(Sermon preached September 10, 2023) In the Christianity we have inherited, too often, the word “believe” means agreeing with a list of propositions or doctrines. When we revisit what the earliest Christians meant by the word “believe” we discover words like trust, commitment, loyalty, and belove. Mark 12:28-30 is where Jesus sums up all the commandments. Love God, love what God loves, love the way God loves. That is what it means to believe.
Jesus
(Sermon preached August 27, 2023.) This sermon explores the importance of returning to the pre-Easter (historical) Jesus. The scripture reading is John 1:1-5.
Salvation
(Sermon preached August 20, 2023) This is the third sermon in a series titled “Speaking Christian” loosely based on a book by the same name by Marcus Borg. Salvation, in recent history, has become narrowly defined to mean Jesus dying for our sins to save us. Yet, when we revisit this word in its Biblical context – it means wholeness, liberation and deliverance, rescue, transformation, healing…and more. The scripture is Philippians 2:12-13.
Wrestling with the Bible
(Sermon preached August 13 2023) This sermon is for anyone who has ever struggled with the Bible. This is the second in a series titled “Speaking Christian” which is a series to revisit the foundations and language of our faith from a Progressive Christian perspective. The scripture is 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
The Heaven/Hell Framework
(Sermon preached August 6, 2023) What does it mean to be Christian? How do the concepts of heaven/hell impact the way we understand what it means to be Christian? This sermon is just an introduction to an alternative to the heaven/hell framework. It is the first in a series called “Speaking Christian” based loosely on the book with the same name by Marcus Borg where we will be exploring the language of our faith through the lens of progressive Christianity. This sermon touches briefly on what some people think is the summation of the gospel, John 3:16.