Sermons by Bob Rhodes (Page 13)
History & Law
This is the second week of our series on Reading the Bible Again, informed by Marcus Borg’s Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. As we worship online, let us continue to pray for our community as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week we move beyond the creation stories and into the story of Moses as the leader of the Exodus and the bringer of the Law. These narratives are told in the first five books of…
Epiphany & Creation
This is the first week of our series on Reading the Bible Again, informed by Marcus Borg’s Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. As we worship online, let us continue to pray for our community as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week combines the opening of the Gospel of John with the opening of the book of Genesis, both creation stories. On a Sunday that is traditionally understood as Epiphany Sunday, we explore the possibility of…
Lessons & Carols
It’s Christmas Eve! May the light of Emmanuel shine in us all. As we worship online, let us continue to pray for our community as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our traditional Christmas Eve service, live-streamed from our Sanctuary. The Christmas story is told through Scripture and song, and concludes with candle lighting. Scripture: Luke 1:26-35, 38; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-20; John 1:1-14
Confusion & Wonder
This is the final week of our Extended Advent series, and the fourth week of a the 20th century Advent model. As we worship online, let us continue to pray for our community as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week’s worship gets into the good stuff! This week we really get into the familiar and exciting parts of the story! It’s almost Christmas and there’s just a little more online shopping to finish up!! But not everyone is…
Desperation & Hope
This is the sixth week of our Extended Advent series, and the third week of a the 20th century Advent model. Let us continue to pray for our community as we work to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week’s text jumps a bit from previous texts in this series. We started with Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians and Ephesians and then moved to Mark for two weeks. This week we jump to the Gospel of John with a text that…
Watching & Waiting
This is the fourth week of our Extended Advent series, and the first week of a the 20th century Advent model. This is also the first week of our in-person outdoor worship! When the Gospel of Mark was written, there must surely have been a sense of dread as upheaval and even violence were familiar occurrences. The end of all that was known must have felt immanent. The people must have been waiting for the straw to break the camel’s…
Wisdom & Revelation
This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday and our third week of our Extended Advent series. It may seem as though all of our scriptures so far have been focused on eschatology (the theology of the last days). This is a fair assessment. Even when we follow the shorter four-week Advent schedule, the first of these is always an eschatological selection. This is because our preparations for the arrival of the Christ child parallel our preparations for the second coming…
Starting with Why
Pastor Bob begins our Extended Advent series this Sunday beginning with a scripture text that doesn’t necessarily seem as though it’s a the right choice for beginning the Advent season. But as we’ll hear, Paul uses a Greek word that specifically speaks to us in this time and helps us to prepare ourselves for the coming Christ. Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Don’t miss our Sermon Note for this week’s message available here.
Rejoice
Pastor Bob concludes this year’s Stewardship series on this All Saints Sunday with an invitation to rejoice! Perhaps the idea of rejoicing seems strange in this time on a day when we name those of our loved ones who have been lost in the last year. Our scripture remind us that there is nothing that God cannot make new! Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25
Renew
There is so much bringing us stress and anxiety in this time. We may be worried about wildfires and storms, illness, the political climate, and so much more. This third Sunday in our Stewardship series focuses on our need for renewal and where we might go for the source of that renewal. Scripture: Isaiah 40:21-31
Reveal
This week begins our Stewardship sermon series, where we will RE:IMAGINE ministry looking forward to 2021. The world has changed in so many ways, especially this year! We find ourselves struggling to learn how to do ministry in this time, and just as difficult is the likelihood that doing ministry in the future will be forever changed too! The “new normal” by not be a “normal” we’ve ever seen before. Even so, we are invited to live into the idea…
God’s Accomplishment
This is the second in our series on Foundations, and this week’s message focuses on the Protestant Reformation. The reformers were particularly informed by Paul’s writing on grace and salvation by faith. In this focus, we humble ourselves and acknowledge that salvation is not our accomplishment but God’s. Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10