Worship (10:30)

 

Current Sermon Series

 Season of Creation     September 9-30, 2018

 The Season of Creation is an ecumenical observance during the month of September.  In a day when the fruits of creation are often exploited and so much chaos pervades the world in which we live, it is imperative for us to take a moment to pause and breathe in the same Ruach (Spirit of God) that was at work in the beginning of creation. God is still at work! Do we see it in the world around us?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previous Series

Lenten/Easter

Rehab     February 14 - March 8, 2018  

 

There is much to mine from considering our Lenten journey this year within the frame of rehab, much to explore, much to learn. But the core of the learning in rehab, like the core of the learning in Lent, isn’t cognitive. It’s behavioral. In rehab, we learn how to live differently, to set a “new normal” for ourselves and our relationships after a period of time or perhaps a crisis has made it clear to us it is impossible to live as we had before. Our goal for all who engage this period of time is that the way of Jesus becomes either the “new normal,” or, for those who have been consistent in the journey over time, is strengthened as our normal. 

It is with that sense of gratitude and hope of a journey well-begun that we will enter Holy Week. 

Day 1: February 14 (6:30 PM)  Ash Wednesday: Mortality  
 Week 1: February 18 Wilderness  
 Week 2: February 25 Intervention  
 Week 3: March 4   Program  
 Week 4: March 11  Recovery 
 Week 5: March 18  Promise

 

      

Previous Sermon Series

 

Rise Up!     January 7 - February 11, 2018

 

It has begun.  We are on the trajectory home.  The seed has been planted and has sprouted: The birth of Jesus Christ -Incarnation - God among us - Emmanuel.  

 

          The Love of Christ has come into the world and is spreading until Love of God and neighbor will conquer every heart.  We are called to our 2018 mission, Rise Up and prepare the way for the good news of Jesus Christ. Rise Up and bring your neighbor. Rise Up as we make our way back home to the source, to God in Jesus Christ though the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

 

 

 


 

 

 

1.   God Is Speaking! (January 7)

2.   Listen (January 14)

3.   Move (January 21)

4.   Answer (January 28)

5.   Focus (February 4)

6.   God Is Speaking! Part 2 (February 11)

 

Coming Home: Christmas 2017 December 6 - December 31

     In the United States, Christmastime and thoughts of home just go together. “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” and “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays,” are two of the most popular holiday songs, year after year. Christmas movies and television shows regularly feature stories of people going to their family home or extended family home over the holidays. Among the rituals we create for this darkest time of the year in the Northern hemisphere, perhaps the majority of them are associated with either going home or doing special things at home-- whether lighting candles and having a time of family prayer during Advent, or decorating a Christmas tree, or caroling through a neighborhood, or hosting festive “open house” parties for friends, neighbors, and colleagues. It’s all about home.
     Advent and Christmas Season are about another kind of homecoming, the homecoming of Christ to redeem and renew us, this earth, and all creation till “heaven and nature sing” with joy eternally. The Scriptures the church uses for Advent focus first on the final fulfillment, and later on the beginning of that fulfillment in Jesus. As they seek God’s joyous desire, they also make plain just how far from it we have been and challenge us with just how far we have to go to begin to live into it.

 

 

1.   Come Down Home (December 3)

2.   Home Is Where We Meet (December 10)

3.   Joy Is Our True Home (December 17)

4.   God Makes This World Our Home (December 24)

5.   A Manger For the World (Christmas Eve)

6.   Going Home Again (December 31)

 

 

 

Healing & Hope: We Are Easter People   April 23-June 4 2017

Every single day we draw our hope and our healing from the victory Jesus won for us on Easter Day - resurrection to new life for all who believe and follow him.  Come share God's love as we open up the good news of the Gospel in 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

6 Decisions That Will Change your Life   January 8 - February 16, 2017

 

 

 

Starting from author and pastor Tom Berlin's book, 6 Decisions that will Change Your life, we will discuss the decisions that we want to make or are still making afresh every day.  How will these affect our becoming more like Jesus, a continually maturing disciple of Christ?  Our key decisions will be:

1.   The Decision to Follow (January 8)

2.   The Decision for a New Life (January 15)

3.   The Decision to Mature (January 22)

4.   The Decision to Respond (January 29)

5.   The Decision to Persevere (February 5)

6.   The Decision to Surrender (February 12)

Together we will study Scripture, examine our lives, explore these concepts together, and decide for Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss 

Moral principles in stories by Dr. Seuss have Biblical foundations.  July 24 - August 28, 2016

As we head back to school, let's learn and enjoy with my favorite doctor, Dr. Seuss.

