Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 31 results

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Mary Austin

This passage from Matthew is an odd choice from the lectionary, for the day we have the most public display of our Christian faith. “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them,” Jesus says. Good advice. Then we go ahead and mark our foreheads with ashes for everyone to see. If we stop for bread and milk on the way home or go to an early service and wear our ashes to ...

2. Can I Get a Witness?

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

Mary Austin

As you all know, one of the pleasures of being part of a group — a family, a sorority or fraternity, or a church — is the ability to share memories with each other. We get to live through our experiences again through the memories, and other people fill in details we missed at the time. You know this happens with friends, or civic groups, or church friends. “Remember when…?” someone starts, and th...

3. Embarrassing Visits

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Mary Austin

The lectionary reading for today gives us verses 14-21, but that’s like reading the end of the mystery book without knowing the whole story. So, we have included all of the verses today. [Read John 3:1-21] For many years, I lived in a small town. It was fun to be able to walk to the community center, the hair salon, and the library. Since I could walk there, I went to the library a lot. I knew the...

4. Feet and Hearts

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

Mary Austin

A generation or two after Jesus’ life, when the gospel writers wrote down all their memories, the writers recalled this night differently. John remembered Jesus washing the disciples’ feet — a sign of being a servant to them, a nudge to help them serve others. Matthew, as well as Mark and Luke, all remembered a meal. Both can be true in the heart sense of true, because they call to mind the same t...

5. Get Out of the Seed Box

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Sermon

Mary Austin

Years ago, when my daughter was a tiny baby, just a couple weeks old, I could already feel the time zipping by. The five-pound newborn had turned into an eight-pound baby, and she already felt different when I held her. I looked into the future and could see the time zipping by. I lamented the speed of life to my dad, and he said, “Well, time only goes one way, honey.” It does only go one way. An...

6. Get Out of the Seed Box

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Sermon

Mary Austin

7. Gifts You Can’t Return

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Mary Austin

As we near the end of the Easter season, we hear Jesus speaking as part of his farewell message to his disciples. He originally spoke these words just before his death, to prepare his friends. These same words have the same special resonance for us now. The disciples have to learn to live in the world without Jesus’ physical presence, just as we do. We listen in, as Jesus spoke to God about his fo...

8. God’s Evite: Wait!

Philippians 1:3-11

Sermon

Mary Austin

On this second Sunday of Advent, we hear Paul's words to the church at Philippi, a church he knew well. I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jes...

9. Going Where Jesus Goes

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Mary Austin

Mark’s Easter story is missing something. I never noticed it before because the tomb was there… the women followers of Jesus were there, ready to honor his body. After Jesus’ death, they followed the body to see where it was buried. They waited, anxiously, until the sabbath was over, and then hurried to honor Jesus in death, and to grieve for him. We heard them fret about huge the stone in front o...

10. Growing Into Our Scars

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Mary Austin

There’s something about a scar that begs for a story. When I see someone with an intriguing scar, I always want to know how they got it. It would be rude to ask, and so I don’t, but I keep hoping it will come up in conversation. I wonder what lesson is behind the stitches on the knee …what adventure brought the scar on the forehead…what happened right before the mark on the arm? Sometimes it’s a s...

11. Hold the Candy

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Mary Austin

As we continue in the season of Epiphany, we hear more of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church. This reading is often read at weddings, and it’s fun to consider it as a letter to a whole community, rather than to an individual, or two people. If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and unde...

12. Jesus Gets a Business Card

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

Mary Austin

There’s a lot of talk these days in the non-profit and business world these days about “elevator speeches.” If we run into someone in an elevator, and they ask about our cause, our start-up business, or our church, we should be able to give a quick summary, short enough to fit the elevator ride. When people ask about my church, I say something like: “Gaithersburg is a multi-cultural church with me...

13. Joy on an Elephant

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

Mary Austin

On this third Sunday of Advent, we hear again from Paul’s letter to the believers at Philippi. Many scholars believe that he wrote this letter from prison, perhaps even during his last prison term in Rome, before his death, but we don’t know for sure. It’s clear that he wrote from a prison cell somewhere, and that he wrote about his deeply held idea of cultivating joy in all things. Rejoice in th...

