JR.'s Sermons

We hear that God brings joy and peace. But if we're honest, we don't often experience those feelings. Does that mean we're lacking in some essential way? That we need to try harder? Be better? No - joy and peace aren't emotions. They're a state of being that flows out of God's own character. So what does it look like for us to experience them? 

What does it mean to say the Bible is the "inspired Word of God"? How do we know the Bible is trustworthy? After all, it's a library of more than sixty books by dozens of authors written and compiled over the course of centuries. Doesn't that make it less reliable? Not for those of us at Catalyst - the human component of Scripture is a feature, not a bug. What makes the Bible inspired is that it's...

How do we know who God is? After all, there are dozens of religions who all make competing claims about God's nature. God has revealed themselves to us through God's actions in human history. From the Exodus to Jesus himself, God shows themselves to be a liberator. God rescues us from injustice and oppression. God works for the flourishing of all of us!

What does it mean for us that the Holy Spirit is alive around and within us? On Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, we're exploring one of Jesus' stranger word pictures. It all has to do with an ancient festival, the Dead Sea and of course the book of Revelation. Hey... it's our birthday, so we have to party!

Jesus prays that God will make us one the same way Jesus and the Father are one. What does this oneness look like? Think of us all like lines of computer code. We're all different, and all have different roles to play. Oneness doesn't mean uniformity; it means we're all working together to execute God's mission of liberation in our world! 

What do we do when the right thing is wrong? Ever since Jesus was executed by Rome as a political criminal, Christians have often found our commitment to God's Kingdom at odds with the nations and cultures in which we live. What are we supposed to do when we're in way over our heads? 

Everyone knows you should follow Jesus so you can go to heaven when you die... and get a mansion, if we're to believe the songs! But would you be surprised to know that Jesus never promises us mansions? And... it's not even really about what happens when we die. No, when we crack Jesus' code, we realize he's promising something much more immediate - and much better!

How do we know what God is doing? With so many opinions in the world, it's hard to know who to trust. But who would know better than... God? After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to a family on a road trip, and he showed them who he really is - who God really is. How can we see what they saw? How can we trust who God says God is?

What is God up to? Specifically, if we're looking for where God is at work in the world, what are we looking for? In the wake of Jesus' resurrection, his followers struggled to understand how his death and resurrection fulfilled God's promises. Cue one epic road trip where Jesus himself takes some very special followers through a whirlwind of the Hebrew scriptures, reframing how they understood ev...

Misunderstandings cause a lot of friction in our lives. But bad communication isn't always the culprit - sometimes we just don't know how to use the right language. Could the same be true of faith, too? Is it possible that God is speaking to us in a way we can learn to hear, a way that's accessible and transformative for humanity? What does that sound like?

Easter is more than a celebration of that thing (Jesus coming back to life!) that happened that one time (2,000 years ago). It's liberation - the beginning of a new reality that hides in plain sight. Jesus, the resurrected one, is the key to learning to discern this new reality. So just remember... if you want to find God hiding in plain sight, the magic number is 8. 

We all bring expectations with us into relationships, and not having them met can be a source of real pain and conflict. Palm Sunday illustrates how Jesus refused to meet the expectations of anyone - not Rome, not the leaders in Jerusalem, not the pilgrims with whom he traveled. In fact, it was their refusal to see Jesus for who he is - and not who they wanted him to be - that led all these groups...

In our most honest moments, we recall times God has let us down. Prayers unanswered, illnesses unhealed, relationships not mended. We wonder, in those times, what the point of faith is. Why follow God if God does not (cannot?) keep us from harm, from grief. Jesus' approach to Lazarus' tomb reveals much about the God who does not leave us in our grief - even as we hope for something better.

What makes a good leader? A good boss? A good partner? A good Christian? In a world with so many competing ideas of what's worth imitating, it can be hard to know what God's way is. The stories of King David's anointing and Jesus' healing of a man born blind remind us that God's values are upside down from the culture around us. So how can we be sure we're seeing things God's way?

How often do you ask God for what you want? For a lot of us, even the idea sounds wrong - as though we're annoying the greatest being in the universe, making ourselves a burden to the one who has far more important things on their plate. But Jesus reminds us that God cares deeply about our needs and is aware of them even before we voice them. So... what are we afraid of? What's holding us back for...

God created us to reflect God's love to the world around us. What keeps us from faithfully reflecting God's love? And how can we reconnect to God so we can once again show the world the same love we receive from God?

How often do we associate religion with a list of don'ts? These prohibitions often seem to be the heart of religious life. But this first Sunday of Lent reminds us that God created us primarily for permission . God created us for freedom - and an essential component of real freedom is boundaries. How do God's prohibitions orient us toward the true freedom God created us for?

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, our journey with Jesus to the cross. This year, our series is called Broken Promises. We're exploring the covenants God has made with God's people. How have our spiritual ancestors broken those covenants - and how have we? And most importantly, how has Jesus been faithful - to God and to us?

Despite the popular depictions, spiritual transformation is a process - more a journey than a singular experience. That being the case, how do we prepare well for a journey of transformation? What do we need to do to ensure we're ready for the change that's ahead of us? 

A faithful people lives in solidarity with the vulnerable. But what if we've already been living unjust lives? What if we've spent years ignoring the vulnerable? Moses' final speech to Israel reminds us that with God, it's never too late to be righteous. So how do we seek justice in our time and place?

For a lot of folks, the heart of religion is spiritual practices like reading scripture or fasting. But God didn't create us just to watch us do tasks. Practices aren't the heart of faith - relationship is. What happens when our social relationships are unbalanced? What are the consequences for our faith? And how does God call us to heal that imbalance?

Where do we find Jesus today? According to Jesus, we find him among the outcast and marginal. And that's not a new idea - even for Jesus. Real religion, old time religion, the way God created us to be, looks like being a people who lives in solidarity with those who fall through the cracks in our society. So where do we find those people today? After all... that's where we'll find Jesus!

Religion is far too often nothing but platitudes. How many times have you heard, "God has a plan," or "It is what it is"? No wonder Marx called religion "the opiate of the masses!" But, at least for the prophet Isaiah, religion wasn't meant to pacify. Rather, God's arrival among us is meant to wake us up. No wonder God shows up among the marginalized, those most badly in need of justice! If we're...

It's easy to feel like we're not doing enough - especially when it comes to faith. Are we praying enough, serving enough, giving enough? Isaiah's Servant knows how that feels, which is why they remind us that what matters isn't our ability or performance. Our faithfulness is made possible because of God's work in our world. So how can we rest in God's faithfulness - especially when we feel too sma...

We love the idea that Jesus saves us from sin. But what does he save us for? What if Jesus' life is as important as his death? We kick off our new series by exploring how Jesus' death frees us to live Jesus' life. He shows us how to live, and dies so we can live like him. Let's begin the new year by igniting our faith like never before!