This week we consider when God’s plans actually come unraveled by our human freedom to disobey and resist those plans. Our thinking will be shaped by the Old Testament story of Exodus; in particular the role of Pharaoh’s hardened heart in how that story unfolds. Where are our hearts hard? How does God work when we resist what God wills? What does true freedom look like for any of us?

Link to readable sermon PDF

This week in our summer sermon series looks at a more familiar story of Jesus and Zacchaeus, and in this story we consider how God sometimes shows up in our lives and changes not only what we DO, but how we think about ourselves. What does vocation mean in all stages of life, beyond what we do for a living? What is God asking of us in these times, in this moment?

Link to readable sermon PDF

LINK TO FACEBOOK VIDEO–Pastor Jessie guided meditation through COA labyrinth

This sermon explores a Bible story that most of us have never heard — one that is almost as disturbing as the current news in our own country of violence and injustice. How can we mix our pride in our nation with action for justice? What does our faith have to do with those who have no power? With areas of our society like Black Lives Matter? Our faith is relevant enough to speak to these things. Let us be faithful in pondering these questions together in the presence of God…

Link to readable sermon PDF

This second week of the summer sermon series takes a look at the New Testament story of Jesus walking on water and inviting His disciples to do the same. How we live when it feels as if we are sinking into the waves crashing around us in our world? How do we hold it together and keep from unraveling by all the unknowns? What can we learn from this story during these times of pandemic / racial justice uprising / so many other things out of our control?

Link to readable sermon PDF

Guest Reader: Lawrie Gardner

Musician: Diana Martin

This is week 1 of a summer sermon series called Unraveled (A Sanctified Art). Each week considers:

“What happens when your world falls apart?

How do we press onward when our tightly-knit plans unravel into loose threads?

What do we become when our identity—or the path we’re on—comes undone?

What if all of this is not the end (that) we fear it will be?

In our unraveling, sometimes life surprises us with unexpected joy, love and hope—with a new beginning we couldn’t have imagined.

Sometimes we need God to unravel us, for we long to be changed.”

THIS WEEK WE LOOK MORE DEEPLY AT THE STORY OF ABRAHAM AND SARAH, who were finally receiving a long-awaited promise. What do we do, and how do we live, while what we hope for seems to be delayed? How do we receive the joy that does come to us in the every day?

Link to readable sermon PDF

Musician: Diana Martin