First Cary UMC

First Cary UMC’s First on Chatham Sermon – Rev. Kollin Absher-Baer – May 17, 2026

The Risk of Asking for Help: Courage to Receive 
In Mark 10, we encounter a blind beggar on the side of the road named Bartimaeus. As Jesus passes, Bartimaeus asks for help and cries out to Christ, even while others try to silence him. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” It’s risky. It’s vulnerable. It’s humiliating. And Jesus honors his courage to ask and trust to receive something that only God can give. Jesus commends his faith and restores his sight. Risking-taking faith means admitting our need for help and trusting God - even when we fear rejection or judgement. What insecurities are blinding us, and how might our faith grow in the risk of asking for help?

Scripture: Mark 10:46-52

First Cary UMC’s First Sanctuary Sermon – Rev. Ben Alexander– May 17, 2026

The Risk of Asking for Help: Courage to Receive
In Mark 10, we encounter a blind beggar on the side of the road named Bartimaeus. As Jesus passes, Bartimaeus asks for help and cries out to Christ, even while others try to silence him. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” It’s risky. It’s vulnerable. It’s humiliating. And Jesus honors his courage to ask and trust to receive something that only God can give. Jesus commends his faith and restores his sight. Risking-taking faith means admitting our need for help and trusting God - even when we fear rejection or judgement. What insecurities are blinding us, and how might our faith grow in the risk of asking for help?

Scripture: Mark 10:46-52

First Cary UMC’s First on Chatham Sermon – Rev. Martha McLean – May 10, 2026

The Risk of Formation: Passing Down a Bold Faith: God has called us as First Cary to invest in the generations. As such, we are called to pass down our faith, which means taking the risk of forming others - and allowing our faith to ripple beyond what we can see. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we hear of Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Paul lifts them up as models of spiritual influence across generations, as they risk to raise Timothy in a countercultural faith. This bold passing down of faith in God impacts not just Timothy, but the wider church as it ripples through the Apostle Paul and his letters. Faith formation is not about control - it’s about courageous investment that the Spirit multiplies in others.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-7

First Cary UMC’s First Sanctuary Sermon – Rev. Ben Alexander– May 10, 2026

The Risk of Formation: Passing Down a Bold Faith: God has called us as First Cary to invest in the generations. As such, we are called to pass down our faith, which means taking the risk of forming others - and allowing our faith to ripple beyond what we can see. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we hear of Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Paul lifts them up as models of spiritual influence across generations, as they risk to raise Timothy in a countercultural faith. This bold passing down of faith in God impacts not just Timothy, but the wider church as it ripples through the Apostle Paul and his letters. Faith formation is not about control - it’s about courageous investment that the Spirit multiplies in others.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-7

First Cary UMC’s First on Chatham Sermon – Rev. Kollin Absher-Baer – May 3. 2026

The Risk of Friendship: Choosing Vulnerability: There’s a popular joke that Jesus’s greatest miracle was keeping twelve close friends in his 30s. In the digital age, analog friendships are becoming increasingly rare. True friendship requires risk - the risk of vulnerability, loyalty, and love that mirror the enfleshed heart of God in Christ, who walked with close friends. Cue Jonathan, the son of Israel’s first King, Saul. Jonathan could have easily sided with his father’s plot to kill David, but instead risked status, power and safety to befriend David, becoming his closest ally. Their covenant friendship mirrors God’s faithful love toward us. Faith grows when we risk being known and loved - and when we choose to love others without guarantee.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:1–5

First Cary UMC’s First Sanctuary Sermon – Rev. Ben Alexander– May 3, 2026

The Risk of Friendship: Choosing Vulnerability: There’s a popular joke that Jesus’s greatest miracle was keeping twelve close friends in his 30s. In the digital age, analog friendships are becoming increasingly rare. True friendship requires risk - the risk of vulnerability, loyalty, and love that mirror the enfleshed heart of God in Christ, who walked with close friends. Cue Jonathan, the son of Israel’s first King, Saul. Jonathan could have easily sided with his father’s plot to kill David, but instead risked status, power and safety to befriend David, becoming his closest ally. Their covenant friendship mirrors God’s faithful love toward us. Faith grows when we risk being known and loved - and when we choose to love others without guarantee.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:1–5

First Cary UMC’s First on Chatham Sermon – Rev. Kollin Absher-Baer – April 26, 2026

In Elisha’s final moments, we see a prophet who has spent his life pointing people back to God, even as the nation around him falters. He speaks a word of promise to King Joash about God’s victory, and then, even in his death, God’s Spirit brings resurrection life when a man is raised from the grave by touching Elisha’s bones. God’s power is not limited by human frailty or even by the grave. Where kings and nations fail, God’s Spirit continues to move, bringing life in the most unexpected places. For us today, it means no situation, no season, and no part of our story is beyond God’s ability to bring new life.

Scripture: 2 Kings 13:20-21

First Cary UMC’s First Sanctuary Sermon – Rev. Ben Alexander– April 26, 2026

In Elisha’s final moments, we see a prophet who has spent his life pointing people back to God, even as the nation around him falters. He speaks a word of promise to King Joash about God’s victory, and then, even in his death, God’s Spirit brings resurrection life when a man is raised from the grave by touching Elisha’s bones. God’s power is not limited by human frailty or even by the grave. Where kings and nations fail, God’s Spirit continues to move, bringing life in the most unexpected places. For us today, it means no situation, no season, and no part of our story is beyond God’s ability to bring new life./

Scripture: 2 Kings 13:20-21

First Cary UMC’s First on Chatham Sermon – Rev. Kollin Absher-Baer – April 19, 2026

Faith in God doesn’t exempt us from hardship, heartbreak, or seasons of emptiness. Like the Shunammite woman who clung to God’s promises even when her son died, we are called to trust that God’s Spirit is still at work. This story teaches us that resurrection hope doesn’t ignore pain—it transforms it. God takes what feels barren or broken and brings about new possibilities we could never have imagined on our own.

Scripture:  2 Kings 4:18–37

First Cary UMC’s First Sanctuary Sermon – Rev. Ben Alexander– April 19, 2026

Faith in God doesn’t exempt us from hardship, heartbreak, or seasons of emptiness. Like the Shunammite woman who clung to God’s promises even when her son died, we are called to trust that God’s Spirit is still at work. This story teaches us that resurrection hope doesn’t ignore pain—it transforms it. God takes what feels barren or broken and brings about new possibilities we could never have imagined on our own.

Scripture:  2 Kings 4:18–37