St. Paul Podcast

Pastor Peter W. Marty preaches on Isaiah. We’ve been shaped through a multitude of words and images to view God as a paternal figure. The prophet Isaiah uses explicitly maternal images to describe God, images that appropriately enlarge our imaginations of the divine. Our conceptualization of God influences the ways in which we relate to each other. Everything we can do to enlarge our understanding...

Sara Olson-Smith preaches on the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is…not the fruits of the spirit are… It’s as though Paul couldn’t quite come up with just one word that could contain the fullness of what a spirit-led life looked like. The fruit of the spirit is not just a list of things we can check off or measure ourselves by but a whole way of life that moves toward love for ourselv...

Pastor Peter W. Marty preaches that we are all one in Christ Jesus. There is often the mistake and confidence of many people who claim to have the truth when in fact we should be pursuing the truth. Jesus didn’t seem to pay much care to the distinctions that society was obsessed with; gender, race, heritage, ancestry. Sometimes we forget about loving because we are so eager to be right. No one sho...

Pastor Katy Warren preaches making time to be in awe of the things God has made. We can be quick to the frustration of inconveniences and slow to look at the marvels around us. Carve out time to explore the beauty and intricacies of what God has formed. Be surprised, be astonished, be present, pause just long enough to say ‘wow.’

Pastor Peter A. Pettit preaches on Acts. “What does this mean?” Showing up, walking alongside, and doing it all in the way that is needed - that’s what incarnation is all about. That’s what it means that Jesus came into this world to know our lives, walk alongside us, know our language and experience, and know our power and our strength. This is how we come to know the Gospel - when someone comes...

Pastor Sara Olson-Smith preaches on the ascension of our Lord. God has a plan for bringing about God’s way of love in this world. Jesus was part of this plan; he lived, taught, healed, then died, rose again, and ascended into Heaven. But God’s plan continued to unleash the life-saving and world-changing power of God’s love into this world through us. Jesus ascended and passed that baton to us. Jes...

Pastor Peter W. Marty preaches on wholeness. Do you want to be made whole? Do you want to take the steps necessary to make you whole? We all live with unhealthiness. It could be in our relationships, our homes, our spirits and sometimes we can’t imagine an alternative to our situation, we’re not willing to take the steps necessary to get out of our circumstances. Being made whole means to be whole...

Pastor Katy Warren preaches on Revelation and all things becoming new. “See, I am making all things new.”  God is constantly at work making new joy or restoring hope in our lives, reassuring us of God’s presence. Not just someday, but right now. We are not starting over from scratch or erasing everything else that has happened but simply that God is making things new.

Pastor Peter W. Marty preaches on Psalm 23. Trusting our lives to God, who is capable of planting a deep internal peace within us, a God who doesn’t disappear when we needed but embraces us through some of the darkest and chilliest shadows of life.   

Pastor Sara Olson-Smith preaches on love and the different ways in which it is spoken to each other. Jesus’ love language is about making a way when there is no way, making possibilities where there are only impossibilities, hope where there is despair, freedom where we are stuck, and forgiveness when we’ve messed up. It is in loving others in our varied ways that we show our love for God.  

Pastor Megan Eide preaches on the questions and doubts we often face in our faith journey. Making observations, forming questions, and gathering evidence are how we interact with the world and make meaning in it. These questions aren't stop signs or road bumps on our journey, instead, they can be guideposts to help travel a more authentic road toward God.  Hear Our Praises Text and music by R...

Pastor Peter W. Marty preaches on Easter Sunday. Life is stronger than death and despair is not permanent. While none of us know exactly what resurrection will look like, not until it happens to us, Paul makes clear that it is stitched into our lives in a daily way and we can come to know and trust the shape of resurrection through small signs in our lives.   Because He Lives Words and Music by Ed...

Pastor Peter W. Marty preaches on Luke. God cares about the quality of our lives, the depth of our lives, the scope of our lives. The passion for important things. To live fully is to risk dying, to hope is to risk despair, to try is to risk failure. If we don’t take certain risks, are we really free? With faith, there are some beautiful risks to take. It’s about living a life that matters. How ca...