14. More Than a Bad Day?

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Mary Austin

The late Mike Yaconelli, who was a youth ministry guru and the pastor of a unique and small church, told a story about preaching at his church. He said that nearly every time he preached, a young woman named Maria raised her hand and asked, “Now, what exactly are you talking about?” After one sermon, Maria, who was about sixteen at the time, raised her hand, and this time she asked if she could pr...

15. Never Really Alone

Mark 14:1-15:47

Sermon

Mary Austin

Kate Bowler is a professor who studies the Prosperity Gospel — the idea that God rewards us with cars and money and big houses, if we love God enough. Anything good in your life is a reward from God, so the idea goes, because you are especially worthy. The idea falls apart when you look at the reverse — all the faithful, hard-working, committed people who love God deeply… and don’t live in big hou...

16. Nose Hairs And Disney

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Sermon

Mary Austin

We continue listening to Paul’s letter to the early Christians in the city of Corinth. In this reading, he continues with his vision of the church as a body with many, equally important members. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks,...

17. Nothing Special Friday

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Mary Austin

If you were out at work this morning, or running errands, you know that most of the world is having a typical day today. People are going to the bank, to exercise, to shop for groceries. People are going to work and coming home. They are getting coffee, standing in line for a bagel, and chopping food for dinner. They’re typing away, writing emails, developing code, designing buildings. Other peo...

18. Ordering Up A Set Of False Gods On Amazon

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Sermon

Mary Austin

As this Advent season begins, what have you promised yourself about the holidays this year? Are you vowing to have a simpler Christmas? Planning to make time for some activity you love, or time with beloved people? What promises are ahead for your family? Do you know some kids who are waiting eagerly to see what Santa will bring? Adults who are waiting eagerly to collapse, and finally get some re...

19. Seeing What We Don’t Want To See

John 12:20-33

Sermon

Mary Austin

As we draw near to the end of Lent, how has your Lenten journey been? What spiritual practice did you add? What habit did you let go of to make room for God? I love hearing the variety of answers, such as reading a devotional each day, or dedicated time to read bigger chunks of the Bible. Maybe it is participating in a Lent Bible study or praying in a different way, just to try it out. Perhaps it ...

20. Soul Testing Kits

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Mary Austin

In this Easter season, we return to the scriptures where Jesus is saying goodbye to the people closest to him. They happen before his death, but they also have special meaning in the Easter season. Soon, the people who followed Jesus were going to have to live without him in their midst, in the same way that we do. We live with his resurrected presence. Here, he was giving them instructions about ...

21. Text Message From Jesus

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Mary Austin

It was often said that the late President Reagan was the “great communicator.” He was very talented, but the title really belongs to Jesus. In all the gospel stories that we have, he’s always communicating something. Every time he heals someone, there’s a message about God’s love for people. Every time he teaches, there’s a lesson about who God is, or who Jesus is, or who the people of God should ...

22. The Best Gifts

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Mary Austin

Our Christmas Eve reading takes a different turn this year, as we read from the letter to Titus. This is one of the shortest books in the Bible, and is almost never read in worship. But the writer has an unusual take on the gifts of Christmas. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives th...

23. The Body Of Christ, On Repeat

Luke 24:36b-48

Sermon

Mary Austin

Repetition is the key to success. Whether it’s learning a new soccer move, or a tennis swing, memorizing a poem, or learning a new language, we have to do it over and over again. We have to get the golf swing or the yoga move into our muscle memory. We have to learn just the right touch for sanding wood or kneading bread dough. We have to remember how to edit a video or play a song. It works with ...

24. The Gift Of — Darn It! — Waiting

Hebrews 10:5-10

Sermon

Mary Austin

On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, our season of waiting is almost over. Ready or not, Christmas is almost here. If that thought just made your heart beat faster with a feeling of stress, let’s take a deep breath together and listen for God speaking. Today’s reading comes from the letters to the Hebrews, written to connect this new, early faith in Jesus back to the traditions of Judaism. The author...

25. The Holy Spirit Brings Everyone To The Party

Acts 8:14-17

Sermon

Mary Austin

On this Sunday after Epiphany, we celebrate Jesus’ baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that comes to him that day. The reading for today looks at the same gift — the coming of the Holy Spirit — to a community of believers. Listen for God speaking: Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and praye...

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