First Community Church 11.10.24 Glen Miles -Semron, I Believe In God by First Community Church

Are you looking for a meaningful way to deepen your faith while fostering unity in our divided world? We invite you to a new Bible study, Bridging the Gap, led by Rev. Seth Stearns. This study will focus on building connections and understanding across the political divide while grounding our discussions in Scriptur

The Bible Tells Me So -Part 3: "Peacemakers"

This Sunday, November 3, I continue my Fall sermon series, The Bible Tells Me So, with Part 3: "Peacemakers." As you might guess, this sermon is based on one of the beatitudes in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "blessed are the Peacemakers." Our first thought about peacemakers might be that their singular desire is to help people, communities, or nations get along with each other. That may be the ultimate desire, but often, a peacemaker's first task is to speak the truth, name the issues, and face the reality of the situation. Such an approach does not always endear the peacemaker to those in conflict.

We will also listen to Paul's letter to the Philippians, in which he implores the church in Philippi to "not be anxious about anything." The words "anxiety" and "anxious" have come up often in many of the pastoral conversations I have had lately. We may be divided politically as a nation, but our collective anxiety seems to be a common trait!

Working for peace is never easy, but if we believe the Spirit of God is with us, and she is, then we can take on anything. As Paul instructs, "By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." That bit of 2000-year-old advice still speaks to us today.

This Sunday, October 27, I continue my fall sermon series, The Bible Tells Me So, with Part 2, "The Least of These." The sermon is inspired by Matthew 25 and Jesus' teaching that anytime we feed the hungry, share water with the thirsty, visit the imprisoned, and clothe the naked, it is as though we are doing these things for Jesus himself. In this story, Jesus calls on us to put our faith into action and let our hands and feet carry the love of God to the world.

The Bible is a fascinating document that evolved and even changed as its contents were being gathered. Today, our understanding of this sacred word continues to evolve and change as well, especially when we take it seriously and not literally. By listening carefully to these ancient ideas while engaging our modern minds with them, we may be surprised to discover how contemporary the Bible's concepts and teachings are.

First Community Church Spiritual Life and Learning Centers Presents A Conversation with Beckie Boger by First Community Church

This Sunday, I begin a new sermon series, The Bible Tells Me So: Reframing and Refreshing Sacred Scripture for Today. The series is inspired by various sources, all of which call on us to pay attention to the words and actions of Jesus. The Bible has often been treated as an answer book or a template for rules for living your life. Read through it sometime, though, and you will find it is anything but these things. Instead, the Bible serves as an invitation to live wisely, recognizing that our lives and experiences evolve and change sometimes dramatically, just as the Bible does!

The first sermon in the series, "The Truth Will Make You Free (But Not Before You're Mad as Heck"), is based on John 8:32 and Jesus' well-known statement, "The truth will make you free." These days, we are desperate in the USA for truth-telling. Jesus' wise statement calls on us to approach our culture with a deep respect for the truth and a desire for wisdom. In Psalm 25, an ancient psalmist calls on God for help, saying, "Lead me in your truth and teach me." Clearly, truth matters! Speaking the truth and facing up to it is not always easy, as my sermon title says, but truth sets us on the pathway to freedom. That is a journey worth taking.

First Community Church 10.02.24 Book Study Life After Doom Part 4 by First Community Church

First Community Church 09.29.24 Glen Miles -Sermon Part 3 When the Power of Love Overcomes ... by First Community Church

First Community Church 09.25.24 The Gathering Book Study Glen Miles-Life After Doom Part III by First Community Church

If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat

This Sunday, I will present part 2 in our Measuring What Matters sermon series, "If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat." As you can no doubt guess, the sermon is inspired by the story of Jesus (and Peter!) walking on water found in Matthew 14: 22-32. It is an extraordinary tale, one we will take seriously, not literally.

Jesus has taken time to escape the crowd and find a quiet space to rest and pray. There are many lessons in this story, and the first one is this: if Jesus needs time to step aside from his work, so do you and I! As you will hear, a storm breaks out, and Jesus decides to check on the disciples. He takes a walk on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples think they see a ghost. They're filled with fear, but Jesus says, "Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid." The phrase that captures my attention is "Take heart." Karoline Lewis, a biblical scholar, suggests that Jesus is saying, "You are going to have to lead, live, and love with your heart."

There is a great truth here. Living with our hearts invites us to see the world's deep needs and our gifts and to find where they intersect. Can this be frightening? Of course. Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is avoid what is going on in the world and hide away in whatever entertainment we can find. If you want to make a difference in the world, though, if you want to walk on water, you'll have to get out of the boat!