Emmaus Road Church | Fort Collins, Colorado

Sermon Scripture: John 15:9-17 (NRSV)

“When we try to solve a problem or improve a design, we typically think something needs to be added to the existing model. It’s much harder for us to think about subtracting something to solve a problem. This human psychology snafu can be found everywhere — extra meetings to figure out why work schedules are too cramped, the red tape of bureaucracy; leaning on technology to solve the climate crisis.” -Nature Science Journal, April 2021

God prunes so that our lives are more fruitful. We have greater health and wholeness. If the goal of pruning is greater fruitfulness, it helps to know what fruitfulness is! What is the fruit?

It is NOT activity for God. Activity for God may be part of the overflow of the fruit in our lives, it may be included in the fruit of pruning, but it is not the whole thing. Too many times we think that work or activity is the answer, but there must be a more foundational motivating work in our lives.

Sermon Scripture: John 15:1-8 (NRSV)

The vine and the branches. If you are like most, you tend see this metaphor through a personal lens. Read in this way, John 15:1-8 leads to the questions like, "Am I connected to God?" or "What am I doing to connect with God?"

These are a good and necessary question to reflect on that can lead us to spiritual growth. However, it is not without risk. Seeing this metaphor only through a personal lens can also lead to a number of spiritual decisions that actually disconnect you from others. There is more to this metaphor than meets the eye.

Join us as we investigate.

Sermon Scripture: John 10:11-18 (NRSV)

A bad shepherd protects themselves and their reputation, even at the expense of the sheep. A good shepherd works to protect the sheep. Including, when sheep are facing danger, to go to meet the danger head on, and take upon themselves the fate that would otherwise befall the sheep.

This should hopefully sound familiar for this is precisely what Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has done for us! Jesus saw the danger of sin and met it head on by taking sin upon himself, dying, and then defeating death through resurrection!

The invitation this week is to see the danger. Don't be complacent any longer. Upon seeing the danger, recognize that Jesus the Good Shepherd has done the work on the cross to free us from it! Forgiveness and new life are available to you if you will call on Jesus in faith.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 24:36-43 (NRSV)

Jesus says, "Look at my hands and feet and see that it's me. Touch and see." He eats in front of the disciples and even mentions that he isn’t a ghost. There is a clear attempt to make sure the reader of the gospel knows that Jesus appeared to the disciples in a physical body.

The resurrected Christ is the same person as the historical Jesus. The One who conquered sin and death through death and resurrection is the same as the one who performed miracles, cared for the poor, and loved the sinner.

While it may seem obvious, the truth is that we tend to live out our lives of faith emphasizing the eternal Christ while sometimes ignoring the historical Jesus. This theological mistake affects how we live!

Sermon Scripture: John 20:19-29 (NRSV)

Celebrating Easter and new life of springtime, after a “long, cold, lonely winter,” (weather-related and otherwise) is only natural, right, and proper. And yet, the realities of life have a way of displacing our new-found joy. How do people of the Resurrection respond when feelings of fear, confusion, anxiety, or grief continue to hover over us?

Sermon Scripture: John 20:1-18 (NRSV)

The good news of Easter is that God's new creation has begun. Jesus resurrection was the beginning of God's project to bring the life of heaven to earth! What God did for Jesus on the first Easter, God intends to do for us and all of creation! Jesus doesn't just offer us a new code of ethics or new religious possibility, Jesus offers us participation in new creation!

2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Through trust in Christ you have the opportunity to experience new creation by being made new. Christ centered hope for the world is real. Christ centered hope for your life is real. 

Sermon Scripture: Lamentations 5:1-22 (NIV)

Walter Bruggemann says this: "One loss that results from the absence of lament is the loss of genuine covenant interaction, since the second party to the covenant (the petitioner) has become voiceless or has a voice that is permitted to speak only praise and doxology."

Lamentations is an example of the suffering victim being given the agency and dignity of speaking up for themselves.

May our work for justice and healing in our community not just include us working on behalf of others, but be courageous enough to empower those who suffer to speak for themselves. Justice work must also be work that restores dignity. 

Sermon Scripture: Lamentations 4:2-9 (NLT)

Suffering, disaster, injustice are all common to the human experience, but these things disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.

This lament is an invitation to recognize this reality. To admit out loud when we are less affected by an event because of our wealth, access to health care, or color of our skin. Then, to see and know the invitation that God gives the Church to participate in caring for vulnerable communities.

Sermon Scripture: Lamentations 3 (NIV)

Pastor Grace Easton helps us explore 3rd poem of Lamentations and it’s dramatic languaging processing the effects of personal and corporate sin through lament. Lament and Confession transform us. It recognizes an evil, and helps us imagine redemption. We express our lament, and are moved to action.  We recognize the evil, we recognize our need for God’s redemption. 

We remember that God is at work in the world and has not abandoned us. God is faithful and working to make all things new, and we the church are a part of that work. 

How can you offer hope and healing in your community? How can our church offer hope and healing in the community? How can we be like a living acrostic in a sea of chaos? 

Sermon Scripture: Lamentations 2 (NLT)

Where Lamentations chapter 1 saw Jerusalem attribute their own sin as a cause for suffering, chapter 2 makes God the primary actor. In this poem, God is portrayed as angry, retributive and to blame for the suffering of Jerusalem.

Lament requires humility. Lament calls us into a proper view of ourselves. Even Jerusalem was not beyond being humbled. May we, who might think ourselves exceptional by all standards, see ourselves simply as recipients of God's grace. May we not lose sight that the God we serve and the Christianity we practice is part of a great tradition that we have received. It has a multitude of expressions all around the world and across time. There is nothing wrong with knowing the particularities of your tribe - and celebrating those - but may we be protected from exceptionalism.