Second on the Mount

"Open Wide Your Hearts" – 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, June 30, 2024. "Beloved, open wide your hearts to the reconciling love and grace of God, for now is the time, today is the day; open wide your hearts so that having been reconciled by God you may be reconciled to one another. Whether rich or poor, honor or dishonor, known or unknown, in need or in plenty, in sorrow or in joy, whether black, w...

"Not Just a Children's Story" – 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49

Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 23, 2024. "[David and Goliath] is a story the people of God need to remember. It’s a story that reminds us God’s help can come from unlikely places. It’s a story that tells us outward appearance isn’t everything. It’s a reminder that we have an invisible ally who loves and supports us."

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"Family Recognition" – Luke 15:11-32

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 16, 2024. "At the end of God’s day, we are all related. At the end of God’s day, we’re all family; Jew and Gentile, sinner and saint, male and female. In the biblical worldview, all human issues are family issues, and all human problems are family problems. . . . When harm is done to another, whether of the spirit or the body, the Father is sayi...

"Say That Again" – Luke 15:3-10

Sermon by the Rev. Tom Are, Jr., Interim Pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL and our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Sunday, June 9, 2024. "Jesus is telling us that we have no idea how much joy God finds in us. In you. That just your existence is a source of joy for the living God. Jesus is clear. God knows an unreasonable amount of joy because of you—and that is something Jesus evide...

"Buying In" – Acts 8:1-24

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024. "We can all lose perspective at times and think it is about us. We can all get tricked into believing that this world is going to be saved by some pristine political or social ideology or agenda and the church just needs to fall in line and help. What our passage reminds us is that all we do even in addressing issues and serving others wil...

"Seeing What Cannot Be Seen" – Acts 2:1-13, Romans 8:22-27

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024. "Here we don’t have to get lost in God told me this or God showed me that. We can focus on this inner realization that the person sitting beside you in the pew right now, and the people you least understand out there, and the people who are constantly being defined to you as different—and maybe even peopl...

"Bridging the Gap" – John 17:6-21

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 12, 2024. "Jesus was sent into the world, set apart for a unique purpose to reveal the love and grace of God to a world that he knows will not listen, yet it is the same world that God so loves, as the famous verse puts it. As the Son of God and the Son of Man, Jesus bridges the gap between God and humanity, between heaven and earth, between power and...

"Following: Loving, and so Following" – Mark 16:1-8 Lenten Sermon Series Part VII

Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024. "...so many cling to the resurrection hope in a desperate way, hoping for an out when death must come. Sadly, what often comes of this escapist hope is an escape from the moral demands of life. But a true resurrection hope is this: It is finding hope in God even after all other hopes...

"Following: Paul's Conversion and Call to Follow" – Acts 9:1-20 Lenten Sermon Series Part IV 

Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, March 10, 2024. "When the voice of God calls out to us, when the voice of the Lord calls us to follow, we enter into something bigger and deeper than individual salvation and vocation. Conversion is never an end in and of itself. It is a beginning. We step into something new for ourselves and for...