West End Umc Video Podcast Audio Podcast

This service is designed for the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice, and it speaks to any who are feeling lost, stressed, grieved. In this context, Rev. Erin Racine delivers the “Words of Hope,” stemming from Psalm 91, which addresses the kinds of lost-ness many are experiencing by assuring, with numerous expressions, God’s protection. Erin talks about loss, but also about the ever-present God, explaining with some examples that the vision of God’s protection is not a bargain with God such that if one worships God, God will return the favor with protection. She also uses examples to show that “protection” in this sense is not necessarily what we might consider protection, like protection from pain or illness. Rather, it is a wrapping of God’s wings around us to care for us in moving and spiritual ways. After her message, worshippers are encouraged to light candles, take communion, and pray, with the lighting of candles being a symbol of coming into the light out of the darkness of the Longest

This is the fourth Sunday in advent, and in the scripture from Matthew 1, Joseph has found out that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant, the only logical cause is that she has been unfaithful. In effect, Joseph is a minor character in the Gospels with no speaking lines at all, but this reading gives a chance to focus on his character. Here, he is faced with a problem for which the law says he can publicly disgrace Mary and her family. He has been building a future for them, but this changes everything, and, instead, he chooses to dismiss her “quietly.” Then, in a dream he is visited by an angel who explains the origin of the pregnancy, and Joseph went even farther in an act of mercy and “took her as his wife.” The question for us is how have we experienced the loss of a future, and how should we act in that moment so as to ensure the coming of God into the world?

(Anna Bigelow reads the scripture.) This is the third Sunday in advent, and in the scripture from Matthew 11 John the Baptist is in prison. This was the fiery preacher who, early in Matthew, baptized Jesus and recognized him as the Messiah. But, perhaps now seeing his ministry at an end and the long-awaited king not having taken over, John is wondering whether Jesus is the Messiah and sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus whether he is, indeed, the Messiah. The response Jesus gives may not have been exactly what John had thought it would be from a Messiah. Jesus points to the healing he’s done and the word he has spread. It is a good example for us when we feel trapped or down. God’s coming is not necessarily going to fix every one of our problems, but God is with us, Emmanuel.

This podcast contains Derek Weber's dramatic reading of a passage from Isaiah 11, then the Children's Moment and Communion Meditation. This is the second Sunday in advent, and the scripture is part of a vision in Isaiah 11 that starts with the “stump of Jesse” and describes with imagery a world in which there are peace and love. Rev. Nancy Parker is preaching and gives a personal example of a fig tree she and her husband planted and cared for that appeared, after the first winter, to have become a “fig stick.” But with care, they eventually saw a branch or two leaf out. She says most of us know how it feels to be a “stump,” waiting for life, and that is what Advent is all about – waiting for life with belief in the power and presence of God. Advent, then, is holy anticipation.

This recording begins with a dramatic reading of the scripture, continues with the Children's Moment, and then the sermon. This is the first Sunday in advent, and the scripture is (part of) Matthew’s version of the genealogy of Jesus, and the focus of the sermon is the significance of family ancestry. In our own hunger to know more about our ancestry we find a richness and foundation. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew may well not be historically accurate, but the point is to establish the identity of Jesus. Five women, whose stories are somewhat scandalous, are included in the genealogy, and in her sermon Carol examines the story of each of those women. The writer of Matthew clearly points out the scandalous nature of each of those stories. In spite of those stories in which we can see human imperfections, we can also see Jesus as the Savior whose purity comes through all of those human imperfections, demonstrating that God can work through such imperfections, and also demonstrating that in spite of

Today Jefferson Furtado is the guest preacher, and the scripture is from the vision in which God shows Ezekiel a valley filled with dry bones. When asked if they can live, Ezekiel replies to God that God knows. As a picture of the hopelessness of Israel at the time, with Jerusalem in ruins, to look beyond the hopelessness of the dry bones is to look toward a reality that is beyond what one can see. That reality is God’s reality, and God can make that reality our reality, but God also calls us to faith and to help that reality come about, just as God called Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and then to prophesy to the breath to enliven them. Justice and love are components of God’s reality, and we’re called to imagine such reality and to participate.

