Sermons & Such
In this first Sunday of Lent, 2022, Leah continues our series on parables ("A Story-Shaped Faith") with a look at the story commonly known as the Workers and the Vineyard. She also invites the community to go beyond comprehension and move into practice with a set of suggested practices for the week. We will continue to offer suggested practices in services and via email throughout the season of Lent.
Review Leah’s notes and listen to the teaching or view it below.
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What might the perspective of a 20th century Academic who studied literature, anthropology, philosophy, and more tell us about human behavior and Jesus-centered faith? This is the question we’ll be exploring over the next several weeks throughout the season of Lent, as we look at our ancient biblical narrative through the lens of Rene Girard. It’s a new teaching series called “Old Stories. New Lenses.” First up, this week Leah explored Girard’s foundational insight that pops up in the first chapters of the Bible, having to do with why humans want what they want. It also might give you a clue about why it’s so hard to stop scrolling through that instagram feed.
Read Leah’s notes here or listen to the teaching below.
Public domain.
In this teaching, Leah explores questions about healing, sharing a framework that defines healing as broader then cure. She asks questions around how this understanding might help the church do better when ministering to persons with illness or disability, and looks at the story of Jesus healing a person with leprosy. Also, our own Connie Barker shares her vulnerability story about the intersection of being queer, female, and living with a disability. (If you just want to hear Connie's story, listen beginning at minute 35.)
Listen to the teaching below or review Leah’s notes here.
We’re living in a moment where misinformation is all around us; where it feels increasingly difficult to nail down what’s true, what’s false, what’s real, what’s not. Maybe we feel like giving up on trying to know the truth altogether. Believe it or not, the temptation to misrepresent information has been with us a long time, and Jesus had some things to say about it.
In this second teaching in our Lenten series, Character Matters, Leah considers the impact of dishonesty, and how Jesus' perspective on it might help us in our present moment.
Listen to the teaching below or review Leah's notes here.
"When I was in middle school, I went through confirmation. I had been baptized as a kid in a mainline denominational church. And then around 12 or 13, I was told it was time for confirmation. Along with all the other sixth graders, I took a class. Now I always liked studying, but this was boring. I don’t remember really learning anything about what I’d now call the Christian faith. There was nothing about the Bible. Nothing about the trinity; no Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Nothing about connection to Jesus. Nothing about how to connect with God, but a lot about the history of my particular denomination.
At the end of the class, we'd all get up in front of the church, wear a nice dress and let the pastor put a bit of oil on each of our heads. It was nothing special for me. I was probably thinking about if we might go out for pizza afterwards, like most of my friends. But there was one girl who wasn’t like the rest of us; Kelly. Something different was happening for her. When she kneeled and the pastor blessed her with oil, she was weeping. She was shaking a bit. She was visibly moved. Something was clearly happening for her and it seemed to be real. I knew Kelly. I trusted her. I didn’t know what she was feeling but I knew it was something genuine. Further more, I wanted it, but I didn’t understand where it came from."
Have you ever seen others have powerful spiritual experiences, but not felt them yourself? Have you wondered if experiences of the Holy Spirit are for just some people, or might be available to all of us? In this first teaching, Leah explores this question and how we'll be addressing it through the season of Lent, which we're calling "40 Days of Interactive Faith".
Listen to the teaching below or read the notes here. And check out our Daily Guide for ways to participate in this series throughout the week.
