COOS Love Podcast

What does it mean to be a saint? Perhaps it has less to do with being exceptionally good and more to do with learning to receive the goodness of God. Scripture reminds us that we are already beloved children of God, even as we continue to discover all that we are created to become. Sainthood is not a destination we reach, but a life of growing into God's love—together, and always held in that love.

Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 38:05)

Read the sermon HERE

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

We all know that life is difficult, but rather than wishing it were easy, Jesus leads us to embrace the difficulties of life. Every situation, even the hardest one, is an opportunity to experience God’s love and to develop our own capacity for love. Ultimately God will use our whole life, even the most difficult parts, to transform us and prepare us for eternal happiness.

Watch the video HERE.

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

Jesus tells us to give to God the things that are God’s, and that means us. We are created in the image of God and are made for God. That doesn't mean we don’t have freedom: we are not slaves or puppets. It does mean that God is our home, and that we are to give God our hearts and live with the assurance that God’s love is and always will be where we belong, our home.

Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 33:29)

Read the sermon HERE

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

Love is the energy that brings all things together into unity. Love is the raw force that brings atoms together; love is the power that draws people into unity with God and each other. That unity may be expressed in friendships, marriage, and myriad forms of community, but always it reflects the nature of Ultimate Reality, the God we worship as Three-In-One. If we want to discern where God is moving in our lives and in our world, we can be certain that God is the power seeking to form community, not fracture it; God is the one bringing diverse people into loving relationships and making them one.

Watch the video HERE.
 

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

What does the kingdom of heaven look like, and how do we recognize it in our own world? Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet challenges us to wrestle with difficult questions about God’s character, grace, and what it means to accept God’s invitation. Through the lens of Christ, we discover a kingdom shaped not by fear or violence, but by love, presence, and room for everyone at the table. The invitation is already ours. The question is whether we will show up, be present to one another, and help make the world look a little more like the kingdom God intends.

Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 33:04)

Read the sermon HERE

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

We assume we’re pretty good at recognizing endings, a relationship, a job, a chapter of our lives. And when something comes to an end, we tend to assume we know what that means—that whatever has happened is now behind us and there’s no going back. But resurrection invites us to wonder if there might be something more—something unexpected—that we can’t yet see. Because we tend to see endings as final, while God often sees endings as the place where something new is just beginning.

Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 33:34)

Read the sermon HERE

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

Jesus saw signs of God’s presence in the world around him, and he embodies God in his very self. The Incarnation assures us that God is not just “out there” beyond the stars but present and active in the physical world in which we live. One reason we pray is to cultivate that awareness of God’s presence all around us.

Watch the video HERE.

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

Jesus calls us to love like he does, by emptying ourselves of self-centeredness. That is a daunting task. We cannot forcefully overcome our self-centered nature, but we can learn to be aware of our ego needs and to gently let go of them. We will never do that perfectly, but with God’s help we can grow in our capacity for selfless love. In the end, loving beyond self is what this life is all about.

Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 34:52)

Read the sermon HERE

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

We all tell ourselves stories about ourselves, narratives that define our sense of identity. Many people tell themselves stories of how they fail and mess things up, stories that weigh heavily over the years and make us miserable. Jesus offers a different narrative, one that emphasizes we are God’s beloved children and are safely held in God’s love always. The more we tell ourselves that story – the true story – the more it will become the core of our identity.

Watch the video HERE.

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE

The Israelites complain. The vineyard workers complain. And, I admit, I complain too. Beneath our complaining, though, there is often fear—the fear that there won’t be enough, that things won’t be okay, or that someone else is getting more than we do. Faith invites us to trust God’s provision, in whatever form that may take, and receive enough for today.

Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 37:45)

Read the sermon HERE

Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE