Washington Street UMC Sermon Podcast

We have a bad practice of condemning to hell everyone with whom we disagree. This kind of vitriolic reaction to others usually betrays the call of Christ to love our enemies. How can we engage faithfully with those who have such polar opposite opinions on big issues?

The call is for everyone, just different according to your willingness to hear and obey. Secondly, the call is not about perfection but a call to follow God and walk with God. It may be because someone prayed for you, not that you prayed.

In Jesus’s baptism, we hear from the heavens that Jesus is the Son of God, and we witness that he did not come to serve alone, but to share in ministry in the midst of community. We see Jesus’s purpose affirmed, as he is filled with the Spirit to be the witness of God in the world. And we acknowledge that Jesus is God’s beloved, and that as God’s created humanity, we too are beloved by God; this i...

Luke’s Gospel tells us that when Mary gives birth to Jesus, she lays him in a manger, for there was no place for them in the guest room. The city had no room, but God makes a place here anyway. Let us make room - for strangers and neighbors alike. For this is good news of great joy for all people.

When it comes time to name the child, Zechariah affirms the name given by the angel and by Elizabeth. In that moment of affirming the promise, Zechariah’s speech is restored. Everyone is filled with awe. And Mary sings a song about God's liberation, offering hope amidst the promise of justice and joy.

In community, our joy expands. When we can’t rejoice, we can carry each other’s joy. Through the prophet Isaiah, we hear God speak tender words of comfort; this is the comfort we can give to and receive from each other during this season.

As Advent begins, we start by acknowledging the weariness, grief, rage, and hopelessness we carry—and we also affirm that we are made for joy. Sometimes weariness can harden us and prevent us from living fully and feeling the joy. This is how we show up to Advent.

In our culture, chasing the Benjamins is just what you do. Money is everywhere, and so is the invitation to get more of it. From "get rich quick" schemes, to billion dollar lottery payouts, to casinos offering the lure of cash jackpots, to triangle schemes that promise huge sums of passive income, there is no shortage of promises for reaching your personal payday. Perhaps this is why the Bible tal...

Good stewardship is often expressed in terms of charity and tithing. Stewardship is often measured in how much you give away. Without question, giving is a regular invitation of the Bible. Yet, it is also important that stewardship focus on good care and wise use of God's resources (understanding that we aren't to serve money, we still must be responsible with it).

From Genesis to Revelation, we are instructed to be stewards of God's resources. The Bible claims, time and again, that everything is God's, and we are simply stewards of it. To reclaim a faithful posture toward stewardship, we have to reclaim who is the rightful owner of all things: God.

The Big Ask is not, "What does Jesus want now?" The Big Ask is, "What are you willing to do when Jesus calls?"

Jesus pushes us beyond the culturally acceptable practice of "loving our neighbors, and hating our enemies," and invites us into a more faithful posture of "loving our enemies, and praying for those who persecute us." This is not an easy change in human posture. But for the greater glory of God, it is the posture Jesus insists upon.

We may linger in our wilderness for a night, but blessedness will come in the morning. The Psalmist declares, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning”! Oh, our night may be twenty or thirty years long, but if we hold out and trust in God, morning will come.

In baptism, we use water as a symbol of God's forgiveness, connecting us with all the ways water has been used to mark new beginnings in our faith history. Today, we remember our own baptism, and consider the lasting power of the water used when we were welcomed into the community of faith.

Whatever wrath God feels about injustice and our complicity in it, whatever anger God directs at the human capacity for evil, flows out of love. God gets angry at sin because sin hurts the people and the creation God loves."

What kind of shame do we hold because of things we've been taught we have done "wrong," or because of parts of our life we've been told are "wrong"? Though many in the church hold to his lineage, Jonathan Edwards' approach to condemning humanity as beyond God's love is not only wrong, it's unBiblical. There is a more faithful, scripturally attuned invitation for us as the Body of Christ.

Rachel Held Evans states, "Certainty isn't faith." The life of the disciple Simon Peter gives us a great example of how a life of following Jesus doesn't have to be marked with clear knowledge, perfect discipline, or unquestionable faith. Instead of having to be a Biblical know-it-all, Christ simply calls us to follow.

"Why are you a Christian?" This is the opening question in Rachel Held Evans book, Wholehearted Faith. How would you answer this? It is because of the people around you who invited you to church or encouraged you in the faith? Or is it because of the witnes of God's love seen in Christ? Why are YOU a Christian?

On Labor Day weekend, we may be reminded of the origins of Labor Day, which offered a brief pause into the normal work-week structure during the Second Industrial Revolution (1882). But did Labor Day go far enough in shifting how we labor? The apostle Paul, writing in Romans, claims we need an even greater shift in how we labor.

The promise of Revelation is that we are returned to the intimacy with God that existed in the Garden.

Pentecost offered an invitation to be "the body of Christ", and an invitation to share in community in a way never done before.

There is salvation for all through belief in Jesus.

God's patience and repeated warnings provide many opportunities for repentance, but the children of Israel disregard the God of their redemption.

Following the arrival of the people Israel in the Promised Land, judges were appointed to ensure the people lived according to the covenant. But Israel wanted kings at their head, instead of judges, so that they might "be like the other nations." Samuel, nor God, were pleased with the request. Let us not forget, Israel wasn't called to live like other nations.

Moses is given the Ten Commandments atop Mount Sinai. The Ten are offered to provide covenantal guidance to the people Israel. As we look at the larger arc of the universe, we should consider what role the Ten Commandments play in the greater framework of God's creation. Are they really written in stone? Can they ever change? Should we still be following them today?