PRESENT ACTION, FUTURE HOPE

Isaiah 65:17-25; Luke 21:5-19 Jennifer Hosler Our church is committed to seeking justice, wholeness, and community through the gospel of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we take seriously Jesus’ words—including those to care for and protect the marginalized and to love both our neighbors and our enemies. Since these are values that we regularly talk…

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…

A SERMON IN FOUR SCRIPTURES

Exodus 32:7-14    Psalm 51:1-10     1 Timothy 1:12-17    Luke 15:1-10 Jeff Davidson If you look up a dictionary definition for “preach,” you will find that one of the definitions is “to give religious or moral instruction, particularly in a tedious manner.” One popular form of preaching is “expository preaching.” According to Wikipedia, this is a…

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…

THINGS ABOVE

Colossians 3:1-11    Luke 12:13-21 Jeff Davidson I was here two weeks ago, and at that time I talked about how Christ is in each of us. I spoke from Colossians chapter 1 and said that one of the things that Paul was trying to do was to combat the Gnostic heresy. That’s a heresy that…

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…

YOUR LOVE FOR ME

John 17:20-26 Jeff Davidson When I started doing pulpit supply here at Washington City back around 2002 or 2003 I used to listen to WAMU on the way in and on the way out. Back then on the way in it was Stained Glass Bluegrass, an excellent show full of bluegrass gospel music. On the…

WE HAVE SEEN THE LORD

John 20:19-31, Acts 5:27-32, Revelation 1:4-8 Micah Bales I’ve joked with Jenn and Nate that I feel like I tend to get some really tough lectionary readings on the Sundays that I’m asked to preach. Lots of passages about death, destruction, judgment, and Jesus’ command to give away all our possessions to the poor. I…

THE LAST ENEMY

Luke 24:1-12, I Corinthians 15:19-26 Nathan Hosler The “original” Easter happened once. This was long before Easter became a holiday and got associated with abnormally colored eggs or abnormal bunnies or abnormally colored chicks or perhaps most abnormal of all—little brightly colored chicks made of marshmallow. Of course the “original” Easter was in fact much…

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…