Sermons on Grace
Costly Grace
In this capstone message in the “Spoke in the Wheel” teaching series, Pastor José Humphreys teaches on the costliness of grace leads to embodied action. He teaches us about sharing in the attitude of Christ, laying down our privileges for the sake of others.
When God Seems Too Good
In this sermon, Emily Morrison reflects on two passages from this week’s lectionary readings: Matthew 20 (the parable of the vineyard workers) and John 4. In both, we see how the lavish Loyal-love and graciousness of God can seem a little too good at times. How do we respond when we feel this way? Emily helps us understand why and what to do with those feelings.
Grace & Giving
During the season of Christmastide, we give each other gifts in celebration of the greatest gift ever given to the world: Jesus. The advent of Jesus into the world is the greatest demonstration of God’s grace. However, we often misunderstand God’s grace when we think of it as a ‘one-way, unilateral donation.’ As we see in Romans 15 and II Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul thought about grace very differently. For him, grace creates a new social bond and reality,…
The Non-transactional Spirit
In Acts 8, there are two main figures on which the narrative focuses: Simon, the Sorcerer, and Philip, the apostle. In these two we see contrasted two approaches to Christian faith. One views faith as a transaction, a quid-pro-quo. The other views faith as a movement of the Spirit as a witness to Jesus. Transactional faith is very common in Western forms of Christianity. In this message, Andrea Roles helps us to recognize the difference and to move toward God’s…