Second on the Mount

"The Moment" – II Kings 25:8-17, Lamentations 1:1-7a

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 6, 2022. "Again and again throughout the history of God’s people, and in the person of Jesus, we are reminded that God is with the victim. God is on the side of the oppressed, the outcast, the alien. Even in the dark moments and hours of fear, loss, and destruction, God is there. Judah need not worry about God’s presence without the Temple still standing. We need not wonder whether God sees evil and cares what becomes of us. God was there in the exile. God is here in this exile."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-moment/

"It's Happening" – Jeremiah 6:13-15, Luke 19:41-44

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Transfiguration Sunday, February 27, 2022. "'Open your eyes and face it because it’s happening!' is [Jeremiah's] message. And right now, he offers no 'but.' It is not the time to jump quickly to, 'We’ll get over it.' It is not the time to speak of how lemonade is made or how a smile is the reverse of a frown, or how when a door closes a window might be found open. Yes, our whole sermon series will be about wonders and blessings that can be found in loss. But at the point of denial, the true prophet’s best work is to inspire grief over what was thought to be eternal… but is not. This hard moment can be the beginning of the miracle of a healing, and the beginning of a journey to real peace."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-its-happening/

"Merciful Love" – Luke 6:27-36

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, February 20, 2022. "Forgiveness is not forgetting. Praying is not an abstract gesture. Lending is no longer irrational. The call to love our enemies is not a passive or submissive stance. It takes courage. Moving toward a person in mercy is the first step to love that is revolutionary. It is a choice. A difficult choice, but one that embodies the now and not-yet reality of God’s beloved community."

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

"Love Hazard" – Romans 5:1-11

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 13, 2022. "And what is God’s love according to Paul? What he says is in keeping with those poets who know what risk is taken when one fully loves, and what cost can come from having loved another fully. God’s love is Agape love―the full, vulnerable, selfless love of one who does not calculate the risk and accepts the cost. . . . That love is transformative. We are loved in that way, Paul is telling us. And we can love others in that way, he is telling us. And by such love, hearts are broken and remade, lives are transformed, and salvation comes."

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

"We Are One" Youth Sunday Sermons 2022 – Galatians 3:23-29, John 13:31-34

Sermons by graduating seniors Elizabeth Moore (2:53), Isabel Blackshaw (5:45), Ann Foust Bailey (8:45), Patrick Clevenger (12:32), Caroline Moore (16:27), Silvia Wardell (18:53), and Philip Smith (23:02) from Youth Sunday, February 6, 2022. Our Youth Group theme for the year is "We Are One." May our shared identity in Christ draw us closer to each other and to God. For we are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.

"Bible Struggle" – Luke 4:14-30

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 30, 2022. "Confirmation bias is something we all bring to the Bible. If we are going to get past reading scripture and get to scripture reading us, then we need to realize from the get-go that we bring that bias with us. When we accept that we always have an internal editor on call―then we are ready to accept that a Bible Study sometimes needs to be a Bible Struggle."

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

"Full" – John 2:1-11

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 23, 2022. "Yet, something incredible is revealed in this moment. It’s not a revelation of awe or judgment. But a revelation, a miracle of abundance, surprise, and delight. Jesus’ first miracle, his sign, of abundance is revealing God’s glory—and then follows the miracle that the disciples believed. This miracle, this sign, points to God revealing God’s self in Jesus. This is the kind of work God is about. It’s more than a story about how great God is, it’s also a story about how when God is revealed, there is laughter, astonishment, joy."

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

"The Joyful Harvest of a Tearful Sowing" – Philippians 3:4-14

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 16, 2022. "The psalm frames a question for us when we face difficult times: 'To sow or not to sow?' Though I’m playing off of Hamlet’s question, I do not mean to be frivolous in asking it. When facing challenges like getting through a pandemic, or facing difficult issues like the legacy of racism in America, or a terrible tragedy like the death of a child, the major question is about stewardship. Is one going to be a steward of challenge, loss, and pain? Sometimes there are lessons to be learned from what is lost (the prophets made that clear to the exiles), and sometimes terrible things happen because that’s the risk of life (the book of Job made that clear to the exiles). But always there is… for lack of a better word… a choice to be made. Am I to find reasons to live forward with hope and faith…or not?"

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-joyful-harvest-of-a-tearful-sowing/

"Stars in Plain Sight" – Psalm 8 and Matthew 2:1-6

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 9, 2022. "Imagine all of scripture being a mass of stars in the night sky. We need to be as sea-faring adventurers once were who identified signature stars to help them make sense of the night sky and chart the way to where they wanted to go. Find first the passages that speak to the central and primary good news that God so loved the world that he lived upon it. Begin there. Begin with the passages that bear the bright, shining light, that God’s unconditional love lives among us. Then, from there, find the constellation of passages that help bring sense and order to the sky and allow you to navigate your life."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/stars-in-plain-sight/

"Gold in Plain Sight" – Matthew 5:17-20, Psalm 19:1-10

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, January 2, 2022. "God’s glory is all around us: in the sway of the tree branches, in far off beams of light from Saturn, in the chirp of a bird, in the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup, in the silence of space and in the silence of the morning, and in the cry of a baby. . . . And so, with the Word made flesh, Emanuel, God-with-us, we have been given the opportunity to see God’s beauty and goodness and loveliness in everyone and in everything and tell the story of God’s glory with the heavens forevermore."

Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/gold-in-plain-sight/