by Melissa Kelly | Nov 20, 2022 | Fall 2022, Megan Ramer, Sermons
Mary the Tower An opening question for our sermonic adventure: Of all the Marys in our gospels, WHICH MARY is the Mary in John 11 and John 12? If you think you know the answer, your answer may be complicated by what you hear here. The biblical world has been shaken by...
by Melissa Kelly | Nov 13, 2022 | Fall 2022, Megan Ramer, Sermons
Representation Matters Drama heightens in the exaggerated, fantastical tragi-comedy that is Esther. After a moment of reluctance, Esther rises to the occasion to successfully execute a plan to protect her people (and literally execute – on a 75-foot-high stake...
by Melissa Kelly | Nov 6, 2022 | Fall 2022, Sermons
An Ode to Those Who Say NO Before there was Rosa Parks, there was Ida B. Wells. Before there was Esther, there was Vashti. And after all of them was Brenda Salter McNeil. Those who say “No!” stand on the shoulders of many others who also had the courage to resist...
by Melissa Kelly | Oct 30, 2022 | Dustin Wilsor, Fall 2022, Sermons
I Will Never Leave You All Saints Sunday was a wonderful chance to eat together and share stories of our saints. We even got to make icons and hear part of the story of Ruth read out loud by four voices. Listen as Dustin reflects on the stories of his saints, his...
by Melissa Kelly | Oct 23, 2022 | Amy Epp, Fall 2022, Sermons
Bible’s Best Boy As much as we learned otherwise in Sunday school, Boaz is not the romantic lead of a storybook romance. He is, however, one of the best examples we have in the Bible of how to use privilege, power and wealth in a way that offers a place to those who...
by Melissa Kelly | Oct 16, 2022 | Dustin Wilsor, Fall 2022, Sermons
Horns of Every Shape and Size! The Bible has taught us well to allegorize stories by substituting God for the male figure in a story, and Jerusalem or Humanity for the female figure. However, Hebrew poetry lends itself to double entendres and multiple meanings. With...
