Sermons

Strange Faith

We are calling our summer series in 1 Peter "Strange Faith" (yes, you might recognize the background to the logo) because as Peter makes clear right from the beginning of his letter, to be a Christian, no matter where you are, is to be in some sense an outsider, one whose beliefs and hopes and actions are seen as strange. While our country and culture were founded upon this belief, times tell us this belief is now viewed as increasingly out of the mainstream. So how shall we think of this strangeness we can't, nor would want to, shake?

House Calls

Elevator Pitch: The Good News in One Chapter, Romans 8

The theology of the gospel is an endless source of books, papers, dissertations, and blog posts. But isn’t there a simplicity to the gospel that can both be easily conveyed to the unfamiliar, and yet also readily rediscovered by those for whom it’s perhaps become too familiar, like a song you haven’t heard in a long while? If so, where might you look? Many have found the eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome as the simplest and strongest summary of the gospel. Think of it as the proverbial “elevator pitch”—the main idea designed to capture your attention. 2020 may offer us the opportunity to make plain the gospel in simplest terms; Romans 8 may prepare us for it. But the year ahead may also find us most in need of hearing again the essence of what first captured us.