Pastor Sara Olson-Smith preaches on the last days of loved ones. When our loved ones are dying, our whole world shrinks to focus on them, they are the center of our attention, the here and the now is what matters. Because the time we once thought of as endless now has a finish line, a finite end. When we come face to face with death, we come to know that we do not have forever so we may experience...

Pastor Katy Warren preaches on the story of the prodigal son. We are vulnerable when we love someone else; a child, parent, spouse, friend, family pet. When you love another person, you open yourself up to the joy and goodness and happiness of that relationship but you are also opening yourself up to hurt, sadness, heartache. God has the willingness to love us despite the vulnerability or the risk...

Pastor Peter W. Marty preaches on Isaiah and the poetry of prophets. Poet Jane Kenyon “It is to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth in such a beautiful way that people cannot live without it. The poet's job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live...

Pastor Katy Warren preaches on Genesis and placing trust in God to guide us where we’re meant to go. Trust takes courage. God is willing to take a risk in trusting us so maybe one of the miracles of our faith is hearing the whispers of the promises of God and believing God is worthy of our trust.  Word of God Words & Music by Brenton Brown & Andi Rozier. © 2012 Thankyou Music | Sony/ATV Tu...

Pastor Sara Olson-Smith preaches on Luke and remaining sustained during wilderness moments, holding on to faith, hope, courage. Staying grounded in faith during wilderness times may help you find meaning, a new sense of strength, or growth. O Lord, throughout These Forty Days Text: based on Claudia F. Hernaman; para. Gilbert E. Doan Jr. Music: A. Davisson, Kentucky Harmony, 1816; arr. Theodore A....

Peter W. Marty preaches on Exodus. After coming down from the mountaintop, Moses’ face was luminescent, radiant with everything that constituted the fullness of God. God is known in the face, through light and brightness. You have the power to make someone else’s day or to bring them joy, to show empathy and love through the light in your face.   Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) Words & Music...

Katy Warren preaches on Luke Chapter 6 and the Golden Rule. It can be easy to ignore the commandment to ‘Love your enemies’ when it feels like you don’t have many. But what is Jesus’ definition of enemy? Could it be someone who irritates you, gets under your skin, makes you annoyed or resentful? Loving your enemy frees you up to care for others, to love others. We can choose anger and resentment o...

Pastor Sara Olson-Smith preaches Luke’s Gospel. For those of us who are worn down from living too long with too little, who are hollowed out by hunger, or who are exhausted by too many nights full of tears, hearing Jesus’ words, “blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who are weeping” may bring some comfort and healing. The beauty in every one of us is in the eyes of God.  Let Justice Flow...

Pastor Peter W. Marty preaches on grace. “By the grace of God, I am what I am and it is God’s grace that has been shown to me that has not gone to waste.” God loves each of us because we are who we are.  To Be Your Presence Text: Delores Dufner Music: Charles V. Stanford. Text © 2000 GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense #A-710534. Multiply Your Love Words...

Pastor Katy Warren preaches on 1 Corinthians and love. Sometimes love looks like wedding gowns, tuxedos, flowers, and a great big party, and other times, love looks like sharing what you have, putting a smile on someone else’s face, or making sure someone else has a warm meal. Love comes in all shapes and sizes and can look like all sorts of different things.  Rise, Shine, You People Text: Ronald...

Pastor Peter Pettit preaches on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. There are always reasons for discontent, embarrassment, and frustration about our bodies, however, this body is what God created. This body is what God formed. All of what Jesus did, he did in his body and all that we do in our bodies and all our bodies can do is amazing. No one body can be the whole, no one body can be perfec...

Pastor Peter Marty preaches on John 2. Pastor Marty explores the helping of others and the mission of the church. Reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr.’s words from his Mountaintop speech, a need to develop an almost dangerous unselfishness. Instead of “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” King suggested the real question should be “If I don’t stop to help this man, what will happen...