Midway Christian Church Sermon Podcast

Measure Your Life in Love (Part 5) March 26, 2023 Grace is often so intangible that we don’t know we need it until after we have experienced it. "How Do You Measure Grace" John 3: 1-21 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY www.midwaychristian.org

Measure Your Life in Love (Part 4) March 19, 2023 Authentic community, the Beloved Community of the the Kingdom of God is based on unity, not uniformity. "How Do You Measure Community" Matthew 18: 10-20 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY www.midwaychristian.org

Measure Your Life in Love (Part 3) March 12, 2023 Everyone’s spiritual journey, everyone’s spiritual growth is different because we have had different life experiences. We are from different backgrounds. We see life differently because of these various lenses.  "How Do You Measure Spiritual Growth?" Luke 8: 4-15 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY ⁠www.midwaych...

Measure Your Life in Love (Part 2) March 5, 2023 “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” . -Matthew 6: 24 "How Do You Measure Wealth?" Matthew 6: 19-21, 24 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY ⁠www.midwaychristian.org

Measure Your Life in Love (Part 1) February 26, 2023 Just as Jesus reminds his disciples, Jesus reminds us that success looks very different in the Kingdom of God. Success in the Kingdom of God looks like the selling of what you own, and giving the money to the poor; like following Jesus to the cross; like for “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.” "How Do You Measur...

Lessons from the Gospel of Matthew (Part 5) February 19, 2023 It is not enough to just hear the words of the Sermon on the Mount. As disciples of Christ, As disciples of Christ, we are called to incorporate them into our lives, to let them become a part of who we are, to let them transform us into the people God calls us and created us to be and then to follow them with all our heart, mind and sou...

Lessons from the Gospel of Matthew (Part 4) February 12, 2023 Pondering the lilies of the field and the birds of the air "invites us to return to the miracle of the present moment, to remember amidst the everyday troubles of life that ‘there is a today; it is’ ". (Kierkegaard 2018: 76) "Lilies of the Field" Matthew 6: 25-34 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY www.midwayc...

Lessons from the Gospel of Matthew (Part 3) February 5, 2023 God created the light. Jesus is light in the darkness. And yet we, fragile and flawed human beings, are the light of the world. Jesus says, “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others.” "Salt and Light" Mat...

Lessons from the Gospel of Matthew (Part 2) January 29, 2023 As people of faith, we have spiritualized the Beatitudes so much so that we think of them only as a way to get into Kingdom of Heaven. Instead, we should look at them as an invitation to embody these blessings in our lives as disciples of Christ so that we can “see more clearly the ways we can act to bring God’s Kingdom into people’s liv...

Lessons from the Gospel of Matthew (Part 1) January 15, 2023 Jesus’ identity is confirmed….not by the crowds who like his teaching, not even by the he heals. Jesus’ identity is confirmed by the one who formed his very being, who breathed life into his bones, who created him in God’s image. "The Beloved" Matthew 3: 13-17 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY www.midwaychris...

Reflecting the Sacred (Part 4) December 18, 2022 Both Isaiah and Matthew, remind us that God is with us; that God is at work in this world; that the process of healing, of wholeness, of sacred knowing is grounded in the story of love and light which has been unfolding since the beginning of time. "Sacred Knowing" Isaiah 7: 10-16 Matthew 1: 18-25 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church,...

Reflecting the Sacred (Part 3) December 11, 2022 “Christ invests himself organically in all creation, within all creation, immersing himself in things, in the heart of matter, and thus unifying the world” -Ilia Delio . "Sacred Space" Isaiah 35: 1-10; Luke 1: 46b-55 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY www.midwaychristian.org

Reflecting the Sacred (Part 2) December 27, 2022 In the midst of all the noise which fills our lives, can we as people of faith still hear God’s voice speaking to us, calling to us, reminding us who we are, reminding us whose we are. Can we hear this call to reconnect in the midst of all that noise which pulls us away from the sacred in our midst? “Sacred People” Matthew 3: 1-13; Romans 15: 4-13 R...

