“It’s Complicated - Family as a Means of Grace” - Part 3

This week we’re looking at the controversial text from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 5 on submission.

Paul begins with traditional hierarchical family codes from the culture of his day, but he doesn’t leave them there. In fact, he challenges the traditional power structure by declaring that those in power and authority should submit to those who are weaker in their social system as much as the weaker party is expected to submit to them. It is a call for mutual submission and serving one another as Christ served us and gave himself as a sacrifice.

May we likewise lay aside out sense of authority and privilege for the sake of Christ and become servants of all.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

“It’s Complicated - Family as a Means of Grace” - Part 2

As we continue our series on family, we will look deeper at Jesus’ promise in John 14—“I go to prepare a place for you”— it isn’t just about some distant mansion in the sky, but about being welcomed into God’s household here and now. I explore how ancient family structures help us understand salvation as connection, not escape. Living as part of the household, whether with our biological families, our church families or our larger human family, is messy & complicated, but also full of grace.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

Welcome to our new series - “It’s Complicated - Family as a Means of Grace”.

As we begin this series on Mother’s Day, we will explore what it means to nurture faith across generations and within the complexities of real-life families. Drawing from Paul’s encouragement to Timothy, the example of Susanna Wesley, and Jesus' redefinition of family, this sermon invites us to reclaim the spiritual practice of nurturing faith — not through perfection, but through presence, perseverance, and love.

Whether you come from a strong spiritual legacy or are starting fresh, this message reminds us that the church is called to be a family where faith is formed together.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

Easter is all about hope, but the truth is that many people are not feeling very hopeful right now. The resurrection stories remind us that Jesus doesn’t meet us in our hope, but first in our grief. It is in Mary’s grief and confusion that Jesus calls her name and invites her into hope for something that she cannot yet fully understand.

Where is God reaching out to you in your grief and pain and inviting you into hope?

______

Note: For the next two weeks, ther will be no podcast episode because we are having a music service and a guest preacher at my church.

Be sure to check back on May 12th as we kick off our new series - “It’s Complicated - Family as a Means of Grace”

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

Join me this Palm Sunday as we reflect on the contrast of the shouting crowds and Jesus' humble silence as he enters Jerusalem. When are you called to shout and when is it better to be silent?

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

“'God has a really bad habit of using people we don’t approve of,'” Rachel Held Evans once said. “'What makes the gospel offensive is not who it keeps out, but who it lets in.'”

I might tweak Evans’s formulation and put it this way: God has a really bad habit of loving people we don’t approve of. Or maybe this: God has a really bad habit of showing mercy to people we don’t approve of.

Or maybe: God has a really bad habit of extending grace to people we don’t approve of" (Jeff Chu).

Join us this week as we look deeper into one of those people, Zaccheus, the chief tax collector, and what his example might have to teach us about ourselves.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

Welcome to our second week of "March Pulpit Madness." Today’s sermon was recorded at Rock Grove United Methodist Church in Salisbury, NC.

This week we’re looking at the Parable of the Fig Tree. Often this story is taken as a declaration of judgment from God on those who are not producing good enough fruit, but what if God is actually more like the gardener who desires to pour extra time and attention into the barren fig tree to nurture it and give it more time to grow?

Join me as we reflect on the balance between rest and growth and God’s deep patience and care for us in our spiritual journey.

Note: There will be no sermon podcast episode next week as I will be serving as a pastor on a weekend Pilgrimage Retreat. Enjoy today’s message and check back on April 6th as we look at Zaccheus and everything in between righteousness & mercy.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

This week I began a series of pulpit swapping in what the local United Methodist Churches in our community are calling "March Pulpit Madness." Today’s sermon was recorded at Bethel United Methodist Church in Salisbury, NC.

We are all using the same series based losely on the Narrative Lectionary through Sanctified Art called "Everything [in] between", wrestling with the many extremes posed to us in the gospels that we tend to over emphasize on one side or the other.

This week we join Mary, Martha and Jesus as we reflect on everything in between Faith and Works. Is Jesus really "scolding" Martha for her hospitality when her work is precisly the kind of thing he calls us to do elsewhere? Is he really saying that we should always and only sit at his feet and listen while never moving into action, despite his constant invitation to "go and do" the work of ministry? Maybe, just maybe, it's not a clear cut either / or.

Join me as we dive into what's really going on here, and how both faith and works play a pivotal role in our life with Christ.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

As we begin this Lenten Journey, we meet many suffering people along the way. We also encounter so-called benefactors with eloquent words about their suffering and occasionally a Good Samaritan who actually does something about it.

Join us this week as we begin this journey together, and reflect on how we are invited to be with those who are hurting in our world today.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

"God does not make the mountains to be inhabited. We ascend to the heights to gain a broader vision of the world below. But we do not stay there. We do not tarry there. The streams begin in the uplands, but they descend quickly to gladden the valleys below" (Henry Drummond, Scottish theologian)

As we descend the mountain into the dark valley of the Lenten season and journey with Jesus toward the cross, we must not leave behind the vision of God’s glory. Instead, we are called to carry that light with us — to embody God’s love in the valleys of pain and suffering along the way.

For further reflections on the transfiguration, listen to this week’s sermon here.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa