This week’s sermon anticipates the International Day of Prayer for Peace, and outlines the process for addressing conflict in Matthew 18. The community of church is different from other kinds of communities precisely because of how we make peace together.

This Sunday is Camp Sunday – celebrating Shepherd’s Springs Outdoor Ministry Center. The sermon was an interactive experience of being open to the movement of the Holy Spirit through image, story and place. The hymn is “O Lord

What do we do when the news causes us to rage regularly? What does it look like to live 'another way of living' in light of the maddening events of the day? Paul's letter to the Romans has some hints...and they have to do with hospitality.

This week's sermon is from Rev. Dr. Alexander Duncan Jr., pastor of our community partner, Arlington Forest UMC. Focused on Isaiah 6:1-8 and Matthew 14:22-33, the sermon is part of our Community Worship series, "God Makes a Way out of No Way."

Jesus withdraws to a deserted place after learning about John's murder. The disciples, overwhelmed with so many hungry people, seek out Jesus who, in spite of or perhaps because of his pain, reacts with compassion.

The miracle of the "Feeding of the 5,000" is important enough to appear in all four gospels and follows the mustard seed teaching. It's a story that reaches us today, indoctrinated into powerlessness by political definitions of what power is.

Jesus' disciples are given what they need to continue his work.  In Jesus' alternative reality, even the most meager resources mimic mustard seed and grows to overtake the powers and principalities of this world with compassion until every deserted place is where the weak are served and healed, because compassion is the law of the land. When we need it, God will give us the power to work for good in the world and it will be enough.

This week's New Testament Scripture reassures us that there's no right way to pray and that God loves us. None of the miseries of this life can separate us from this most central element, that God loves us. Even in the ways we are complicit in those miseries, our deep seeded ties to the powerful forces of oppression can be transformed by the power of God who searches hearts, seeks the lost, sends the spirit to pray with groans and sighs and helps us in our most weakened state. God's plan is the redemption of creation and we will be restored into the image of God in which we were called into being and meant to live.This week, let us daily remember, nothing can separate us from God's love, and let us walk alongside others as equals to reassure them of the same.

As God's witnesses, it matters how we imagine God. Sunday's scripture gives a glimpse at God's identity. Christians also think of the trinity, but there are many more images and metaphors for God.  God is often described in personal imagery through anthropomorphic metaphors, like a parent or like a shepherd. God is also described as an encompassing spirit surrounding us and everything around us like wind or breath. We should be aware of how we are describing God so we don't diminish ourselves, others or God with metaphors that fall short of the true glory of God. God is in whom we live move and have our being alone, the power and presence that loves us and sends us out to act lovingly to all.

Paul tells the church that love is the only thing that could possibly overcome all the trials and roadblocks we encounter as a body. We must trust God while we bring our unique, but equally valuable gifts to the table. Membership in a community of faith isn't easy, especially if we're doing it right. Let us do our part to make the whole complete.

We continue the story of a people so dependent on the promise of God, that they will sacrifice themselves and risk major loss, all to maintain their part in the promise. What sacrifices are we willing to make? God chooses the weak, the last, the unexpected to bless the world with presence and promise, not bothering with cultural expectations and not waiting for people to be perfect to work through them. Instead, God chooses us.

God is intimately involved with human life, cares for us and has a vision far longer than our own. In Scripture (Genesis 16 and 21) which is known for its focus on the "chosen people," we have a very special promise to the "not-chosen." God's promised blessings, that came true for Ishmael and Isaac and their many children, are true for us also. We can trust that in and through, with or in spite of, circumstances, God acts towards God's purpose blessing all people.