John 1:1-18

Jeremy Richards

Words “are powerlessly powerful.” Words “make or break living breathing people,” says Noor Unnahar…

I once heard a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor, preaching on James 3, where she said our words create worlds, like bubbles that float away from us, and once the worlds are created, we can’t change them, can’t take them back. They float on to their recipients. The worlds we create with our words can be beautiful and life-giving, or they can be ugly and violent. They can stab without a single weapon, Noor Unnahar says.

What kind of world would God’s Word create?

Isaiah 35:1-10 | Luke 1:46-55

Jeremy Richards

In 2006, the popular singer John Mayer released a song called, “Waiting on the World to Change.” This song, which I’m sure most of you have heard, sounds at first listen like a catchy, even hope-filled song, but it is, in fact, one of the most hopeless songs I’ve ever heard. In the song, Mayer claims that he and his generation see the problems in the world, but the problems are too big for them to do anything about, and so they’re waiting on the world to change – apparently all on its own.

Psalm 46 | Colossians 1:11-20 | Luke 23:33-43

Jeremy Richards

For many of us, Grant Park Church probably seems like a pretty liturgical church, at least for those of us who grew up in what some call the “Free Church” – Pentecostal, Baptist, Anabaptist, and most non-denominational churches. In our last book study meeting, someone shared that they were surprised we use the lectionary the first time they came to worship here. In addition to some call and response in our service, the use of the lectionary is probably the thing that feels the most liturgical about Grant Park.

Isaiah 12 | Luke 21:5-19

Jeremy Richards        

On one hand, Jesus’ teaching from Luke 21 sounds pretty apocalyptic – wars and insurrections, earthquakes and famines, good people being slandered and hated and even executed. On the other hand, it sounds like the evening news. Nations are rising against nations. civil unrest is a common theme across the globe – governments are being toppled, there are corrupt elections, our own country is in the midst of an impeachment process. Global warming has, indeed, led to famines and other natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis. So Jesus’ teaching doesn’t sound too outlandish.

Luke 20:27-38

 Jeremy Richards       

To speak theologically means to speak of God. Theo means God and ology means the study of. Theology means to study God, and to speak theologically means to speak out of our study, out of our knowledge, of God. It’s God-talk, and there’s no form of speaking more important, more vital to being human, more life-changing than God-talk. In talking about God we talk about the ultimate Good, the Beautiful, the True. In talking about God, we speak also of ourselves, because we can’t know ourselves apart from God, which is what we talked about last week. God is all encompassing, eternal, infinite. In the words of the psalmist, God hems us in behind and before. God is our beginning and our end, and not just our beginning and end, but the entire cosmos’ beginning and end, the Alpha and the Omega. When we speak theologically, we try, in some sense, to get at the core of things, to touch on that which is eternal. Put most simply, we try to understand who God is, and out of that we seek to better understand who we are in God.

Luke 19:1-10

Jeremy Richards

Audio recording: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/11-03-19-taking-the-costume-off-jeremy-richards/id1479727299?i=1000455947994

Every year, when Halloween rolls around, I fail miserably. Every year I fail to come up with a costume, and every year I’m disappointed in myself. But there’s a reason that Halloween is so difficult for me, and it’s this scruffy thing on my face. When you have a beard, it severely limits what you can be for Halloween. For example, Esther was a pumpkin this year, and Brie and I wanted to be Peanuts characters and Esther could be the Great Pumpkin from the Peanut’s Halloween episode. But of course, all of the Peanuts characters are children. None of them have beards. So I either have to fully commit and shave my beard, which I never do, or I have to give up the dream, which is what I always do.

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 | Luke 18:9-14

Mitch Chilcott

Audio recording: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-27-19-life-review-mitch-chilcott/id1479727299?i=1000455205840

The mundane, yet somehow significant features of life. We tend move through this world in the day-to-day activities—grocery shopping, picking up the kids from daycare or school, cooking a 30-minute meal, picking up our dogs’ poop in the park. We may not hold up these things as all that significant or meaningful, but these common moments, these yearnings, may be much more meaningful than we first realize.

Jeremiah 31:27-34 | Luke 18:1-8

Jeremy Richards 

Audio recording: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-20-19-dont-lose-heart-jeremy-richards/id1479727299?i=1000454244538

As many of you know, I was in Switzerland only a few short weeks ago with my parents. We travelled all over the country and saw a number of beautiful cities and even spent two nights in a cabin in the Alps. But the longest single trip we went on was a day trip to Zermatt in the far southern part of Switzerland, almost to Italy. Zermatt is the small town that sits at the at the base of the iconic Matterhorn mountain. When we boarded the train to Zermatt early in the morning, we were nervous because the forecast for Zermatt and the surrounding area was cloudy. Were we going to take a 4 hour train ride, one way, and never get to see the Matterhorn?

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 | Luke 17:11-19

Jeremy Richards

Audio recording: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-13-19-3-years-later-jeremy-richards/id1479727299?i=1000453370711

3 years ago, almost to the day, on Sunday, October 9th, 2016, I walked through the doors of this church as a pastoral candidate – wearing a suit and tie – which was cause for the only harsh criticism I got that day – and my stomach full of butterflies. As I walked through the doors on the far right side, wondering if those were the right doors to enter through – something I’m sure all of us wondered the first time we came here – I wondered how this huge building could ever become familiar to me. As I met new person after new person – people I hoped would soon be my congregation – I wondered how I’d ever remember all your names, how I’d ever be comfortable with the title “pastor,” and how I’d ever get you to trust me enough to invite me into your lives.

2 Timothy 1:1-14 | Luke 17:5-10

Jeremy Richards 

Audio recording: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-06-19-children-or-slaves-freedom-or-obligation-jeremy/id1479727299?i=1000453223509

If you’re like me, you might cringe a bit at Jesus’ words this morning – at least the second part. The first part about the mustard seed isn’t so bad, but I’m guessing the verses equating the disciples to slaves aren’t the ones you’ll be posting on your Facebook anytime soon. I doubt this parable where Jesus makes himself, or at least God the parent, out to be a slave owner ever made it into a Hallmark card. And if your unchurched friend asked you what Christianity is all about, you probably wouldn’t say it’s like being a slave who does everything their supposed to but, in the end, is still considered worthless by their master. We’d opt instead for verses about God’s unfailing love, about Christ’s compassion, about reconciliation and restoration, about new creation, not worthless slaves.