Second on the Mount

"Under the Apple Tree" – Genesis 2:15-17, Romans 12:1-2
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Confirmation Sunday, January 7, 2024.
Can one believe what both science and the Bible have to say? Dr. Anderson explores this question by looking to epiphanies under the apple tree by Adam and Eve, Sir Isaac Newton, and Karl Barth. "Though God is a mystery beyond proof, I believe in God because I have had my own epiphanies of being known, loved and claimed by God. Intellectually, I can’t prove it; I even doubt it sometimes. But my being loved and claimed by God defines me. I can’t prove it, but I’m trying to live it. That is my witness."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/under-the-apple-tree/ 

"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Mother's Name)" – Luke 1:26-38Advent Sermon Series Part V
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, December 31, 2023.
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-mothers-name/ 

"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Father's Name)" – John 1:14-18Advent Sermon Series Part IV
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Christmas Eve Sunday, December 24, 2023. "But, as I said before, in saying God, something more needs to be said. . . .  Something must be added to what is meant by God or we end up adding whatever we want God to mean. God can mean 'Merciless Judge' if the blanket is just a quilt of God’s demands. God can mean 'Absent Creator' if the blanket is only the idea that someone had to make the universe and keep it running. God can mean 'Me' if God is defined in my image. Then I can pick and choose passages to line up with what I already think and want. Narcissists love that sort of blanket.  
"What we have written as 'Name of Father' will work fine as long as we remember that it is on the same birth certificate with the 'Name of Son.' John says that Jesus, as God’s only son, makes God known. The Gospel presents Jesus as God’s spitting image. Jesus is the blanket that the Gospels use to throw on the mystery that is God to give the mystery shape."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-fathers-name/ 

"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Place of Birth)" – Micah 5:2, Luke 2:4Advent Sermon Series Part III
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, December 17, 2023. "The birth of the Messiah will be a sign to the world of healing and life. This child was born with a name, born at a time in history, born in a place we know. In Bethlehem, heaven has come down. In Bethlehem, House of Bread, we encounter the Bread of Life.
"Where we come from matters. Where we have been, what we have lived through and experienced shapes who we are. I am, in part, who I am because of where I come from. You can take the boy of out Bethlehem, but you cannot take Bethlehem out of the boy."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-place-of-birth/ 

"Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Date)" – Luke 2:1-7Advent Sermon Series Part II
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, December 10, 2023. "Jesus was born when Quirinius was governor of Syria and was charged with conducting the registration, a symbol of Roman authority and oppression. To this, Jesus was born as the Messiah who would overthrow the powerful and lift up the oppressed.
"In those days, Jesus was born, period. Against and amid all that was happening in the world at that particular time, Jesus was born, born into this world, born into a family, born into a community, born into human history. 
"Why does the date of Jesus’ birth matter? Because we see in it that Jesus the Christ was born into a world of tyranny, inequality, and pride. Born to be a light in that darkness. A world and darkness we also know all too well."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-date/ 

“Jesus’ Birth Certificate: (Name)” – Matthew 1:18-25Advent Sermon Series Part I 
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, December 3, 2023. "Let’s put a formal name on the certificate, and in that day, the most formal way someone was introduced was not only by name but also by relationship. So, let’s imagine Joseph answering the question, 'What is the child’s name?' in this way: 'Yeshua Ben Yosef,' or 'Jesus, Son of Joseph.' Our imagining Joseph answering in this way honors the spirit of the passage and the glory of Joseph. The glory of Joseph is that despite his and Mary’s reputation being opened to question, he adopts his fiancé’s child that is not his own. He does what is right after being tempted to do what is righteous in the world’s eyes. Another way of putting this is that Joseph, as a righteous man, is led by God’s Spirit to do what Jesus will later ask other righteous people to do. Joseph is asked to reconsider what being righteous really means."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/jesus-birth-certificate-name/ 

"Sheep and Goats" – Matthew 25:31-45
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, November 26, 2023. "Over the centuries, this passage has been described as the 'Judgement of the Pagans' or the 'Last Judgement.' Jesus is seen separating sheep and goats, rewarding them or condemning them according to their actions, or lack thereof. . . . when we pay attention to what Matthew is saying, the question here is not, 'Am I going to heaven?' or 'Will I be saved?' or 'Am I a sheep or a goat?' If we were asking these questions, Matthew would say we have missed the point. I think that the question rightly asked here is not what happens at the end of things, but more like how are we supposed to be living right now? How does Jesus call us to live? What would our lives be like—how would our lives be different if we lived as though Christ were King?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/sheep-and-goats/ 

"Inside the Hard Crust" – Colossians 1:11-20
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, November 19, 2023. "But Paul has the vision to see the beauty past the crust, and it is that vision he shares in the passage I read. . . . For if Paul is right, God in Christ will make every life—no matter how short, tragic, hard, or regret-filled—every life reach its completion through the healing of reconciliation."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/inside-the-hard-crust/ 

"No One Has Ever Seen God" – I John 4:7-12
Sermon by Peter Enns (Ph.D.), Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, author, and our guest speaker for the 2023 Edmunds Lecture Series, from Sunday, November 12, 2023. 

"Take It In" – 1 Thessalonians 2:5-13
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from All Saints' Sunday, November 5, 2023. "Paul praises the Thessalonian church for receiving the gospel they proclaimed. Not only did they take it to then share it with others, but they took it in, they took it into themselves. It became part of their being. And they took it in, not as a human word, but as what it really is, God’s word, God’s living and actionable word, which is also at work in and through you.
"I wonder if there is anything that holds us back from fully sharing our souls with our siblings in our family of faith. And I wonder what it means for us today, to receive the gospel of God and take it in, take into ourselves, making it a part of who we are, to then live a life worthy of God..."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/take-it-in/