Sermons from October 2021
Part 5. “U” – Understanding & Wisdom | Proverbs 8:15-17 & James 3:13-18
I’m a low-level sci-fi nerd. One of my favorite action movies is the Matrix. The Matrix is a movie about everyone being stuck in a computer-generated world and having to break free to the real post-apocalyptic world outside. In the Matrix Trilogy, there’s a scene where Neo, the hero of the movie played by Keanu Reeves, gets stuck in a subway station. This subway station is where people and programs secretly travel between the real world and the computer-generated world,…
Part 4. “O” – Other Peoples’ Good | Genesis 1:28; Jeremiah 29:4-7; Acts 2:42-47
We are now in our fourth week, third word, of our sermon series, Faith & Flourishing in Politics. F stands for “Faith, Not Fear.” L is “Love God & Neighbor,” and today we’re on O, “Other Peoples’ Good.” A British game show in the late 2000s tested whether people would put other peoples’ good before their own. The show was called Golden Balls, which was named after golden balls the size of tennis balls that had money from £10 to…
Part 3. “L” – Love God & Neighbor (even political enemies) | Matthew 22:35-40
Tom is leaning into his computer screen as his fingers slam down on his keyboard. His brow is furrowed, and he can feel his blood pressure rising. “I can’t believe Sam believes this junk,” he mutters as he forcefully types his response to Sam’s most recent Facebook post. Sam had posted another biased, misinformed poorly-written article, and he is about to unequivocally show him the error of his ways. Tom has been watching Sam for months now post article after…
Part 2. “F” – Faith, Not Fear | Matthew 5-7 (Sermon on the Mount)
Did you know that deep in the recesses of our brain is a grape-sized cluster of cells called the amygdala? Our amygdala is a little like the emergency response center of our brain. It is constantly searching for danger, and when it identifies it, it sounds the alarm. Our blood pressure rises, our heartbeat goes up, we go on high alert and get ready for action. The amygdala “activates the fight-or-flight response.”[1] Turn a corner and find a snarling dog;…
Part 1. A Vision of Flourishing | Genesis 1-3 (Faith & Politics Sermon Series)
If you were to describe our nation’s political landscape, how would you depict it? Would you describe amber waves of grain and a fruited plain like America the Beautiful sings? Or maybe more likely, you would describe a barren desert with a tumbleweed blowing by, a snake slithering under a rock, and a lone cactus. I imagine most of us today feel politics are more like a desert than a field of wheat. But what if, as you were looking…