Sermons on Gender
The Grace of Motherhood: A Blessing for All Seasons
Listen to Minister Lea’s sermon Mother’s Day sermon on The Grace (and messiness) of Motherhood—a blessing unfolding in every season of life. Whether you’re in the springtime of new life, the summer of bustling activity, the autumn of wisdom’s harvest, or the winter of reflection and rest, motherhood, in all its glorious forms, bears God’s fingerprints of love, sacrifice, and hope. – Minister Lea Gilmore’s sermon from May 11, 2025
Reproductive Rights: Privleging the Rights of Those Who Breathe
Pastor Tom continues the series on hot button social issues with this sermon on reproductive rights. He talks about the sacredness of a person’s autonomy and our calling to stand for a woman’s automony over her body as equal to a man’s. Biblically he surveys ways we can be guided and inspired by scripture while unflinchingly criticizing the injustice woven into it. He ends with hope as the actions we take today more than simply a vision of what we wish for.
Compassion and Justice for Transgender People
We all seek to match who we feel like on the inside with how we express ourselves on the outside. Transgender people were assigned a gender at birth that does not match who they are on the inside. As people of faith we are called to welcome, stand with, listen to, and fight for transgender people who are seeking to answer God’s calling to be who God created them to be on the inside and out. – Pastor Tom’s sermon…
Silenced No More
The enslaved young woman in our story has her gift of seeing the future taken from her without her consent. Like so many people women in the Bible she is unnamed, silenced, and discarded. In the sermon today, Pastor Tom imagines how the story might have unfolded from her perspective and in her voice.
God Can Use Your Half-Hearted Welcomes
Even if you can’t yet welcome others with all of your being, God can use that. That is what Naomi learns after shunning Ruth during her journey home to Bethlehem. God is pulling us all toward greater inclusion and community.
Changing the World is Like Road Construction: Summer Sermon Stories Series
Queen Vashti was brave enough to be forgotten. To follow Jesus and change the world, we have to be brave enough to be forgotten, as well.
We Have So Much in Common: Summer Stories Series
Adam’s first words to Eve are about how much they have in common. The story of humanity, however, soon turns to a focus on our differences. We need to remember Adam’s focus on our shared humanity and a shared creator. This is the first Sunday of our Summer Stories Sermon Series.
Breaking Down the Barriers
The story of the Apostle Philip meeting the Ethiopian Eunuch on the road is a story of two people breaking down the barriers society has built between them. God is calling us to do the same every day.