JR.'s Sermons

The song "Pompeil" by Bastille is about what it feels like to live through the End of the World. When our world is rocked by tragedy, we tend to look backward, to idealize the "Glory Days" of the past and pine for what we've lost. But God's...

Shame keeps us from embracing the love God offers us. Much like Roberta Flack, we fear exposure, convinced that someone who knows us as fully as God does can only despise us. But Jesus promises that anyone who comes into the light of his presence...

We’re taught to be suspicious of our desires, to rule over them and subject them to our minds. But our desires are the core of who we are, since we’re created in the image of a God who is love. The practices of fasting and feasting help us orient...

We're taught that complete freedom is the path to happiness. But as Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" reveals, that path leaves us isolated and alone. Psalm 119 celebrates the freedom we find in pursuing commitment, not running from it.

The way we’re told to follow God often seems like a bewitchment – ignore our problems and questions and just believe. But in John 6 we see that what Jesus calls us to is not blind faith, but a carefully considered commitment to follow him to the...

We prize hard work, but always striving for just a little bit more can be toxic. The practice of Sabbath teaches us how to frame our work ethic so that we can learn how to flourish.

We tend to surround ourselves with people like ourselves, but we actually need each other. Just like the Avengers.

Sometimes it seems as though the Church and the larger world don’t have anything to say to each other, that they’re not even speaking the same language. But the story of Pentecost reminds us that the Church need not be afraid of the conversations...

In the wake of Jesus' resurrection and ascension, the Church has received the power to join in God's mission. Now it's time for us to hurry up and wait - by joining God's great dance!

We like to imagine that we’re the heroes of our own stories. But we’re all-too-often reminded we’re not in control of even the most basic areas of our lives. This is good – a chance for us to remember that we’re living in God’s story,...