Pilgrim Church

Breaking Bread in the World Acts 27:1-44 Guest Dr. Mark Glanville Acts 27 tells the story of the Apostle Paul’s sea journey. There is a storm, throwing cargo overboard, a ship wreck. We will meet Julius the Roman centurion and his soldiers, we will meet skillful sailors. A lot of attention is given to the relationship that Paul has with these people. This story gives wisdom for how Christ follower...

Being Human (in an AI age), Can Chatbots Pray? with Josh LiemMatthew 6:5-13; Romans 8:22-27What makes a prayer a prayer? This Sunday, in our Being Human (in an AI Age) series, we turn to Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Matthew 6 and Paul’s words about the Spirit’s “inexpressible groanings” in Romans 8. We’ll look at why prayer isn’t a way of controlling God, what Jesus shows us in Gethsemane, and why...

Desperate Faith: Lessons from Jesus on Miracles and Healing with guest Darryn Botha Mark 5:21-43 In Mark 5, we encounter two desperate people: a father whose daughter is dying, and a woman who has suffered for twelve years. Both come to Jesus with seemingly impossible situations—and both encounter the power and compassion of God.  But what can their stories teach us about faith, healing, and the c...

Made for Rest with Josh Liem Genesis 1:31-2:3; Deuteronomy 5:12-15 In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that by now technology would have us working fifteen hours a week.  So why are we busier than ever? This Thanksgiving Sunday, as we continue our series Being Human (in an AI Age), we turn to one of the oldest and strangest gifts in Scripture: a day when nothing gets done. From Ph...

The Vocation of Reconciliation with Josh Liem 2 Corinthians 5:14-6:2 If a machine can do what you were trained to do, faster and cheaper, what are you here for? This Sunday we turn to 2 Corinthians 5, where Paul answers critics who ranked him as unimpressive, and discover that our first calling is not a career but the ministry of reconciliation. Come wrestle with what makes work meaningful and hum...

Growing Through Giving with Guest Dr Ed Ng Genesis 1:25-27; 2:7, 20-23 In an age of AI companions and increasingly virtual relationships, what constitutes a "real" relationship? Drawing from Genesis and the Christian understanding of the Trinity, this sermon explores what it means to be made in the image of God-is-relationship. Being made in God's image calls us into relationships wh...

Can AI Cure Loneliness with Josh Liem Genesis 2; John 17 Before sin, death, and the devil, God declared one thing “not good.”  This Sunday, we’re in Genesis 2, where neither God, nor solitude, nor every other living creature was suitable for the first human.  The earthling needed another like him, yet different.  Come explore the implications of artificial companions in our created need to be know...

Behold the Human with Josh Liem Genesis 1:26-28; John 19:5 As artificial intelligence reshapes how we work, connect, and seek answers, what does it mean to be human? We begin our series, Being Human in the AI Age, by exploring humanity’s creation in God’s image and looking to Jesus—the image of the invisible God, standing wounded before Pilate. Together, we’ll consider how his life invites us to u...

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector with Josh Liem Luke 18:9-14 We close our series on the provocative parables of Jesus with the one about the Pharisee and the Tax collector.  And Jesus brilliantly baits the trap with two people to compare while teaching disciples to stop comparing themselves to others.  Will you take the bait? For reflection & discussion: Who are you most tempted to compare y...

A New Approach to Uncertainty with Guest Rev. Dave Mohr John 15:5-11 Life can throw things at us that are so overwhelming they demand a totally different approach. In John 15, Jesus gives His disciples—and us—a radically different way to face uncertainty, difficulty, and everything the world throws our way. This weekend, we’ll discover what it really means to remain in Him, stay close, and find th...

The 5 Brothers with Josh Liem Luke 16:19-31 This Sunday, we will explore the disturbing parable about a rich man and Lazarus, and the unbridgeable chasm between Hades and paradise.  Is this a map of the afterlife, or about the people right in front of us? For reflection & discussion: Who is the “Lazarus” at your gate? Is the fear of hell or some image of the afterlife driving what you do?   Wh...

Provocative Parables of Jesus, The Shrewd Manager with Josh Liem Luke 16:1-8 This week, we take on what scholars would call a notoriously difficult parable.  Why would Jesus tell a story of a boss commending an embezzler? For reflection & discussion: Have you listened or learned from a person you’d normally write off?  If so, how?   Find a podcast with a host or guest from the opposite side of...

Provocative Parables of Jesus, The Rich Fool with Josh Liem Luke 12:13-34 How much is too much?  What is wealth for?  This Sunday, we’ll sit with the parable of the Rich Fool and his barns— the only parable where God is a character. For reflection & discussion: Has God interrupted your soliloquy?  Are your thoughts and actions directed towards yourself— your earnings, possessions, accomplishme...

