Sermon Central

Calling all seekers, all dreamers, all believers... Calling all glass-half-full optimists and lighthouse keepers... Calling all star-chasers and bedtime prayer speakers... Bring your questions, your hope, your faith and your fear into this space.

To paraphrase The Grinch, preparation for Christmas isn’t about bows or boxes or bags, but about something more. It’s about the hope, peace, joy, and love that are so clearly evident in Jesus’ birth, as well as his life, death, and resurrection. During Advent, we light candles for these things each week as a way to intentionally pause and recognize their truth—not just in heaven or this future rei...

When reading a scripture like this mornings', the first impulse is to think, “Oh, this is too monotonous and long. We should shorten it so people don’t lose focus and drift on to their grocery list. We should do only the important parts.” But that’s the thing—each name is important. Each name is connected to a person’s life-story. And like Dana shared in this week’s poetry prayer: there is room fo...

Christ is with us in our depression and anxiety. Christ is with us in the room with the cancer diagnosis and chemo treatments. Christ holds our relationships together when it feels like they’re just hanging by a thread. Or to put it the way Nijay Gupta argues, Paul is “tenaciously emphatic that, whatever the problem, Christ is the solution.” So over and over again, we see Paul assure this congrega...

As we have practiced remembering, releasing, and reimagining, we conclude the series by focusing on restoration. Ultimately, practicing faithful stewardship heals us as individuals and helps us restore right relationship with one another. In the final chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples and fills their empty fishing nets. Even after death, Jesus restores our hope and provides...

This week we practice releasing shame, anxiety, guilt, greed or anything that keeps us from freedom and wholeness. We release the elements of our money story that prevent us from fully living into God’s story. In Matthew, we see a man grieved to let go of his wealth. Releasing is a spiritual practice that frees us from ourselves and liberates others.

On this World Communion Sunday we are joined by Rev. Ash and Peg Welch, and are reminded that the 45,000 Christian denominations are one with Jesus Christ.

We continue our worship series, "Three Simple Rules" with a look at rule number two -- Do Good: a meditation on Mathew 5: 43-48 with visiting pastor, Rev. Ash Welch.

A new worship series begins. We're looking at John Wesley's Three Simple Rules. Today, Do No Harm.

Today we finish our worship series, “Road Trippin’ with Jesus.” For the past few weeks, we’ve looked at texts from the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem with his growing group of disciples. And in this series, we’ve paralleled discipleship with going on a road trip with Jesus: learning as we travel along the road of life, with Jesus as our navigator. And just like with any road tri...

Jesus is calling us to help others, not as a way to get something in return, but solely to help the other person—to lift them up, reminding them that they, too, are worthy of love and inclusion; that they, too, are a beloved child of God.

Do you have your Trip Tik?

Jesus points the way. Are we paying attention to the road signs? Hear guest speaker, Matt Mellott's message.

In today’s scripture passage, Jesus is telling his disciples—telling us—that we do not have to rush to our destination. When we live confident and assured of God’s provision—that all we really need is the God who was revealed, lived, died, and was raised, in Jesus—then we will live in a way that is not focused on our own achievements, acquisitions, or assets—on “getting there”—but on being ready t...

We sometimes wander through life, constantly seeking a purpose, a reason for living. Some store up wealth for themselves believing that the road to happiness is through the accumulation of possessions. Jesus shows us a different way to love, acceptance and wholeness.

When is the last time you used the word "dismayed" in a sentence?

Scripture tells us again and again that we are brothers and sisters in Christ—siblings in Christ. It’s a way to unify us—we’re all part of a larger family, created by One God, saved by Christ, empowered and enveloped by the Love that is the Holy Spirit.

The story of Jacob becoming Israel reminds us that intimately wrestling with God can be a good, albeit uncomfortable, part of our faith journey. We're invited to an intimate meal with Jesus, our Redeemer. Maybe taking a rest from our wrestling, knowing that even in the midst of wrestling there is grace and blessing.

Anything but Ordinary - Jacob's Dream by BrecksvilleUMC

The word of the week is "well". Throughout this week, ponder what significance this word might have in your life and how God might be speaking to you through its meaning. This is the second of two services scheduled for Sunday, June 19, 2022. The first takes place on our church lawn (weather permitting) at 8:30 am. Both services will be archived here. Try them out! Which do you connect with?

Life is anything but ordinary. Thankfully, we have a God who is anything but ordinary, who is with us through the mundane, the chaos, and everything in between. And like Abraham and Sarah, God’s promise to us is, “My call on your lives includes my blessing, my provision, and my journeying with you.”

Everyone is somebody—you are somebody—blown by the Spirit, the embers of your heart kindled so that your heart burns for God—so that you proclaim the gospel with every action—out in public—so that the world might know.

So what do we do? The answer is simple: love one another. Be with one another. The world does not know God. The world does not know unconditional love. But because of Jesus, we have seen God. We know what unconditional love is. And so we must go and show the world. That’s what Jesus prayed for in this prayer, so long ago. He hoped that our believing in him would mean that we would live in and live...

God doesn’t tap us on the shoulder and then leave us alone to figure it out from there. God is a constant presence, guiding, advising, hinting, strengthening us for the journey into discipleship. But how do we hear that voice? How do we know what God wants to say to us? How do we discern God’s voice in the midst of all the other voices in our talkative world?

Brecksville United Methodist has a commitment to courageous inclusion. What does that mean? Hear guest speaker, Megan Louttit, explain how this commitment has impacted her life.