Sermons & Announcements

What does it mean to follow Jesus when the way forward doesn’t look like winning?

In Matthew 16, Peter cannot understand why Jesus would choose a path leading toward suffering and death rather than power, victory, and survival. But Jesus asks us to see beyond the immediate moment. The Christian story is a long arc, one that passes through darkness before arriving at light, and through disappointment before redemption.

For this week’s sermon, Rev. Tim delivered a message from Bolivia on the importance of empathy and standing up for the marginalized.

What happens when God’s will meets our own? Jonah was dragged toward Nineveh through storm and darkness, resisting a mission he never wanted: mercy for Israel’s enemy. But Jesus offered something different. When a rich young man walked away sad, Jesus didn’t chase him down; he let him go with love. And when the crowds turned back, Jesus simply asked the remaining twelve, “Do you want to go too?”

This week we explore the story of Jesus walking on water after feeding the 5,000.

Rather than dwelling on the miracle’s mechanics or the common “have more faith than Peter” reading, Rev. Tim reframes the story as a mirror. Every character in the boat, whether afraid, adventurous, sinking, or amazed, represents a way we experience life’s storms.

In this sermon on the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Rev. Tim begins with Jesus withdrawing to grieve John the Baptist’s execution, choosing solitude over strategy and “rest as resistance.” But the crowds find him anyway, and Jesus meets them with splagchnizomai (σπλαγχνίζομαι), a gut-level compassion that turns scarcity into abundance.