This is the first of what is called The Three Practices which are three ways of engaging people in the world around us, based on the way that Jesus instructed us to imitate.  The text comes from John 4:4-30 which is the account of Jesus' conversation with a woman of Samaria.

Jim Grasley delivered this sermon on 4 January, and his text is John 3:1-15.  The sermon is about Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, and it opens a January series of sermons about the Three Practices that make Christians more tune-in, attentive, and gracious listeners toward the people around them.

Christmas over, we turn to the nature of Christ.  What keeps Christmas from being just a sentimental childbirth story?  The text comes from Hebrews 2:10-18 and fleshes out the nature and mission of Jesus.  Our Pioneer!

This sermon comes from Matthew 11, and it concerns the question of John the Baptist, now in prison.  He is apparently starting to have some doubts or wonderings about Jesus.  Are you the one, or should we expect someone else?

The sermon is about that elephant-in-the-room question.

The text for this sermon comes from Isaiah 7:14. In the sermon we examine its first use as a prophecy to King Ahaz of Judah.  The sermon also looks at the contrast of Ahaz's reaction and Joseph to who the promise was made in Matthew, and how his response differed from that of Ahaz.

This sermon comes from Isaiah 11:1-10.  "Even a stump can carry a promise" comes from God's reassurance to the nation of Judah during fraught political times.  The Isaiah prophecy is retold in the New Testament to refer to Jesus being the true shoot out of the stump of Jesse.

Jim Grasley brings this sermon which comes from Genesis 3:15, commonly called the first gospel.  This is the earliest "Christmas card" that the Bible gives us and an appropriate place to begin the Advent season.

This sermon is taken from Colossians 1:11-20 and it serves at the text for the last Sunday of the Christian calendar, Christ the King.  This is a fitting way to end the year before beginning Advent next week.

In this text from 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Paul teaches a very young church about the importance of pulling one's weight and now being burdensome to fellow disciples.  This is not a text about refusal to help someone in the community who may be unemployed.

This sermon comes from Haggai 1:15-2:9.  In the text, the prophet Haggai told the returnees from Babylon that they had been so focused on their own needs, they neglected to give attention to the rebuilding of the Temple.  It's a sermon about our priorities.