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This week in worship, Pastor Vince and Pastor Rebecca celebrated 10 years of ministry at Bethany. Vince preached on the ways that following Jesus calls us to love in unexpected ways.

Pastor Rebecca preaches 4 mini-sermons about how worship shapes and transforms us and why, as a church, we do what we do.

Introducing our Keep Church Weird worship theme for September, Pastor Vince’s sermon reflects on the first time he realized it was “weird” to be a church person, and on the many ways that Jesus calls us to stick out in love.

The kind of sermon that elicited applause from the congregation! Rev. James Pennington preached from the book of Luke* for the final week of Show and Tell: a faith made for sharing. Joining the disciples who walked the road to Emmaus on the first Easter, Rev. James said we better pay attention, we better look around, because Empire teaches us to categorize, but Jesus teaches us to recognize. Instead of labels, Jesus gives us names. Give it a(nother) listen and then ask yourself, “Were not our hearts burning within us???” * Luke 4:18-19, Luke 24:13-16, 30-32

Preaching on things lost and found, Pastor Rebecca’s sermon this week tells the story of Lambie by Susannah Pratt, while also citing Kathryn Schulz' Lost and Found.

Pastor Vince’s sermon centers an historical marker in Kentucky commemorating the site of a divine revelation. He ponders on a world where more moments of spiritual connection are given tangible, historic form.

Pastor Rebecca on the importance of hiring the right nanny for your baby. (Kidding! Sort of!) We kicked off our Show and Tell theme with some of the 5 words the gospel-writer would use to describe Jesus (bible-based, guest, revelation) and some of the 5 words he’d use to describe us and other disciples (remember-ers, witnesses) as he shows and tells in Luke 24: 28 - 32. (*Plus* stories about nannying.)

To close out our “Bless this Mess” theme, Pastor Vince preaches about the temptation to resolve the conflict between our messiness and blessedness. To paper over our problems or deny our goodness. But God calls us to hold both fiercely.

Last month, Pastor Vince led a group of Bethany members on a pilgrimage along St. Cuthbert’s Way in Scotland. This week in worship, we heard reflections from some of those pilgrims describing their journey.

As part of our “Bless this Mess” worship theme, Vince preaches about the challenge of human relationship and the inconvenience (and necessity) of human connection.

In his first sermon back from his trip to Scotland, Pastor Vince reminds us that when trying to do difficult tasks, it generally doesn’t help to add a countdown. On the subject of mortality, he also reminds us that a countdown to death doesn’t do us much good either.

On listening toward enthusiasm, a hermeneutic of generosity, and the ways that being part of a faith community leads to a family resemblance (or, the ways that dogs start to look like their people, but that's neither here nor there).

Rebecca’s sermon this week covered Luke 4:14 - 21, some Seminary 101 vocab words, the Golden Girls theme song, and lessons learned by pausing for CTA trains.

Lists from a best friend, an op-ed columnist, the Apostle Paul and Romans 12: 9-21 — on what is and isn’t Christian. BONUS CONTENT: A Grieved Soul

Pastor Rebecca kicked off our Theme Songs series wondering: Could she be a show-runner? Hear some of her 3-season arc for a prestige program based on Samuel’s life, and the theme song for the same, sung by his mother in 1 Samuel 2. (The donkeys are from Season 2, Episode 1 but that got cut for time.)