Second on the Mount

"Hope in Action" – Matthew 5:14 Part III of the Sermon Series "Invest in Hope" Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 29, 2024. "• When we feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide help to those who need medical care, but hunger, homelessness and the untreated sick remain... • When we try to help with addiction and mental illness, but half of what we try doesn’t work, and half of what does work helps only for a while... • When we try to address those collective illnesses of the soul—those “isms” like classism, racism, nationalism—ways that the vulnerable are manipulated and the weak are dominated, and those sins remain, or return, or, like adaptive viruses, find new ways to spread... "we can’t think that what we do doesn’t matter because we failed to be God and save the world. "No. We are not saviors, we’re servants. What we do matters because we are expressing our faith, we are showing our love, we are witnessing to the grace of God. God is using us to witness to hope… ultimately the hope of the resurrection."

"Lived Hope" – Acts 1:1-11 Part II of the Sermon Series "Invest in Hope" Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 22, 2024. "Actively wait. Invest yourself in a community of those who will wait with you. Be open. Listen. Try things. And since I’m talking about the church, I’ll add worship, learn, pray, be there for others, and meet needs when you can. You see, so often the direction one is looking for is not found in isolation. It is found in being a part of a community of people seeking direction together while waiting for the Holy Spirit to provide it. It is so often in relationship with others, and with God, that life finds its purpose and hope. " Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/invest-in-hope-lived-hope/

"Hope in Christ" – Romans 8:18-25 Part I of the Sermon Series "Invest in Hope" Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 15, 2024.

"Getting to Know Jesus" – Luke 24:13-35 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 8, 2024. "This is the God that sees us for all that we are capable of being—the best and the worst of us—and who loves us anyway. With this God in our lives, we can be and do better because this God’s love meets us at our very worst. This is the God of the cross, where his son who is dying asks that God forgive the world that is doing this to him." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/getting-to-know-jesus/

"The How of Jesus" – Matthew 10:1-4, 22:15-22 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 1, 2024. "In a way, Jesus is forming his own party, but here is how he goes about doing it. He doesn’t start with ideology. He starts with the person. He starts with making a relationship with the person in front of him: Jew or Gentile, Samaritan or Roman, somebody or nobody, acceptable or unacceptable. Jesus gets to know the one in front of him. Then through meals, through conversation, through study and prayer with them and through other spiritual practices, he builds a community around him. He embraces debate among them as they try to figure out together what it means to keep the command of God to love God and others. They do not ignore the issues or the needs of the day. Of course they don’t. But, it is on the basis of relationships and as a community that they do so. It is not ideology first. It is not issue first. It is relationship first."

"Stay in the Boat" – Matthew 14:22-33 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, August 11, 2024. "Faith isn’t about performing miracles or achieving the impossible on our own. Faith is seeing the boat for what it is: a shared experience in community, where we lean on one another, find support, and face adversity together, all while trusting that God is with us." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/stay-in-the-boat/

“Just One More Thing…” – Micah 6:8, Mark 10:17-23 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 4, 2024. "Can we catch a glimpse of God’s will in what Micah tells us to do—to do justice and show kindness without separating the two? When we are wronged, or see wrongs in the world, can we remain kind? That’s a hard question to ask of us as individuals, and certainly a hard question to ask of us as communities of people. But should we ever deny the lifeline to others that we need when we have been understood and rightly judged for having failed?" Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/just-one-more-thing/

"Penetrable Souls" – Acts 10, selected verses Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 28, 2024. "The book of Acts lets us know that as soon as we think we have figured out what is good and right, that we now know who is always in the right and who is always in the wrong, we are in spiritual trouble. Of course, this chapter encourages us to be open to others, to be open to what we do not yet see or understand. Of course, it encourages empathy . . . being so interested in another that you forget yourself. Of course, this chapter has a lot to say about how we should resist those who seek to apply their hardening agents on our spirits to enlist our blind support. But this chapter is not finally about what we should do. It is a call to prayer." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/penetrable-souls/

"On the Move" – 2 Samuel 7:1-14a Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, July 21, 2024. "To think we have God figured out, to think we know all we need to know about God, to think God believes and wants exactly what we believe and want is to try to build a box around God. But God is here to say to Nathan, God is here to say to us, not, 'Thanks for the shiny box,' but instead, 'Try to keep up.'" Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/on-the-move/

"Are You In?" – Galatians 2:11-21 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, July 14, 2024. "Paul raises up the cross and calls for faith—Jesus’ faith, not the faith of an eye-for-an-eye and revenge. He calls for Christ to live in and through us. And Christ will, when and where people embody his heart for peace despite what their fantasies might be." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/are-you-in/

"No Place Like Home" – Mark 6:1-13 Sermon by the Rev. Rachel H. Vogado, PCUSA minister and Media Assistant at Second Presbyterian Church, who was invited to preach on Sunday, July 7 while the pastors were away.