Today’s scripture is part of a vision of Isaiah wherein God describes the creation of new heavens and a new earth. Although to us it might initially sound like an apocalyptic vision of the end-time, the promise is for a new Jerusalem wherein there will be no distress, no weeping, and people will live out full lives. Several other specific examples are given, and soon we begin to realize this newness is something we can all help create by working with God. There are opportunities for us to alleviate poverty, discrimination, illness, and such, and help maneuver where we all stand now into the posture of the new Jerusalem. Isaiah’s vision of God’s new creation can come to pass with our faith and willingness to aid in its coming.

This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem, and today is All Saints Sunday. In today’s reading, Jesus is confronted by a group of Sadducees who want to trip him up by posing a question on resurrection, based on a law from the Torah. His response not only underscores the ridiculous nature of their question, it throws a light for us on the concept of being children of God, as are those who have gone before us, and thus we are all together in the “eternal now.”

This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. Today’s reading is the familiar passage where the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, climbs a tree to see Jesus, and Jesus calls him by name and says he will go to the house of Zacchaeus. The story is full of active verbs with Zacchaeus going quickly, climbing the tree, and so on. In Luke’s parables to this point, being rich is not a good thing, but with Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus, it turns out very well with the tax collector overjoyed and giving away his riches. The story evokes questions about our own reception of and reaction to the call of Jesus. How does our relationship with Jesus shape our own actions?

This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. In today’s reading, Jesus tells a parable about two men, one a Pharisee praying that he is grateful to be righteous and effectively leaving no room for God. The other man is a tax collector who throws himself on God’s mercy. In that day, Pharisees were the good, religious people while tax collectors survived off of others, so this is a reversal. One of the questions it raises for us is whether we have a bit of the Pharisee in us – proud, accomplished, but not open to others. It calls us to humility, to a practice of proximity by which we draw close to others.

This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. In today’s reading, Jesus tells a parable about a widow who repeatedly pleads to a judge for justice without result. The judge does not fear God and declines to act. In some ways it is humorous because the judge finally gives in, just to get her off his back. Widows were among the outcast and hopeless in that day, so this is likely a parable that shows that the result of persistent prayer can be justice. Justice is when all people are treated as God’s children, equally. And perhaps the persistence represents God’s persistent call for justice. Maybe we need to ask ourselves whether we, as God’s believers and children, are persistent in that call.

This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. In today’s reading, he is in an area between Jews on one side and Samaritans on the other, and he is met by a group of ten lepers, united by their leprosy and thus by being outcasts from both Jews and Samaritans. At their request he gives them instructions that will heal them. They are healed, but only one of the ten returns to thank him and to praise God, and that one is a Samaritan. By this act of gratitude, that thankful Samaritan establishes a new relationship with Jesus and with God, demonstrating a difference between being healed and being made whole. The story presses us to ask ourselves whether we pray for something and then neglect to give thanks when it is granted.

The scripture for today is a section from Numbers describing the cloud over the tabernacle as representative of God. When the tabernacle was completed, the cloud descended upon it. Thereafter, when the cloud moved, the people packed up and followed it until it stopped again. When it was stopped and the tabernacle was reassembled, the tribes camped around it, with God, significantly, in the center. In his last sermon with us (he has been appointed Senior Pastor at another church), Brandon says that we often think of clouds as ominous signs of danger, and we are sometimes caught up in a cloud of self-doubt and despair. But if we recognize that cloud as a way to follow God, we may well find new ways to follow our God and renewed confidence in our paths. We must be open: Where is God leading West End UMC?

The scripture for today is a parable Jesus tells of a rich man and Lazarus, men at the extremes of wealth. The rich man feasts daily while poor Lazarus lies at the house gate, dogs licking his sores, and longs for even a crumb. The parable changes scenes until after both characters have died, and Lazarus is with Abraham while the rich man suffers in Hades and begs for Abraham to send Lazarus with water to cool his tongue. It is a reversal, a theme that surrounds Jesus in the Gospels. One clue to the resolution of the situation is that the parable names the poor man, but not the rich man, in a sense giving the poor man identity. What does the parable call us to do?

