Luke 14:1, 7-14 Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 Jeff Davidson The two words “as if” have been standard English for a long time. Used together, they mean “as would be the case if”, for example, “She behaved as if he weren’t there.” For a little while, though, back in 1995 and for a few years after,…
Category: following Jesus
WARNINGS, MOUNTAINS, AND CONSUMING FIRE
Hebrews 12:14-29; Psalm 103:1-8 Jennifer Hosler Nate and I recently spent time in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The landscape is staggeringly beautiful. Expanses of sheer, sharp mountains, turquoise lakes, acres and acres of pine trees, aspen trees, and larch trees. We hiked most days and found ourselves climbing steeply through fields of alpine wildflowers and…
There is a Spirit Which I Feel: The Cloud of Witnesses
Hebrews 11:29-12:2, Luke 12:49 Micah Bales This passage from Hebrews that we just heard: It’s got to be one of the most frequently referenced parts of the Bible. I’ve heard it preached from the pulpit many times. It’s been the theme Scripture for church conferences and events. And it’s been the subtext for so…
FREEDOM or LIBERATED FOR JOY
Luke 9:51-62, Galatians 5:1, 13-26 Nathan Hosler Dietrich Bonhoeffer is known as a theologian who stood up to Hitler and was killed for it. When much of the German church fell in line with (or at least didn’t oppose) this nationalist, racist leader notorious for the Holocaust, Bonhoeffer resisted. He resisted by being a theologian that…
MISSION(ARY?)
Acts 16:9-15 Nathan Hosler The Poisonwood Bible, a novel, tells the story of Nathan Price and his family. In 1959, Nathan Price, an unabashedly overzealous and paternalistic missionary, goes to the colonial Congo with his wife and four daughters in tow. The story is told from the perspective of his family who range from the…
CALLED TO BE DUNKER PUNKS
Jenn Hosler Romans 12; Matthew 5: 38-6:4; 6:19-34 What is punk? The dictionary definition of punk focuses on two aspects: the music and the clothing. Punk is, according to google definitions, “a loud, fast-moving, and aggressive form of rock music, popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s.” If a person is a punk, the…
KING JESUS AND THE DEEDS OF POWER
Luke 19:28-40 Jennifer Hosler I like Palm Sunday, because I like waving palms. Tactile worship is a lot of fun and we should probably figure out more ways to include props in worship. But Palm Sunday is about more than just fun worship props. Palm Sunday is important, not just because it marks the last…
Mini-Sermon Sunday
Matthew 6:19-34 Sermon 1 – Katie Furrow It’s been 3 years, 8 months, and 13 days since I last intentionally ate meat (approximately). After spending a week at the Church of the Brethren’s National Young Adult Conference in 2012 where I didn’t eat any meat with my meals because I thought it all looked unpleasant,…
Prepare the Soil; Wait for Sunshine
Isaiah 55:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9 Micah Bales One of the biggest reasons that people reject religious faith is this simple question: “Why would a loving God allow terrible things happen to good people?” It’s a tough question to answer. Maybe an impossible one. Yet from the beginning of recorded history, people have been…
BAD NEWS: GOOD NEWS
Romans 10:5-13 The First Sunday in Lent Jeff Davidson Does anyone here besides me remember watching the TV show Hee Haw in its original run? It ran on CBS from 1969 through 1971, and then ran in syndication for over 20 years. It was a good show, and it introduced us to a lot…
Washington City Church of the Brethren 