Second on the Mount

"Speak Up" – Acts 16:16-34
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 29, 2022. "But our story today is a story of a different color and tone. It is full of paganism, oppression, and slavery, complete with evil spirits, exploitation, and Anti-Semitism, topped off with violence, abuse, and imprisonment. Yet, even in the deepest, darkest, dungeons of life, the Gospel can save. . . . Now is the time to be honest with ourselves and with others. To speak up about what is going in our lives and speak up in concern and care and compassion for others. We have been through quite a lot as a world, nation, and community. If not now, when?"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/speak-up/

"The Beloved Community" – Acts 11:1-18
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, May 22, 2022. "Certainly, the past matters. The church exists because God has spoken in the past, and without a sense of that history we lack clarity about our current path and journey. But the past, though important, is never the point for the life of faith. The point is the present moment with the living God who is with us now. The God who speaks to us now calls us into the risk of hearing a new word, a word that orients us toward the unanticipated and unprecedented where the reconciling God is active."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/the-beloved-community/

"If Not for the Honor" – Luke 6:46-49
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 15, 2022. "'They call me ‘Lord,’ but they don’t follow,' Jesus says. . . . Jesus doesn’t want to be called 'Lord' for his own glorification. He wants followers in his life to know and share God’s love. To call him 'Lord' in the way he would accept is to find through him, with him, and in following him, a way to God… and thus find a way to their true selves as children of God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/if-not-for-the-honor/

"A Call to Worship" – I Chronicles 16:28-34; Revelation 7:9-17
Sermon by Dr. Ed McLeod, Minister and Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC and facilitator of the Kitty Susan Trent Symposium, from Sunday, May 8, 2022. 

"Taking a Re-Personal Day" – Exodus 10:24-27, 31:16-17
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, May 1, 2022. "I invite you all, once a week, to take a personal day and rest. I also invite you to take a 'Re-Personed Day' for worship. Find yourself again as God’s child and as God’s children. Let yourself be re-formed and the body of the church formed on a day when we can remember who we are in God’s eyes."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/taking-a-re-personal-day/

"Can I Get a Witness" – Acts 5:27-32
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, April 24, 2022. "The Easter story is a story of resurrection, restoration, and renewal, a story of love, hope, and forgiveness, a story that must be shared and honored, witnessed to by our words and actions, here in our community and around the world! It is a story of for all the earth, a resurrection story for land, sea and sky, for birds and beasts, for fish and fowl, for you and for me. . . . What is your story of Easter resurrection? Whatever it is, tell your story!"
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/can-i-get-a-witness/

"The Right Kind of Homecoming" – John 20:19-23, Revelation 21:1-4, Philippians 2:1-11Part VIII and conclusion of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022. "Today, let’s consider what is the right kind of homecoming, and that is finding God where we are. I want us to honor: Jesus as a king in the line of David―but a different kind of king; Jerusalem as a holy city―but not the Jerusalem that Jesus entered; the kingdom of God―but not a kingdom with defined and defended borders; the Law of God―being the commands of Love, not of the State. I want us to honor the God of Exile by celebrating the God of the Resurrection."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-right-kind-of-homecoming/

"The Wrong Kind of Homecoming" – Luke 19:28-40; Zechariah 9:9Part VII of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by the Rev Elizabeth N.H. Link from Palm Sunday, April 10, 2022. "Jesus accepts today’s blessings and hosannas, knowing that the crowds will turn on him, his disciples will desert him, and the only crown that awaits him is pain. Here we stand at the threshold of another Holy Week. Here we are, and here is our God. In glittering sadness, let us take up our cross and follow him."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-wrong-kind-of-homecoming/

"The Found Word" – Psalm 1; John 1:1-5, 14-18Part VI of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, April 3, 2022. "I hope by now you realize that a great way to get to know this living Jesus is to realize that he is the God who we know in Exile. Jesus is the God we can meet at the table in our own homes. The living tradition of God—which is relentlessly about love of God and neighbor as commanded in the Torah, as demanded by the prophets, and as reflected in the writings—is real only when it becomes faith that is embraced in our hearts and lived in our lives and embodied in community. We give this living Word of God a name. And we find our identity as God’s children in knowing him, and our place in the living tradition of justice and grace by following him."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-found-word/ 

"The Lost Ark" – Micah 6:6-8, Luke 4:16-21Part V of the Lenten sermon series, "Found in Exile."
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, March 27, 2022. "No matter the circumstances, and no matter whether we are together or apart, true worship means finding ways to remain open to the Spirit of the Lord being upon us and responding with the worship of our hearts and the commandment-keeping of our lives. True worship doesn’t mean leaving it to the professionals, but finding each other so that together we can do justice and love kindness while walking humbly with God."
Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/found-in-exile-the-lost-ark/