ROOTS

Jeremiah 20:7-13 Monica McFadden While I was studying abroad in London this past year, I got completely hooked on the Netflix series “The Crown.” If you haven’t heard of it, the show follows the newly coronated Queen Elizabeth II and her experience acclimating to her role as Queen, including the many struggles involved with politics,…

THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL

Genesis 18:1-15 & Matthew 9:35-10:8 Micah Bales   This morning, I want to tell you a story about Stephen Grellet. Stephen Grellet was a French-born Quaker minister, one of the best-known Quakers of the early 1800s. He traveled extensively and preached to thousands. One day, as he was in prayer, he felt that God was…

THREE. ONE.

Genesis 1:1-2:4, John 1:1-5, Psalm 8 Nathan Hosler A few weeks ago, I was waiting for a session of Christian Citizenship Seminar to start. We were holding the event at a church downtown but the door was still locked and they didn’t have any bench or place to sit, so I sat on the front…

WE ARE PEOPLE OF THE SPIRIT

Numbers 11:24-30, Acts 2:1-21, & 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 Micah Bales “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” The Spirit of God was hovering…

FERVENT WAITING

Psalm 47; Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-14 Jenn Hosler Last Saturday, Nate and I celebrated eleven years of marriage. Eleven seems crazy, sounds like a long time, but when I think about it, it has indeed been long since the days when we needed to part for summer vacations in college. Before we were married, Nate…

UNKNOWN AND UNSEEN

Acts 17:22-31, John 14:15-21 Jeff Davidson Today’s reading from Acts is about Paul’s visit to Washington, DC. Okay, it’s not about Paul’s visit to Washington, DC – but it could be. Let’s set the scene and step back to a few verses before our Scripture reading begins. Paul is in the Greek city of Athens…

FINDING THE WAY

1 Peter 2:2-10 & John 14:1-14.  Micah Bales I love our gospel reading this morning. I think that the reason I love it so much because I used to despise it. As a skeptical young person growing up in Kansas, this passage from John was one of the Scriptures most often used as a weapon…

What if Everything I Think I Know is Wrong?

Psalm 36, Matthew 6:19-34 Micah Bales  I’m going to start with the heresy and work back to the gospel this morning. Because reading on the sermon on the mount reminds me of what a tough time I have with the Bible. The Bible, for me, is pretty uneven in terms of how it impacts me….

GOD, BE MERCIFUL TO US

Luke 18:9-14 & Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22 Micah Bales   I was raised in an activist household. My parents had really strong political opinions, and I grew up in an environment of really intense ideology. For me, as a child, that ideology was what would today be broadly described as “progressive.” Our family was actively engaged in…

SAMARITANS, LEPERS AND US

Luke 17:11-19 Jeff Davidson When you’re reading something in the Bible and trying to figure out it’s meaning and how that meaning applies in your life, it’s often a good idea to put yourself in different positions in the Bible story. Read through it once as you are, as a Christian in the Washington, DC…