519 Church Sermons

Paul greets those in his spiritual lineage, and through them, offers prayers for the church in Rome—a prayer of encouragement and challenge. This same prayer, this same challenge is ours: to step out in faith and live boldly in the strength of the Spirit of God.

Our job is one of radical acceptance. Paul may not have used that term, but, from beginning to end, the thrust of his argument is the movement towards reconciliation in an attempt to hold the two halves of the church together in one whole family. Here we get some practical advice on how to do that.

Ultimately, faith is about a posture of surrender. We give way in our lives not just to the word of God or the works we are called to, but to the character Jesus teaches us to have. It is the WAYS of Jesus that puts our faith in action.

Righteousness does not come from doing all the right things, or even belonging in all the right ways…righteousness, salvation, comes through a trust in God that reorients your life. This, in turn, plays itself out in how you do what you do.

Salvation is not just for the individual (I mean, yes it is…but), salvation is also for the whole of creation. God’s intent, Paul says, is not for this group to be saved, or the other group to be saved, but the whole of creation to be saved. And until that day, we groan—as in labor pains. This is a powerful image and promising message: new life is coming, but it is going to be a messy struggle.

Paul seems to be the hardest on those who are hard on others. Chiding them, sometimes sarcastically, to re-focus on what is most important: a thriving faith in Jesus.

As Christians we have elevated our righteousness, or right-ness, over and above faith as the means by which we access salvation. Paul's invitation is to dramatically reorient our conversation back to the centrality of Jesus.

Our ethics, our values, our way of life may not reflect our surroundings. As resident aliens, we pattern our lives after the example of Christ, and experience an unexpected fullness of life.

God's promise is not just to put a rest to the wounds that come from evil, but to undo evil—this is not just a break, a reprieve, but a revolution.

We get to participate in the great unfurling of God's plan and design for the world. The work we do now is work that will last.

God does not want to destroy creation, but bring it into the fullest beauty possible—the plan at work since the beginning. This means we should value creation, both the thing and the work of co-creating.

Heaven and Hell are not the end of our story—Resurrection is. And this ending brings us a greater hope, a greater mission and a greater healing.

This was our Palm & Passion Sunday where we told the story of Jesus' passion—his suffering, the ultimate coming together of his power in vulnerability.

Compassion is to "suffer with." How often do we substitute suffering for a sandwich — An easy fix for the hard work of really loving someone?

Is it up to us? Are we our own hero? What it looks like to let go of our own self-sufficiency is a beautiful thing. Mystery is our antidote.

One of Jesus' main goals is to break through our shame so that we can be free to truly belong with God.

We are invited to emulate a God who finds power in weakness, vulnerability. While it seems counter-intuitive at first, this is actually the greater power, and one that frees us from the fear of imperfection.

Jesus invites us to step out of the intense pressure of the now to consider a greater freedom in the not yet.

An invitation for our word to be good, and trustworthy. #nofilter

Jesus offers a subversive 'third way' that transforms our vengeance into an opportunity for restoration.