If Only You Had Been Here
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

If Only You Had Been Here

This week we stand with Jesus, Mary, and Martha at the tomb of Lazarus and we do so from Dostoevsky's perspective. The power in the story of Lazarus, is not, for me, at the resurrection of the dead man, but when Jesus, who knows what will happen, still stands with the sisters and mourns with them.  This is the Jesus we serve, the man of sorrows who stands in the place of sorrow with us, and calls us to do the same with the world. 

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The Place of Sent: Part Two
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The Place of Sent: Part Two

This week we pick up where we left off last week.  Last week we focused on three ideas that seem so important, but often lead to blindness.  This week, we talk about what the place of sent delivers.  When we are willing to go to the place of sent, we receive, vision, healing, and formation. 

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The Place of Sent: Part One
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The Place of Sent: Part One

Mission or being sent was never meant to be a department of the church, being sent is what the church does - we are a sent people.  Went sentness becomes an optional program everything else that is good about the church becomes a blinding agent for the people that are supposed to see clearly.  In today's sermon we talk about the importance and centrality of being sent. 

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Throwing Stones
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Throwing Stones

For 2,000 years the church has selectively thrown stones.  Our stone-throwings has been camouflaged with words like purity, holiness, and righteousness; but in reality, it has been guided by the sins that make us feel most uncomfortable.  Jesus has an alternative to this, rather than throwing stones, letting them fall at our sides so we are free to fully embrace the other.  In today's message we talk about the importance of embrace. 

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Loaves and Fishes
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Loaves and Fishes

For the past several weeks we have been following John, as he continually introduces us to stories about people who are unable to see or truly hear what Jesus is saying due to the reality they submit to.  In today's text, we are invited into a different logic, and a reality that plays by a different set of rules. 

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Lest Anything Worse Happens
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Lest Anything Worse Happens

This week we take a look at the man healed by the pools outside the temple.  We take a dive into Israel's history in order to empathize with the pharisees, which helps us take a look at what is actually happening in this story.

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Woman at the Well
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Woman at the Well

This week we jump back into the Gospel of John and pick up with the famous story of the Woman at the Well.  In this sermon, we do three things: Dig into some history about who the origins of the samaritans, rescue the woman at the well from our projections, and get to the heart of the text, of the hospitality of the unlikely messenger. 

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Emmaus Sunday
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Emmaus Sunday

I'm not really into models when it comes to following Jesus or being the church, but if there is one, I believe it could be inferred from the Emmaus story in Luke 24.  So, this week we delve into Jesus' post-resurrection walk to the village of Emmaus as he enters into relationship with two disciples. 

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Easter: Live the Resurrection
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Easter: Live the Resurrection

The message we all have been waiting for, how does sin, chaos, and the cross work on an individual level?  There is no better way to explain this, than telling a good story that encompasses the other layers we have been talking about.  Today we will learn how sin and chaos work to dehumanize individuals, but the cross of Jesus is the project of rehumanization. In this weeks sermon we are working our way down through the orders of magnitude in the way of sin and the cross.  This week we discuss how sin and chaos both create and manifest themselves in mob logic; while the cross creates community for the good world.  

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Lent: The Cross for the Individual
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Lent: The Cross for the Individual

The message we all have been waiting for, how does sin, chaos, and the cross work on an individual level?  There is no better way to explain this, than telling a good story that encompasses the other layers we have been talking about.  Today we will learn how sin and chaos work to dehumanize individuals, but the cross of Jesus is the project of rehumanization. In this weeks sermon we are working our way down through the orders of magnitude in the way of sin and the cross.  This week we discuss how sin and chaos both create and manifest themselves in mob logic; while the cross creates community for the good world.  

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Lent: A Cross Formed Community
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Lent: A Cross Formed Community

In this weeks sermon we are working our way down through the orders of magnitude in the way of sin and the cross.  This week we discuss how sin and chaos both create and manifest themselves in mob logic; while the cross creates community for the good world.  

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Lent: A Systemic Perspective
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Lent: A Systemic Perspective

Over the next four weeks we are going to take a deep dive into sin and the cross.  Each week we will be discussing different effects of sin and the cross on different arenas through the universe.  This week we are taking a look at sin and the cross from a cosmic level.  

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Lent: A Cosmic Perspective
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Lent: A Cosmic Perspective

Over the next four weeks we are going to take a deep dive into sin and the cross.  Each week we will be discussing different effects of sin and the cross on different arenas through the universe.  This week we are taking a look at sin and the cross from a cosmic level.  

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Lent: The Cross of Christ
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

Lent: The Cross of Christ

This week we pivot from our series through John to begin a glimpse at the Cross of Christ through Lent.  Today, we simply cover the motive behind and the plan of God for the Cross; while sharing a couple of brief lists as to what the cross is not and what it is.

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The A Side: Let the Spirit Move
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The A Side: Let the Spirit Move

In today's sermon we look at a unique passage out of John 3.  It is unique because John is the only Gospel writer who will tell us the story of Nicodemus, and it is the only place where the idea of "born again" is used. More importantly, this story is less about a confrontation between Jesus and a Pharisee, and more an invitation from Jesus into the realm of uncertainty.

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The A Side: Jesus Cleanses the Temple - Part Two
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The A Side: Jesus Cleanses the Temple - Part Two

In our final week discussing the cleansing of the Temple, we talk about the ethic of exclusion and how it has plagued the people of God since the beginning.  After exploring the ethic of exclusion we're invited to be an example of God to the world by employing his generous offer of embrace. 

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The A Side: Jesus Cleanses the Temple - Part One
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The A Side: Jesus Cleanses the Temple - Part One

For the next two weeks we are going to take a look into the cleansing of the Temple.  In this week's message we are going to take the time to simply frame in the story. We are going to delve into some history and some really old ideas to better understand the context Jesus entered. 

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The A Side: Jesus Changes Us
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The A Side: Jesus Changes Us

This week, we are still in the same passage as we discuss change.  Often we, as the church, take it as our responsibility to change people.  We need to change their lifestyle, we need to change their political beliefs, we need to change their moral beliefs, or we need to change their social beliefs.   But that is not what we are called to do, we are called to introduce people to Jesus and leave it up to him to do the rest.  

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The A Side: Jesus Meets Us in our Prejudice
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The A Side: Jesus Meets Us in our Prejudice

In today's sermon we take a look at the idea of Jesus meeting us in our prejudice.  The scriptures tell us we were created in God's image, but our prejudices are the tools we use to return the favor - create God into ours.  However, if we are willing to follow God at all costs, our prejudices can be the place God meets us to change us. 

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The A Side: Everything Points to Jesus
Sarah Hansen Sarah Hansen

The A Side: Everything Points to Jesus

In this week's sermon we take a look into John's prologue. Often this beautiful text is reduced to a few doctrinal statements, but we think John is doing way more than creating dogma, he was showing the diverse group of Ephesus how all things point to Jesus. 

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