Kuna United Methodist Church Sermons

Pilgrimage — both the physical journey of walking the Camino de Santiago and the spiritual journey each of us takes toward God — is different for each of us. Our backgrounds, burdens, and hopes shape the way we travel. Some of us come with strength, others with wounds or worries, and still others with questions about belonging or purpose. Yet, what unites us is not sameness of thought or experienc...

A pilgrimage trail in Northern Spain attracts thousands of walkers each year. Their destination is the Santiago de Compostella where, according to tradition, the bones of St. James the Apostle are buried. For the next four weeks, Pastor Mia shares some of her experiences and lessons learned as she and two companions walked the last 73 miles of the Camino de Santiago. Pilgrimage to sacred destinati...

We live in a world saturated with voices—media, culture, influencers, even well-meaning friends and family—all shaping our beliefs and perceptions. Sometimes, these voices distort the truth, just as the serpent did in Eden, or as false prophets did in Jeremiah’s day. We must be discerning, recognizing that not every voice speaks truth, and that even our own understanding is filtered through years...

Trusting God is not always easy, especially when life feels uncertain or promises seem delayed. Belief is just the beginning—trust is what transforms our lives Pastor Mia shares stories of Abraham and Jesus to illustrate how trusting God's promises, even when they seem impossible, leads to abundant life and spiritual growth. She encourages us to practice spiritual disciplines like worship and comm...

In the Parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus warns us to "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed" (Luke 12: 13-21). Greed, like all sin, is sneaky. We don't decide to be greedy. We slide into it with justifications. We want things and money, often because we believe they'll provide security. However, things and money aren't the problem. The problem is within us. We allow things and money to get in...

The sin in the city of Sodom angered God. Because violence, pride, and the failure to care for the poor was rampant, God planned to destroy the city (read about it Genesis ch. 20) Although God’s servant Abraham was aware of Sodom’s sin, he pleaded with God on behalf of the innocent people there. Abraham asked, what if there are 50 or 45 or 40 or 30 or 20 or 10 innocent people? Abraham actually kep...

An animated movie and the baptism of Jesus have something in common. Both are about change. The film "Inside Out" portrays the emotions of a young girl who moves to a new city, and Jesus's baptism was the beginning of a transformation that prepared people for the change of the coming Messiah. Dealing with change is difficult and uncomfortable. Change can cause some of the emotions portyed by the c...

The one constant in the universe is change. This week, Pastor Mia helps us understand how we were made for change. God created us to be moldable, like clay, to be shaped and reshaped. Neuroplasticity, the ability to rework our brains by building new neural connections, makes spiritual growth possible. Change is constant, and so is God. As God molds and shapes us, we change but God remains the same...

On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the beginning of the human community called the church. This journey started when Jesus’s apprentices, the disciples, were filled with the Holy Spirit and became the apostles who went out to preach. Today, the journey continues with us and the places we will go. Despite the rewards, faith journeys aren’t always without challenges. One of the difficulties is the re...

Mark’s Gospel tells the story of four people tearing a hole in the roof of a crowded building so they could lower a paralytic down to Jesus for healing. They didn’t do the healing, however, they were essential to the story. Healing for the paralytic was an urgent matter for the four . They couldn’t wait for Jesus to finish preaching to the crowd—they needed to get the paralytic to Jesus immediatel...

Carrying a rock on the Camino de Santiago became a powerful symbol of letting go—of burdens, grief, or sin. As I journeyed, I realized the rock I needed to release was my hyper-vigilance, a habit born from years of living in an unsafe home environment. Though it once served a purpose, it had become damaging, and God made it clear it was time to lay it down. Letting go is never easy, even when we k...

When Jesus rose from the dead, the whole world changed and there was no going back. The disciples who followed Jesus knew things would never be the same after the crucifixion, but they didn’t see the future clearly. When they encountered a stranger on the road to Emmaus, their eyes were opened. At that moment, the disciples discovered Jesus is Lord. This week, Pastor Mia highlights the ways in whi...

