Sermons by Rev. Mike Harrell
Parable of the Sower
This week we conclude our worship series: “I Wonder…”, with the hope that the invitation to embrace curiosity and a spirit of exploration, as we have wondered together about our faith and God, has been fruitful. This week we turn our attention to one of the parables of Jesus. Our Godly Play Story and message this week will be rooted in The Parable of the Sower. Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s gospels all indicate that parables were Jesus’ preferred method of…
The Exodus
God was with the people as they “went out” from slavery into freedom through the water. The People of God have looked back to this time to sustain them when God is hidden and they feel lost. We continue to evoke the People’s experiences of God’s elusive presence. This not only gives children [everyone] language to name, express, and value their own experiences but also permission to talk aloud about them. Worship online with thetable.live. CCLI #805699 / CCLI Streaming…
HOPE
Giving people hope in this context is about offering a vision that is compelling and transformational and inviting them to take part in making that vision a reality. Worship online with thetable.live. CCLI #805699 / CCLI Streaming #094804
ALL IN
Both spiritual practice and steadfast activism require a pattern of faithful presence over time (often with no visible result). Showing up, again and again, is the shape of both spiritual practice and activism. Worship online with thetable.live. CCLI #805699 / CCLI Streaming #094804
Love Your Enemy
One of the highest challenges to Christians. What does this mean, and ask of us, in relation to real-life “enemies”? Worship online with thetable.live. CCLI #805699 / CCLI Streaming #094804
Being A Blessing / Being Blessed
Being awake to God, learning to be comfortable in our own skin, leaning into our pain, being open to the journey, and embracing restfulness are some of the ways we’ve explored what it might look like for us to become more fully alive. Notice that what we have explored has been less about attaining something and instead more about becoming aware that the means are already ours. As author Barbara Brown Taylor puts it, “All we lack is the willingness…
Being Awake to God
Jacob is desperately seeking to get far away from a family situation that has imploded. Seized by a mixture of guilt, shame, and fear he runs off trying to put as much distance between him and his family as possible. He lays down to sleep in the midst of a rocky wilderness feeling as desolate and lonely as his surroundings. While he sleeps, he dreams of a ladder stretching from heaven to earth and recognizes the abiding presence of God…
Alive In The World
Lent was originally a season for new converts to learn and prepare for their baptism on Easter. During that time, they would study what was central to Christianity. As we enter this new series, we study what is central to Jesus’ life and ministry: radical welcome, love for neighbor, care for the vulnerable, nourishment for the hungry, nonviolence in the face of injustice. At the heart of Jesus’ teachings, we find liberation, love, mercy, and grace—all of which are meant…
Inspiring Us To Act
This Sunday we will observe Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the final week of Jesus’ life, a span of time that Christian tradition has come to refer to as Holy Week. While the week culminates in the events of Good Friday and Easter, the movement through the entire week tells us of significant interactions with followers as well as definitive confrontations with adversaries, each of which brings greater clarity about how Jesus understood his mission, to incarnate…
Great Love for God & Neighbor
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 NAMES HIS VALUES
This week we continue to ponder the question “Who is this?” as we encounter Jesus through the stories of some of his earliest ministry experiences in Matthew’s Gospel. As both Pastor Kelly and Pastor Jorge have already alluded to, this is a question that echoes around Jesus throughout his ministry and also directly impacts who we understand ourselves to be as a people who seek to follow in his way with passion and purpose today. Our scripture reading for this…
BAPTISM OF THE LORD
Matthew 3:13-3:17 (CEB) The story of Jesus’ baptism is very similar between Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s versions of the Gospel. John’s version of the Gospel alludes to it but doesn’t actually describe the event. In all the different versions, his baptism provides an opportunity for Jesus to be publicly identified as God’s beloved child. But baptism is never solely about the individual but rather it is a communal act that seeks to encompass all of us. Excerpts from Karri Alldredge’s…
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