Vessel Houston

For the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we look to the elusive text of Revelation and discover an unlikely vision of Christmas hope. In our time of intense conflict and anxiety, how might the presence of an unexpected visitor to the manger help us to receive anew the gift of Christ’s coming as a warning to the powerful and hope to the hopeless? (sermon begins at 01:00)

Scripture & Quotations

Revelation 12:1-17

Romans 16:20

Matthew 2:2-18

“It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God, and naturally I hope that my belief is right. I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God. I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not rare.”

Thomas Nagle, noted philosopher and athiest

During what can easily become the noisiest, most chaotic time of year, how might we embrace an intentional quiet to center our attention on the enchanted power of God’s Incarnation? Considering an often overlooked portion of the Christmas story, we witness how the gift of holy silence prepared the hearts of a faithful couple to receive the new thing that God was preparing. (sermon begins at 01:00)

Scripture & Quotations

Luke 1:5-25

Luke 1:57-80

 “Sometimes when we speak before great things we shrink them down to size. When we speak of great things sometimes we swallow them whole, when instead we should be swallowed by them. Before all greatness be silent, in art, in music, and above all in faith.”

-Baron Von Hügel

The season of Advent arrives once again to shake us from our spiritual slumber; to hear and respond to the desert call of our newborn King. Will our hearts prepare him room? (sermon begins at 01:00)

Scripture & Quotations

Isaiah 43:18-19

Galatians 2:20

John 14:8-14

John 16:21-22

“The Church is not tradition. The Church is not the past. The Church is what we do next…”

- Conclave (screenwriter Peter Straughan, adapted from novel by Robert Harris)

The corrupt systems of worldly power would like nothing more than for you to believe that the “other” is your enemy rather than your sibling. In a time of ceaseless division and upheaval, empathy is critical to develop if these fractures are ever to be mended. As Jesus arrives to meet friends in the midst of grief, what does his response reveal about the heart of God? (Sermon begins at 1:00)

Scripture & Quotations

John 11

”We will live as beautifully, bravely, and kindly as we can as long as we can, no matter how ugly, scary, and mean the world becomes, even if failure and death seem inevitable. In fact it is only in the context of failure and death that this virtue (hope) develops.”

- Brian McLaren, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart

Reflecting upon several core values we hope to embody as a community, we consider generosity through the encounter of Jesus and a disgraced tax collector. Zacchaeus’ greed brought no satisfaction, only distance from relationship, until Jesus calls him by name into the unexpected possibility of reconciliation. (Sermon begins at 1:00)

Scripture & Quotations

Luke 19:1-10

1 Timothy 6:9-10

Matthew 6:24

“Salvation is not a mere change in our status, but a real transformation of our lives. Jesus brought salvation to a tax collector by simply alerting him to his true identity. At his core Zacchaeus wasn’t really a con and a cheat; that was a corruption of his true identity. Zacchaeus was really a wayward son of Abraham who needed to be sought out in love and restored to the table of fellowship. Zacchaeus was a real life prodigal son redeemed by love.”

- Brian Zahnd, The Unvarnished Jesus

In a culture obsessed with performance and comparison, it is easy to be misread Jesus' parable through the lens of judgment, fixated on the condition and “fruitfulness” of the soil. But what if God has lovingly hidden a better, truer story in plain sight? The choice is yours. (Sermon begins at 1:00)

Scripture & Quotations

Matthew 13:1-23

”What if it is not about our own successes and failures and birds and rocks and thorns but about the extravagance of a sower who does not seem to be fazed by such concerns, who flings seed everywhere, wastes it with holy abandon, who feeds the birds, whistles at the rocks, picks his way through the thorns, shouts hallelujah at the good soil and just keeps on sowing, confident that there is enough seed to go around, that there is plenty, and that when the harvest comes at last it will fill every barn in the neighborhood to the rafters?”

