This Is How I Fight My Battles: Building Up
MGCLT Sermons
In today’s episode, we continue our series "This Is How I Fight My Battles," where we explore how organizing, standing up for justice, and living out our faith are acts of resistance and healing. We dive deep into the ways we build beloved community and the power of standing firm even when it feels like we’re standing alone. We also talk about how our faith compels us to speak truth to power and take bold action for justice. If you’re ready to make your fight a transformative and restorative one, this episode is for you. ✨ Special Announcement: Join Us for the 3rd Annual...
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This Is How I Fight My Battles: Standing Up
MGCLT Sermons
In today’s episode, we continue our series "This Is How I Fight My Battles," where we explore how organizing, standing up for justice, and living out our faith are acts of resistance and healing. We dive deep into the ways we build beloved community and the power of standing firm even when it feels like we’re standing alone. We also talk about how our faith compels us to speak truth to power and take bold action for justice. If you’re ready to make your fight a transformative and restorative one, this episode is for you. ✨ Special Announcement: Join Us for the 3rd Annual...
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This Is How I Fight My Battles: Speaking Up
MGCLT Sermons
This Is How I Fight My Battles — Truth over fear. Love over hate. Justice over silence. Join us this May as we learn to resist like Jesu
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Everything In-between: Grief and Hope
MGCLT Sermons
Grief is a healthy response to Jesus’ death and a valid way to enter worship on Easter morning. And yet, the women at the empty tomb are given hope amidst their mourning. The other disciples don’t believe the women’s message, but Peter, living in the in-between of grief and hope, runs to the tomb to see for himself. Grieving doesn’t have to make us hopeless. Hope can compel us to take action when we are deep in grief
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Everything In-between: Acceptance and Resistance
MGCLT Sermons
As Jesus dies on the cross, one thief resists him and the other accepts him as Messiah. Jesus resists the empire but accepts his fate. We also are called to resist systems of power and oppression, and yet we ultimately have to accept that Jesus dies—and one day we will too. We have to discern what to accept as given and what to resist, what is “God’s will,” and what is the result of our own unquestioned systems.
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Everything In-between: Power and Humility
MGCLT Sermons
In his final hours, Jesus redefines power through acts of humility, including sharing a final meal with his closest friends and those who will soon betray him. After breaking bread, the disciples argue about who is the greatest, but Jesus tells them that the greatest must be the least and the leader must be the servant, turning their hierarchy on its head. According to Jesus, humility is powerful, and real power is shown through humility. (We will take the elements of the bread and the cup together. So grab some bread and wine, grape juice, or whatever you have.
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Everything In-between: Shouting and Silence
MGCLT Sermons
Jesus doesn’t instigate his own parade. Instead, just his quiet presence alone inspires the multitude to shout out and praise God. When the religious leaders try to silence the crowd, Jesus tells them that the noise level isn’t the point—even the stones would cry out if they were silent. It takes wisdom to know when our voice is needed and when it’s just noise.
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Everything In-between: Righteousness and Mercy
MGCLT Sermons
The crowds grumble at Jesus’ self-invitation to stay with Zacchaeus, and their righteous indignation isn’t without cause. As a tax collector, Zacchaeus has extorted money and acted in collusion with the empire, using his position to oppress his own people. It is important to call out oppression, and yet, Jesus offers mercy. That mercy then begets more mercy as Zacchaeus, unprompted, offers to return what he took, and then some.
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Everything In-between: Faith and Works
MGCLT Sermons
We are not interested in perpetuating the stigma against Martha, which seems to belittle the real and faithful tasks she devotes herself to. We know far too many faithful church workers and dedicated “doers” who do not need their efforts to be diminished. We are also mindful that the emphasis on faith or works as the ticket to salvation has been a hotly debated topic in church history, leading to many of the fissures that divide the larger global Church. What we are interested in is finding that faith and works might not be as separate as we think.
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Everything In-Between: Lost & Found
MGCLT Sermons
Herding sheep is a never-ending task. As soon as one is found, another may go missing. Our lives have a similar ebb and flow—in one moment we might feel like we have it all together, and in the next, we’re struggling to survive. The promise of this parable is that no matter how “lost” we feel, the Good Shepherd is by our side.
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