Reflecting the Sacred (Part 1) November 27, 2022 As a community of faith, we are being invited to soften our focus on life, to blur the hard edges of our lives, to see the whole picture with our hearts, to train our hearts to love as God loves, and to look at life through the reflections of the sacred.  “Keep Awake” Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian...

November 20, 2022 Jesus wants the people to understand that it would have been enough that God provided physical bread to end their hunger pains. But God did more than that. God sent the Bread of Life to the people to satisfy the people’s spiritual hunger. "Bread of Life" John 6: 25-35 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway, KY www.midwaychristian.org

November 13, 2022 God never promises bad things will never happen to us. What God does promise us is that we do not have to be afraid because we know God is there with us, guiding us and leading us, God is there, surrounding us with grace. We do not have to be afraid because we know that God will always have the last word. "Things Are About to Happen" Luke 21: 5-19 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midw...

This Here Flesh (Part 8) November 6, 2022 "There are times when belonging is not cemented in the lived moment of an experience but in the lively or somber retelling of the moment afterward. Which means we can transfer belonging to the next generation by welcoming them into memories that they (or we) have not lived but choose to steward”. -Cole Arthur Riley "Memory" Deuteronomy 6: 4-9; Luke 24: 13-...

This Here Flesh (Part 7) October 30, 2022 “We are a people more concerned with ruling than loving. This is a mistake that positions us in places where we are no longer close enough to another person or thing to perceive its pain or need. To be human in an aching world is to know our dignity and become people who safeguard the dignity of everything around us. To protect everything may seem like too...

This Here Flesh (Part 6) October 23, 2022 I think we were made to be delighted in. And I think it takes just as much strength to believe someone’s joy about you as it does to muster it all on your own. -Cole Arthur Riley "Repair and Joy" Ezra 3: 10-13; Philippians 4: 1-9, Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY www.midwaychristian.org

This Here Flesh (Part 5) October 16, 2022 What does it mean that Christ doesn’t just scream but also physically overturns tables? What does it mean that Christ doesn’t just lament the bare fig tree but damns it, leaving his followers with gaping mouth and no immediate resolution? -Cole Arthur Riley "Rage" Psalm 13; Mark 11: 12-17 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY www.m...

This Here Flesh (Part 4), October 9, 2022 Our faith story tells us that God makes us lie down in green pastures, that through rest and renewal we will find salvation, that sometimes when we are feeling as if we don’t have our feet underneath us the best thing we can do is go have a little snack and take a nap . "Rest" Psalm 23: 4b-6; Luke 8: 22-25 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Churc...

World Communion Sunday Community Service, October 2, 2022. As we find ourselves in a place where the church is more and more segregated, let us work to bring denominations together; to bring the people who follow Christ together, with the sharing of the one thing we all share in, that is Holy Communion. "Us" 2 Timothy 1 7-9 Rev. William Hale of St. Paul AME Church, Versailles, KY Midway Christian...

This Here Flesh (Part 3) September 18, 2022 Fear comes in many different shapes, forms and experiences. We try to stave fear off by grasping by what we control when in reality what our faith teaches us is it is not one or the other. To be human is to be vulnerable, is to know that life is uncertain, to know that God has given us promises. "Wonder and Calling" Psalm 19; Matthew 18: 1-5 Rev. Dr. Hea...

This Here Flesh (Part 2) September 11, 2022 "In a Christian community everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensible link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer "Place and Belonging" Genesis 28 1-5; John 14 1-4 Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl, Midway Christian Church, Midway KY www.midwaychristian.org

This Here Flesh (Part 1) September 4, 2022 This worship series is based on the book "This Here Flesh" by Cole Arthur Riley. "If we are divided from our body, we are also divided from the body of the world-which then appears to be other than us, or separate from us, rather than the living continuum to which we belong.” – Philip Shepherd "Body and Dignity" Genesis 1: 27-28; Hebrews 2: 5-9;14 Rev. Dr...