Preacher: Jeff Davidson Scriptures: John 21:1-19, Acts 9:1-20 One of the classic adventure books that I remember reading as a kid “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood” by Howard Pyle. It might have been in the Reader’s Digest abridged books. My mom and dad subscribed to those for many years, and it let me read…
Category: God
COME TO THE LIGHT
Numbers 21:4-9 Ephesians 2:1-10 John 3:14-21 Jeff Davidson The comedian Norm MacDonald has a shaggy dog story that he sometimes tells. I’m going to do a very, very shortened version of it here. A moth visits a podiatrist’s office. The podiatrist says, “What can I do for you today?” The moth says, “Doc, my life…
NO CROSS, NO CROWN
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38 Micah Bales When I first read through the scripture readings for this Sunday, it wasn’t immediately clear to me how our gospel reading relates to the passage from Genesis. The story of Abraham and Sarah seems to be all about God bestowing unconditional blessing and abundance on…
EVERYONE, COME TO THE FASTING PARTY!
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, Mark 1:9-15, Luke 18:9-14 Jennifer Hosler A Plant Geek Last week, I was talking with someone about the plants I have in my garden. I mentioned the different herbs that I grow and how my bay leaf tree has survived several years, even though it is not technically zoned for our city….
UP AND DOWN
Mark 9:2-9 Jeff Davidson What was the best day of your life? Was it the day you got that puppy or kitten for Christmas? Was it the day you graduated from high school, or from college? Was it the day you got married? The day your first child was born? The day you got the…
REPENT, AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL
Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; and Mark 1:14-20 Micah Bales I don’t need to tell you that we’re living in a particularly dark, chaotic time. We can all feel it. Our national government is off the rails in a very visible way with the present federal shutdown. But our dysfunction as a society goes…
KEEP NO SILENCE
1 Samuel 3:1-20 & John 1:43-51 Jeff Davidson Sometimes God leads us into remarkable moments of serendipity, moments of happy coincidence. Early Wednesday morning I sent Care my sermon title and the two scripture texts we just read. On Thursday, President Trump made his infamous racist and vulgar remarks about not accepting immigrants from…
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD
Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7 & John 1:1-18 Micah Bales In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters. The voice of God spoke light into the darkness. By his Word, God divided the day from the night. He created the…
STARTLING, UNEXPECTED, STRANGE
Luke 1:26-38; Luke 1:46b-55 Jennifer Hosler The fourth Sunday in Advent Last year at this time, our nephew was acting in a stage production of It’s a Wonderful Life. The theatre version was not a typical re-enactment – but was re-framed as a live, 1940s radio production, complete with sound effects created by Foley artists….
JUSTICE IS COMING (IT IS JESUS)
Human Rights Sunday 2 Peter 3:8-15a, Isaiah 40:1-11 Nate Hosler The second Sunday in Advent Anticipation. Waiting. Agonizing? Uncertain. Advent—waiting for the promised One. On Thursday we rose early for our 3-4 hour drive and hit the road. Rutted. Through dry, mostly flat land with low trees except for the palms. Security checkpoints with men with…
Washington City Church of the Brethren 