The scripture for today is a difficult section of Luke 16 where Jesus tells a parable of a rich man about to fire his manager who has been squandering his property. The parable’s “solution” seems to be odd and difficult to interpret because the rich man ends up judging the manager to have acted “shrewdly” and the parable clearly praises that shrewdness. Maybe in this case Jesus is saying that to use one’s wealth to benefit others is a way to benefit the kingdom. It is a complex parable, and Carol Cavin-Dillon confesses that it is, but she deals with it in her sermon.

The Children's Moment before the sermon is the presentation of Bibles to children. The sermon is based on the scripture for today, which is a familiar section of Luke 15 with the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. We did not read it, but the parable of the “lost son,” (the Prodigal Son) follows these two. Although we know them as the “lost sheep” and “lost coin” parables, the points Jesus makes are the fervor with which the herdsman and the woman pursue them, and the joy on finding them. We likely have had a similar experience of joy after finding something dear that was lost. Perhaps, though, a point of the parables, told to the religious establishment of the time, is that it is we who are lost, and the parables are adamant at showing God’s relentlessness for finding the lost and the joy of finding us.

The scripture for today is a section of Luke wherein Jesus tells a crowd of people what they must give up if they are to be his disciples. It is a difficult passage because Jesus is very clear, saying one must hate one’s parents, spouse, children, siblings, and give up everything. But does this give people permission to abuse others in pursuit of Jesus? Erin gives an example of a person well admired for his devotion to God, but whose home life, as a result, was a wreck. Erin reminds us that Jesus also told his followers to love others, and, in Luke, this demanding passage is preceded by the parable of a feast. The final dictate of this passage is that to be a disciple means giving up all of one’s possessions, but maybe that means one must be open to the needs of others and must be generous and eager to help others. It may well make us uncomfortable, but when we carry the cross of Jesus, we carry one another. Doing so may well draw us closer to others.

This is the final in a three-weeks sermon series on passages from the Letter (sermon) to the Hebrews. In Hebrews the “preacher” is encouraging a congregation that seems to be tired, and today the preacher brings the sermon to a close by explaining how keeping the faith means living the faith, and he includes step-by-step instructions. First, “let mutual love continue” by loving one another within the congregation. Then show hospitality to strangers, welcoming new people into the community and being open to strangers. He then says (to them and to us) to remember those who are suffering, whether they are within our church community or not. The preacher then focuses on our own homes saying to honor the marriage, a caution to live out the love of God to those closest to us. Then he warns us not to fall in love with money but to be content with what we have.

This is the second in a three-weeks sermon series on passages from the Letter (sermon) to the Hebrews. In today’s reading the “preacher” is aware that the people of that congregation are getting tired, and he reminds them of the faith of their ancestors in the faith who endured incredible odds and opposition and ran the race they were called to run. In this passage he tells them to look to Jesus. We look to Jesus for help and healing. For us, looking to Jesus may come initially by reading the Gospels and all their examples of Jesus healing and helping those in need. Jesus can also be provoking, making people uncomfortable with his challenges, and that image of running the race can help, listening only to the voice of Jesus.

(The Children's Moment is hosted by Maggie Jarrell, Minister of Children and Families.) Today we begin a new three-weeks sermon series on passages from the Letter (sermon) to the Hebrews, and today’s reading is a treatise on faith, giving examples of several well-known ancestors, especially Abraham. Carol explains that she’s preaching to this congregation about a sermon that was preached to a congregation centuries ago, a congregation that was tired because they were trying to live out God’s word in a time dominated by an empire while waiting on the return of Jesus and the coming of the kingdom. This can speak to us in our time. As examples, Abraham and Sarah were called and were faithful. In spite of great odds, God worked through them to begin the people of God. God’s miracles worked through their faith. God wants to use us, too, through our faith.