"Open Wide Your Hearts" – 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, June 30, 2024. "Beloved, open wide your hearts to the reconciling love and grace of God, for now is the time, today is the day; open wide your hearts so that having been reconciled by God you may be reconciled to one another. Whether rich or poor, honor or dishonor, known or unknown, in need or in plenty, in sorrow or in joy, whether black, white, or brown, whether republican, democrat, or independent, whether Dominican, American, or any other nationality, open wide your hearts, receive the grace and love of God, and receive the new life in Christ, a life that is shared, a life that is abundant and eternal, and experience a life that really is life." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/open-wide-your-hearts/

"Not Just a Children's Story" – 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, June 23, 2024. "[David and Goliath] is a story the people of God need to remember. It’s a story that reminds us God’s help can come from unlikely places. It’s a story that tells us outward appearance isn’t everything. It’s a reminder that we have an invisible ally who loves and supports us." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/not-just-a-childrens-story/

"Family Recognition" – Luke 15:11-32 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 16, 2024. "At the end of God’s day, we are all related. At the end of God’s day, we’re all family; Jew and Gentile, sinner and saint, male and female. In the biblical worldview, all human issues are family issues, and all human problems are family problems. . . . When harm is done to another, whether of the spirit or the body, the Father is saying, 'Oh, this brother of yours. This sister of yours.'" Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/family-recognition/

"Say That Again" – Luke 15:3-10 Sermon by the Rev. Tom Are, Jr., Interim Pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL and our Evening VBS guest speaker, from Sunday, June 9, 2024. "Jesus is telling us that we have no idea how much joy God finds in us. In you. That just your existence is a source of joy for the living God. Jesus is clear. God knows an unreasonable amount of joy because of you—and that is something Jesus evidently thinks we need to hear more than once."

"God's Memory" – Exodus 16:2-13, Psalm 105:37-45 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, June 2, 2024. "When God saw Israel, God remembered Abraham. . . . The psalmist is reminding the people of faith of God’s remembering for a reason: they are to remember, too." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/gods-memory/

"Buying In" – Acts 8:1-24 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024. "We can all lose perspective at times and think it is about us. We can all get tricked into believing that this world is going to be saved by some pristine political or social ideology or agenda and the church just needs to fall in line and help. What our passage reminds us is that all we do even in addressing issues and serving others will not solve the world’s problems. What it all can be is a witness to God’s unconditional love and saving grace." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/buying-in/

"Seeing What Cannot Be Seen" – Acts 2:1-13, Romans 8:22-27 Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024. "Here we don’t have to get lost in God told me this or God showed me that. We can focus on this inner realization that the person sitting beside you in the pew right now, and the people you least understand out there, and the people who are constantly being defined to you as different—and maybe even people to demonize—every single one of them is connected to you. They are no different from you. We are all children of God. We all need the same grace, and the same hope." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/seeing-what-cannot-be-seen/ Sung Prayer for Illumination: Spirit of the Living God. TEXT and MUSIC: Daniel Iverson, 1926. Text and Music © 1935 Birdwing Music (admin. EMICMGPublishing.com). CCLI Song #23488. Used by permission, CCLI #20105821.

"Bridging the Gap" – John 17:6-21 Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, May 12, 2024. "Jesus was sent into the world, set apart for a unique purpose to reveal the love and grace of God to a world that he knows will not listen, yet it is the same world that God so loves, as the famous verse puts it. As the Son of God and the Son of Man, Jesus bridges the gap between God and humanity, between heaven and earth, between power and principalities and the poor and the oppressed. Being sanctified in the truth of God’s word, the disciples then—as we, the disciples now—are set apart to do the same." Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/bridging-the-gap/

"Upside Down Kingdom" – Mark 10:17-31 Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, May 5, 2024. "Jesus’ love leads. It leads and redirects and corrects and turns us right around. It isn’t afraid to offend. Jesus’ love shows us what we really are, not to shame or defeat us, but to deliver us. Are we ready for this kind of loving gaze?" Read the manuscript on our website: https://www.spres.org/upside-down-kingdom/