Second on the Mount

"God's Consolation" – II Corinthians 1:3-7 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 13, 2025. "Your self is a good gift. It helps you dream, build, grow and relate, live your life. But it’s a perishable item. "Thank God you are not just a self with a shelf-life. You are a soul—named, known, and beloved, not because of what you do, but because of who God is. "And when the self is lost, th...

"Burdensome Work" – Galatians 6:1-16 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 6, 2025. "The life of faith was never meant to be lived in silos of self-sufficiency. It is a web of interdependence—each carrying their own load, yes, but never bearing the overwhelming burdens alone. But this burdensome work isn’t limited to individuals. Paul’s letter is saturated with communal responsibility....

"Let Go, Let God" – Matthew 6:25-34 Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, June 29, 2025. Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/

"The Blame Game" – Luke 8:26-39 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, June 22, 2025. "Friends, this moment calls us to something deeper. Something braver. Because we live in a world of scapegoating. A world eager to name enemies so we don’t have to name our fears. A world quick to assign blame so we don’t have to shoulder responsibility, shoulder any responsibility for our economic instabili...

"Saving Time for What?" – Ephesians 5:15-16, Luke 10:38-42 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 15, 2025. "Ephesians reminds us that if all our time-saving just leads to more rushing and more anxiety, maybe we’re not saving time at all. Maybe we’re losing it. To 'make the most of time' is not to fill every moment, but to remember that time itself is a gift from God.  "It’s a subtle d...

"Endurance" – Job 42:1-6, James 5:7-11 Sermon by Dr. Ed McLeod, our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Sunday, June 8, 2025.

"What Makes Patience a Virtue" – Romans 8:18-25 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 1, 2025. "...all of us are living with situations we can’t fix. Never mind the global problems, or the social or political realities we’d love to see change. We live with people we can’t change. Pain we can’t escape. And in those places, what might hopeful endurance look like? "What difference might...

"Peace Be With You" – John 14:23-29 Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, May 25, 2025. "Jesus, who promised peace to his disciples the night before his own crucifixion, never promised us a life without hardship or a world without troubles, but he did offer us a way forward through the gift of his deep and abiding peace. No matter what difficulties we face in our l...

"Who Goes With You?" – Revelation 21:1-6 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Senior Recognition Sunday, May 18, 2025. "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.' And in that declaration, God makes a claim—not just over cosmic history, but over your story. "When your beginning feels uncertain, or your ending unclear, God still speaks: 'I am with you. I am your beginning and your end...

"Teach Me How to Pray" – Luke 11:1-4 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 11, 2025. "What difference would it make to remember God is in the room? "It doesn’t necessarily mean you stop being frustrated or stop being angry. That awareness doesn’t mean silencing conviction. Stay honest. Keep caring about what you believe is right and true. But remembering God’s presence might also slow...

"A Calling Passed On" – Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 6:19-20 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Legacy Sunday, May 4, 2025. "What does it mean to live well when you believe in a God who loves selflessly—and calls you to love others the same way? The boy, in his conversation with the mole, leaps right to Micah’s answer. "'What do you want to be when you grow up?' "The boy doesn’t say he wants to be a su...

"Ready for New Lenses?" – John 20:19-31, Revelation 1:4-8  On the occasion of the 2025 Kittye Susan Trent Symposium for Newly Ordained Ministers, Dr. Ken McFayden, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean of Union Presbyterian Seminary, was invited to preach at the 8:45 and 11:00 a.m. worship services.

"Wisdom Resurrected" – Luke 24:13-27 Part VII of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom" Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025. "Friends in Christ, much of the wisdom we need right now is the wisdom we’ve forgotten. But it’s an old wisdom that can be resurrected. Just as Jesus rose from a tomb, this wisdom can be resurrected from Scripture.  "And because Jesus is risen, he...

"Wisdom Crucified" – Matthew 27:45-50, Acts 3:14-18 Part VI of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom" Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025. "This is not for someone else. This is for us. For those of us who follow Jesus, who sit in pews, who pray unceasingly and sincerely and yet still carry assumptions and perspectives that betray the very Gospel we claim and the very Jesus...

"New Wisdom" – Matthew 5:1-12, 38-45 Part V of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom" Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, April 6, 2025. "'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' This idea was meant to limit the escalation of violent retaliation. It was intended to break the cycle of violence by ensuring the punishment never became greater than the crime. The concept was about seek...

"Broken Wisdom" – I Corinthians 1:18-25 Part IV of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom" Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 30, 2025. "There is a phrase that might be over-used, but I think is so helpful in talking about how to move forward. It is living into a “new normal.” Your old wisdom about how to live in the world won’t serve you anymore because your world has changed. The only...

"A Chorus of Wisdom" – Psalm 150, Luke 18:9-14 Part III of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom" Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from March 23, 2025. "If we want to reach Psalm 150’s unshackled praise, we must not only humble ourselves before God—we must also release the false belief that others are beyond God’s mercy, set free our notion that some people are just too far gone from God’s love, and swin...

"Forgotten Wisdom" – Hosea 4:1-6, Luke 16:19-31 Part II of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom" Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 16, 2025. "Jesus uses his stark parable about eternity to make a point about life right now… his now, and our now. He reminds us that in any life-giving, community-enhancing moral tradition, there is a conservative streak. We need to conserve the moral tr...

"Honor Your Grandparents" – Proverbs 1:1-7 Part I of the Lenten Sermon Series "Wisdom" Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 9, 2025. "Wisdom isn’t about having all the answers. Wisdom is about having the courage to question the status quo. It is the willingness to question, reflect, and remain open to God’s Spirit. It is about listening and remembering where we come from—not t...

"Daily Duties – Romans 7:14-25 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 2, 2025. "Here is how I would, today, boil down Paul’s perspective on how to live the best life in following Jesus, with falling short being part of the equation: Be humble because you cannot be God, Be stubbornly grateful even in hard times (sometimes for the hard times), Be honest about yourself and accept, not de...

"Love as an Action Verb" – Luke 6:27-38  Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, February 23, 2025. "Friends, love of enemies, forgiveness as we have been forgiven, these actions, these decisions do not always come swiftly. They often do not come easily. "This is where and why I think it’s important to note – I think it’s important for you to remember – that Jesus preached this sermon...

"One" – John 8:12 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 16, 2025. "Not that I know what I’m talking about, but it seems to me that checking out a church online is like using a dating app. It is a way to check out a church from a safe distance before taking the risk of an in-person meeting. The rest of my sermon is for everyone, but I have those online visitors especially in mind....

"Deep Dive: Part 2" – Luke 5:1-11 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, February 9, 2025. "Yet if we go even deeper, we find that casting our nets for our own sake is not enough. There is more. It is in the deep waters of transformation that our purpose is redefined: 'From now on you will be catching people.'  "So, I wonder if the invitation and call to deeper waters and to cast our nets is...

"Deep Dive" Youth Sunday Sermons 2025 – Ephesians 3:14-21 Sermons by graduating seniors McLure Bailey (2:12), Sebastien Croteau (6:08), Kylie Young (13:58), Kit Polly (18:53), and Cara Wardell (23:19). Our Youth Group theme for the year is "Deep Dive." May God's spirit touch the deepest parts of you are, that you might experience the breadth, length, height, and depth of God's love made known in J...

"A Prophet in His Hometown" – Luke 4:16-30 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 26, 2025. "When we approach scripture, we ought to do it with the intelligence, wisdom, and insight God has given us. And when we interpret scripture, it should be with the heart of Jesus Christ himself who extended welcome, healed without question, loved with abandon, and calls us to do likewise...