Second on the Mount

"Truth: God Is Here" – Mark 1:21-28, 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, January 28, 2024. "There are demons—whether they be personal, communal, global, or even cosmic—that draw us away from Jesus. Yet, with God’s boundary-breaking power and love made know in Jesus Christ, we can stand up to the demons and be freed.  "How might we speak with authority to these demons ju...

"Waiting Work" – Acts 1:13-26 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 21, 2024. "Prayer is sometimes dismissed as avoiding responsibility, such as when people who actually can do something about a problem say instead, 'Let’s pray about it.' But though prayer can be used to avoid the truth and dodge responsibility, it can also be a means by which to face the truth and deal with it. ....

"Come and See" – John 1:29-46 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 14, 2024. "The invitation to 'come and see' is an invitation to leave our comfort zones. To 'come and see' is an invitation to approach all of life with a grace-filled curiosity. To 'come and see' is to enter into the joy of being deeply seen and deeply known. . . . "Is there anything that feels lonelier than...

"Under the Apple Tree" – Genesis 2:15-17, Romans 12:1-2 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 7, 2024. Can one believe what both science and the Bible have to say? Dr. Anderson explores this question by looking to epiphanies under the apple tree by Adam and Eve, Sir Isaac Newton, and Karl Barth. "Though God is a mystery beyond proof, I believe in God because I have had...

"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Mother's Name)" – Luke 1:26-38 Advent Sermon Series Part V Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, December 31, 2023. Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-mothers-name/  

"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Father's Name)" – John 1:14-18 Advent Sermon Series Part IV Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Christmas Eve Sunday, December 24, 2023. "But, as I said before, in saying God, something more needs to be said. . . .  Something must be added to what is meant by God or we end up adding whatever we want God to mean. God can mean 'Merciless Judge' if the blanket is just a...

"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Place of Birth)" – Micah 5:2, Luke 2:4 Advent Sermon Series Part III Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, December 17, 2023. "The birth of the Messiah will be a sign to the world of healing and life. This child was born with a name, born at a time in history, born in a place we know. In Bethlehem, heaven has come down. In Bethlehem, House of Bread, we enc...

"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Date)" – Luke 2:1-7 Advent Sermon Series Part II Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, December 10, 2023. "Jesus was born when Quirinius was governor of Syria and was charged with conducting the registration, a symbol of Roman authority and oppression. To this, Jesus was born as the Messiah who would overthrow the powerful and lift up the oppressed. "In those days...

“Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Name)” – Matthew 1:18-25 Advent Sermon Series Part I  Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 3, 2023. "Let’s put a formal name on the certificate, and in that day, the most formal way someone was introduced was not only by name but also by relationship. So, let’s imagine Joseph answering the question, 'What is the child’s name?' in this way: 'Yeshua Ben...

"Sheep and Goats" – Matthew 25:31-45 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, November 26, 2023. "Over the centuries, this passage has been described as the 'Judgement of the Pagans' or the 'Last Judgement.' Jesus is seen separating sheep and goats, rewarding them or condemning them according to their actions, or lack thereof. . . . when we pay attention to what Matthew is saying, the q...

"Inside the Hard Crust" – Colossians 1:11-20 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 19, 2023. "But Paul has the vision to see the beauty past the crust, and it is that vision he shares in the passage I read. . . . For if Paul is right, God in Christ will make every life—no matter how short, tragic, hard, or regret-filled—every life reach its completion through the healing of reconc...

"No One Has Ever Seen God" – I John 4:7-12 Sermon by Peter Enns (Ph. D.), Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, author, and our guest speaker for the 2023 Edmunds Lecture Series , from Sunday, November 12, 2023. 

"Take It In" – 1 Thessalonians 2:5-13 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from All Saints' Sunday, November 5, 2023. "Paul praises the Thessalonian church for receiving the gospel they proclaimed. Not only did they take it to then share it with others, but they took it in, they took it into themselves. It became part of their being. And they took it in, not as a human word, but as what it really is, Go...

"Love" – Matthew 22:34-46 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, October 29, 2023. "Love God; love neighbor. It’s every bit as simple, and every bit as hard as it sounds. We live in a culture that throws the word love around all the time. . . . We associate it with the feelings that arise out of our own enjoyment of things. We don’t think of it as a discipline, as a practice, as exerc...

"Gift and Burden" – Romans 5:1-11 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Preschool Sunday, October 22, 2023. "Even when we are at our worst, when we are the broken lamp, shredded curtain or muddy rug, instead of discarding us as ruined and no longer of use, God takes on the sacrifice of our restoring. Even when we are weak, Paul says—which is a way of saying that even when we are such burdens that...

"Between the Gasp and Grasp" – John 2:1-11  Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, October 15, 2023. "The mother of Jesus sees her son as someone who could—and should—meet need. And the question of theodicy stands beside her in this moment. Why is [the wine running out at the Wedding at Cana] not a concern for Jesus? . . . We see a world in desperate need and we, too, turn to Jesus, as someon...

"Second Alive: A Fundamental Reason" – Matthew 18:15-20 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 8, 2023. "So much healing of community wounds would not be happening without Second Presbyterian and other communities that refuse to remain isolated from problems but engage them. . . . Grounded in God’s love, we gain strength that we can be more the healers than the harmed, more the grac...

"Children of God" – I John 3:1-3, I Corinthians 11:23-26, 33 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, October 1, 2023. "Nearly 2,000 years ago, when Jesus sat around that Passover table with his friends, he was sharing a family meal. He took food that was familiar to them—each item on their plates told a story. And then after dinner, with his words and his actions, he gave the most basi...

"The Only Healing Left" – Luke 5:17-26 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 24, 2023. "Jesus speaks with the voice of God in telling you that even now, 'Your sins are forgiven. Now go and live your life. Live out an identity not defined by the accumulation of success and failure, but as a child loved by God. For that is who you are.'" Read the manuscript on our website: https://...

"On Forgiveness" – Matthew 18:21-33 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 17, 2023. "This is a difficult parable. The narrative swings back and forth between extreme mercy and severe judgment. Underneath it all, though, is a simple reality: forgiveness is not easy. We know this to be true. Sometimes, what others have done to us or people we love is so hurtful that we don’t...

"Enough" – John 1:35-42, 21:15-19 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 10, 2023. "What can you and I do in order to be worthy? What can we do to prove to God and to ourselves that we are enough to be loved and accepted? I hope you know the answer to that question because we talk about it all the time in church. You cannot come to worship at Second Presbyterian Church without hea...

"H of G" – Romans 12:9-21 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, September 3, 2023. "As a community of faith, a community that claims God is creating something new, a new heaven and a new earth, through the love made known in Jesus Christ, we are called to not simply approach people with the hermeneutic of generosity. Rather, knowing that the grace of God is freely given to sinner and saint a...

"Blind" – John 9 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 13, 2023. Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/blind/  

"All Ate and Were Filled" – Matthew 14:13-21 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, August 6, 2023. "The people aren’t asking Jesus for anything. They just want to be with him. He is so different from any leader they had ever seen before. They are hungry, they are frightened, they are hurt—and they hang on Jesus’ every word and action. He has shown them something special. He has given...

"Kingdom Consciousness" – Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 30, 2023. "These parables, as mashal, offer us riddles that open our eyes to the kingdom of heaven in the here and now, teasing the mind into reflection and response. They draw us into a kingdom of consciousness." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/kingdom-consciousness/