Category: sermons

Sermon 4/23/2023

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Romans 8:31-35 

Like the author of the letter to the Romans in 8:31-35, I too am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. As God’s beloved we are never left destroyed. Yes, tragedies hit, life happens, and we are often tossed about like a boat in a storm. In our humanness, we are not exempt from brokenness.

In the presence of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit we are restored. We find wholeness. Unfortunately, this assurance doesn’t always reveal itself in ways that remind that we are connected to the fullness of God.

This is where Jesus’ resurrection, appearance to his disciples, and the proclamation of the “Great Commission” is important. When Jesus sent out his followers that were with him that day as well as all those who have continued to walk through the waters of baptism or proclaim him as Savior, we became a part of the promise of connectedness.

Our Church takes seriously this role of reminding that world that nothing can come between God and all of God’s people. As our denominational identity statement states:

“We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of the one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.”

We are called to any act of love that connects the wholeness of God through our resurrected Christ, to a broken world. We are not sent to break down, but to build up. We have a purpose to live into, and as Yvonne Gilmore from the Office of General Minister and President reminds us our current mission “We are called to be a new church for a new time.”

I look forward to furthering the role we are to play in extending the wholeness of Christ.

Brett

Sermon 4/16/2023

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

We all know what it means when something is “out of commission.” When we face a health condition, illness, or upcoming surgery we know that regular patterns of behavior may not be possible for a while. When the car is in the shop, an appliance is broken, or things aren’t producing as expected, we often turn the phrase “out of commission.”

So then, when something is rip-roaring ready to go, we could assume that it is “in commission.” In the final story in Matthew’s gospel found in Matt 28:16-20, Jesus commissions the disciples. He makes them ready, gets them in the game, throws them into action, and sends them out. He commissions the disciples. Jesus motivates and anoints; he commands and instructs. Jesus puts the disciples into commission with the simple verbs of “go, make, baptize, and teach.”

Well, these instructions may sound simple enough, but we know the reality is a bit more complex. These were the instructions for how to live life and serve faithfully when Jesus is no longer walking the earth. The very last line of Matthew’s gospel are Jesus’ own words, (Matt 6:20b) meant to bring support and encouragement. “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Holy Spirit is the gift Jesus will leave with them, as well the memories, example, and scriptural understanding to love as he did. The tools are there. The on-the-job training that the disciples have been going through has reached completion and now the time has come for them to continue on, as Jesus showed them.  

This Sunday, April 16th we too wrestled with Jesus commission of “go, make, baptize, and teach.” The joy of Easter continues as we confirm that death did not have the final and we, Sun City Christian Church, will continue serve faithfully for Christ is still with us. I look forward to worshipping with you. 

Brett

Sermon: 4/9/2023 Easter Sunday

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

Jesus prepared his disciples and loved ones (and us) as best he could. We know that each of his followers responded in their own ways with doubt and separation being a popular choice but we also know that belief was ever present, especially amongst the women of Jesus’ life.

The women listened and believed and understood Jesus when he said that after the third day he would rise again. Our scripture account for Easter Sunday will come from Matthew 28:1-10.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary will go to see the resurrection promise fulfilled. A great earthquake will rumble, an Angel will appear, and belief will send the women forth to tell of what they have encountered at the tomb. They will see Jesus for themselves and proclaim to the disciples, “Christ is Risen!”

We too will arrive at the empty tomb and see the promise fulfilled and the glory of Christ all around us!

Sermon 4/3/2023 – Palm Sunday

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

Our journey with Jesus through the season of Lent has delivered us to Palm Sunday. I am so grateful for your willingness to try new things and to experience God in different ways. During our journey we worshipped with our senses: touch, taste, sound, sight, and smell. Together we have deepened our relationship with God and each other and in so doing, Christ has been praised.

And so now, we stand outside the gates of Jerusalem, as Jesus approaches humbly on a donkey. It is one of the most surreal stories of our faith as a cheering crowd greets Jesus with a parade of palm branches waving, Hosannas shouted, and cloaked thrown before his path.

The stimulation had to be intense. It was sensory overload, and everything was firing at once. The feel of palm branches clutched in hand and the taste of dirt being kicked up as the mob ran behind, along and before this parade of one. The odor of a sweaty crowd packed along the road together. The shouts of Hosanna ringing in the ears, all get a view of the one being herald as the Messiah.

Nothing had ever happened like this before. A haze of disdain and righteous anger hung in the air as those the religious zealots and political elite fought to disguise their fear and maintain their power. In the days ahead tensions will soon erupt and the cheers will turn to curses, devotion for Jesus will evolve into denial, and faithful hearts will be broken.

But for now, we too join with praise and adoration. Christ has come! Salvation will be ours! Hosanna in the highest. 

Sermon 3/26/2023

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

Throughout the Old Testament, an “aroma” is mentioned as something pleasing to the Lord, especially those from sacrifices made before the Lord.

