Sermons

“We get one of my favorite passages of Scripture this week. And, what do you know, it’s a passage about… serving your city (in its many and varied definitions). I look forward to unpacking it with you. This Sunday is also our last Sunday before the season of Advent starts! It is traditionally ‘Christ the King’ Sunday, which was originally created in an effort to separate The Church from the Roman Empire, proclaiming Jesus as our only king, but even…

As it just so happens, we are talking about light shining in the darkness this Sunday, with what is a pretty familiar passage from Isaiah. It is often read on Christmas Eve, but the Narrative Lectionary forces us to look at it outside of the context of Christmas, by placing it before Advent starts. Applying this prophecy to the birth of Jesus is not a bad or wrong application at all, it’s just not the only application, and there is…

This week we are introduced to a prophet who falls into the “minor prophet” category, but the punch he packs is hardly minor. His name is Amos, and in my 20 years of preaching, I would say his words has never been more relevant. -Pastor Paul

Last week in the narrative we moved into the era of “kingship” in Israel, where Samuel reluctantly appointed Saul as Israel’s first king. In our story we were coming to the end of Saul’s reign as he had fallen out of favor with God and the people, and Saul anoints the famous David as next king. This week we take a big leap through all of David’s reign, which starts out strong but when it’s all said and done, as…

This week in worship we continue in the Narrative Lectionary, entering into a whole new era for Israel which is the era of the kings, where we’ll get introduced to a young man named David. David is of course a massive figure in the story and in the history of Israel. When we get to this part of the story, it never ceases to amaze me just how relevant it all is. -Pastor Paul