Category Archives: Sermons

Get to know Beloved, Lenten reflection, Music, Sermons

Sermon from Rev. Chris Hamlin: In God’s presence

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Blue Transformation, by Macha Chmakoff

Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.

Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him. -Exodus 34:29-35

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Get to know Beloved, Racial Justice, Sermons, Social justice

For the Common Good: 1st Corinthians 12:1-11

We are currently without a lead pastor, but we are blessed to welcome numerous guest preachers each week. Our Beloved Jennifer Sanders preached the following sermon on Sunday, January 17th. 

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I spent some time on Friday following one of the heritage walks downtown in the Civil Rights district. If you’ve been downtown at all, you’ve probably passed and read some of those signs that mark significant events and places in Birmingham’s Civil Rights history. Though there are currently four separate march routes that spread across several blocks each, I’ve always read individual signs by happenstance, usually through my car window as I’m stopped at a red light.

I had never followed a whole path before. So Friday – on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s actual calendar birthday –  I decided to make the time to not only walk through Kelly Ingram Park, but also to trace the route that covers the Selective Shopping campaign, the economic resistance that led to peaceful protest and violent response.

Foot soldiers and firehoses. Pickets and police dogs. Even though we know the history – some of you lived through it – it never ceases to hold new lessons for us. It is a part of who we are and who we will become. It is a part of our context. Walking that whole path brings a vivid sense of our city’s history and of how that continues to shape our journey forward as we seek – or not – common ground and the common good.

This letter of Paul’s to the Corinthians is born of another specific context and it speaks into that context. It’s one of a series of letters – only 2 of which have been preserved – from Paul to a congregation that he had founded some years before. Much of the letter consists of his pastoral responses to their questions.

Read the full sermon on Jennifer’s blog…

For the Common Good sermon: 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11   

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Get to know Beloved, Music, News, Sermons

Farewell, Rev. Angie! From our parting service.

From the sermon delivered by Rev. Mary Bea Sullivan on the Sunday of Angie’s departure:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

And that wind/ruah/breath of God has blown in and through the people of God from the beginning of creation. Its Wisdom guided the People of Israel… Swept over Mary, carrying the Word made Flesh Swept over the early disciples of Christ as they gathered that Pentecost morning, accused of inebriation, but in fact, they were drunk with the Spirit.

That same wind of God swept over a young mother,  Angie Wright, who chose to go to seminary, not to become a pastor OR preacher, but to to study and figure out what exactly she believed! She thought she would always do social justice work, that her “call” was to do that work in the context of the church, and not to be a pastor. She was so convinced of this, she even tried to get out of taking a required preaching class.

But ruah, breath of God stirred in Angie’s heart a wind that could not be denied. Angie, as one unique manifestation of the image and likeness of God, could not deny the stirrings of the Spirit.

Continue reading Farewell, Rev. Angie! From our parting service. →

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Bible Study, Community Organizing, Sermons

Lessons from the early church: learning to listen

Imagine that you are part of a small church. Imagine that your small church is racially and culturally diverse.

Some people in the church have ancestral roots in the land where you live and the others come from foreign lands.

Some speak one language and the others speak another.

Some come from the dominant religious background and the others come from another.

One group has historically had the upper hand of privilege. The other has historically been looked down upon and denied basic human rights.

I’m talking about the earliest church. It’s their story as much as it is ours.

Continue reading Lessons from the early church: learning to listen →

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News, Sermons

A note from Angie: looking ahead

I am not a planner. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise to many of you.

When it comes to travel I make all my plans at the last minute and I make sure they are flexible because who knows what might come up to alter your plans.

In a way, I take heart in my lack of planning. The old saying makes sense to me, that “when people plan, God laughs.”

I’m not much of a planner but when I look back on my life, it makes sense. Even with all the mistakes I have made along the way, I can see some intelligent design, and the intelligence is not mine.

Continue reading A note from Angie: looking ahead →

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Bible Study, Immigration Justice, Music, Sermons, Social justice

Shake off the dust: or, leave it as you found it

I used to think that Jesus’ admonition to “shake the dust off your feet” was a silent, nonviolent and slightly snarky protest against those who didn’t welcome the followers of Jesus.

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But recently I joined faith leaders from across the country in a deep immersion in Honduras and Guatemala seeking to understand root causes of migration.

Now I hear Jesus saying,

“When you go into a community, go with your hands and pockets empty. Bring no gifts that leave room for empty promises, no gifts that can be used to manipulate, no gift that may insult or mislead. Come with empty hands and an open heart. If the community does not receive you, then leave, and as you leave, shake the dust off your feet. Take nothing that is not freely given, not even the dust on your feet. If the community doesn’t welcome you, leave it just as you found it.” Matthew 10:9-14.

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Bible Study, Get to know Beloved, Music, Racial Justice, Sermons, Social justice

Guest sermon from Beloved Leah Clements: How Will We Respond?

Beloved Leah Clements leaves to go to Candler School of Theology at Emory University next week, and we will miss her dearly. Her sermon last night was a call to action for us all.

She preached on this text from Mark 4:35-41:

“On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’

Continue reading Guest sermon from Beloved Leah Clements: How Will We Respond? →

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Music, Sermons

Resurrection Story

From a sermon read on Easter Sunday 2015

Rebirth by Terrance Osborne
Rebirth by Terrance Osborne

We tell the stories

Because they are our stories.

We tell the stories

To find ourselves,

To remind ourselves

Who we are

And whose we are.

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Lenten reflection, Music, Sermons

Lenten Reflection from Rev. Angie Wright: Will the real God please stand up?

We are made in God’s image, male and female. So says God in the first creation story in the book of Genesis.

Do we also make God in our image?

Maybe even more than we realize. The Biblical image of God seems two-faced: sometimes faithful, forgiving, peace-filled, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love – just as we are in our best moments.

At other times, God seems just as petty, jealous, violent and destructive as we can be.

Made in God’s image – that can be downright worrisome.

Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Rev. Angie Wright: Will the real God please stand up? →

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Get to know Beloved, Lenten reflection, Music, Racial Justice, Sermons, Social justice

Selma 50th Anniversary Bridge Crossing Jubilee: God’s Work Continues Among God’s People

Thousands returned to Selma this weekend to remember God’s liberation of God’s people and to rekindle a sense of purpose and unity, to go back into the world with eyes and hearts and minds wide open to those things that stand between the people of God and the justice, mercy and abundant life promised by God

The Selma commemoration is act of remembrance, of gratitude to God and people of faith and courage. It is also an act of recommitment to be about God’s work in the world –

Bloody Sunday brought to light the American state-sanctioned violence against African-Americans and the liberating spirit of God to bring an end to that violence and bondage.

That is the liberating work of the spirit of God even now, and if it is God’s work, it is our work.

As John Legend said, “Selma is Now!”

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, two to three Black people were lynched every week in the American South. The same number of Black people are now killed every week now by white police officers; a Black person is killed every 28 hours at the hands of police.

To end this violence and bondage is the liberating work of the spirit of God today, and if it is God’s work, it is our work.

This we know: Nothing and no one will stand in the way of the liberating spirit of God.

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