Synopsis
Sermons from a Christian Church in Burlington, Vermont
Episodes
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End of the Year Examen
31/12/2024 Duration: 12minHow has God provided for you in the past year? What do you long for in the coming year? In this New Year's meditation, Abby leads us in a guided prayer of examen, where we reflect on the past year and prepare our hearts for what the year ahead holds, all the while seeking to notice God's grace in our lives.
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Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room - Christmastide
30/12/2024 Duration: 15minThe Christmas story teaches us that making room in our lives for Jesus doesn’t guarantee a comfortable journey, but the hope we have in Jesus can carry us through any hardship that comes our way. This week, we look at the stories of Simeon and Anna in Luke 2 - two people who modeled this truth.
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Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room - Christmas Eve
27/12/2024 Duration: 18minMerry Christmas! Hear the good news - God is with you, and is nearer than you know!
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Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room - The Hospitality of God
26/12/2024 Duration: 32minHospitality is at the heart of who God is, and it's on full display in the Christmas story. In this sermon, Abby explores three moments of God's hospitality in John's account of the incarnation and invites us to receive his hospitality this Christmas with the heart of a child.
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Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room - The Visitation
16/12/2024 Duration: 28minWhen God invites Mary to live a miraculous story of faith, he does not invite her to live it alone. What might that say about God? On this third week of Advent, Jordan explores this question and more with a reflection on Mary and Elizabeth's interaction in Luke 1:35-45.
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Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room - Making Room for God
12/12/2024 Duration: 27minWhen Mary said “yes” to the angel Gabriel, she was saying “yes” to making room in her life for God. In this sermon, Abby explores a biblical understanding of hospitality, shares some stories of hospitality, and invites us to discern where and how God might be asking us to make room for him and others.
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Preparing The Way - an Intro to Advent
03/12/2024 Duration: 27minAfter a brief hiatus (due to Table Church Sunday and some other technical difficulties), we're back! This week, Jordan re-introduces us to the Advent season with a look at John the Baptist's life from Luke chapter 3.
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The Bread and the Cup - Week Three
07/11/2024 Duration: 23minWhen Jesus gave thanks at the last supper, he set an example for us. This week, we explore communion as Eucharist--the Thanksgiving table--by looking back to Old Testament thanksgiving practices that can help us better understand the significance of the Last supper and more fully enter into the celebration of communion.
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The Bread and the Cup - Week Two
05/11/2024 Duration: 19minThis week, Adam continues our sermon series, "The Bread and the Cup," with a look at communion as The Lord's Supper.
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The Bread and the Cup - Week One
22/10/2024 Duration: 28minCommunion - The Family Meal For the next four weeks, we will explore four different approaches to the communion table. This week, we begin our sermon series, "The Bread and the Cup," with a look at the elements as the family meal.
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God, Politics, and the Church - Week Four
16/10/2024 Duration: 28minHow do we seek first the Kingdom of God while also faithfully engaging in politics? In this wrap-up to the series, God, Politics, and the Church, Adam highlights several biblical and historical figures who grappled with this question in their times, closing with Jesus’ invitation to his disciples and to us today as revealed in a parable and a prayer.
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God, Politics, and the Church - Week Three
08/10/2024 Duration: 28minResisting Politics of Fear While our partisan politics often rely on paralyzing fear that casts out love, the Gospel truth we’re invited to live is perfect love that casts out fear. In this sermon, Adam explores how we can engage the political process while resisting the politics of fear.
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God, Politics, and the Church - Week Two
04/10/2024 Duration: 24min"How do you know that you've developed a disordered attachment with politics?" After looking at an example of disordered attachment in the book of Exodus, Adam invites us to consider this question and more in this week's sermon - the second in our "God, Politics, and the Church" series.
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God, Politics, and the Church - Week One
27/09/2024 Duration: 27minSeven Marks of Faithfulness to Jesus in a Politically Hostile World As we approach the national election, many may be wondering, How can followers of Jesus navigate the raging political storms of our day? In the first sermon of a series called God, Politics, and the Church, Adam offers seven marks of faithfulness to Jesus in a politically hostile world, reminding us that, as an alternative community, the church does not fit tidily into a political party or ideology, but ultimately confounds the left, the right, and even the center, living from a different center - the center of God's life through Jesus.
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Haggai
17/09/2024 Duration: 29minWhen the Jewish people returned from exile to rebuild the temple, they hit a wall of discouragement and shifted their focus from God to themselves, neglecting the temple and focusing on their own houses. In this sermon, Adam invites us to consider our ways just as the prophet Haggai invited the Jewish people to do in their time, trusting that God is with us and strengthening us as we roll up our sleeves and focus on him.
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The Gift of the Spirit
01/09/2024 Duration: 22minAs we follow Jesus, it's not unlikely that we will face seasons and changes that feel like they require much more than we have in our own strength. Thankfully, Jesus promises his disciples the gift of his Spirit for moments just like this. This week, we take a look at two stories from the book of Acts that show the Spirit showing up for people in need of words, wisdom, and direction.
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Ask, Seek, Knock
27/08/2024 Duration: 34minJesus invites us to ask the Father for what we need, assuring us the Father delights in giving good gifts to his children when they ask. In this sermon, featuring a guest interview with Rick Pacukonas, we explore Jesus’s invitation to ask, several ways of thinking that can get in the way of asking, how God might be at work in our lives when we must wait, and why we can ultimately have hope even when our prayers go unanswered.
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Finding a Church Home
23/08/2024 Duration: 35minWelcome back! This week, Adam shares four questions to consider while searching for the right home church.
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A New Sabbath Narrative (Audio Reflection)
12/07/2024 Duration: 18minSabbath is meant to be a blessing, not a burden, but we may hold assumptions about Sabbath that weigh it down and hinder us from receiving the gift of Sabbath rest God longs to give. In this audio reflection, Abby offers three approaches to thinking about Sabbath that will help us ponder and practice Sabbath with fresh perspective.
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How Sabbath Prevents Hurry Sickness
05/07/2024 Duration: 29minIn a society that values excessive work and honors extreme productivity, the practice of Sabbath is quite counter-cultural. Yet, Sabbath remains a remarkable invitation from God to stop, rest, worship, and delight. This week, ahead of our Summer Sabbath series, Adam shares some of the dangers of living a "hurry-sick" life, and invites us to consider how God might be inviting us to engage Him in Sabbath.