Extra Virgin Oil with guest Rev Raymond Seetoh Matthew 25: 1- 13 Pitch-black shores, extra virgin oil, and an unexpected call. What does it take to stay ready when God’s timing takes longer than expected? Find out this Sunday with Pastor Raymond as we unpack Matthew 25! Rev Raymond Seetoh grew up in Singapore and met Jesus while in high school in Australia. He’s served as a pastor in both Singapor...

An Answer to Job with Guest Dr. Isabelle Hamley Job 1 (NRSVUE) What do we expect to find in the whirlwind? Join us to explore the book of Job, and the story of a man who finds that God is much more than he had ever imagined - and learns to live with himself in the process. Dr. Isabelle Hamley is a minister, speaker, and writer. She currently serves as Principal of Ridley Hall, an Anglican seminary...

Provocative Parables of Jesus, Susanna with Josh Liem Luke 8:1-15, 18 Jesus explains the parable of the Soil and the Sower, line by line, and his disciples didn’t get it.  What if we’ve misread this parable too?  Join us as we explore what it means to truly listen to the Word of God. For reflection & discussion: Who is a Susanna in your life — someone whose faithful endurance you've seen,...

The Good Enemy with Josh Liem Luke 10:25-37 This summer, we’ll sit with the parables of Jesus without settling for easy interpretations.  And we’ll start with the most famous and domesticated one.  Have you mastered the parable of the Good Samaritan?  Is that a trick question? For reflection & discussion: Before this week, who did you picture yourself as in this story? The Samaritan, the pries...

The Necessity of Lament in Troubled Times  With Guest Soong-Chan Rah Lamentations1:1-3
 Soong-Chan Rah is the Robert Boyd Munger Professor of Evangelism and Church Renewal at Fuller Theological Seminary. He holds a ThD from Duke Divinity School, with a primary field of study in theology and ethics, and a secondary field of study in American evangelical history. He also holds an MDiv and a DMin, wi...

The Slow Harvest With Josh Liem Galatians 6:1-18 We are wrapping up our Galatians series this Sunday!   After five chapters of fighting for the gospel, Paul gets practical: carry each other, give generously, and don't grow weary in doing good, even when the harvest is slow, even delayed to the resurrection.  Come tired, come weary, come hungry.  Let Christ give you peace and rest. For reflecti...

Christ or Cannibalism? With Josh Liem Galatians 5:1-26 Something was tearing the church apart, and Paul had to intervene.  This Sunday, we’re in Galatians 5, and Paul has some of the most shocking lines in the New Testament here.  But he also paints a beautiful picture of true flourishing.  Come and wrestle with what it means to be free, rooted, enslaved to love, and who to trust with the formatio...

Christ Formed in You with Josh Liem Galatians 4:8–5:1 Who is forming you into the person you're becoming? Paul pleads with the Galatians not merely to believe the right things, but to resist voices that would shape them into something less than Christ. At the center of his anguish is one great desire: that Christ would be formed in them. For reflection & discussion: Who is someone (real or...

What Are You Wearing? with guest Darren Lof Galatians 3:23-4:7 People often use clothing to communicate identity, status, occupation, or belonging. What you wear can often say who you are or what you are aligned with. In Galatians 3:23-4:7, Paul uses a clothing metaphor to challenge believers to consider what they are wearing "spiritually". Are we dressed in the old clothing of control,...

Clothed With Christ with Josh Liem Galatians 3 This Sunday in Galatians 3, Paul pulls us through the whole biblical story— from a garden, to Abraham, to Moses and the Law, to the cross and an empty tomb, and Pentecost— to answer one question: how does a fractured world become one family? For reflection & discussion: What's one thing growing up that made you feel like you "belonged&quo...

Galatians: Life in the Spirit, Hot and Cold with Guest Rev. Dr. Ross Lockhart Galatians 2:11-21 We all know the swing between great days and not‑so‑great ones, whether at work, on the golf course, or in our relationships. This Sunday is Pentecost—the birth of the church and one of Peter’s greatest ministry moments—yet our series in Galatians 2:11–21 shows him on a far less shining day. As follower...

Destructive Zeal and Redemption with Josh Liem Galatians 1:11-2:10 This Sunday, we continue our Life in the Spirit series in Galatians 1:11–2:10, where the Apostle Paul tells us his own story — the embarrassing parts and all. We'll see how Paul's shameful chapter became the very credential of his ministry, and how your own story is where Jesus is being made visible. For reflection & di...