Mary Riedl, guest preacher, takes us into the difficulty of leaving comfortable places. It's difficult for butterflies, and it's difficult for us. But we are made for it. Leaving comfortable places is where we find life. What safe grave do you need to leave?

Wombs, tombs, and cocoons. In this message about emergence and transformation, Pastor Mia reminds us that Easter is God’s invitation to new life. The transformation to new life begins in the dark. Sometimes the darkness is a place of pain or sorrow—a tomb. And sometimes the darkness is a place of safety and warmth—a womb. Emerging from the darkness is challenging, especially when it’s comfortable,...

The crowds who followed Jesus lived under violent and repressive Roman occupation. They needed to be saved and couldn’t do it themselves. Because they witnessed Jesus’s teaching and healing, they believed Jesus was the new king would give them the victory. And so, when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they welcomed him with a parade. The victory those crowds anticipated was a military de...

All relationships have problems. Failed relationships aren’t necessarily caused by big issues like abuse. More likely, failed relationships are the accumulation of many little things brought on by neglect and disconnection. We’ve all neglected our relationship with God. We don’t keep the sabbath, we worship the idols of consumerism and materialism, and we fail to help the needy. You could say, God...

We all have something we're powerless against. Death is one. The other is the collection of things that get in between us and God. When we admit we are powerless and finally turn to God, Jesus washes away the things that suppress us from living in full relationship with the Lord. When Jesus makes us clean, he's not washing dirt off our bodies. Instead, he's cleansing us from another type of grime,...

In this third Sunday of Lent, we explore the profound ways Jesus is our Savior, focusing on Jesus as a moral example. Jesus teaches us to live a life of love, integrity, and selflessness. Jesus' life is a testament to kingdom living, calling us to shift from self-centeredness to self-giving. Through actions and teachings, Jesus provides a model for moral and ethical living, inspiring us to embody...

John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but how? This week guest speaker Pastor Steve Tollefson wrestles with the question, how did Jesus set us free from sin? When we try to understand how Jesus’s death on a cross makes it possible for sins to be forgiven, the thing we’re trying to understand is atonement. Atonement is the reconciliation of God an...

God became human to save us, but what was God saving us from? On this first Sunday of Lent, Pastor Mia takes on that question. God's covenant with the Israelites included rules intended to help the people live their lives with order and decency. The Israelites, however, disobeyed God's commandments by continually worshipping idols and neglecting to keep the Sabbath. Because of the people's failure...

The Transfiguration of Jesus was a pivotal moment, providing a glimpse at the divine nature of Christ. It is when Jesus, accompanied by Peter, James, and John, ascends a mountain and is transformed, his appearance becoming flashes white like lightening. The disciples' reaction to this event is one of awe and confusion, as they struggle to comprehend the full significance of what they have witnesse...

How does resurrection work? The Apostle Paul took a shot at answering that question in his first letter to the Corinthians. In his explanation, Paul says a physical body dies and is raised as a spiritual body. Because we have physical bodies, we understand how they work. But what are the spiritual bodies Paul is talking about? Paul attempts to explain the connection between physical and spiritual...

Pastor Mia concludes the series, The Walk: Essential Practices of the Christian Life with a look at the weekly rythmn between work and rest. A pendulum swinging back and forth can help us visualize the movement between work and rest. We're created to work, and God epxects us to work. Working provides a sense of purpose and it lets us experience the joy of contribution, but rest is important too. T...

As we move further along in the Walk: Essential Practices for the Christian Life, Pastor Mia helps us understand the significance of deeper relationships. Christian living includes three relationship dimensions: Up, In, and Out: Up is the relationship with God. In is the relationship with close friends. Out is the relationship with the crowds. Jesus maintained the three relationship dimensions by...

The journey into the Kingdom of God doesn’t follow a linear path. Discipleship is a cyclical process of observation, reflection, discussion, planing, accountability, and action. As Pastor Mia continues guiding us through The Walk: Essential Practices of Christian Life, we learn Kairos moments can prompt us to enter the discipleship circle. Kairos moments are events of higher emotion when time slow...