Rev. Venida closes out the Book of Amos sermon series encouraging us to embrace A Defiant Hope.
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Inspired by Amos, Kai Ngu gives a sermon on the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen?” Between the options of “chaos” (bad things just happen without a reason) or “purpose” (bad things happen for a reason), Kai proposes an additional way: mercy, or grace, as a good thing that happens without reason.
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Rev. Venida continues the Book of Amos sermon series looking at how shifts and changes in our life can ultimately lead us where we are supposed to be as we use our God-given power to create change.
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Jonathan Williams challenges our notion of Christianity. Is the way we worship really what God intends? Or are we complicit in a system of power that moves away from God and embraces an oppressive religious system?
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Kai (they/them) speaks about Israel-Palestine, an issue that feels overwhelming to lots of folks: What is the Christian stake in all of this? They will walk us through a historical and theological context that outlines Christian responsibility in the current oppression of and genocide against Palestinians.
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What 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.
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Please forgive the low quality of our stream. Unfortunately, we had streaming issues and had to stream from a phone instead.
What is your relationship to anger in this season? In what ways are you or aren’t you prone to suppression? Where have you seen rage practiced well? Does Scripture or Jesus provide healthy demonstrations of anger? Rev. Josh explores all of this and more as a disrupts our mind's relationship to anger!
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Rev. Josh reminds us that we are all dreamers. Like those gathered around the manger, we come to Christmas each year with awe, wonder, and holy imagination for what is possible. Like Mary, we treasure God’s dream in our hearts and commit to keeping it alive. Like the holy family, we believe and trust in a God who comes to us in the vulnerability of a child. How might we like Mary use our imagination to dream of a world and a church that is more just and peaceful?
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Rev. Josh makes a connection between the man beaten, robbed, and ignored by the religious elite in Luke 10 and the senseless violence, silencing, and marginalization of the LGBTQ+ community. However, the Samaritan had compassion. How might we use our empathy to advocate and care for those harmed or overlooked or how might we go about reclaiming our voices after being silenced in our closets?
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Thinking leads to action, so prayer will not only change my thinking but my living. But how do I face where my heart has turned to stone, the truth of harm I have participated in? The surprising, overwhelming mercy of God literally forgets what we have done, freeing us to risk praying anew, and seeking repair.
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Mary Obasi explores why it is hard to change even when our circumstances have in the parable of "The Rich Man and Lazarus".
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Rev. 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.
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A sense of urgency at work, in life, and certainly for the cause of justice, sounds like a good idea. But in reality, a culture of urgency can be soul-killing and undercut our essential work for justice and to fight racism in our world. We must identify the tyranny of urgency and choose to fight with a counter (in)urgency.
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Pastor Josh wraps up Our Values series by highlighting how love of God, self and others informs every part of our values and theology. We will explore how we can be intentional to foster a deeper understanding of God’s love for us, so that we can grow in our love for ourselves and ultimately then extend that love to others. Many of us have been taught in fundamentalist forms of Christianity that we are inherently evil, bad, broken, and flawed. It’s hard to love yourself when you’re taught that you’re not loveable. It’s no surprise then that the same folks who are taught to believe they are inherently evil, don’t love themselves and in effect do a really shotty job loving others. Because they truly are loving others as they love themselves, which is not very much. So let’s recalibrate our love this Sunday!
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Rev. Venida promotes a message of fierce, intentional, radical equity which is the result of the generous, disruptive, and unconditional love of God. The message centers a portion of the story in the Gospel of John where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus goes straight to the place that some people would avoid, and this sermon encourages us to boldly do the same to meet needs and creating access for those who society continues to marginalize.
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Rev. Josh Lee starts our Coming Home Series by highlighting the ways in which The Church has always been a messy progressive religon. He outlines how our views have progressed or differed throughout Scripture while also highlighting a disagreement had in the early church around the full inclusion of non-Jews. The Church of Jesus Christ has always been progressing, changing, adapting, and super freaking messy! But even amidst the mess some really beautiful things have been born when we allow ourselves to progress and embrace the mess!
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The Holy Spirit calls upon us throughout life, yet, how often are we receptive to the whisper? Some may think they are not worthy to be addressed by the God they've come to know, so they sink away from those fleeting moments. Others know so little that they miss it. In this Sermon, Rev. Josh unpacks an inspiring story from Acts 8, when one of the shunned of society, The Ethiopian Eunuch, bravely follows the whisper.
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This Sunday we began a new series: "Hidden Figures of Advent". Community Pastor Rev. Josh Lee took inspiration from the story of the three wise men and how the coming light of a star led the men to find hope and relief in a newborn baby. Are you in need of hope and relief? What burdens do you carry?
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We welcome yet another outstanding graduate from our Forefront Preaching Bootcamp, Denia Pérez (she/her/hers). Denia has been with Forefront for several years and this Sunday she'll preach about the story of Jael. Jael's story serves as a lesson in how we can betray traditions and use our privilege for good.
We're excited to welcome Forefront's Deacon Jim Rohner to deliver the message. Jim explores the story of Job. It's not a story that can be broken down into simplistic, easily conveyed morals. Instead, it's a complicated and nuanced look at a culture trying to find meaning amongst uncertainty, which in turn gives us permission to question the easy lessons that have been told we should believe. In fact, the story of Job has great relevance to what we're facing today with so many crises at our doorstep. With an ongoing COVID pandemic, climate change, an economic roller coaster, and social unrest, accepting uncertainty about the future has never been so difficult, especially when powerful forces seek to advance a narrative of certainty that keeps them in power.
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