Second on the Mount

"Hearts in Plain Sight" – Psalm 51:6-12 and Luke 2:8-20

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, December 26, 2021. "No road, no life is without twists and turns, detours and dead ends. But when we remain open, we will be surprised at what we may find—hope, where we thought there was no hope, and life, where we couldn’t imagine that life could thrive."

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

"The Child in Plain Sight" – Luke 2:1-20

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Christmas Eve, December 24, 2021. "We need to know from the get-go that life remains fragile, even with God. Yet even in the fragility, and even through the vulnerability, the unbreakable love of God and the persistent power of God to forgive and to save, shines in this life that Jesus leads."

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

"Trees in Plain Sight" – Psalm 1, Isaiah 11:1

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 19, 2021. "The poet, prophet and Jesus—in calling for good fruit, in calling for a quality of living—would ask those kind of questions in a different way. They would ask:

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

"Belts in Plain Sight" – Ephesians 6:10-17, Isaiah 11:1-6

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, December 12, 2021. "The season of Advent offers us a reminder that change is drawing near. The Messiah comes to usher in God’s great kingdom, as the powerful are pained with the plight of the poor, the mighty stand in solidarity with the meek. A kingdom where a lion and lamb can share a drink at the bar together, where the laws of the jungle are rewritten with the pen strokes of righteousness and equity. This vision is the hope of Advent, a hope we are called to participate in. And we, too, are called to wrap around our waist the belt of truth, a truth that reminds us to see one another as complex image-bearers of God, as a member of the body of Christ."

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

"Tears in Plain Sight" – Luke 19:41-44

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 5, 2021. "When our tears are for the sake of others, they are sacramental for we join in weeping for those who God weeps. They are a physical means of something holy breaking into human life. They start with the recognition of something that in God’s eyes is wrong, or is broken, or lost forever. Then, if we truly honor the tears, there can be planted not only a hope that it can be better, but also a conviction that it must be."

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

"Advent in Plain Sight: Gates" – Genesis 28:10-19a, Matthew 24:29-35

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, November 28, 2021. "Today, we wait at the gate with hope once more. We stand in the thin place of Advent―in the midst of the uncertainty of life, in the anticipation of what awaits our world. We hope for what we do not have, trusting that God’s promises will come. We must pay attention to the signs―pay attention to the signs of hope around us."

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

"Reimagined: Mission" – Mark 16:1-8

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 21, 2021. "What are we to hear in all this? Maybe if we are looking for Jesus, it won’t be in some house that he has in heaven, but in the midst of our lives. . . . out in the world where character matters―the neighborhood and the workplace, in messy politics, in hard conversations, in all that can be done to help our world reflect just a little bit more the vision of the realm Jesus described when he spoke of and demonstrated the Kingdom of God."

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

"Reimagined: Prayer" – Mark 14:32-42

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, November 14, 2021. “In [Mark 14:36 Jesus] joins all of us who have prayed to escape suffering, prayed for healing, prayed for a way through, only to face the very suffering, disease, or dead end we feared. ‘Yet not what I want, but what you want,’ Lord. Jesus comes to want what God wants. Perhaps here we have an image of prayer changing the one praying rather than changing God or external circumstances. Prayer changes the person offering the prayer.”

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

"Reimagined: Anointing" – Mark 14:1-11

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from All Saints Sunday, November 7, 2021. "It is the extravagance of hope, of faith. When the woman breaks the alabaster jar and anoints Jesus’ head, she is letting something out. She does something physical to express something personal. Sometimes we just have to do that because we are symbolic creatures. Theologically speaking, we are wired sacramentally. Sometimes we have to show the world what is in us."

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

“What's Love Got to Do With It” – Mark 12:28-34

Sermon by guest preacher the Rev. Dr. Brian K. Blount from Sunday, October 31, 2021. Dr. Blount is President and Professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA and Charlotte, NC. He is a renowned New Testament scholar and author of a commentary on the Gospel of Mark.

“To love God is to pull yourself out of your focus on you and what you have, who you are and who is around you, to value something bigger than yourself, more than yourself... and then it requires that you treat others with the same ferocious attention and care.”