Sermons by Bob Rhodes

Texts That Shape Us

We’re nearing the end of our series, drawn from Knowing Who We Are by Rev. Dr. Laceye Warner. This week we turn to the texts that inform and shape us, examining how sacred text can bring us relief, wisdom, and understanding, and what it means to read for the sake of salvation. Scripture: Nehemiah 8:1-10 (CEB), Psalm 119:97-104 (NRSVue)

Local and Connexional

Methodist churches have never operated alone. A congregation in La Jolla is tied to congregations across California and to congregations on the other side of the world, and that tie shows on ordinary Sunday mornings more than you might expect. In worship this week, we ask what it means to be cared for by people we did not choose, and to be counted on by those same people in return. Scripture: Romans 12:9-21 (NRSVUE)

Finding Grace

This Sunday begins “Knowing Who We Are,” a six-week series in our year of considering what it means to be United Methodist. We begin with grace: God loves us first, makes peace possible, and continues to work in us. Jesus calls disciples who worship and doubt at the same time, then promises to remain with them. We explore how receiving God’s grace prepares us to join the work God is already doing. Scripture: Romans 5:1-5; Matthew 28:16-20 (CEB)

Believe

This is the final Sunday of “Our Baptismal Vows.” We’ve renounced wickedness, accepted our role in resisting injustice and oppression, confessed Jesus as our Savior, and promised to nurture one another. As we conclude our series, we profess our faith openly and remember our baptism. Scripture: Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33 (CEB)

Nurture

Our series on the vows we make at baptism continues with the fourth promise, and this one belongs to the congregation rather than to the person being baptized: to nurture one another in the Christian faith and life, and to include in our care the people standing before us. Most of us were formed by someone who made that promise about us, a Sunday school teacher, a choir director, a neighbor. Few of us think of ourselves as the ones…

Confess

Our series on the vows we make at baptism continues with the third promise: to confess Jesus Christ as Savior and to serve him as Lord. Confessing means saying out loud who Jesus is to us, and allowing our confession to change the way we live in the world. Every one of us answers that question somehow, whether we say it or just live it. This week we explore what this means, and where we find the confidence to trust…

Accept

This week our series on the baptismal vows turns to the second promise: to accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression. In Isaiah, the devotion God looks for is feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger, and in Romans, Paul reminds a struggling church that they are children of God in a world still waiting to be free. There is power already in our hands, and we ask how to use it for…

Renounce

This Sunday we begin a new five-week series on the vows we make at baptism. We start with the first vow: to renounce. Renouncing means turning away from whatever controls us and deciding who we’ll follow instead. It’s an authentic look at who and what we serve, and at the freedom God gives to choose differently. Scripture: Joshua 24:14-18; Romans 8:1-11 (CEB)

This Holy Mystery

This is the final week of our Wesleyan Vile-tality series. Across the series we’ve looked at what changes when we stop managing how our faith looks to other people, the same freedom John Wesley found when he left the pulpit to preach in open fields among the people the respectable church had ignored. This week explores the challenges of a focus on appearance, and what might be possible when we let that focus go. Scripture: Luke 24:13-16 (CEB)

Upside Down

This is the final week of our Wesleyan Vile-tality series. Across the series we’ve looked at what changes when we stop managing how our faith looks to other people, the same freedom John Wesley found when he left the pulpit to preach in open fields among the people the respectable church had ignored. This week explores the challenges of a focus on appearance, and what might be possible when we let that focus go. Scripture: 2 Samuel 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42…