Second on the Mount

"Reconciled" – Luke 15:11-32, 23:32-34aPart 4 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 19, 2023. "The cross is the intersection of the vertical embrace of God’s unconditional love, and the horizonal work of reconciliation that heals what is broken. Once you understand that about the cross—once you understand that it reveals both the separation of sin and the embrace of reconciliation—you begin to see the cross everywhere."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/reconciled-part-4-of-the-sermon-series-lift-high-the-cross/ 

"History Revealed" – Mark 15:1-15Part 3 of the Sermon Series "Lift High the Cross."
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, March 12, 2023. "Since that Friday we now call 'Good,' Christians have been trying to make sense of the cross. Faithful and doubtful people alike have been wrestling with what it means. That’s what we’re doing here, right? We are asking whether the theories and equations Christians have devised actually hold up when we compare them with what we know of a loving and generous and gracious God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/history-revealed-part-3-of-the-sermon-series-lift-high-the-cross/ 

"God Revealed: Part 2 of the Sermon Series Lift High the Cross" – Philippians 2:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 5, 2023. "What I want to talk about is whether through Jesus God became a better version of God’s self or whether in Jesus we can see more clearly who God has always been. Revelation, not change, is what Paul is talking about in our passage, I think. Look at the picture he draws with his passage. He speaks of Jesus being with God from the beginning. So, whatever we say is true about Jesus was true about God from the beginning."
 

"Revealed: Part 1 of the Sermon Series Lift High the Cross" – John 13:36-14:7
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 26, 2023. "The cross reveals our sin. Yes, it does and you are going to hear that point made multiple times in our sermon series. But I think even more, the cross reveals our humanity. The cross reveals that we are not gods who can rise above our limits, but we are human and we need to accept it. Because Jesus, who dies, submits to the limits of being human, there is more to be found in the truth of the cross than the condemnation of sin. There can be found the affirmation that God found human life worth living. We will not be perfect, but if God finds life among us worth living despite having to die… then life is worth living despite our having to die. By accepting death, Jesus showed us how to live."

"Lift High the Cross: Enough of Formulas" – 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, February 19, 2023. "For me, it gets down to this. Make of any illustration of the Atonement—any illustration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—a definition; and the cross becomes a fix rather than a revelation. I think the cross is a revelation, not a fix. The cross doesn’t change reality but reveals it. And because it is a revelation, it is something that we can turn this way and that in order to understand how sacrificial love can be the bridge between sinners and God and how sacrificial love can be the means by which we can be reconciled with each other."

"The Choice is Yours" – Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Sermon by Rev. Benjamin S. Brannan from Sunday, February 12, 2023. "What does it mean to choose life, prosperity, and blessings? According to Moses, it means to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. Throughout his sermon, Moses illustrates the good life: forgiving debts, guarding against excessive wealth, defending human dignity, protecting the oppressed, paying employees fairly, offering part of the harvest for those in need. And as he nears the end of his sermon, the moment becomes holy."

"The Provoking Smile" – 1 John 4:7-21
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 29, 2023. "We need to habitually put ourselves in places where we learn, see, and practice what God’s love is like. We worship over and over again so that we truly love the one we worship. We return to the stories of faith again and again until they become the stories we live. We practice selfless acts till we learn how to be selfless, we act with kindness so we can learn to be kind, we practice apologies until we mean them, and we practice forgiving until we become forgiving people."
 

"Until Our Hearts Find a Home" – Matthew 4:12-23
Sermon by Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, January 22, 2023. "Often, when we think of calling, we think of these first disciples and all that they gave up – two leaving their father, all leaving their livelihoods. Or perhaps when you think of calling, you may picture a priest or a pastor. It’s easy to look at someone in a robe or a clerical collar and recognize a calling. But it’s not always so obvious. I bet a lot of people have a hard time seeing a direct connection between what they do for a living and what they believe. But I believe that calling is less about what we do than who we are. God’s call isn’t simply to do something, but to be something."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/until-our-hearts-find-a-home/

"Servanthood" – Isaiah 42:1-9
Sermon by Rev. Benjamin S. Brannan from Sunday, January 15, 2023. "Just as the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended on Jesus, God’s love washes over us through the waters of baptism as we are called beloved children of God, with whom God is well-pleased. So too, it is our commissioning to a vocation of Servanthood. "

"Real World Faith" – Galatians 2:15-21
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, January 8, 2023. "Any Christian faith- any faith in a God among us as the Word made flesh- fleshed in life and in history- has to be a faith about life as it is lived in the world as it is. See the world as it is, and then love the world as it is because God loves the world as it is. Then work for the causes of the kingdom in ways that are possible and can actually make a difference."
 
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/real-world-faith/