Sometimes we feel like we are strangers in our own home. Like we don’t belong. Sometimes we feel depleted and lack the strength to advocate for ourselves and others because of the dominant powers and systemic barriers all around us. Rev. Venida reminds us that we all belong and helps us consider how we can give Power to the People as we begin our Lift Every Voice sermon series.
Read MoreRev. Venida celebrates Children's Day with a reading of When God Made You by Matthew Paul Turner. This book reminds children that they are deeply loved, and that they each have been created with unique gifts that fit into God's divine plan.
Read MoreRev. Venida culminates the These Bodies Sermon Series with a message on Body Image. With so many brand and beauty standards attempting to influence how we present ourselves, as well as expectations surrounding how our bodies should behave, Rev. Venida challenges us to renew our minds and to be transformed to the extent that we see ourselves as the beloved of God.
Read MoreAs a proud elder, Rev. Venida shares a sermon on aging. From the time we are born, our bodies begin the aging process. With each birthday, we are continuously aware that growing old can come with its fair share of challenges and a host of struggles. How can we live each day with grace and dignity as we age? How can we focus on what we “can” do and not simply what we “can’t” do? How can we rededicate our aging bodies to God as a form of worship?
Read MoreRev. Venida celebrates the Good News of Easter Sunday with a message highlighting the power given to us through the resurrection. Through this gift, we can freely embrace our own mortality, and recognize the freedom we have been granted to pursue abundant life through the life-giving love of Jesus.
Read MoreRev. Venida shares a message on the story of Job as we continue the Disruption sermon series. Everything Job holds dear — his property, his family, his wealth, his physical health — has been taken from him. Reduced to suffering and misery, Job laments his circumstances and tries to make sense of what has happened to him. How do we also seek to make meaning of our pain?
Read MoreWhat happens when humans disrupt God’s plan for justice? What should be our collective response when we do? Rev. Venida continues our Disruption Sermon Series sharing the good news that God can give us the strength to recreate God’s plans in our own lives with new vision and intention that propel us forward to bring change and liberation to those suffering.
Read MoreRev. Venida continues the Disruption Sermon Series highlighting the story of Peter and the disciples as they navigate the stormy seas. She looks at how God can keep us afloat, and work for us and through us in the midst of life’s uncertainties.
Read MoreRev. Venida continues the second Sunday of Advent with a focus on sowing joy. When we sow a seed in the soil, something so small becomes something so big, so beautiful, so nourishing. Expectant mothers Mary and Elizabeth experienced joy that was so big, so beautiful and so nourishing with the seed of a visit. This sermon explores how the small seeds we sow can yield joyful returns.
Read MoreRev. Venida opens the Advent season with our new Sermon Series - Those Who Dream - from the Sanctified Art curriculum. She reminds us that those who dream do not fall asleep to the realities of the world. God prompts us to pay attention to where God’s dreams for change and new life are emerging. In Advent, we remember that God’s ultimate dream is to be intimately connected to us — to come down and dwell among us.
Read MoreRev. Venida opens up Forefront’s new sermon series with a spotlight on women - women who are courageous and unyielding - women who persevere and refuse to be silent. Women who have for centuries, and will continue to, used their voices and God-given gifting to help transform and liberate lives. Rev. Venida encourages us to learn from their stories and use our voices as well.
Read MoreOur Prayer Changes Sermon Series continues with a focus on The Atmosphere. Rev. Venida invites us to reflect on how prayer can change not just us, or our path, but it can also change the atmosphere. She will offer ways our presence can transform the environment around us to create spaces of edification, fulfillment and healing.
Read MoreIn this second week of the Prayer Changes Sermon Series, Rev. Venida shares statistics and examples related to the spiritual discipline of prayer. She invites us to consider the expansiveness of prayer, something that opens us up to more of God’s greatness, beauty, and love where it changes the path that we think we are on, to a shift in perspective and purpose giving us renewed hope.
Read MoreIn this 6th message of the Sacraments of the Church sermon series, Rev. Venida preaches on the sacrament of Confession including its origin, how it is embraced today, and how a practice that has been used as a tactic to exert power and harm others has also been used to share one’s truth and connect more authentically with God, self and others. All this and more…
Read MoreOur Sacraments Sermon Series begins with a spotlight on marriage. Rev. Venida talks about the history of marriage, how it has evolved over time, and how we can reposition our ideas about marriage to further incorporate Jesus’s words to love God, ourselves, and others. This can start with marriage partners focusing on the love they have for each other, and then extending that love to intentionally work as agents of change through God’s love, so that double the lives can become recipients of Jesus’s love, healing, power, and joy.
Read MoreGod has lavishly showered on us messages of abundance and hope. Unfortunately, the cares of this world can sometimes be overwhelming and cause us to fall into despair and doubt who we are and our purpose in life. In a continuation of The Parables sermon series, Rev. Venida reminds us of the importance of investing and nurturing those things, again and again, that will allow us to constantly bear good fruit.
Read MoreRev. Venida continues our sermon series with the Parable of the Unjust Judge. This sermon allows us to reflect upon who the heartfelt pleas for justice all around us and how we can answer the call.
Read MoreThe Pentecost Sunday sermon allows us to consider living life more abundantly through the power of the Holy Spirit. It allows us to think critically about the “what do you do?” question, and consider reframing the answer with a response, other than a job title, that is affirming and encouraging.
Read MoreOur Communion and Cross sermon series explores what it means to be Born Again. We take a look at the story of Nicodemus and the way he was intrigued by Jesus life’s life – the way he touched and healed people who were deemed unlovable and untouchable, and the compassion he showed for everyone regardless of their status. Jesus helped to broaden his understanding of what it means to be born again, and perhaps this sermon can guide us in exploring the same.
Read MoreNOTE: Due to a recording glitch with the livestream, there are about three minutes missing from this sermon. There will be a brief pause around 10:40, and then the sermon will resume as delivered.
The third week of the Communion and the Cross sermon series continues with a look at the restrictions around receiving communion within various faith traditions. The good news is that we can freely come to the communion table, without barriers or restrictions because there is no gatekeeping.
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