West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

Today, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, is Youth Sunday, when our entire service is led by youth from our church. The scripture is the story from Luke of Jesus in the home of Mary and Martha, where Martha was busy with the details of hosting and preparing and serving the meal while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to him. At some point Martha complained that Mary wasn’t helping, and Jesus told...

An Interrupting Love – Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture is the story from Luke of Jesus having a meal in the home of a Pharisee when a woman comes in, approaches Jesus, and ends up at his feet as she cries and then wipes his feet with her hair then anoints his feet with oil she had brought with her. Rev. Will McLeane delivers the se...

Table Manners – Today is the third Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture is the story in Luke 14 about Jesus having been invited to a dinner in the home of a prominent Pharisee, and the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely and with suspicion. In that era, who was seated where at the table was important – the friends and business associates of the host were...

You Give Them Something to Eat – Today is the second Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture for today is Luke’s version of the familiar story of the feeding of the 5,000. Carol first gives some examples of parenting, training one’s children, and she says Jesus was constantly training the disciples, and this story is an example. The crowd has gathered to expe...

Today is the first Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture for today Luke’s version of the familiar story of Jesus’s 40 days in the wilderness. A popular tradition among Christians is to give up something for the 40 days of Lent, and one of the features of the story is that Jesus had no food for 40 days. During this time he was repeatedly “tempted by the devi...

The One Who Was, Is, and Is to Come – Today is Transformation Sunday, and the scripture is the story in Luke of Jesus walking up the mountain with Peter, James, and John. They are, at this point, completely worn out from all of the work they’ve been doing. They know Jesus is the messiah, but with all of his recent talk of suffering to come, they are confused. In this experience of his transformati...

Notes of Rest – The Proclamation section of this service is led by guests Julian Davis Reid and vocalist Tramaine Parker. Reid refers to various passages of scripture, reading and commenting on them, then he plays the piano while Parker sings and, at points, leads the congregation in singing. The basis of their presentation is the Sabbath and rest, how we are charged to rest, and what God does wit...

Called to a New Community – This is the last in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?.” Today’s scripture reading is the story in Luke of Jesus calling Levi, the tax collector, to be a disciple. Tax collectors were Jews charged with collecting taxes from the Jewish people and turning over the taxes to the Roman rulers. They also routinely collected more than was...

From Failure to Fisher of People – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is the version in Luke of Jesus’s enlistment of the first disciples, specifically Simon Peter, when, after a night of catching no fish, Jesus tells him to put out the nets, and the nets started breaking with the abundance of fi...

Getting on Board with Grace – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is a continuation of last weeks’ story in Luke of Jesus in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth having been handed the Isaiah scroll, reading from it the passage that tells of God’s mission for Isaiah, and then declaring that t...

Let Your Life Speak – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is the story in Luke of Jesus in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth having been handed the Isaiah scroll, reading from it the passage that tells of God’s mission for Isaiah, and then Jesus declares that today that scripture has been...

Discerning and Doing – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading from the Fourth Gospel is the story of the wedding at Cana when the supply of wine runs out and, prompted by his mother, Jesus turns water into wine, the first of the “signs” he performs to establish his divinity as reported in John. Carol...

Named and Claimed – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. This is the Baptism of the Lord Sunday when we not only review the story of the baptism of Jesus, but we take opportunity to remember our own baptism and rehearse it in several ways. We have baptized many children in the past year, and we are often delighted with thos...

We are beginning a series under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent, This is Epiphany Sunday when we remember the familiar story of the Magi from the East who follow a new star to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus. Although we traditionally think of there being three of them, there’s nothing in the story in Matthew that gives the number. These men likely studied the heavens,...

Smells Like Teen Spirit – The first Sunday after Advent we have Khette Cox as guest preacher. She is a hospice chaplain and a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School. The scripture is the familiar story in Luke of Mary and Joseph and their young son, Jesus, having gone to Jerusalem, but on the way home the boy’s parents discovering he was not with them. When they found him after searching for three...

Good Will To All – This traditional Christmas Eve service is one that West End UMC has held for decades. It highlights the reading of the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, read by the minister in the center of the sanctuary, among the worshippers. Our Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon, recounts Christmases growing up when their extended family drew names to give gifts, but somet...

This is the fourth Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s scripture is the passage from Luke wherein a pregnant Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary’s response to Elizabeth is what has come to be known as “The Magnificat,” based on the first words of her...

Breath for Dry Bones – This Service of the Longest Night is designed to hold space and a quiet place for those who are suffering loss or other distress. Delivering the sermon is Tammy Lewis Wilborn, our Pastoral Intern, and the text is Ezekiel’s well-known vision of the valley of dry bones. She compares much of today’s situations to that valley in that we are alive but not living, trying to naviga...

This is the third Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s message is from Zephaniah. The candle we light today is the pink one, symbolizing joy. In this season we experience a lot of joy with Christmas cards, gifts, and such, but, in contrast, during Advent we are waiting, preparing for the f...

This is the second Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s message is from Malachi. Our Senior Miniter, Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon, cites a book, Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, who says that in the corporate world feedback is important. Carol says that although sometimes feedback is tough for t...

Our Hope Is Built – This is the first Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we will hear some messages from the ancient prophets. Today we begin with a passage from Jeremiah, who, while in prison and having witnessed Jerusalem destroyed by the Babylonian army, nevertheless offers a promise from God of restoration and a coming “righteous Branch” to lead...

This is Reign of Christ Sunday, and the scripture reading from John is the encounter between Pilate and Jesus when Pilate asks Jesus if he is king of the Jews. Jesus doesn’t deny it, but he says that his kingdom is not of this world. As Americans we understand monarchy knowing our country was founded upon rebellion against such rule, but Jesus demonstrates that his reign is different – there aren’...

The scripture for today is from the first chapter of 1 Samuel wherein Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, goes into the shrine at Shiloh to pray to have a child. Not only has she been unable to conceive, but Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, often makes fun of her “mercilessly.” Our Pastor of Children and Families, the Rev. Maggie Jarrell, delivers the sermon and relates Hannah’s frustration an...

An Open-Handed Future – Today we are following the story of Ruth that we began two Sundays ago when Ruth, leaving her own land, went with Naomi, her mother-in-law, to Naomi’s home in Judah. Ruth, an immigrant in the territory of what had been the enemies of her people, was there out of love for mother-in-law, Naomi. Delivering the sermon on the second part of the Ruth story, Rev. Will McLeane, our...

West End UMC lay and clergy voices join together to offer a morning prayer podcast for the mornings of November 4-6. The liturgy generally follows the “Order for Morning Praise and Prayer”. ...