 

July 24 A person's a person, no matter how small (Horton Hears A Who)

 July 31 It's Not In Your Hands, Or Your Wallet (The Grinch)

 August 7 Where Are You Called? (O The Places You'll Go)

 August 14 Us vs.Them (Sneetches)

 August 21 It's All About Me (Yertle the Turtle)

 August 28 Humility, Persistance, and Reconciliation (Green Eggs and Ham)

 

 

 

Plugged In? Power for Life 2016

Do you want to know if you are on the right track?  In the firey letter to the churches in Galatia (now central Turkey), Paul admonishes the Galatians and us to remain faithful to the foundations and the inclusiveness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on which Paul started those churches. We are made righteous by faith, not by trying to earn our righteousness by perfectly keeping "the law" - someone's restrictions and hoops.  We can be confident we are achiving Christ's purpose when we see the fruits of the Spirit springing from our lives of faith (Galatians 5:22-23 CEB But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.)

May 29   Tripped up again - We can fall for any spiritual interpretations if we are not well grounded in the basics of the Gospel (unplugging from Jesus.)
June 5    Even Me?!  - If Jesus can make Paul do a 180, Jesus can correct your course (and continue to)
June 12  Holding On To Our Gift- Remember this: It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. Faith justifies, not perfect rule keeping.
June 19  Our Father Abraham - Believed God and it was credited to him as Righteousness - before the 10 commandments.
June 26  Religious Nuts or Spiritual Fruit? - Doing what's right: How do you know one from another for certain?
July 3     In This Together - unity in the Spirit, in mission and ministry. (Communion liturgy)

 

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July 10   Like A Good Neighbor - What does being a good neighbor look like?

July 17  VBS Celebration Sunday - Come see what the children learned and can teach you! (Party after worship!)

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Special Sundays

5/08  Mother's Day - More Than You Think (Carnations for all women)

5/15  Disciple Bible Study Witness (hear the graduates tell what 34 weeks of Bible immersion meat to them)

5/22  "Triple Play" God in three persons - All for you and me

 

Victory Revealed  - Healing and Hope from the Revelation to John 

In the book of Revelation, John gives us the words and images that are to sustain Christians in times of difficulty. At the time when this was written, Christians were under extreme duress as they were persecuted and killed. How could they hold on to their faith?  Join us for this insightful worship series of healing and hope. Learn the promises of God as we uncover the ultimate result of the struggle between good and evil, “Who wins?”

 

4/03 "Freed for a Purpose"

4/10 "The Right Response - Worship"

4/17 “Who are these people?”

4/24 "No More"

5/01 "Victory Revealed!" 

 

 

The GOD We Can Know*  (Lent and Easter 2016)

 

2/14 Knowing God - The Great "I Am"

2/21 "I Am the Good Shepherd" – Knowing God’s Care

2/28 "I Am the Light of the World" – Knowing God’s Guidance

3/06 “I Am the Bread of Life” –Knowing God’s Satisfaction (Holy Communion)

3/13 "I Am the True Vine" – Knowing God’s Power

3/20  Palm Sunday: "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" - Knowing God's Way

3/24 Holy Thursday: The Last Supper  (7:00 PM at Metropolitan Avenue UMC)

2/21 Easter Sunday: "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - Knowing God's Possibilities

* adapted from a work by Rob Fuquay "The GOD We Can Know" Upper Room Books, 2014.

Touching Today's Tough Topics: When Christians Get It Wrong*

1/03 When Christians Are Unchristian: Hypocritical, Judgmental, Sheltered, too _________!

1/10 Christians, Science, and Politics: The more you know, the more you don't know

1/17 When Speaking of Other Religions: Us vs. Them

1/24 When Bad Things Happen: for a reason?

1/31 Human Sexuality: Who is Welcome at Christ's Table?

2/07 When Christians Get It Right: A Big House

* adapted from a work by Adam Hamilton "When Christians get It wrong," Abingdon Press.

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2/10 Ash Wednesday Service  6:30 PM (Sanctuary)

Start your Lenten season off right by placing yourself under God's loving leadership.