Sermons by Rev. Jorge Domingues
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Sermons by Rev. Jorge Domingues

So Good, It Catches Us By Surprise

John’s Gospel doesn’t begin with a temptation story but instead opens Jesus’ ministry with a wedding miracle, a miracle Jesus enacted seemingly for the sole purpose of expanding joy by keeping the good vibes flowing (literally). It may feel a bit lavish to start the season of Lent with a wedding banquet, but the good news begins with joy. This week we focus on the subversive and playful nature of the good news. The kin-dom of heaven is so good…

JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY

As we celebrate his fight for racial equality and justice through nonviolent protest, honoring his commitment to freedom, service, and building a “Beloved Community” for all people, we continue the journey through the season that describes Christ’s revelation to the world, asking “Who is this?” This question anticipates the questions that follow Jesus throughout his life and ministry – questions from both followers and adversaries. It’s also a defining question of our own faith journeys: Who is this Jesus, and…

FEAR DOESN’T STOP US

Matthew 2:1-12, Matthew 2:16-28 (NRSV) Luke’s Gospel begins the story of Jesus with this opening line: “In the time of Herod…” This detail may seem minor to modern readers, however, it reveals layers of information about the fearful world Jesus entered, one filled with rampant oppression, economic disparity, uncertainty, and instability. A world not so unlike our own. And yet, throughout the stories of Christ’s birth, we hear the whispers of angels delivering a surprising message: “Do not fear.” In…

LET FEAR FUEL A FIRE FOR JUSTICE

Matthew 2:13-15, Matthew 2:19-23 (NRSV) As we celebrate Christmas this week, we are filled with joy with the birth of baby Jesus, the announcement of the angels, the whole creation bursting with hope. And we are also reminded that the Holy Family endured fear, rejection, uncertainty at this moment in their life. Things could have gone wrong, but God accompanied them in the journey to Bethlehem. But that fearful and perilous journey was just the beginning. The Holy Family fears…

DEEP COMMITMENTS: FRESH EXPRESSIONS OF CHURCH

Acts 2:42-47 In his sermon “On Visiting the Sick”, John Wesley teaches that mercy/reaching in love is not an optional Christian activity but an essential part of discipleship/growing in faith. He roots this conviction in Matthew 25, arguing that Jesus identifies himself with people who suffer—those who are sick, poor, imprisoned, or marginalized. For Wesley, ministry with the vulnerable is a means of grace: a pathway through which God forms the heart, deepens compassion, and keeps the believer grounded in…

Reaching In Love

The revised material for the Growing in Faith classes affirms that “as we root our lives in grace and grow in faith, we are transformed and woven deeper into the fabric of God’s love, … embracing a life of love and welcome. We call this reaching in love at The Table. Reaching in love begins with the practice of hospitality as a way of life and then extends into generosity, by allowing our lives to express the generosity of God”.…

Growing In Faith

Chapter 2 of the book “Growing in Faith” quotes a passage of Richard Rohr to help us understand what faith is: “For Jesus, faith is not opposed to not believing in God, it doesn’t mean you go to church, or that you’re into religion or that you say “Lord, Lord” (Matthew 7:21). Faith for Jesus is the opposite of anxiety.” The story of the Syro-Phoenician woman is a story about faith. It is the story of a “very daring woman”,…

Dirt and Water

In the book of Genesis, dirt (or ground) and water are created in the first narrative of the creation story and “given” to humankind to have “dominion” over all creatures living in both earth and seas. This narrative reinforces the hierarchical and anthropomorphic understanding of God–”God the Father, Humankind the children, Creation the subject”. Diana Butler Bass invites us to change our understanding of God, quoting the 20th Century German theologian, Paul Tillich, and the teachings of 4th century BCE…

Growing Toward Love

Richard Rohr in his book, The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage, describes the path of the prophetic tradition by bringing into conversation the inspired, and sometime eccentric, prophets of the Hebrew Bible with the contemporary voices of people who have embodied this path in the world today. Rohr plots this path as one that moves from “righteous anger against injustice, grief for the world’s suffering, and finally, grace-filled love for everyone and everything.” Over the…

Critical Mass

Pastor Jorge’s message, Critical Mass, will hold the scripture in conversation with the lives and legacies of the Hebrew prophet Hosea and the contemporary prophet Salvadoran archbishop Óscar Romero. Rohr affirms that “God’s message and messengers—and often the hearers—all tend to be outliers to ‘the way everybody thinks’… The whole group never gets the message, but a smaller group (the ‘remnant’) carries the love and hope of restoration after… the trials and tribulations the people endure”. The prophets taught us…
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