“When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he didn’t give them a formula for getting what they wanted. He gave them a prayer that begins by saying, ‘God, you are God — and I am not.’ It’s a prayer of surrender.
Think of Florence Nightingale on the battlefields of the Crimean War. Every night she prayed, ‘Use me for your work, Lord, not mine.’ Or think of Desmond Doss, praying, ‘Lord, help me get one more,’ as he carried wounded soldiers to safety.
The Lord’s Prayer calls us to let go — to open our empty hands for daily bread, to release our grudges, to trust God with the trials ahead. Because prayer isn’t just about changing our circumstances. It’s about being changed — about letting God’s grace rise up in us like a song.”
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“Maybe it starts small. Ten minutes on the porch. A deep breath before a hard conversation. One moment of stillness in the chaos.
But these small moments matter.
They become seeds of peace in a restless world. They soften the ground where grace can grow.
Because when Christ is in the house — there is bread for the hungry, rest for the weary, peace for the anxious, joy for the brokenhearted… and power for the road ahead.”
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“The truth is: We’re not just the priest who hurries by. We’re not just the Samaritan who stops. We are — every one of us — the person in the ditch. But here’s the good news: the story doesn’t leave us there. Jesus comes — without fear, without hesitation — binds up our wounds with his own hands, lifts us onto his own shoulders, takes on the cost of our healing. This is the gospel:
Not that we go out to save the world, but that the Savior of the world comes for us, pours out mercy for us, does the impossible for us.”
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“Sometimes, peace isn’t a feeling — it’s a decision.
It’s what we choose to hold onto when respect gives way to resentment,
when the people we once stood beside become distant.
Even if you can’t fix the world — you can still be faithful in it.
And that may be the truest peace of all.”
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Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem—and everything changes. The road ahead is urgent. Costly. No time for goodbyes. No room for looking back. It sounds harsh—until we realize: he’s not raising the bar. He’s telling the truth about how hard it already is. Because when love is urgent, we don’t wait. Jesus walked into suffering—not to prove a point, but to pour out grace. And now he calls us forward. Not in our strength, but in his. Eyes forward. Hands open. Hearts on fire. Jesus is on the move—and we are going with him.
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In this Pentecost sermon, Rev. Dr. Alix D. Pridgen contrasts the grasping pride of Babel with the outpouring grace of Pentecost. Where Babel was about reaching upward to make a name, Pentecost is about opening outward to make space for the Spirit. Through vivid storytelling—from a dusty plain in Shinar to a peeling church porch in Kansas—Pridgen shows that the Holy Spirit doesn’t rush into towers of power, but into places of humility, hospitality, and hope. She weaves together scripture, small-town witness, and the historic election of Bishop Donna Simon to proclaim that Pentecost isn’t a one-time spectacle. It’s God’s ongoing pattern of grace—blowing through mismatched chairs and open hearts, making not just movements, but community.
Jesus introduces another New Math to us. He gives us a formula, an equation, really: 1 + 1 + 1 = One. God’s strange arithmetic is not as a call to uniformity or conformity, but to embrace our differences in a harmony of gracious purpose.
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Someone’s heard something. There’s a bit of buzz. Not outrage—just concern. A few thoughtful folks bring it up: “Did you hear what Peter did?” No accusations yet, just questions: “Is it true he went into a Gentile's house? Sat down and ate with them?” Now, it might not sound like much to us—but imagine someone you deeply respect suddenly doing the one thing your faith told you not to do. Not just questionable. Not just “pushing the envelope.” But crossing a line. The kind of thing that makes you wonder, “Has he gone soft on the Scriptures? Has he forgotten where we come from?” Or could God be doing something new?
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*“What are you carrying this morning that God doesn’t mean for you to carry?
The women left their spices at the tomb.
Peter left his guilt behind.
You can leave your burdens, too.
Because Easter isn’t just about something that happened 2,000 years ago.
It’s about what’s happening now—
when mercy replaces shame,
when fear gives way to peace,
when resurrection breaks into your life and says:
You are forgiven.
You are free.
You are loved.”*
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Jesus visits the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary on his way to Jerusalem just days before his death. While is there, Mary pours a jar of very expensive perfume over his feet. He interprets it as an “anointing for his burial.” In Jerusalem, Jesus will be arrested and crucified— pouring his life out in love for us.
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Jesus tells a story about a family broken by resentment and selfishness, and a father who comes to reconcile his children.
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We are God’s children, and it is God’s job to protect us… but too often we refuse to listen.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Like Jerusalem… we wanted to go our own way… do our own thing…Sometimes we got distracted by the shiny things…
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When we know that we belong to a loving, patient and powerful God, we can make it through the tough times, too. Scarred perhaps, but intact. Knowing that God is with us – and that God is reconciling our world, we can make it through Lent, and war, and financial crisis. We can make it through relocations, parenthood, divorces, cancer, the death of our children, difficult work, and all the other things that bedevil us and test our limits of faith and endurance. Because we belong to Jesus – into whose life and death we are baptized… we, too, can walk with courage and stamina and faithfulness and hope until that day when he takes us by the hand and leads us into the Promised Life to Come.
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Sermon delivered Feb. 23, 2025
Epiphany 7C
Text: Luke
How can we maintain our dignity and sense of self… in the face of bullying and mistreatment… when you cannot run away and fighting back is not an option? Jesus says we can take charge of our story and give the unexpected response.
Sermon delivered on Feb. 16, 2025
If we want to see God’s work in the world… if we want to see God’s miracles in life… We have only to look in the places where nobody else is looking… and at the people nobody else respects. There we will see him -- God’s messiah – coming with power – for us– Just as God did in Nazareth.
A sermon delivered January 19th on The Gospel According to John 2:1-12. The scripture reading is included in the recording. Jesus and his mother are at a wedding. The hosts run out of wine. Jesus meets their need by turning water into wine.
A study of love.
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Faith, facing obstacles, doesn’t give up!
Includes the stories of Bartimaeus and of Malala Yousafzai.
“When the world tells you to shrink, expand!” — Welteroth
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