The very first mention of God smelling the aroma of a burnt offering is found in Genesis 8:21. Scholars argue that the importance of the aroma is about atonement and the people of God acknowledging sin, more than the smells themselves. God was pleased with the sacrifice and Noah’s honoring God’s righteousness requirement and in return gave the promise to never again destroy the earth and everything upon it with a flood.

In Leviticus 1:9, a pleasing aroma is mentioned in connection with the various offerings of Jewish tabernacle worship. It can be argued that here too, that it is the action rather than the actual smoke of the burnt offering that God favors.

The intent behind the offering is what seems to matter most as God desires authentic devotion and acts of love. Jesus demonstrated this shift in understanding that shift our understanding as disciples away from presenting God with burnt offerings and allowing our lives and actions to become the aroma pleasing to God.

Ephesians 5:2 offers what many claim in identifying Jesus death on the cross as the greatest gesture of love imaginable, “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

This Sunday we will conclude our Lenten journey of worshipping through our senses, by highlighting smell. Aromas intended to be pleasing to the Lord will be discovered in Matthew 26:6-13 where a woman anoints Jesus with an expensive jar perfume.

We will explore the ramifications from this story as well as our own faithful actions as disciples of Jesus.

Sermon 3/19/2023

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

“Oh, the things I have seen,” Mildred said laughingly during her speech at her 90th birthday party. She went on to recount life as a child during the great depression. She spoke of witnessing the world change in the face of wars, manufacturing advancement, technology, climate change, and culture shifts.

She waxed eloquently before shifting her conclusion, “But, there are so many things I have yet to see.” Mildred went on to share her desire to see wars and violence end. To see the divisions of people based upon race, gender, and sexual orientation to cease. To see the love of Christ be shared by people who call themselves Christian.

“I want to see more of Christ in you and in me and I sure hope it won’t take us another 90 years to figure out how,” Mildred said as she sat down to a standing ovation from her family, friends and church community.

This Sunday we celebrate our sense of sight. May we too wrestle with the “Christ-like” things we have yet to see as his faithful followers. In the text for Sunday, Matthew 20:29-34, Jesus heals two blind men who cry out, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” Together in worship we explore the things we might see and do together if we lived into a similar request.

Sermon 3/12/2023

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

“O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.” – Psalm 34:8

I love food.

I love everything about food, especially how it tastes. Before ever entering my mouth, food has tantalized at least two other senses (most likely sight and smell, if not touch and sound). Taste is the last sense to fire when eating and by the time the morsel finally touches my tongue the anticipation is through the roof. Taste is that final, sealing moment that ties everything together to remind me how amazing it is to eat.

Taste is our theme sense for this Sunday. We will set out like the Psalmist to “taste and see” that God is good. We will also challenge ourselves with other words that Jesus has to say about taste in Matthew 16:24-28 as we continue our Lenten journey to the cross with him.

Sermon 3/5/2023

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

We enter into the second Sunday of Lent remembering that we are on a journey of repentance and reconciliation. It is an opportunity to deepen our relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. A common goal during Lent is to experience Holy in ways that we might ordinarily miss.

We have all of the tools necessary to recall an already deep relationship with a loving and compassionate God. When we pray through our senses, we enliven memories and experiences that keep us connected to our Creator and the beloved that God has created.

This week we will focus on the sense of hearing. Sounds can move us to instant memory recall or propel us to another place. One of my favorite sounds is the ocean. The rhythmic cascade of the tide coming in and going out has a way of resetting something inside me. Listening to the waves puts me “in sync”.

And so when I read Matthew 13:1-9, 18-26, I can almost hear what is happening behind Jesus when verse 1 tells us that Jesus sat down by the sea and he taught the people parables. I can hear the sea, just by thinking about it.

I can put myself in the crowd listening to Jesus tell stories in ways that they could understand (well, at least have context and awareness of the illustrations he used even if the message didn’t register right away.)

Sermon 2/19/2023

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

This Sunday we celebrate the transfiguration of Jesus as found in Matthew 16:21-17:8.

Transfiguration Sunday marks the end of Epiphany, the season in which we discern how to make Jesus real for the world. It is our task to make the love of Jesus manifest around us.

In the first part of our story for Sunday, Jesus has been showing his disciples the inevitable, that he must go to Jerusalem and endure much suffering before he will rise again. Six days after this teaching he takes Peter, James, and John and goes up a mountain. While there his disciples notice that Jesus face shone like the sun and his clothes were a dazzling white. Elijah and Moses are standing there with him and his followers are overwhelmed.

What an amazing place to be in and a moment to be a part of. A natural response is to desire to stay there and Peter tells Jesus of their willingness to stay in the holy moment forever. God interrupts with a similar message to that of the day of Jesus’ baptism, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” So, we will celebrate this transformation as this moment compels us to keeping moving forward on our journey of revelation as his followers.