Second on the Mount

"Two Faiths" – Jonah 4:1-5 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 23, 2023. "In this sanctuary, we remember who we are and keep the tension alive. We don’t let our faith break into two. We pray for our enemies and work for the blessing of all people. While it is admirable to love our families and community, and while it is admirable to love and serve one’s country, the Bible and our th...

"Next" – Luke 3:15-22 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 16, 2023. "Luke is talking about a moment where it doesn’t matter whether you are a Pharisee or a Sadducee, a Zealot or an Essene, a person of substance or a person of the streets. It doesn’t matter what you have done to build up a reputation, to make a name for yourself, to accomplish something, even selfless and kind. In th...

"To What Will I Compare This Generation" – Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 9, 2023. "Beloved, children of each and every generation, you do not have to carry the burdens of the world in which you grew up all by yourself, the burdens of a world left to you by generations before you. No matter what generation you belong, Jesus is inviting you to come, all of...

"In This Together" – Luke 10:1-11 Sermon by Nancy Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation at Second Presbyterian Church, from Sunday, July 2, 2023.

"Jesus Chooses Kairos Time" – Genesis 2:3, Exodus 20:8-11, Matthew 12:1-8 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 25, 2023. "I don’t know about you, but it can feel like I’m all over the map sometimes. There is so much to do, so much to produce. It can feel like my life lacks prayerful attention. And because my attention is so scattered, it can feel like I don’t have enough time f...

"Final Interview" – Matthew 25:31-46 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 18, 2023. "'Were you kind?' Oh dear! Even without being literal about end-times, that question is intimidating. The question Matthew’s Jesus leaves us with in his last sermon is that one. In the parable, the question is in the past tense so that we’ll ask it in the present one: 'Are you kind?' Never mind the un...

"Handing Out Invitations" – Luke 14:1, 16-24 Sermon by the Rev. Millie Snyder, Executive Pastor of Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC and our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Sunday, June 11, 2023.

"Unqualified Teaching" – Matthew 28:16-20 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Trinity Sunday, June 4, 2023. "Much like the disciples and the early church, as we teach, we gain a better understanding of what we believe, we become more comfortable in sharing our beliefs, and through practice we develop the ability to ask different and deeper questions, to look beyond the surface for meaning and conn...

"Let There Be Church" – Acts 2:1-4 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Pentecost Sunday, May 28, 2023. "How liberating it is to have removed from us the pressure of the responsibility to find on our own our own identity, create our own meaning, and establish our own significance… all of which would die when we die. But life has meaning even at death because it is a life shared with God." Read th...

"A Blessing" –  Luke 24:44-53 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, May 21, 2023. "While God came to us in the flesh and blood of Jesus, the ascension reminds us that we cannot restrict God to any one place. Thus, Jesus’ ascension isn’t about his leaving—his disciples, us, the world—but rather it is about the simultaneous confession that God has chosen to be located in our physical w...

"Known Mystery" – Acts 17:22-31 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 14, 2023. "Embrace the scandalous idea of eternal life, the scandalous idea that grace is more powerful than guilt, and that love has once and for all conquered death in Jesus Christ. And let us not be afraid to question, to explore, to challenge and be challenged, and to seek after God, the Creator God who is revealed...

"Body Memory" – I Corinthians 12:12-13 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 7, 2023. "We worship to build Body Memory so as to instinctively love God and serve the world. Serving the world looks different today than it did in Paul’s day. Then it was about giving alms, taking a collection from some members when other members are in trouble, giving a cloak away if one has two, providing...

"Write Your Life" – Genesis 1:1-3a, John 1, Rev. 14:13, II Corinthians 3:2-3, Colossians 3:12-17 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 30, 2023. "But the question that is asked of all of us, at whatever level we are capable of answering, is, 'What will be the story we tell in life?' 'Will the Word be heard through who we are and how we live, or not?' It is not a question about how su...

"What Is Fair?" – Matthew 20:1-16 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, April 23, 2023. "We are quick to allegorize parables. We are quick to explain Jesus’ stories as all about heaven and salvation and glory and a kingdom to come, but he’s most often not talking about salvation or the life to come. More often than not, Jesus is talking about how we can sanctify daily living. He’s ta...

"Shock and Awe" – Psalm 27:1-4, Mark 16:1-8 Sermon by Dr. Ed McLeod, Minister and Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC and facilitator of the Kitty Susan Trent Symposium, from Sunday, April 16, 2023.

"He Is Raised" – Matthew 28 Part 7 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross." Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023. "The realm of God is not bound by borders or legislated by a government. No, the ream of God is forever and today. It is Already-News. The realm is known in baptism when all allegiances give way to an allegiance to God that is then shown when one’s hear...

"The Throne" – John 12:12-13, 19:1-22 Part 6 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross." Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Palm Sunday, April 4, 2023. Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-throne-part-6-of-the-sermon-series-lift-high-the-cross/  

"Carried" – Matthew 16:21-26 Part 5 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross." Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, March 26, 2023. "If we can understand that all suffering and crucifixion is of the “one body,” then we are open to the crosses others carry, and it is then that we may join in the reconciling work of Christ’s cross for all. It is then that we realize that my salvation is a pa...

"Reconciled" – Luke 15:11-32, 23:32-34a Part 4 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross." Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 19, 2023. "The cross is the intersection of the vertical embrace of God’s unconditional love, and the horizonal work of reconciliation that heals what is broken. Once you understand that about the cross—once you understand that it reveals both the separatio...

"History Revealed" – Mark 15:1-15 Part 3 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross." Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 12, 2023. "Since that Friday we now call 'Good,' Christians have been trying to make sense of the cross. Faithful and doubtful people alike have been wrestling with what it means. That’s what we’re doing here, right? We are asking whether the theories and e...

"God Revealed: Part 2 of the Sermon Series Lift High the Cross" – Philippians 2:1-11 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 5, 2023. "What I want to talk about is whether through Jesus God became a better version of God’s self or whether in Jesus we can see more clearly who God has always been. Revelation, not change, is what Paul is talking about in our passage, I think. Look at the...

"Revealed: Part 1 of the Sermon Series Lift High the Cross" – John 13:36-14:7 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 26, 2023. "The cross reveals our sin. Yes, it does and you are going to hear that point made multiple times in our sermon series. But I think even more, the cross reveals our humanity. The cross reveals that we are not gods who can rise above our limits, but we are h...

"Lift High the Cross: Enough of Formulas" – 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 19, 2023. "For me, it gets down to this. Make of any illustration of the Atonement—any illustration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—a definition; and the cross becomes a fix rather than a revelation. I think the cross is a revelation, not a fix. The cross doesn’t c...

"The Choice is Yours" – Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Sermon by Rev. Benjamin S. Brannan from Sunday, February 12, 2023. "What does it mean to choose life, prosperity, and blessings? According to Moses, it means to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. Throughout his sermon, Moses illustrates the good life: forgiving debts, guarding against excessive wealth, defending human dignity, pro...

"The Provoking Smile" – 1 John 4:7-21 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 29, 2023. "We need to habitually put ourselves in places where we learn, see, and practice what God’s love is like. We worship over and over again so that we truly love the one we worship. We return to the stories of faith again and again until they become the stories we live. We practice selfless acts till...