Westminster Presbyterian Church, Alexandria Va

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead meant that everything first disciples of Jesus had thought they understood was now to be re-thought in the light of God's surprising action. They experienced various kinds of change: individual and communal, mind and heart, circumstance and vision or point of view. Sometimes change brought struggle, even conflict; more often, it brought joy and a new appreciation of God's providential care for them. With with Dr. Katherine Grieb, Virginia Theological Seminary.

On this World Communion Sunday in which we break bread and share wine with churches of different denominations across the world, what is it that Westminster particularly embodies that leads us to be a genuine part of the of the answer to the question “Why Church?” Why Church? Fall Sermon Series The series will lead up to our stewardship campaign, in which we each decide how much of our financial resources we will pledge to the work of Westminster in 2019, but it will not be limited to that focus. In some ways, the series will ask basic questions about why we are here, why we are involved in a church at all, and what role our involvement plays in our lives. In a time in which American religious life is changing, and in a church in which many of us may only be here for three or four years before being transferred to the next city, we all benefit from paying attention to fundamental questions this series will address.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead meant that everything first disciples of Jesus had thought they understood was now to be re-thought in the light of God's surprising action. They experienced various kinds of change: individual and communal, mind and heart, circumstance and vision or point of view. Sometimes change brought struggle, even conflict; more often, it brought joy and a new appreciation of God's providential care for them. With with Dr. Katherine Grieb, Virginia Theological Seminary.

"Whoever is not against us is for us," says Jesus. Who is for? Who is against? Who is right, who is wrong? Who and what are true, and who and what are false? It's just too bad that Scripture has no resonance with current events. Patrick Hunnicutt preaches on Mark 9:33-41.

*PLEASE NOTE* There is no audio recording of this sermon due to a technical error. Why Church? Fall Sermon Series The series will lead up to our stewardship campaign, in which we each decide how much of our financial resources we will pledge to the work of Westminster in 2019, but it will not be limited to that focus. In some ways, the series will ask basic questions about why we are here, why we are involved in a church at all, and what role our involvement plays in our lives. In a time in which American religious life is changing, and in a church in which many of us may only be here for three or four years before being transferred to the next city, we all benefit from paying attention to fundamental questions this series will address.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead meant that everything first disciples of Jesus had thought they understood was now to be re-thought in the light of God's surprising action. They experienced various kinds of change: individual and communal, mind and heart, circumstance and vision or point of view. Sometimes change brought struggle, even conflict; more often, it brought joy and a new appreciation of God's providential care for them. With with Dr. Katherine Grieb, Virginia Theological Seminary.

"I know that there have been times in my preaching where I have read to you writings that are too dense, too complex, too long for most listeners of any age to follow. I plan to commit this sin again today, and challenge you, once again, to listen well." Larry Hayward preaches on Proverbs 1:20-33.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead meant that everything first disciples of Jesus had thought they understood was now to be re-thought in the light of God's surprising action. They experienced various kinds of change: individual and communal, mind and heart, circumstance and vision or point of view. Sometimes change brought struggle, even conflict; more often, it brought joy and a new appreciation of God's providential care for them. With with Dr. Katherine Grieb, Virginia Theological Seminary.

Today’s sermon is about maternal, parental, even grand-parental love. It is a sermon about how such love can be ever so close to God’s love. It is a sermon about how the love we have for children is akin to the love we receive from God. As the body of Christ in the world, it is important for the church to embody and foster such love. Larry Hayward preaches on Mark 7:24-30.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead meant that everything first disciples of Jesus had thought they understood was now to be re-thought in the light of God's surprising action. They experienced various kinds of change: individual and communal, mind and heart, circumstance and vision or point of view. Sometimes change brought struggle, even conflict; more often, it brought joy and a new appreciation of God's providential care for them. With with Dr. Katherine Grieb, Virginia Theological Seminary.

In the passage we read today, the Gospel writer Mark expresses a critique of Jewish ritual. Jesus, however, appears less concerned about the specific practices Mark is critiquing than with the intention and motivation that lie behind both the ritual and its critique—a focus more on the heart than the practice the heart produces. Larry Hayward preaches on Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23.

