Matthew 23:23-36 Jesse Winter When I was asked to preach today, Nate wanted me to talk about mass incarceration. Criminal justice reform is a major focus of my work in the Office of Public Witness, and over the past few months I have learned how complex that issue is. It involves everything from politics, money,…
Tag: following Jesus
THE HEAVENS ARE TELLING
Psalm 19:1-4a, Genesis 3:8-15 Jeff Davidson The skies reveal God’s glory. Do you believe that? A lot of people do. A lot of people look at the sky, at the beautiful sunset with oranges and purples across the sky, they look at the bright stars and moon at night, they consider how all the planets revolve…
LOVE AND ARROGANCE
1 Samuel 2:1-10; Romans 12:9-16 Jennifer Hosler If you’ve been coming to this church for a while, you probably know that, at Washington City, we take the whole Bible as our scriptures but we try to emphasize the words that Jesus taught during his ministry on earth. When asked what the greatest commandments were, Jesus…
With Glad and Generous Hearts
With Glad and Generous Hearts – Jennifer Hosler Acts 2:42-47; Colossians 3:12-17 Our news media has the unfortunate tendency of focusing on things that go wrong. Violence, crime, oppression—these things sell papers or bring hits to websites. While these problems exist, focusing on them in the news media means that other stories do not often…
Victor, King, Servant?
Victor, King, Servant? – Jennifer Hosler Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29; Matthew 21:1-11 Today is Palm Sunday, as we have already seen and heard and waved our palm branches. Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, is the name that the church has given to mark the events in Scripture which are referred to as the Triumphal…
Born Anew to Continue the Journey
Born Anew to Continue the Journey- Mandy North There are two characters from today’s reading, Abram, from the Old Testament, and Nicodemus, from the New Testament. Both men of faith, receiving a invitation from God that ends with a blessing to the world. Abram is a nobody when we meet him in Genesis. He’s been…
Waiting for the Bulb to Flower
Waiting for the Bulb to Flower Jennifer Hosler Deut. 30:15-20; Ps. 119: 1-8; 1 Cor. 3:1-9 Last Sunday was a big step for us as a congregation. While we had made the decision to proceed with the new ministry model at the end of July, this was, finally, its official implementation. As we all know,…
Root-Bound
Root-Bound (Joel 2:23-32; Luke 18:9-14) Jennifer Hosler Very rarely do we hear news stories about genuine repentance. We often hear PR statements, statements regretting the fallout of actions, words that express regret for the pain caused – but often not apology and claim to wrong action. We might hear “I’m sorry that my words…
Keep on Keeping On
My sermon title didn’t make it into the bulletin today, because it took me too long to collect my thoughts about this passage. For those of you who are curious…I’ve entitled it “Keep On Keeping On.” by Mandy North In 2010, Danny Bradfield of Long Beach, California preached a sermon based on this text in…
The Unity of the Church, the Manifestation of Glory
Nate and Jenn Hosler – The Unity of the Church, the Manifestation of Glory (John 17:20-23) As all of you know, our current Congress is certainly dysfunctional. The two parties do not get along. Many on each side do not like some on the other side (or even those in their own party). Senators…
Washington City Church of the Brethren 