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…
Category: Messiah
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…
IT’S COSMIC! – EPIPHANY
Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12 Nate Hosler I am not a cosmonaut nor even an average person with a solid grasp of space lore. I did, however, watch the new Star Wars two times already. Given my lack of expertise in this area, and the clear need for space knowledge in this sermon I…
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…
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…
VENGEANCE IS MINE
Exodus 3:1-15 & Romans 12:9-21 & Matthew 16:21-28 Micah Bales They say that to achieve mastery in something, you need to put in about 10,000 hours of practice. You’d think that after spending more than a decade learning about God, going to seminary, doing ministry out in the world, and trying really hard to follow…
LISTEN TO HIM!
Exodus 34:29-35 & Luke 9:28-36 Micah Bales When I was in college, I visited Mexico for the first time as a foreign exchange student with Brethren Colleges Abroad. I spent seven months there, living mostly in the eastern city of Xalapa, Veracruz – where Xalapeno peppers come from. But first, I spent several weeks studying…
YEARNING FOR SUNDAY
John 20:1-18, Romans 6:1-14 Jenn Hosler A Saturday Vignette At the end of the meal, one of us stepped out. Judas was often heading in and out, so I assumed it was something with his duties as the keeper of the common purse. We didn’t think anything of it, I guess, but I wondered a…
THERE WILL BE NO TOMAHAWK MISSILES IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Philippians 2:5-11 & Matthew 21:1-11 Micah Bales Our gospel reading this morning is about Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, just days before he would be arrested and executed. Jesus is riding on a donkey, and the people are all around him. There were massive crowds in town for Passover, and Jesus’ arrival in the city…
Washington City Church of the Brethren 