In her message, Pastor Heather spoke of her own call to ministry and how we all might hear God’s call to be People of Joy.

On Christmas Eve, our community gathered for 3 candlelight services that included carols, scripture, and a word of hope. We heard a message from Pastor Heather who preached on Luke 2:1-20. In her message, Pastor Heather teaches us that the Christmas story is about heaven come down to earth.

This week, we heard a message from Pastor Heather who continued our Advent worship by preaching on the Magnificat in Luke 1: 46-55 & an unusually cosmic nativity story in Revelation 12. In her message, Pastor Heather confronted the difficulty of finding joy in the midst of war, but challenged us to dance in the face of its darkness.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Alexa. In her message, Pastor Alexa began our Advent worship by preaching on Mark 13: 24-37 and the ways we can still find Hope in the midst of entropy and chaos. Because some things must fall apart to be rebuilt in the name of justice, righteousness, peace, and love.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Alexa. In her message, Pastor Alexa preached on Deuteronomy 10:19 & 1 John 2:3-6 and finished our stewardship series by inviting us to recognize our identities, biases, and anxieties as a step towards “Eliminating Racism.”

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Heather. In her message, Pastor Heather preached on Jeremiah 29: 4-7,10-14 & Ephesians 2:10 and continued our worship series by discussing the ways we can “Inhabit Our Community” to ensure it’s more welcoming and inclusive for all. 

This week, we hear a sermon from our District Superintendent, Rev Kathleen Weber. In her message, Rev Kathleen preached on Exodus 19:6 and 1 Corinthians 12: 1-20, continuing our new worship series by highlighting the many spiritual gifts we each possess to make a difference through “lay leadership”. 

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Heather. In her message, Pastor Heather preached on Micah 6:8 & 2 Corinthians 5:7 and introduced our new worship series by emphasizing slowing down to observe our neighborhoods, in order to discern our call to ministry. 

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Heather. In her message, Pastor Heather preached on Matthew 27:50-54 & Revelation 21: 1-6, 22-27. She also invited us to consider how we create spaces where ALL are welcome to belong in our community, because this is God’s dream for our world.

This week, we hear a sermon from  Rev. Corey Passons and Interfaith Works, one of our community partners. Rev. Corey preached on Matthew 12: 46-50 and, in his message, he invited us to carefully consider the nature of community and belonging.

This week, we hear a sermon from Pastor Kelly who joined us from Shelton United Methodist Church as part of our co-op pulpit swap. Pastor Kelly preached on Matthew 21:12-17 and, in his message, he invited us to ‘flip tables’ and consider using our privilege to be disruptive forces for justice.