West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

Today’s reading is from Luke 9, and it is the first of a months-long series of readings from Luke as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem. Here Jesus invites certain people to follow him, and this passage lays out something of what it means to follow Jesus. As he travels through Samaria he is not welcomed, and, when two of his disciples ask whether they should punish those rejecters, Jesus says no. There...

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John, a story in which Jesus heals a blind man. Frances Merritt, our Pastoral Fellow for Congregational Care, is preaching today. She cites Jesus as the light of the world, but she also suggests that there is light from the world itself when one opens oneself to look around. The story in John is of a man who might have been hopeless because he had been blind f...

Today’s reading is from the last chapter of Revelation, including the final two verses, and are thus the last words in the entire Bible. Manuscripts of Revelation disagree on the last verse, some saying, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints,” others read, “. . . be with the saints,” and others, “. . . be with all.” Carol gives examples from various scriptures of God’s love for all,...

This is Pentecost, the day we celebrate the birth of the church under the influence of the Holy Spirit as told in the Book of Acts. It’s an exciting celebration of an exciting event with the action of the Holy Spirit descending on the 120 followers of Jesus suddenly speaking various languages. Peter who had initially rejected Jesus, then denied Jesus three times around the time of the crucifixion,...

This is the fifth and final in our five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.” The reading is from Acts 10, where Peter has a dream that opens his mind, not only as to what is allowed or forbidden to eat, but that Gentiles, for example, could become believers. It is set in the context of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, wh...

This is the fourth in our five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness,” and today’s theme is “service.” The reading is from Acts 9, where Peter revives Tabitha, a woman who has died. Preaching today is Katie Minnis, who has been a staff intern as she went through the program at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and this past ye...

This is the third in our five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness,” and today’s theme is “gifts.” The reading is from Acts 4, describing the early Christians in Jerusalem as a community where all was shared and no person considered possessions as their own. The question is whether that is a call for us to do the same a...

This is the second in our five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness,” and today’s theme is “presence.” The reading is from Acts 2 where Peter gives a sermon, baptizes 3,000 people, and then the book describes how that community of believers comes together, essentially becoming the church in a deep spiritual relationship...

Today we begin a five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness,” and today’s theme is that of prayer with the reading from Acts the situation when Jesus has died, is risen, and is about to leave the disciples, and they, along with some women (notably Mary) and others are in an upper room and devote themselves to prayer. Rev...

Today is our annual Youth Sunday when members of West End’s youth group design and run the services. Two seniors, Hilde Medovich and RJ Gilleland deliver the sermon, Anna Bigelow does the Children’s Moment, the Youth Vocal Ensemble and Youth Bell Choir provide music, and all the liturgists are West End youth. Trust/Fall is the focus, a theme rooted in John 20.19-31. RJ and Hilde each tell about th...

The crowd and celebration in the sanctuary for this Easter service are in stark contrast to the first Easter morning, when there were few who quietly went to the tomb, and for whom the mysteries of that morning were communicated in whispers. In Luke’s account of that morning, the women who come to the tomb were witnesses at the cross as the body of Jesus was taken down – from their perspective it’...

It is Good Friday. Maggie Jarrell, West End’s Pastor of Children and Families, is preaching. Part of this service is the retelling of the story of the passion from the Gospel of John. Then Maggie reminds us that it a gruesome, sad, and lengthy walk to the cross. And then she explores that grief from our pandemic experiences and other current happenings that make the world feel so heavy now. We fee...

It is Maundy Thursday. Rev. Erin Racine is preaching, and the reading is Luke’s version of the Last Supper. Erin first talks about nostalgia, especially related to the pandemic, and then about the whole concept of nostalgia, its positives and negatives. Jesus directs the disciples to “do this in remembrance of me,” and so Christians through the centuries do so in the act of communion. It is not on...

It is Palm Sunday. Carol Cavin-Dillion gives the Children's Moment. Our guest preacher is Rev. Dr. Autura Eason-Williams, District Superintendent of the Metro District in Memphis. She explores the question, how do we live into the image and likeness of Christ? Growing up in the church we learned to act as Jesus acted. Twenty years ago there was that movement, “What Would Jesus Do?” The difference...

This is the fifth Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John, the scene where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and teaches them to love one another. Baptisms are moments of great joy in the congregation as we welcome a new child, but it is also a commitment during which the congregation makes a vow to nurture one...

This is the fourth Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today we’re looking at the fourth baptismal vow, “Do you promise to serve him as your Lord in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?” The focus is on the question of “union,” knowing that historically Christians have differed on matters of policy, beli...

This is the third Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today’s reading is Luke’s account of Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who, as a tax collector, had gotten rich off the backs of his fellow Jews. He wanted to catch a glimpse of this Jesus and climbed a tree to be able to see. But Jesus called him down and befriended him, and, as a result, Zacchaeus c...

This is the second Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today’s reading is Luke’s account of Jesus throwing the money lenders out of the temple, and then, later, the authorities questioning his authority to do such things as teaching and preaching. Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, preaching today, says that Jesus was not against Judaism or temple worship at all, o...

This is the first Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today’s reading is Luke’s account of the time Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted, immediately following his baptism. Although this can be a shocking first step in a baptismal ceremony, to cite what we are turning away from lays groundwork for our faith. Jesus, himself, as soon as he was baptiz...

(NOTE: This edition is from the evening service where Katie also used a Children's Moment) This is our annual Ash Wednesday Service of the Imposition of Ashes as we begin the season of Lent. Katie Minnis delivers the homily, beginning with how angry she had recently become at someone she doesn’t know who posted something she disagreed with on social media. She cites Paul’s directions to the Corint...

– This is our annual Ash Wednesday Service of the Imposition of Ashes as we begin the season of Lent. Katie Minnis delivers the homily, beginning with how angry she had recently become at someone she doesn’t know who posted something she disagreed with on social media. She cites Paul’s directions to the Corinthians writing that things that have the potential to divide us also can unite us. Paul’s...

This is our annual Shrove Tuesday celebration before Lent begins tomorrow. The text is the story from the Gospel of John where Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding when the wine has run out. In his sermon, Brandon Baxter leads us to remember our own parties, and how and why we love those kinds of celebrations. He identifies several hints in this story that while Jesus is a party person, he is...

This is the seventh and final sermon in a series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” Today’s reading is from Romans wherein Paul describes the bond of God’s love in no uncertain terms. Current events we are witnessing in Ukraine press us to wonder if there are times when love doesn’t work. How do we reconcile that with Paul’s insistence that nothing can separat...

This is the sixth in a sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” Today’s reading is the familiar story of the Prodigal Son, and the Rev. Brandon Baxter reviews a number of perspectives on the story but directs us to treat it ultimately as a human story, one that is instructive for us. We make mistakes in judgment, misdirections in our lives, and we ofte...

This is the fifth in a sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” In today’s reading from Galatians, Paul links love and truth, but we know that truth is often difficult to discern. In Galatians Paul writes about the truth of the gospel, saying that we are all one and criticizing Peter for refusing to sit with the Gentiles, which thus rebuilds walls that...