Second on the Mount

"On Forgiveness" – Matthew 18:21-33

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 17, 2023. "This is a difficult parable. The narrative swings back and forth between extreme mercy and severe judgment. Underneath it all, though, is a simple reality: forgiveness is not easy. We know this to be true. Sometimes, what others have done to us or people we love is so hurtful that we don’t want to forgive them. Sometimes, people are so dependent on their guilt or shame that they don’t want to be forgiven. It’s tricky and it’s hard. But forgiveness is one of the things that the church does well, that Christians do—or ought to do—that very few other sectors in our society talk about."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/on-forgiveness/ 

"Enough" – John 1:35-42, 21:15-19

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 10, 2023. "What can you and I do in order to be worthy? What can we do to prove to God and to ourselves that we are enough to be loved and accepted? I hope you know the answer to that question because we talk about it all the time in church. You cannot come to worship at Second Presbyterian Church without hearing multiple times from this pulpit that the answer is, 'Nothing.' We are saved solely by the grace of God. That God loves us is what makes us enough."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/enough/ 

"H of G" – Romans 12:9-21

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, September 3, 2023. "As a community of faith, a community that claims God is creating something new, a new heaven and a new earth, through the love made known in Jesus Christ, we are called to not simply approach people with the hermeneutic of generosity. Rather, knowing that the grace of God is freely given to sinner and saint alike, that while we were all still sinners, Christ died for us all, we are to approach life with the hermeneutic of grace."

Sung Prayer for Illumination: "Open My Eyes, That I May See" TEXT and MUSIC: Clara H. Fiske Scott, 1895. Public domain.

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/h-of-g/ 

"Blind" – John 9

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 13, 2023.

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/blind/ 

"All Ate and Were Filled" – Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, August 6, 2023. "The people aren’t asking Jesus for anything. They just want to be with him. He is so different from any leader they had ever seen before. They are hungry, they are frightened, they are hurt—and they hang on Jesus’ every word and action. He has shown them something special. He has given them a glimmer of hope. And he has shown them that the character of the God he reveals can be captured in one word: compassion. . . . A God who cares: this is the first real miracle in the scene."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/all-ate-and-were-filled/ 

"Kingdom Consciousness" – Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 30, 2023. "These parables, as mashal, offer us riddles that open our eyes to the kingdom of heaven in the here and now, teasing the mind into reflection and response. They draw us into a kingdom of consciousness."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/kingdom-consciousness/ 

"Two Faiths" – Jonah 4:1-5

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 23, 2023. "In this sanctuary, we remember who we are and keep the tension alive. We don’t let our faith break into two. We pray for our enemies and work for the blessing of all people. While it is admirable to love our families and community, and while it is admirable to love and serve one’s country, the Bible and our theological tradition demands that our core identity is in Christ. This is where we pray for our enemies and work for compassion and justice for all people."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/two-faiths/ 

"Next" – Luke 3:15-22

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 16, 2023. "Luke is talking about a moment where it doesn’t matter whether you are a Pharisee or a Sadducee, a Zealot or an Essene, a person of substance or a person of the streets. It doesn’t matter what you have done to build up a reputation, to make a name for yourself, to accomplish something, even selfless and kind. In the moment, none of that matters. Standing in that line, you are simply a person in need of grace. But what is there to gawk at? What is there to mock? For 'Jesus also was baptized.' There’s the best kind of dignity there is. It is the dignity we proclaim at baptism where God knows no favorites but adopts us all as children. And it is the dignity we must hope for at death where there is nothing left but God."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/next/

"To What Will I Compare This Generation" – Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, July 9, 2023. "Beloved, children of each and every generation, you do not have to carry the burdens of the world in which you grew up all by yourself, the burdens of a world left to you by generations before you. No matter what generation you belong, Jesus is inviting you to come, all of you, and find rest from the weariness and burdens of life."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/to-what-will-i-compare-this-generation/ 

"In This Together" – Luke 10:1-11

Sermon by Nancy Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation at Second Presbyterian Church, from Sunday, July 2, 2023.