- Barbara Brown Taylor, Seeds of Heaven

Humanity has always desired a “king” to swoop into the mess of the world and fix everything for us, rarely considering the oppressive realities which often occur as a result of placing our trust in earthly rulers. In the midst of a starkly divided, and deeply disorienting election season, we are reminded that our allegiance is not to any state or nation or party or hollow political promise. We pledge a higher allegiance.. (Sermon begins at 1:00)

Scripture & Quotations

1 Samuel 8:1-22

1 Samuel 15:35

Mark 10:35-41

Ephesians 2:12-22

“What did come was the extermination of millions, the destruction of countries, and evil that has affected generations. The words were said to manipulate the audience whose longings the Third Reich understood well. Hitler deliberately deceived the people and drew them in, calling forth loyalty and service. And he got it, not just from the general population but also from the German church. Words full of promises that cloaked great evil were tailored for a vulnerable culture.”

- Dr. Diane Langberg, Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church

Even with the compassion of Jesus directly in front of him, Peter cannot help but let his attention be drawn into comparison with the so-called “beloved” disciple now arriving to the scene. “What about [them]?” is a question we all navigate to some degree, as though certain that others must experience a greater divine favor. Join us as we seek to dismantle that destructive lie, and allow yourself to receive the boundless love of God meeting you precisely where and as you are. (Sermon begins at 1:00)

Scripture & Quotations

John 21:20-23

Psalm 139:13-18

“You (and every other created thing) begin with your unique divine DNA, an inner destiny as it were, an absolute core that knows the truth about you, a true believer tucked away in the cellar of your being, an imago Dei that begs to be allowed, to be fulfilled, and to show itself. “You were chosen in Christ before the world was made—to stand before God in love—marked out beforehand as fully adopted sons and daughters”. This is your True Self. Historically, it was often called “the soul.””

- Richard Rohr

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit…”

- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Having been part of a crowd of five thousand fed with only a few loaves of bread, a group crosses the Sea of Galilee in search of Jesus, as their hunger has now returned. Jesus’ response echoes the deliverance of Exodus, and a renewed invitation to abide in the promise of daily provision. In a relentless world of FAST and MORE, rhythms of Sabbath and sanctuary help to restore our humanity and humility as finite beings. (Sermon begins at 1:00)

Scripture & Quotations

John 6:22-40

John 6:56-58

“Our lives can easily take us to the brink of burnout. The pace we live at is often destructive. The lack of margin is debilitating. We are worn out. In all of this, the problem before us is not just the frenetic pace we live at but what gets pushed out from our lives as a result; that is, life with God.”

- Rich Villodas - The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus

“Ultimately, nothing in this life, apart from God, can satisfy our desires. Tragically, we continue to chase after our desires ad infinitum. The result? A chronic state of restlessness or, worse, angst, anger, anxiety, disillusionment, depression—all of which lead to a life of hurry, a life of busyness, overload, shopping, materialism, careerism, a life of more…which in turn makes us even more restless. And the cycle spirals out of control.”

- John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World 

“We hear the refrain “I’m great, just busy” so often we assume pathological busyness is okay. After all, everybody else is busy too. But what if busyness isn’t healthy? What if it’s an airborne contagion, wreaking havoc on our collective soul?”

- Comer, ibid.

In the Creation story, God empowers humankind to a shared vocation of care and service, which Adam rejects by separating himself from Eve in an act of othering and blame. Power over the “other” has divided humanity in conflict ever since. Jesus upends this dynamic with his disciples, granting them shared power to join in the collaborative work of his New Creation. How will we as a community embody that renewed call to mutuality and shared stewardship? (Sermon begins at 1:00)

Scripture & Quotations

Genesis 2:15-21

Genesis 3:8-13

Mark 6:7-13

“What we have has been gifted to us to use as stewards of his glory on this earth. We are not to use that power to feed our egos, demand our rights from others, build our own little external kingdoms, and establish our reputations. It has been given to us so that the world might see something of the glory of God in the flesh—full of grace and truth. That glory is evidenced in humility, love, sacrifice, and death to anything that is not like Jesus Christ.”

- Dr. Diane Langberg, Suffering and the Heart of God: How Trauma Destroys and Christ Restores