August 6, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | 1 Cor. 12:4-14 (NRSV) Paul reminds the Corinthian believers that God has dispensed power from above for them to live the resurrected life. This same Spirit grants individual spiritual gifts that are meant for the common good and to edify the body. Lastly, this power is power […]
July 30, 2023 In this service, we do not have a sermon. Instead, we embody the listening practices engaged in the month of July and have a communal time of reflection beginning with the lighting of Palo Santo until Communion. The stories are the sermon as we engage with art, wordless worship, palo santo, […]
July 23, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | 2 Cor. 2:14-17 Christ is sufficient and the Spirit is supreme to make us competent to fulfill our calling. In Christ, we are empowered to be the aroma of Christ and sometimes, well, Jesus smells like a mango empanada.
July 16, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | 2 Cor. 3:1-6 The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church a letter of encouragement about their witness. They are letters. Letters of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the ink. Letters that give life and liberation. We can be confident that God is competent to write our […]
July 9, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Romans 8:22-27 In this sermon, we look at lament and grief. And all the ways it comes to fruition in our lives. But as we continue in our series, The Story of the Spirit, we realize that the Holy Spirit is not just our comforter in times […]
June 25, 2023 | Bobby Harrison | Acts 16 We look at the story of Paul and Silas in Acts 16 to see how the Spirit is moving them to unveil a more expansive vision of the gospel than most of us inherited growing up. It’s right in line with Jesus’ call in Luke […]
June 18, 2023 | Phil Allen, Jr. | Luke 4:18 The experience of the enslaved who were actually free in Texas long before 1865 (what we now celebrate as Juneteenth), like the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness who were set free from Egypt, become metaphors for a liberating God who remembers us […]
June 11, 2023 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 16:1-10 The Holy Spirit pulls some stops in Paul, Silas & Timothy’s journey on their way to Philippi. The Spirit actually stops and redirects them 2 times. When we pause and read in between the lines we see the gift of uncertainty that holds space for listening […]
June 4, 2023 | Rev. Bert Newton | Isaiah, Leviticus, Ezekiel, Luke, Matthew Rev. Bert Newton of Making Housing and Communities Happen in Pasadena joined to cast a Biblical vision of equitable housing and stewardship of the land. We looked from cover to cover in the Scriptures, from Jubilee to Jesus, to bear witness to […]
May 21, 2023 | Dr. Cindy Lee | Ezekiel 37:1-10 What does an East Asian worldview teach us about engaging with and experiencing the Spirit? This message, based on Ezekiel 37:1-10, looks at the Spirit as a life-giving force and breath of life within us known as qi in a Chinese worldview.