Gray Memorial United Methodist Church Sermons

 MATTHEW 13:24-30, 36-40 (NRSVUE)

"Jesus tells us that God's work often requires something that we find very difficult: patience."

Rev. Margaret Kartwe reflects on how God's grace teaches us to trust in God's perfect timing, encouraging us to live with faith, patience, and hope as we follow God's leading.

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

MATTHEW 13:1-9, 18-23 (NRSVUE)

"Every prayer we pray. Every act of forgiveness. Every act of generosity. Every moment of repentence. The holy spirit is breaking ground." 

Pastor Margaret's sermon this week explores how Jesus continually sows seeds in our lives, nurturing faith, hope, and transformation every day. 

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

Luke 15:5 (NRSVUE)

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing."

Rev. Margaret Kartwe begins her service at Gray Memorial UMC with a sermon highlighting the ministry of presence and the strength of community when a church unites and comes together. 

"Come and belong, and be apart of God's church." 

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

Luke 15:17-24 (NRSVUE)

Rev. Joe Moxley shifts the focus from the "The Prodigal Son" to the "Prodigal Father", showing how God's compassion rewards our shortcomings through grace.

"Our God is truly the bestest!" 

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

Matthew 9:35-9:38 (CEB)

Rev. Beth Demme closes out her time as Pastor at Gray Memorial UMC with fond memories and words of wisdom. 

"The size of the harvest is bigger than you can imagine..."

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

Jesus knows the story every person is carrying. 

Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care © Cleveland Clinic

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

What does it mean to belong to God? On #TrinitySunday, we explore Jesus’ promise, “I am with you always,” and discover that the doctrine of the Trinity is more than an abstract belief. The Triune God claims us in grace, transforms us in love, and sends us into the world as disciples.

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

On Pentecost Sunday, we remember that the Holy Spirit did not simply comfort the disciples. The Spirit moved them beyond fear and into lives of courageous love and public witness. Drawing on both John 20 and Acts 2, this sermon explores how the breath of God still opens locked hearts, breaks down barriers, and creates communities shaped by compassion, reconciliation, and hope. Because Christ is alive, the Spirit is still moving through ordinary people, and we are ready to be moved.

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

In this Ascension Sunday sermon on Acts 1:1–11 and Luke 24:44–53, Pastor Beth reflects on the disciples’ uncertainty after Jesus ascends into heaven. Using the famous phrase “Elvis has left the building” as an unexpected entry point, the message explores how Ascension is not abandonment, but the expansion of Christ’s presence in the world.

The disciples long for certainty about the future, but Jesus gives them a calling instead: “You will be my witnesses.” The sermon connects this moment to the fears and transitions we all face—grief, change, aging, uncertainty, and the temptation to stand still. Because Christ is alive, we do not face the future alone. Christ goes before us, meets us everywhere, and empowers us to move forward with hope.

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.

In this sermon, Pastor Beth explores how human beings often place ultimate hope in things too small to hold it—family, institutions, nostalgia, or control. Christian hope is not rooted preserving the world exactly as it is, but in the redeeming presence of the living Christ. Because Christ is alive, our lives are no longer anxious attempts to earn God’s love, but faithful responses to the God who has already come near. 

To access the bulletin for this service, visit www.graymumc.org/bulletins.