Sermons
Sermons are listed below with the most recent sermons first. See the Sermons menu at the top of the page to browse by date, books of the Bible, speaker, and more. Check back often for updates.
The Empty Tomb
Despite anything and everything that has come before, despite hardship and struggle, despite pain and suffering, despite plagues and pandemics, despite any and all circumstances that have felt as if they were too much to bear, morning comes…day breaks…Easter arrives.
Hosanna!
If we check in only on Palm Sunday and Easter, we go straight from “Hosanna” to “Hallelujah” and miss so much of the critical journey in between. For that reason, our service will be slightly different today as we celebrate Palm/Passion Sunday. We’ll begin with a Palm Sunday text and conclude with the reading of the Passion or the crucifixion.
Life Interrupted
Do you feel God calling you to respond to interruptions differently; and if so, in what way? Join us this morning as we reflect on John 12 and Jesus’ heightening conflict with the Pharisees.
Lifted Up
Our lectionary readings today bring us two fairly complex and curious passages with which to wrestle. The first testament reading from Numbers may be totally unfamiliar. If you suffer from Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), you might find it especially disturbing! Our Gospel reading, on the other hand, is likely to be familiar to all. It contains perhaps the best known and often repeated line of Christian scripture that’s out there…“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” What is the connection between these passages?
Holy Zeal
The account of Jesus “cleansing the temple” is told in all four Gospels but with several significant differences. Matthew, Mark and Luke place this account toward the end of Jesus’ life, while John places it much closer to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus enters the temple during Passover – a very active, busy time – and turns everything, literally and figuratively, upside down
The Power of a Name
Our scripture reading from Genesis this week focuses on Abraham and Sarah, who started their journey as Abram and Sarai. But in their relationship with God and as a part of the covenant between them and God, they received new names. We’ll spend some time today thinking about what that meant for them and what our names and labels mean for us, as people of faith, today.
Footprints through the Wilderness
What is your “wilderness”? Today we spend time with Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism and his subsequent 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. It is also the first Sunday of Lent, a season in the church marked by themes of light and shadow, confession and repentance, and frailty and humility.
Ash Wednesday: From Dust and Death to Dust and Life
La Jolla UMC and Pacific Beach UMC offer this joint online Ash Wednesday worship service. This will be a time of prayer and song with leaders and musicians from both congregations.
Trusting the Mountaintop
Today is Transfiguration Sunday in the life of the church. It’s the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent and we travel with Jesus, Peter, James and John to a mountaintop. There they have an experience of witnessing Jesus being changed in an instant. It’s an experience that has the potential to change them, to shape them for the rest of their lives.
Keeping On
Today we spend some time exploring what’s come to be known as the Messianic Secret. We’ll see that Jesus consistently tells not only unclean spirits, but also people, including his disciples, not to tell anyone what they’ve seen or heard in their encounters with Jesus. Why on earth would Jesus do this? How did this play a part in the unfolding of Jesus’ identity? How did it help or hinder him in “keeping on” toward his mission?