Saying Yes to Your Life
God With Us: The Doctrine of the Incarnation
Preacher: Rev. David Collins
Second Sunday in Advent — December 7, 2024

Scripture Reading:
• Luke 1:26–38

Summary:
This Sunday we return to the Annunciation, not as a familiar Christmas card scene but as a story with real tension—one that touches our own instinct to say “no” to the lives we didn’t plan. Mary receives a declaration that upends her world, and her bewildered “How can this be?” becomes the doorway into God’s quiet work of beginning small…as small as a single cell.

We explore how often we resist our own reality, waiting for life to be perfect or foolproof before we trust it. Mary’s yes wasn’t perfect or fearless, but it made room for God to grow something holy within her. And in Communion we remember that the same God who once took flesh now meets us in simple bread and cup, inviting us to say our own small yes to the life before us.

Learn more or read past sermons:
https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Estrangement and the God Who Moves In
God With Us: The Doctrine of the Incarnation — Week 1
Preacher: Rev. David Collins
First Sunday in Advent — November 30, 2025

Scripture Readings:
• John 1:1–5, 14
• Isaiah 64:1
• Isaiah 2:2–4

Summary:
This Advent we begin by exploring the ache of estrangement—in our families, our country, and throughout Scripture. Israel’s story was shaped in exile and displacement, and Advent echoes this longing as we wait for Christ’s return. Instead of tearing open the heavens in power, God chooses incarnation: becoming flesh, moving into the neighborhood, and healing distance through presence rather than force.

Learn more or read past sermons:
https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

All 9 of our elders share their stories and passages of scripture that speak to their lives and faith.

Money & Your Heart

Matthew 6:19-25, Luke 12:15-22

Rev. Megan Collins

November 16, 2025

Guest Preacher, Rev. Dr. Bill Barnes, on the Making of the Miracle of Shepherd's Hope

Nov. 9, 2025

Chronic Hope

Lamentations 3

Verses 1-2, 7-9, 16-18, 21-29, 31-33

Rev. David Collins

November 2, 2025

Gentleness & Self-Control

Stay Close, Week Six

John 8:1-11

Rev. Megan Collins

Oct. 26, 2025

A Special Message from Dr. Robert Gamble and Olya Balaban

This Child Here

Ukraine

Goodness

Stay Close, Week Five

Luke 19:1-10

Vanessa Urban

Oct. 12, 2025

Kindness

Stay Close, Week Four

Luke 6:35-38

Rev. David Collins

Oct. 5, 2025