Imperfect Saints, Part of a Bigger Story

Preacher: Jenn Hosler Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 Date: January 15, 2023 Today is our first Service Sunday. Several people are serving in-person at our Sunday respite for asylum seekers in DC today, helping newly arrived families get the clothes and toiletries they need. We also had the same amount of people request addresses to send…

Hope Despite a Tree Cut Down

Preacher: Jenn Hosler Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-8a, 12-13 Date: December 4, 2022 Do you consider yourself a hopeful person? A glass half-full or a glass half-empty kind of person? Or, perhaps a third way, do you see a glass filled with possibilities? You say to yourself, I can work with the amount of water…

Leaning into Church Friendships, Leaning to Church Conflict

Preacher: Jennifer Hosler Scripture: Philippians 1:3-11; 2:2-4, 12-16; 4:1-7 Date: November 6, 2022 Could a spreadsheet help strengthen your friendships or even our relationships within the church? Maybe, according to an NPR article (Keane & Weiner, 2019). Here’s an excerpt: Vanessa Nuñez was craving close friendship. “I had a lot of surface-level relationships with different…

Boat People (Shaped by Stories)

Boat People (Shaped By Stories) – Jennifer Hosler Scripture: James 2 Telling stories can define and shape who we are and how we act. As a parent, I see how my child absorbs and is shaped by stories. We have read to him since birth, whether or not he could understand what we were saying….

But Have Not Love

“Heart of the World” by Mikhail Reva, Odessa Children’s Hospital
Odessa, Ukraine

Bright, Shining Wonder

Preacher: Jennifer Hosler Scripture: Luke 2:1-20 For those of us in the northern hemisphere, December is marked by short days and long nights. It is an adjustment for everyone, that first troubling transition out of daylight savings time when it just seems so very dark, so very early. I find those first few weeks quite…

With Us in Our Suffering

Preacher: Jennifer Hosler Scriptures (Psalm 22:1-15; Hebrews 4:12-16)             Take a moment and imagine with me. Imagine that someone visits your church for the first time. You are chatting with them after worship, getting to know them a little, and they share with you that they struggle with a serious anxiety disorder. You say, “Thank…

A Way in the Wilderness

A Way in the Wilderness (2nd Sunday in Advent) Preacher: Jennifer Hosler Scriptures: Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8 Throughout the four weeks of Advent, our lectionary scriptures are rife with images from the natural world. The image of wilderness is present in both of our biblical texts, Isaiah and Mark, so I decided to make today’s…

Easter in a Pandemic

Preacher: Jennifer Hosler Scripture: John 20:1-18 It’s intense, the pressure of preaching an Easter sermon during a global pandemic.How can I have the right words to say,to point us to the divine solidarity of Jesus entering with us in our suffering,to the existential hope of Jesus triumphing over betrayal, torture, and death,to the future that…