Second on the Mount

“Hosanna” – Mark 11:1-11

Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021. "The paradox of this day—this  week—is not lost on us. God on a donkey. Dying to live. A suffering king. Good Friday. These paradoxes are precisely what give Jesus’ story its shape, its weight."

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/hosanna/

“Truth” – John 18:33-38

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the fifth Sunday in Lent, March 21, 2021. "...to some degree our passage from John’s Gospel is about all of us. We are all to some degree members of herds with some kind of group-think going on where we sometimes cannot see the truth even when it is standing in front of us, battered and bruised because of our certainty and sense of self-righteousness. Maybe what we can see, though, is that we can at least do better by trying to be about the work of forgiveness and reconciliation that Jesus calls for from the cross. You see, we don’t have to know the whole truth to begin being the imperfect body of Christ that works for reconciliation. The place to begin is not learning the whole truth and then convincing the world. The place to begin is in humility, knowing that we do not have the whole truth, and that some of the damage to God’s Embodied-Innocence-and-Love is partly our own doing."

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/truth/

"Not Like Everyone Else" – Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon by The Rev. Jen Brothers from the fourth Sunday in Lent, March 14, 2021. "[Paul's vision] is a vision of the church when we are at our best—when we understand ourselves as beloved, forgiven, and co-raised with Christ to become co-conspirators with God’s plan to restore all creation to unity. Can you picture it? Paul’s vision of creation in full harmony is cosmic, and he wants his hearers to understand that God’s plan is the emergence of a new humanity united and held together in Christ."

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/not-like-everyone-else/

"And Follow Me" – Mark 8:31-38

Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the third Sunday in Lent, March 7, 2021. "For Mark, and for Jesus in Mark, there is no understanding of greatness or discipleship apart from the cross. Only in its shadow do we see that God’s power is not displayed in coercive force, but in wondrous, sacrificial love. Though we may have done it some other way, the God we worship chose the power of a cross to bring life to a dead world. The challenge of discipleship is to live as if this is true."

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/and-follow-me/

“Connection” – Philippians 1:3-11

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from the second Sunday in Lent, February 28, 2021. "Paul’s view that the world is broken by sin is reflected throughout his writings. He writes of the waste that comes of greed and hoarding, of abuses of power and of weakly accepting the abuse. He writes of broken promises, broken hearts, broken families and broken communities. Bringing healing to those broken places is why Jesus lived and was why he died… and why Paul himself may later die. So God, whose love the Philippians know, wants them to show their love for the world by being a part of the world’s healing because that is why the Gospel came to them to begin with."

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/connection/

“Journey to Wholeness” – Genesis 3:8-19, Romans 6:1-5, 11

Sermon by The Rev. Jen Brothers from the first Sunday in Lent, February 21, 2021. "As long as we have breath, we get to walk toward the new creation which God has birthed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So, let us bravely face our individual and corporate sins. Let us name them. Let us not hide in shame. We cannot die to our old ways if we do not know what those old ways are."

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/journey-to-wholeness/

“Authority” – John 16:12-15

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from February 14, 2021. "We are given a way to hear the voice of the Spirit that Jesus, as our friend who loves us, wants us to hear. It is the voice that tells us to love others in the way he loves us. That is the voice that has final authority."

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/authority/

“Youth Sunday Sermons 2021”

Sermons by graduating seniors Allison Hammond and Madalyn Cook from Youth Sunday, February 7, 2021. Our Youth Group theme for the year is “Live in Love.” May you be blessed by these sermons as our youth preachers share through scripture and story what living in God's love means to them.

“A Single Act” – Mark 1:21-28

Sermon by The Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from January 31, 2021. "The exorcism of the unclean spirit is Jesus’ first act in Mark. Jesus crosses into those spaces where no one else is willing to go. That’s who God is―that’s what God does. Jesus has ushered in God’s kingdom, opened up a future of possibility and hope, and equips us to live in that kingdom now. A single act. One man helped. A single life changed for the better. If we are to follow, perhaps that’s where we are called to start."

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/a-single-act/

“Freedom” – I Corinthians 9

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from January 24, 2021. "'We live in the land of the free,' say we as Americans. But as Christians, should we not then choose how to be free? Being free in Christ is to say 'No' to what is false, what destroys, what is evil and what is selfish; and to say 'Yes' to what is true, what heals, what is good, and what is loving. That’s the freedom of those who take up their cross to follow Jesus. They say many 'Nos' in order to live their best 'Yes.'"

Read the manuscript on our website: http://www.spres.org/freedom/