HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHURCH!

This festival day of Pentecost marks fifty days since Easter/Resurrection Day, and every year we remember what happened to Jesus’ followers after He ascended into Heaven and empowered them with His Holy Spirit. This final week of our “Building Blocks” sermon series considers a very important lesson for us from the early church: one of the most important things we can do is to let the Spirit move. Being moved by the Spirit means we have to surrender our will; our plans; our ideas of what is right and let God work and trust that God is in fact moving us somewhere. What does this look like, especially in a church like the Presbyterians who do not show as many visible and charismatic signs of the Spirit? Where might the Spirit be moving the church into an unknown future?

Link to readable sermon PDF

This week we consider a fundamental part of it faith: sharing that faith with other people! In a world that is increasingly indifferent or even hostile to organized religions (for many good reasons), how can we witness to the lifegiving power of a relationship with Jesus and a community that is learning and growing together? Our tradition is wary of heavy-handed evangelism, and yet we still are called to share this faith! But how? What will make it make sense to those around us? Do we expect them to come to us, or are we willing to meet others where they are (the way that Jesus did)?

This is especially appropriate as a topic on our annual ordination Sunday where incoming Elders and Deacons are ordained and installed into ministry and leadership. The Presbyterian Church USA ordains these lay leaders with the same questions and liturgy that they use to ordain clergy. No calling is superior to another. We all have gifts and we all have a ministry. We are Christ’s hands and feet on earth, and who might know Christ better because of who we are and the stories God gave us?

Link to readable sermon PDF

This Sunday is much anticipated every year. It is our annual YOUTH SUNDAY—led by our wonderful members of the COA Youth Group. Preachers will be Broadneck High Juniors Ketzel Barbour, Casey Gish and Jess Jacklitch, preaching on the theme of growth. Three of our youth will be singing solos with our contemporary band. Several others will be leading us in prayer, reading of scripture and more. This Sunday is always one that leaves us uplifted and challenged. We are thrilled to support our young people–the future of the church!

This week, as we consider the earliest Church and its lessons for the future of the larger church, we have a flashback of sorts to the night Jesus was betrayed and to a portion of His “Farewell Discourse” to His closest disciples. It is everything He wants them to know before His death, according to the Gospel of John, and the portion that we read has within it a famous verse in John 14:6 that has historically been used as an argument for Jesus as the only way to Heaven and salvation. But within its context that night, was that what Jesus was up to in this speech? Was that the point of all this? Or was something deeper going on?

At its core, I see that night Jesus offering companionship, comfort and reassurance to disciples who had more questions than answers. And that’s okay. That is the Christian journey! Questions are not a bad thing; questions often are what keep us moving forward, searching and seeking and reaching for God. And just as Jesus promised to somehow still be with them, abiding with them after His death, so too Jesus is still journeying with us, often through the works we do as we follow Him.

Link to readable sermon PDF

This Sunday is special because, even though Pastor Jessie will be in the worship service, she is delighted for her friend and colleague Rev. Khristi Adams to lead the sermon. Khristi will continue on in our Building Blocks sermon series and reflect with us on what it means to recognize Jesus in our day as His disciples. What makes it hard to see who Jesus really is and where He is at work? Where have we caught surprising glimpses of Him, maybe even among us in our community like COA?

Bio: Rev. Khristi Lauren Adams is the Dean of Spiritual Life and Equity/DEI at The Hill school in Pottstown, PA. She is also the author of two books entitled Parable of the Brown Girl and Unbossed: How Black Girls are Leading the Way. She is currently working on a third book. 

I can’t wait for you to hear from her!