Second on the Mount

John 15:12-17

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 11, 2026.

"What can be shocking today is when realize that Jesus wants us to be his friend. The kind of friend who speaks for him, acts on his behalf, and bears his love into the world even when it is uncomfortable, inconvenient, or risky. It means going to the places he went, welcoming the people he welcomed. It means not embarrassing his reputation b...

Colossians 3:1-17

*Sermon title comes from James K. A. Smith’s book, You Are What  You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit, published in 2016.

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 4, 2026.

"Friends, we worship today at the beginning of a new year. And we do so in anxious and uncertain days – days when many voices compete for our allegiance, our attention, and our trust. Knowing this, may we be a community that...

Matthew 25:31-46 Part VI of the Advent Sermon Series "Once Upon an Advent"

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from the First Sunday of Christmas, December 28, 2025.

"There is a temptation to sentimentalize the Christmas season—to wrap it in nostalgia and soft lighting and comforting music. But Jesus won’t let us do that because Christmas has consequences. Christmas, at its heart, is the declaration that God has chosen to be found not i...

Isaiah 11 (selected verses), Luke 1 (selected verses)

Part I of the Advent Sermon Series "Once Upon an Advent"

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from the first Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2025.

"No matter where we are or how we feel this Advent Sunday, God is still telling the same story: • Hope doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. • Hope grows in unexpected places. • Hope shines through ordinary things touched by love. • H...

II Corinthians 1:3–7

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 16, 2025.

• "Sometimes encouragement looks like holding someone steady when they cannot hold steady themselves.

• "Sometimes it looks like absorbing the angry words of another without firing back—letting them sit with what they said without the comfort of your having said worse.

• "Sometimes it looks like sitting in a hospital room and saying nothing becaus...

John 14:1-3

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from All Saints' Sunday, November 2, 2025. "Jesus comforts his disciples with the promise that he goes to prepare a place for them—but even more, that his Spirit will dwell within them now. To be a resurrection people is to live in the current of that coming world— • to forgive,  • to create,  • to mend what is broken,  trusting that God’s life is already flowing downstream through us. ...

I Samuel 8:4-22, Galatians 1:6-9

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, October 26, 2025.

"Young People—feeling the pressure to keep up, to prove yourselves, to stay relevant. Remember, your worth is not measured by speed, likes, or novelty. You are loved by God, fully and unconditionally. Creativity is a gift, not a requirement.

"Workers—those working in offices, shops, schools, factories or at home, who are asked to adapt ...

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; Luke 17:11-19

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Preschool Sunday, October 19, 2025.

"It’s what Jesus does over and over again. He gathers the ones we’ve been taught to fear or exclude. He restores a body, and also a community. He returns dignity, identity, and participation. And he says, in every way that matters, you belong.

"In a world where exile, in one way or another, touches nearly all of us, thi...

John 1:6-9, II Corinthians 4:5-7

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Commitment Sunday, October 12, 2025.

"The one essential fact about light is that it is separate from what bears it.  • The light of the sun isn’t the sun itself.  • The light of a fire isn’t the wood that burns.  • Even the glow from a candle or a bulb isn’t the wax or the filament. 

"Paul echoes the same truth in his own way. He’s not speaking of John, but of a...

***This sermon was originally intended to be a visual experience. We encourage you to watch the original live streamed recording of this sermon on YouTube.*** Video: "The Light We Shine"

Thank you to Andrea Boone, Jane Winders Frank, Ginger Poole Avis, and the wonderful staff and technicians at Mill Mountain Theatre.

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Matthew 5:14-16

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 28, 2025.

Read the manuscripts of ou...

Mark 1:21-39, Acts 17: 24-28

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 21, 2025.

"You are the living church when you forgive in a culture of vengeance. You are the living church when you speak truth in the face of lies. You are the living church when you love your neighbor more than your comfort. You are the living church when you sow compassion in a world that rewards cruelty. You are the living ch...

Isaiah 53:2-3, Philippians 4:8

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 14, 2025.

"In the aftermath of [Charlie Kirk's] shooting—as with so many other publicized acts of violence, and the countless unseen ones—we all should be asking ourselves: Do our words carry the same ugliness we say we condemn and are we contributing to this dangerous climate? "Whether you're a leader, a public voice, someone on X,...