Israel has been waiting for a fixed locale to faithfully worship, to experience the God of Abraham, Isaac, and and Jacob. Now Solomon is in the Temple, dedicating the space after what has to be one of the longest house hunting expeditions in Israel history. Rev. Whitney Fauntleroy preaches on 1 Kings 8 (selected verses).

In the story of Solomon, we see both divine revelation and humble human response. It is complicated Biblical legacies like Solomon's that are a staple of understanding the story of us: us the fallen, and us the faithful. Rev. Whitney Fauntleroy preaches on 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14.

In Stephen, we see the dignity of all kinds of work. We are reminded, too, of the ways we often impose limits that God, in God's dynamic power, seeks to break down. Patrick Hunnicutt preaches today on Acts 6:8-15.

In this final sermon in this summer series on ordinary but obscure characters in the Bible, we turn to the most obscure character of all: “the mother of Rufus.” When we do detective work around the family of Rufus and his mother, we begin to encounter a tragic division that appears to have arisen within the family. Larry Hayward preaches on Romans 16:13 and Mark 15:21-24. Summer Sermon Series: Ordinary People. It is in the loves and hates, the hopes and fears, the strides and stumbles of ordinary people that God is both known and active in the world and which is narrated in Scripture. This summer’s series will highlight four men and four women from the Bible and hold them before our eyes that we may observe what they experienced, what moved them, and how God may have been present to them.

There is so little in the text itself about "Joseph called Barsabbas, also known as Justus" that we are left to carefully reading the text for clues about him and then using our imagination and common sense to move him from being a stick figure to at least an etching in whom we might see some of our own characteristics and experiences under God. Larry Hayward preaches on Acts 1:12-17, 20-26. Summer Sermon Series: Ordinary People. It is in the loves and hates, the hopes and fears, the strides and stumbles of ordinary people that God is both known and active in the world and which is narrated in Scripture. This summer’s series will highlight four men and four women from the Bible and hold them before our eyes that we may observe what they experienced, what moved them, and how God may have been present to them.

Who lives, who dies, who tells your story? In Luke, we are given the portrait of a man whose history we might otherwise have forgotten, that we might not have celebrated. Patrick Hunnicutt preaches on Luke 23:50-56. Summer Sermon Series: Ordinary People. It is in the loves and hates, the hopes and fears, the strides and stumbles of ordinary people that God is both known and active in the world and which is narrated in Scripture. This summer’s series will highlight four men and four women from the Bible and hold them before our eyes that we may observe what they experienced, what moved them, and how God may have been present to them.

We cannot explain the crucifixion to our fullest satisfaction. We can only cross ourselves, bow our heads in silence before it. We can only trust that through the death it brought to the Christ who faced it heroically, God has in fact been “absorbing” into his very heart and mind and soul, all the suffering and sin we know. Summer Sermon Series: Ordinary People. It is in the loves and hates, the hopes and fears, the strides and stumbles of ordinary people that God is both known and active in the world and which is narrated in Scripture. This summer’s series will highlight four men and four women from the Bible and hold them before our eyes that we may observe what they experienced, what moved them, and how God may have been present to them.

In Huldah, the person who is the focus of today’s sermon, we see a different kind of love: love for the pages of a book and the words written on those pages which she attests are God’s Word and which eventually become a part of the Bible we read. Summer Sermon Series: Ordinary People. It is in the loves and hates, the hopes and fears, the strides and stumbles of ordinary people that God is both known and active in the world and which is narrated in Scripture. This summer’s series will highlight four men and four women from the Bible and hold them before our eyes that we may observe what they experienced, what moved them, and how God may have been present to them.

Orpah appears only in the Book of Ruth, and while she is named (not always a guarantee for women in scripture), she appears in only the first chapter and doesn’t have a speaking role. She then disappears from the narrative and from historical memory, until the family of an infant girl born into poverty in Kosciusko, Mississippi, in 1954 chose her name for a child who would grow up to become one of the most admired and recognized women in America. arry Hayward preaches from Ruth 1:1-18. Summer Sermon Series: Ordinary People. It is in the loves and hates, the hopes and fears, the strides and stumbles of ordinary people that God is both known and active in the world and which is narrated in Scripture. This summer’s series will highlight four men and four women from the Bible and hold them before our eyes that we may observe what they experienced, what moved them, and how God may have been present to them.