St. Paul Podcast

Peter W. Marty preaches, during his final Sunday at St. Paul, on the essentials of Christian living. Resume virtues are the skills and achievements that may end up on a resume, centering on your credentials. In contrast, eulogy virtues involve your character, your depth, and the nature of your relationships. How do we grow our eulogy virtues? Desire, grace, faith, and gratitude. Desires shape the...

The apostle Paul reminds his congregation in Galatia that life and hope depend entirely on God's faithfulness to the relationship that God has created with them. Preaching passage: Galatians 2:15-21 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates with the Revised Common Lectionary as it i...

Katy Warren preaches on knowing. We often talk about knowing someone or something but there is a broad spectrum of what knowing implies. What is known about you and who knows all about you? God knows our challenges and our fears, our hopes and joys. There’s nothing we can think, say, or do that God isn’t aware of. God knows all of this and all of us, inside and out, and loves us completely.    Pre...

Approaching God with a fervent plea, the psalmist acknowledges just how many ways there are that God knows them, and in that vulnerability entrusts the plea to God. Preaching passage: Psalms 139:1-6, 13-18 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates with the Revised Common Lectionary as it...

Max Franks preaches on change. We all find ourselves at different times between chapters in life. These are the spaces between what has been and what is to come. Times when something that brought us life and joy is passing or has passed away and we wonder if there is new joy or new promise on the other side of the transition. The new is sometimes scary, especially when the old ways are comfortable...

Peter W. Marty preaches on prayer. It can be hard to figure out what to pray. Many of us are focused on receiving some answers. That’s why we pray. We should eliminate the word ‘answers’ when we talk about prayer or prayer outcomes. Prayer is about conversation with God; conversations are not about answers but about engaging a relationship and sharing company with someone. Once we realize this abo...

Leading a desperate community after catastrophe into new ways to be God's people, Mark emphasizes reaching out and settling in for an indefinite future. Preaching text: Mark 2:13-22 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates with the Revised Common Lectionary as it is used at St. Pau...

The apostle Paul reminds the community in Rome that they have the "first fruits" of the Spirit as both the guarantee of God's promises and the gifts and strength to persevere until those promises are brought to fulfillment. Preaching passage: Romans 8:22-27 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the follow...

Sara Olson-Smith preaches on connectedness. When faced with something scary, our friendships and our community matters. When are are afraid of things, imagined or real, getting together to dance, to laugh, to play, chases away our fears. We are not lost, we are not alone, we have each other and God will hold us through everything we face, even death. Connecting to God and one another dares us to l...

Peter W. Marty preaches on boundaries. We shape our lives around social distinctions and cultural affinities that we’re often barely even aware of. We segment ourselves and measure our happiness by being around people who are roughly like us. In God, there is no partiality. God does not make distinctions between faces. Ask yourselves: am I learning to live as Jesus would in my place? Live in such...

In Jesus' final prayer, John reminds the community that God has given them all that they need to be protected from the seductions and corruptions of the world. Preaching text: John 17:6-13 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates with the Revised Common Lectionary as it is used at...

Luke, the author of Acts, depicts a key step in his program of gospel expansion – the realization that the Holy Spirit works in many ways throughout the world, and it is the same Holy Spirit that the apostles experienced on Pentecost. Preaching text: Act 10: 44-48 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following week...

Peter W. Marty preaches on love. Perfect love casts out fear. What is perfect love? We probably accumulate more failures in the love department than in other areas of our lives. We make a lot of mistakes. We practice love very undependably and imperfectly. What does perfect love look like and can we ever know it? God is love and there is no way to know this God without loving other people. We can...

John reminds the Jesus community that they are outgrowths of Jesus' love and power; when they hold fast to Jesus and his words, "abide" in them, they stay on the right side of life and they glorify God. Preaching text: John 15:1-8 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates...

Katy Warren preaches on the boundaries of God’s love. We’ve spent too long debating who will be included or excluded from Heaven. God, who loves us with a parent’s heart, would never want to be far from any of us. God keeps trying to open up the boundaries of God’s love throughout the Old Testament. The ability to know and experience God’s love cannot be contained by any human being.   Preaching t...

The author of Acts shows Peter dramatically reassuring the Acts community that the name of Jesus is enough for their future life. Preaching text: Acts 4:5-12 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates with the Revised Common Lectionary as it is used at St. Paul.  With Peter A. Pettit, tea...

Peter W. Marty preaches on food. Where would we be without food? It doesn’t matter what you eat, every meal is sacramental. If the disciples were looking for God to be some kind of wispy spiritual being or a metaphor or a ghost, what they get instead is the Lord of Heaven and Earth in the flesh, capable of being hurt and of spilling tears. We must guard against simply intellectualizing our faith....

Luke charts post-Easter life for all followers of Jesus in a story about Jesus with disciples after the Resurrection. Preaching text: Luke 24: 36b-48 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates with the Revised Common Lectionary as it is used at St. Paul.  With Peter A. Pettit, teaching pa...

Mac Mullins preaches on the fear of missing out. Fear is one of those things that can so quickly and easily encircle us and fill us up. Deep down fear tells us that we don’t measure up and we just aren’t good enough. There are so many things that are outside of our control, the timing of our faith or our health, these things keep us from living fully together as one whole community of followers of...

John uses an encounter between the disciples and the resurrected Jesus to reassure his community that they have everything they need to follow Jesus, even though they never met or saw him. Preaching text: John 20:19-31 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates with the Revised Common Lec...

Happy Easter, podcast listeners! A particularly amazing thing happens in today’s episode. Little Bird’s best friend Jesus died just three days ago and while she and a few of Jesus’ other friends are getting ready for his burial, some special visitors bring surprising news.  

Peter W. Marty preaches on Easter Sunday. Take a moment to see how Easter can change your life or how you look at life. We get to take the spirit of Jesus Christ and make some change in this world. The resurrection isn’t simply about getting us to Heaven. It’s more about getting a little bit of Heaven into us; making us better people.   Preaching text: Mark 16:1-8 

Mark shows the community that God's presence continues to lead them beyond death and the devastation of hope into a promised future. Preaching text: Mark 16:1-8 Bible for Worship is a weekly introduction to the scripture passage that is likely to be the basis for the sermon on the following weekend. It correlates with the Revised Common Lectionary as it is used at St. Paul.  With Peter A. Pet...

Peter W. Marty preaches on enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. Sacrifice is something you give, not something that is given up. This is not a burden, it’s a privilege and a positive act. Once you decide to give of yourself, everything else falls into place so you can give. And you must have enthusiasm for something else which you believe is more significant than what you were giving.      Preaching tex...

Today’s episode is a sad one. There are some scary and hard things but there is also lots of good and love. Our story begins on the same evening as the Last Supper. When Jesus is arrested and put on trial, Little Bird and the disciples are scared and don’t know quite what to do. But Jesus is ready to show the world just how big God’s love for this world is.