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.
Seeing God’s Vineyard
This week’s Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard does not disappoint! If you strongly value “fairness,” you’re in for a ride. Can we possibly hear this parable and see anything beyond the decisively odd behavior of the land owner, whose actions might seem foolish and unfair to many? Is there a different lens through which we might view God’s vineyard and can that lens make a difference to how we see the world around us today?
Climate Change
As Christians we are asked to not only forgive others but to have forgiveness be the fabric of who we are and how we operate in the world. How do we forgive? What does non-forgiveness look like in our bodies, our lives, our families, our world? In a day and age when the cultural climate is rife with suspicion and hostility, how do we get on board with a Spirit-driven climate change that moves us from environments of vengeance to mercy?
Holy Ground
Today we explore the Bible passage about Moses and the burning bush. How does God reveal God’s self to us? Where and how are we invited to take off our shoes in recognition that we are standing on holy ground? And what are the invitations God extends to us in this time and place?
Resisting Return
It can be tempting to get stuck in a cycle of slaving away and planning for the future. The Israelites were instructed to collect only the manna that they needed. In seasons of rest, how can we be intentional with actively resting? What practices or societal pressures threaten to draw us back into the “rat race”? How should we believe or how should we live if we were to take this admonition seriously?
How We Measure (Up)
Today we explore ways we can get “off course” from the true intention of Sabbath and reorient ourselves…away from “measuring up” and toward “measuring” that which is truly valuable from the perspective of Sabbath rest.
Surely
Today we explore these questions about rest through the lens of the prophet Elijah and the much cherished psalm, Psalm 23. Is rest really that important? What happens to us when we don’t honor the rhythms of life to which God calls us? What is the personal and communal fallout when we fail to rest?
What Is New, and What Is Old?
Throughout the Sundays of August, we’ll explore the notion of rest and renewal from a biblical and theological perspective. What is God’s hope and intention for the rhythms of our human lives? What is Sabbath and what difference does it make to us as Christians in 2023?
What Is New, and What Is Old?
Jesus gives us a single sentence about bringing treasure that is new and old. Was he saying that some parables are old and stale? Is one to be preferred over another?
Tending and Tarrying
This Sunday we spend time with the parable of the wheat and the weeds, featuring a “good farmer” with “good seed” and a “bad farmer” with “bad seed.” How does this ancient parable speak to the modern church as we struggle with “good and bad” in our world, in our churches and within ourselves?
Nothing?
Join us for Pride Sunday at PB UMC! We engage with Paul’s words from Romans: Nothing can separate us from the love of God!” These are wonderful and life-giving words. But given everything our world is going through, including all that the LGBTQIA+ community endures, can we really believe that they’re true?