We celebrate All Saints Day with a sermon about "saints." Rev. Ferris explores Paul's message to the Corinth church, which had factions that were tearing apart the community. He draws on select passages from 1 Corinthians 1. 

Rev. Ferris preaches on Consecration Sunday, the day we make our annual financial pledges to the congregation. He explores the image of "living stones" from 1 Peter and talks about how the church relates to the world. 1 Peter 2: 4-12

In this sermon on Luke 12:13-34, Rev. Blake explores what it looks like to "store up an unfailing treasure in heaven."  Prioritizing what matters makes a profound difference in our lives, especially in light of this anxiety-filled time in our country and in light of the season of stewardship, when we evaluate and take a step forward in pledge our resources to God's work in and through Old Pine Church. 

We end our series on the visual metaphors of salvation by looking at the story of the Gerasene demoniac from Mark 5:1-20. Rev. Ferris explores the reality of evil, which social science theories fail to adequately describe. He finds in the story a message of love and healing.

Rev. Ferris explores the parable of the unforgiving servant from Matthew 18: 21-35. He explores the debt that sin creates, which must be paid by someone, and how the cross is God's solution to this cosmic problem. 

We continue our sermon series that explores the Bible's visual metaphors of salvation. This Sunday, Rev. Ferris preaches on Jesus' parable of the lost sheep. He asks, "How is the Gospel different from every other pathway to God?" The reading is Luke 15:1-7. 

Rev. Ferris explores the metaphor of darkness and light that appears throughout Scripture. He investigates Augustine's notion that evil is privation, arguing that this insight can help us seek Christ as the light that fills the vacuum of nothingness. The main text is John 1:1-14.

At various points in the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to the gift of "living water" as something he gives, which results in "a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." Rev. Blake explores how we might understand salvation through the picture of living water in the story of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at a well in John 4:3-30. 

Another "picture of salvation" is freedom from slavery as a metaphor for freedom from sin. Rev. Ferris explores the Israelite's escape from Egypt by crossing the Red Sea. The text is Exodus 14: 10-22. 

In Romans 8, Paul uses the metaphor of adoption to explain the reality of salvation. Rev. Ferris explores adoption in ancient Rome and how this "picture" applies to our lives today. Rom 8: 14-17, 31-39.