Date: October 4, 2020

Bible Text: Isaiah 5:1–8 | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

On this World Communion Sunday, we continue the sermon series Bill began of Imagined Scarcity, Abundant Reality. World Communion Sunday commemorates the common table all followers of Jesus share regardless of denominational affiliation. Before anything else, the church belongs to Christ as does the table to which he invites us. Today we remember this abundant reality

Date: August 16, 2020

Bible Text: Job 38:1–7 | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

  As we explore God’s gift of sacred song in this August sermon series, we turn to the Book of Job, a perplexing story in Hebrew Scriptures. A man named Job, simply introduced as righteous and beyond fault, is robbed of every blessing and comfort; his fortune withers, family perishes, and his health turns to constant pain

Date: July 19, 2020

Bible Text: Isaiah 44:6–8 | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

Click here to listen to this sermon. Is there any god besides me? No, there is no other rock; I know not one.—Isaiah 44:8   The Book of Isaiah is not the work of just one writer. Begun in the 8th BCE, the opening chapters of Isaiah condemn the Israelites with harsh

Date: June 21, 2020

Bible Text: Genesis 21: 8–21 | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

Click here to listen to this sermon. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. —Genesis 21:19 Jews, Christians, and Muslims throughout the world point to the same father of faith, Abraham. Our tradition holds that late in life, God came close to Abraham in the desert night,

Date: May 31, 2020

Bible Text: Acts 2:1–3; 1 Corinthians 12:4–13 | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

Click here to listen to the podcast of this sermon. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rush of mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared

Date: May 10, 2020

Bible Text: John 14:1–14 | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

Click here to listen to the podcast of this sermon. “Eternal God, Wash away our dust and fear. Gather us into your strong arms and stoop down to speak to us this day. Silence in us all the noise. Startle us with the eternal truth Jesus spoke and his

Date: March 15, 2020

Bible Text: Luke 8:26–37 (selected verses) | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. Click here to listen to this sermon. In January, Bill conceived of this Lenten sermon series to consider the defects of Jesus—those character traits society teaches to avoid in the pursuit of excellence—yet create the good life

Date: February 26, 2020

Bible Text: Genesis 2:5–8; John 8:2–11 | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

  Just as in English, if we were to play Scrabble in Hebrew you could experience how this language builds words, one letter at a time, with related meaning. When the words are read aloud their consonants echo, you subconsciously understand without explanation their connectedness. The word dam, meaning,

Date: December 15, 2019

Bible Text: Selected verses from John 1:1–14 at 8 a.m. | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

The most recognized three-word phrase in the western hemisphere is “In the beginning,” the opening phrase of our Hebrew scriptures. “In the beginning when God created…. God said let there be light…. And God said let us make humankind…” The ancient Israelites composed Genesis’ creation story—of God speaking

Date: December 1, 2019

Bible Text: Luke 2:8–20 | Reverend Dr. Jo Forrest

Click here to listen to this sermon. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ —Luke 2:15   Several years ago, my