Sermons

We arrived in Jordan last night and today went with the Orthodox Initiative, a ministry of the Middle East Council of Churches, to a refugee camp of about 300 persons, just a kilometer or two from the Syrian border. Supported by One Great Hour of Sharing giving, the OI is trying to help people here… Read more.

Who’s on first? Who is the fastest? Who does dad like best? All of the energy and worry we place into getting noticed and gaining prestige is called into question by the gospel passage from Luke read during Sunday’s worship service. In Luke 14, Jesus says to those gathered to stop trying to sit at… Read more.

At Sunday Worship, Rev. Kent read an open letter he wrote to Chief Gregory of the Berea Police. He invited all who wished to join him in thanks for the ways our police force has led the state to reduce the chance that any one here would suffer harm in their dealings with the department…. Read more.

The parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke is a reminder that Jesus was all about overturning a world of division. The news this week has been fraught with unjustified killings: two more black men at the hands of police officers, and 5 police officers at the hands of a man driven mad by his… Read more.

In this week’s gospel reading from Luke 9:51-62, Jesus “sets his face to Jerusalem,” and takes his followers there from the north on route through hostile Samaria. Along the way, some try to join him and are dissuaded, others offer to come but have other obligations first. Jesus wastes no words telling them which things… Read more.

We were blessed to host worship during the 2016 Berea College Summer Reunion, Sunday June 12. Rev. Gail E. Bowman, director of the Willis D. Weatherford, Jr. Campus Christian Center brought the sermon, and by popular demand we are pleased to make her manuscript available here. Many thanks to her and to President Lyle Roelofs… Read more.

War is a terrible human failing: it represents the absence of better minds, better hearts at the highest levels wreaking death on the defenseless and poorest people on all sides. The desire to serve and protect life, liberty and happiness for all, however, is a noble one. When conflict is thrust upon us, or chosen… Read more.

Crowds shout, palms branches wave, the heralded candidates enter the city! Political rally AND the scene in first century Jerusalem as we remember Jesus’ entry into the holy city. Jesus and the disciples, staging a counter demonstration to the corrupt and oppressive rule of Herod and the Roman occupying forces, uses symbols drawn from the… Read more.