Prayer is powerful even when unseen, much like the invisible signals constantly surrounding us. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 shows us that true strength begins with humility and flows from the Spirit’s work within us. Through prayer, we are strengthened not only to endure but to perceive the vast, unsearchable love of Christ. As we walk into a new year, God invites us to become a church marked by prayer, dependence, and Spirit-given strength.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them something, they asked him to teach them to pray. Jesus responds by grounding prayer in relationship and reverence—our Father whose name is holy. The first requests he teaches are not about personal security, but about God’s kingdom coming and God’s will being done everywhere. This sermon invites us, personally and corporately, to begin the year by placing our lives and our church before God in prayer.

Prayer often feels awkward and inefficient, especially when life is busy, yet Jesus shows us that prayer is the necessary posture of surrender before faithful action. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prays with complete honesty and radical trust, submitting his will to the Father’s even in agony. His prayer does not remove the suffering but strengthens him for what lies ahead. As we begin a new year together, we are invited to lay down our will, trust God’s provision, and seek his guidance as a church and as individuals.

A three-week prayer guide as we head into 2026. Will you pray with us?

Christmas does not end on December 25; it opens the door to Epiphany, when Christ is revealed to the nations. In Matthew 2, God meets the Magi where they are, draws them by grace, and they respond with faith. Their faith leads to overwhelming joy and culminates in worship. Having encountered Jesus, they return home changed, reminding us that no one truly meets Christ and remains the same.

Prayers for the practice of Chalking the Doors.

George Herbert’s poem on prayer, as referenced in our January Parish email.

This Christmas Eve sermon invites us to move beyond sentimentality and rediscover the sacred mystery of Luke 2. Hope first breaks into the world through the most unexpected people—unclean shepherds—and it continues to come to the overlooked, the waiting, and the weary. The angels announce the fulfillment of a promise thousands of years old, and Mary ponders the miracle of God made flesh. We are invited to ponder as well, trusting that Christ comes to us not because we deserve Him, but because He loves us.

At Christmas, we often build a “tel” of expectations, traditions, and pressures that bury the wonder of the Incarnation. In Matthew 1, a brief angelic announcement to Joseph cuts through that pile-up by grounding Jesus firmly in God’s redemptive history, offering mercy in the face of fear and shame, and revealing the saving purpose of Christ. Jesus is not merely a symbol of hope but the Savior who delivers his people from sin. Like Joseph, we are invited to trust God’s word, act in obedience, and faithfully play our part in God’s kingdom—even when it costs us.

Isaiah 35 breaks into the darkness of judgment with a surprising vision of joy, singing, and restoration. God’s people rejoice not by ignoring suffering but by seeing it in the light of God’s glory and promised redemption. Jesus fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy—opening blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, restoring broken lives, and calling us to walk the Way. In this Advent season, we practice rejoicing as a foretaste of the joy to come, and we speak God’s hope to anxious hearts—including our own.

This sermon explores the Advent theme of waiting through the lens of Isaiah 11, John the Baptist, and the surprising promise of a shoot from the stump of Jesse. Christ is the Righteous Branch who will come again as the Righteous Judge to set all things right. Isaiah gives a breathtaking vision of renewed creation—where even nature itself is transformed—and we are invited to wait with hope. Advent forms us to wait actively: fasting before the feast, serving one another, and fixing our eyes on the One who is surely coming soon.

Advent begins by disorienting us from the familiar patterns of the world so that we can be reoriented to the presence and peace of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 2 gives us two promises—God’s presence among His people and God’s peace that transforms even the weapons of war into tools of life. When these promises grip our hearts, the only fitting response is to walk in the light of the Lord with worship and trust. In a disoriented world longing for hope, Advent calls us to live as non-anxious, welcoming people who embody the hope of Christ.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God—the One through whom all things were created and the One for whom all things exist. In Him all things hold together, even when our lives feel like they’re falling apart. Through His cross, He has reconciled us, taking our alienation and replacing it with holiness, hope, and peace. So the question we must face is simple and honest: Is Jesus enough for you?

We all live under stories—stories our families tell, stories we believe about ourselves, and stories that shape how we see the world. In Ruth 4, we see God redeeming the broken stories of Ruth and Naomi and weaving them into His greater story of grace and redemption. The good news is that through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who is both willing and able, God invites us to take our place in His better story.

Discover how Ruth 3 reveals the unseen current of God’s grace, showing how faith makes a plan, steps forward, and waits in hope—inviting us to trust our Redeemer Jesus Christ in every season of life.

In Ruth chapter 2, we see God’s unseen current of grace at work through the ordinary lives of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. What looks like a coincidence is really divine providence—God providing, guiding, and transforming hearts through everyday faithfulness. This sermon invites you to trust that same current of grace in your own life and to open your eyes to the ways God is already at work.