GCI Sermon

Repent or Perish Luke 13:1-9 (NRSV)   Tragedy.  Disaster.  Undeserved suffering.  These are the things which raise challenging questions regardless of one’s beliefs.  Perhaps as a Christian, we may think these questions present no challenge to the Christian faith.  But as Christopher J. H. Wright has expressed, believing in a God who is both all-powerful […]

Returning Us to Ourselves Luke 13:31-35 (NRSV)   Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest who works with gang members in Los Angeles. He’s done this for more than 30 years, and during that time, he founded Homeboy Industries where former gang members can find support, from job training to therapy and from tattoo removal to

When Jesus Says “NO!” Luke 4:1-13 (NRSV)   Saying “no” can be hard. Even the slightest request by another is hard to say no to because we hate to disappoint. Or we may fear our “no” will create conflict or tension in our relationship. Sometimes, this hesitancy to say “no” gets us saying “yes” to

Eye-Opening Worship & Prayer Luke 9:28-43a (NRSV)   Today is Transfiguration Sunday, which concludes the season of Epiphany. GCI typically follows the lectionary, which means this year, which is Year C in a three-year cycle, we have the option of revisiting the story of the Transfiguration as recorded in Luke’s Gospel. The story is found

Pressed Down and Shaken Together Luke 6:27-38 ESV   Malcom Muggeridge, a British journalist who came to Christ at the peak of his secular career, was forever changed by his time with Mother Theresa. He talked about her order coming to start a ministry in London, which happened to be during a labor strike in

The Blessed Poor Luke 6:17-19,20-26   When you think of the poor, who comes to mind?  Perhaps you think of someone who is homeless.  Or, maybe someone on a street corner asking for change?  Maybe you thought of one of those commercials featuring starving children in some distant land?  Does anyone you know come to

Put Out into the Deep Water Luke 5:1-11 ESV   You may have grown up with them in your town: The factory workers and trades people after a long shift, headed home with their lunch pails and hard hats.  They were blowing off steam, cracking their knuckles, stopping for a smoke.  As kids, we watched

An Unacceptable Prophet Luke 4:21-30 (NRSV)   Today’s message comes to us around the midpoint of the Epiphany season. We have been traveling mostly with Luke this Epiphany season and today we will use Luke’s account to travel with Jesus as he returns to his hometown. Luke positions the narrative to correspond to the beginning

Jesus Declares Jubilee Luke 4:14-30 ESV   You have to imagine this scene as it first happened. This is probably a relatively small, humble setting. The synagogue would have been crowded and well-used, not unlike a lively rural church that smells like old coffee and Pine-Sol. The congregants are the oppressed, occupied people of Israel.

The Beginning of the Great Reversal John 2:1-11 (NRSV)   If you remember the movie The Wizard of Oz, you probably remember at the beginning how the main character Dorothy Gale was feeling down and misunderstood by her family. Her dog Toto was taken away by the nasty lady Miss Gulch to be euthanized because he had chased