Middle Church

Love your neighbor. Sounds good. BUT it is hard a$$ work. Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan? He picks an outsider as an example of the way to love; an “other” who loved HARD shows what love looks like. Love is the only force that will heal our world; we better get good at it!

Jacqui Lewis and Mike Martin (@RAWtools), preachers

• Our intersectional justice work is imperative. As we imagine what it means to be free where will you put your time, talent and treasure? • What support will you need from Middle Church to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God? • How can our prophetic grief forge peace?

Jacqui Lewis, preacher

• What did your family teach you about racial dynamics in America? Is there anything you’ve had to unlearn? • What do you hear in today’s sermon that might give you the courage to heal the child in you? • When you hear “family is the site of liberation,” how can your family—chosen or otherwise—participate in building the Reign of God on earth?

Wesley Rowell, preacher

•How are you mourning the slaughter of innocents in this country at the hands of gun violence? •What do we do with our outrage and anger? Can scripture help? •What happens when we transform masculine representations of God with something more inclusive and representative?

• Pentecost is a celebration of communication. What are you hearing Spirit say to you in this season about rebirth? • What are you being inspired to say and do in new ways because Spirit has come by you? • In some ways Middle is being reborn. What do you pray we will be like?

Jacqui Lewis, preacher

Jocelyn Lieu, preacher

• How have you been wounded by white supremacism? • What personal story about race would write on your “leaf” to heal the nations? • What has been revealed to you as you’ve listened to this series of sermons on the Book of Revelation?

Jacqui Lewis, preacher

John’s Revelation is often interpreted through the lens of judgement; I’ve been reading it with hope. • Can you hear the hope-filled promise of a healed creation? A new heaven, new earth? Where does your imagination take you in terms of ecology—the care of our earthly home? • There are echoes here of the Genesis and the creation stories—that the human ones were banished from Eden but will now see...

Jacqui Lewis, preacher

• In these times of trauma, what needs to be healed in you? • How can you participate in the healing of the nations? • How would you describe Middle’s calling to make things new?

Chad Tanaka Pack, preacher

• How does your self-centeredness get in the way of seeing yourself as closely connected to the world? What is one thing you can do to let go of your ego? • Wish someone a Happy Mother’s Day—maybe someone whom you wouldn’t usually think of as a mother figure in your life. If they have passed away, find a way to offer good wishes, like lighting a candle or writing a card. • When have you most clear...

Victor Greene, preacher

• How will you celebrate and honor Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month? • Do you have a fishing story? What is it? Think Back. How might’ve God called for your attention? • How can we, this month, live into being dancers and maroons who form a floating village? How can we best show up?

Jacqui Lewis, preacher

• If God is Love, who is Jesus? • How does this sermon help you liberate Jesus from the box he is in? • How can we rise as Easter people all year long?

Jacqui Lewis, preacher

• This greatest story ever told features God coming all the way down into human history as Word made flesh. How does that word live in you? • How can you be the Rising? • How can we -this here flesh-be the resurrection?

Jacqui Lewis, preacher

• Where do you see conflict between these two realms on the political stage? In the media? In your personal life? • What can you do to enact the values God’s reign: in your family? in social media? in your everyday life?