Blessed to be a Blessing...Spotting God in Unexpected Places
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, So many of our deepest questions about regret, faith, and life—come down to this: What does it take to be okay before God? This weekend we get to understand how the Bible holds together the ancient wisdom of the prophet Micah and the surprising grace of Jesus’ Beatitudes. In Micah 6, God reminds the people that before there was any failure, there was grace. And in Matthew 5, Jesus goes up the mountain not to give another list of spiritual requirements, but to announce blessing—especially for those who know they are poor in spirit,...
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One Light, Many Lamps - Spotting God in the Gifts and Graces of Others
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, This weekend at worship, we are excited to team-preach as this week is recognized as “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.” Coming from different Christian traditions -Lutheran and Methodist – we will reflect together on what it means to follow “one Light through many lamps.” We’ll explore how God shows up in the gifts and graces of others, how Jesus calls very different people into a shared mission, and how the church can be a place of unity and hope in a divided world. Pastors Tim & Chamie
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Come & See...Spotting God in Your Gifts & Graces
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, The Gospel of John tells us that the first spark of discipleship began with a simple question: “What do you want?” From that moment, two curious disciples followed Jesus—and everything that would become the global church began with their longing. We all come to Jesus looking for something: forgiveness, healing, wisdom, meaning, peace, direction. Like those first disciples, we are invited to “come and see” what only Jesus can give. This Sunday we’ll explore how discipleship starts not with certainty, but with desire. Not with...
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When God Calls You Beloved… Spotting God in Your Own Story
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, You Are God’s Beloved. At Jesus’ baptism, a voice from heaven speaks words that shape everything that follows: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This Sunday, as we celebrate the Epiphany season, we’ll explore why these words are spoken at life’s hardest moments—and how they echo into our own lives. Drawing on ancient Jewish tradition, story, and the promise of baptism, we’ll reflect on how God’s intimate voice still calls us by name today and reminds us of what is truly important. As a new...
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God’s Dwelling Place… Spotting God in Our Daily Lives
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Dear Church Family, This first weekend of 2026, we are saying goodbye to Christmas and hello to the season of Epiphany. We will be pondering the God who chooses to dwell amongst us. Epiphany is a season to notice, name, and nurture the light of Christ—in our lives, in our world, and in one another. It is a season of revelation — of light breaking in, of God showing up in places familiar and unexpected. The Wise Men saw more than a star; they recognized a sign pointing them toward Christ. In this new year, we commit ourselves to becoming God-spotters: people who practice noticing,...
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Christmas Continues with A Ceremony of Carols
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Christmas is a glorious time filled with joy and wonder, as we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Savior. In Benjamin Britten’s wonderful A Ceremony of Carols, he sets to music these words from the sixteenth century English priest and poet Robert Southwell: This little Babe, so few days old, is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at his presence quake, though he himself for cold do shake; For in this weak unarmed wise, the gates of hell he will surprise. What does it mean that the fulfillment of God’s eternal promise leads us to a stable in...
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Christmas Eve - Nighttime Service
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Christmas Eve Nighttime Service
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Christmas Eve - Afternoon Service - Plan A and Plan B
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
God is the master of meeting us in the messy and the chaos and the brokenness and helping us find an incredible new plan forward.
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Joseph's Dream
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and Peace to you, sisters and brothers in Christ. At all of our worship services this weekend, we will talk about another member of Jesus’ family tree: Joseph. Joseph rarely gets the spotlight in the Christmas story. He speaks no words, sings no songs, and yet his quiet integrity changes everything. This Fourth Sunday of Advent, we reflect on Joseph’s dream and the faith it takes to trust God when life doesn’t go as planned. As we prepare for Christmas, we’ll consider how Jesus meets us in the space where hope and fear collide—and why that meeting place is holy ground. Grace...
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Mary's Yes
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, This week we meet Mary, one of the most remarkable members of the family tree of Jesus that we have been exploring. God calls her into a future she never expected, and when God does, Mary should have been afraid—yet she responds with courage, trust, and a simple, world-changing yes. In her amazing story we discover that it isn’t fearlessness that makes us faithful, but God’s perfect love that casts out fear. On this 3rd Advent weekend, let’s explore together how Mary’s “yes” opens the door for...
info_outlineGrace and peace to you, my sisters and brothers in Christ,
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
These famous words are from Paul’s farewell speech to the Ephesian elders in the book of Acts (20:35). Paul is quoting Jesus here.
My question is: Do we believe it? Do we believe that giving makes us more joyful and more fulfilled than getting, hoarding, collecting, etc.?
This question is not as simple as it sounds. If we really want to get to the heart of the matter, then we probably need to make a bit of an inventory of how much we have and whether or not we need it all. When we discover that we have more than we need, then the answer to this question starts to get a bit more complicated.
So how do we grow in the joy of giving? How do we learn to trust that we have enough? Let’s talk about this more this weekend as we learn to walk with Jesus.
Blessings,
