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The Water's Edge The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. David Collins November 1, 2026 Exodus 11:1–15:21 Summary: Pharaoh keeps offering deals right up to the end, but God didn't come to negotiate. Pastor Dave walks through the last plague, the first Passover, and the crossing of the sea, pointing out the seams in the text and in our theology along the way. He notices the "mixed crowd" of runaways who left with Israel and the one law that made them family, and the rabbis' story of Nahshon, who walked in until the water reached his nose. Two days before the election, with all of us standing at the water's edge, he asks why people fleeing in the night remembered to pack tambourines. Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

The Exodus in Us The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. Megan Collins October 25, 2026 Exodus 5-10 Summary:Stella the dog stops in the doorway of an open backyard, still acting as if she's on a leash. It becomes a picture of how many of us stay stuck in things we've already been freed from. Moving through Exodus, Ezekiel, and Luke 9, Pastor Megan explores how God gets the Israelites physically out of Egypt but spends far longer getting the Egypt out of them. The sermon asks what it means that Jesus opens the door, and that God is still at work changing hearts, including in a world with plenty of pharaohs. Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

The Window The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. David Collins October 18, 2026 Exodus 3:1–15; Exodus 3–4Summary: Moses stands at the burning bush looking at what God is looking at, the suffering of people in Egypt's brick pits, and keeps seeing his own reflection instead. Pastor Dave reads God's name, "I will be," as a promise to show up, and invites us to the window: look at what God sees, say it plainly, and let the need, not the fear of repercussions, decide what we do and say.Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Break Camp and Advance Preacher: Vanessa Urban October 11, 2026 Deuteronomy 1:6-7; John 10:10Summary: Vanessa Urban looks at Moses' words to a new generation of Israelites, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain," and at the Hebrew word nasah, which means pulling up a tent stake and moving on. Drawing on her own return to college after more than two decades, she asks what comfort is costing us and what the abundant life of John 10:10 actually promises. She asks individuals and churches to name the mountain they're camped at and to treat comfort as a question rather than a sin.Learn more or read past sermons: https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Too Much to Lift The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. Megan Collins October 4, 2026 Exodus 4:24–26; Genesis 17; Matthew 28; Luke 22 Summary: Starting with a story about a pine armoire and a balcony, Pastor Megan picks up Moses in Exodus 4 and one of the strangest passages in the Bible: the night God meets Moses on the road and tries to kill him, until Zipporah circumcises their son, which she connects to communion as a physical, communal sign that we can't carry the heaviest things alone. Learn more or read past sermons: https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Class TraitorsThe Untitled, Open-Ended Study BiblePreacher: The Rev. David CollinsSeptember 27, 2026Exodus 1:22; Exodus 2:4–25Summary:Exodus 2 is crowded with women who quietly defy Pharaoh, and the sermon follows Pharaoh's daughter, the Bible's first "class traitor," who raises Moses in both worlds on purpose. Moses becomes the second, siding with the oppressed in Egypt and again in Midian. The sermon asks what we're teaching our kids about which side they're on, and notes that God isn't named until verse 23, after five women had already chosen to do the right thing. Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Tov in the Middle of the Noise The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. Megan Collins September 20, 2026 Exodus 1:15–2:3 Summary:This week's sermon moves through the noisy opening chapters of Exodus — Pharaoh's order to the midwives Shiphrah and Puah, and the birth and hiding of baby Moses. Along the way, the Hebrew word tov (the same word God uses over creation in Genesis 1) surfaces in the account of Moses' birth, revealing God quietly at work in the middle of atrocity. Pastor Megan reflects on how God breaks through the noise of our lives through ordinary people, and how Sabbath rest is a temporary ark — not a permanent hiding place. Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

The Groan That Started It All: Beginning Exodus The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. David Collins September 13, 2026 Exodus 1:7, 1:8, 1:12, 2:23-25 SummaryKicking off a new series through Exodus, Pastor Dave traces how the book has repeatedly been cut, softened, or spiritualized by people in power — from an 1807 slave Bible that removed the story of the people's liberation to today's fights over what gets taught in schools. After a quick overview of the whole book, he lands on Exodus 2:23-25, where the Israelites' groaning and crying out... not a prayer, not the right words...is what it takes for God to hear, remember, look, and take notice. The same pattern shows up again in Jesus: liberation first, teaching second.Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Not Alone in the Wilderness Preacher: Christina Sparks With Bill Oelfke September 6, 2026 Jeremiah 29:4-7, Ezra 3:8-13 Summary This episode opens with an announcement from Bill Olfke on a new solidarity initiative for Haitian and other immigrant asylum seekers: church members mass-producing and wearing symbolic ankle monitors as a visible act of standing with those going through immigration proceedings. Bill dedicates the project to the memory of Pierre Damas Bell Pierre, a Haitian student who died by suicide in August after speaking publicly about the humiliation of wearing an immigration ankle monitor. From there, guest preacher, Elder Christina Sparks, a therapist and church member, connects the announcement to September's Suicide Prevention Month before turning to her sermon.  Tracing Israel's story from exile in Babylon to the rebuilding of the temple, she shows how God calls people to build, plant, and grow even in seasons that were never part of the plan. Drawing on her own story of plans that fell apart and a life that looks nothing like she expected, she makes room for the grief and joy that so often show up together, and asks where we might be holding back, waiting for normal to return instead of planting roots right where we are.

Joseph's Bones The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. Megan Collins August 30, 2026 Genesis 50:22-26

Fleeing Sin, Living in Grace The Untitled, Open-Ended Study BiblePreacher: The Rev. David CollinsAugust 23, 2026Genesis 39; Matthew 5:21-29Summary:Joseph's flight from Potiphar's wife gets read as a purity lesson, but Rev. David Collins argues it's really a story about power. People who have been harassed know all about what it costs to refuse someone who holds all the leverage. From there the sermon moves through Jesus's teaching in Matthew 5 on anger and lust, and into Bonhoeffer's distinction between cheap grace and costly grace: freely given, but never without cost.Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Joseph, Jesus and the Pit The Untitled, Open-Ended Study BiblePreacher: The Rev. Megan CollinsAugust 16, 2026Genesis 37; 39:21; 41:41; 50:19–21 (with a word-study detour into 2 Samuel 13)Summary:Finally into the Joseph story, Rev. Megan Collins traces Joseph from his father's favor and his "special outfit", through betrayal by his brothers, the pit, slavery in Egypt, a false accusation, and prison, all the way to Pharaoh's court. Along the way she notices how rarely God speaks in this story — and how, like Joseph, we usually only recognize God's presence looking back. She closes by tracing Joseph's story forward to Jesus, one of the first clear glimpses in the Old Testament of who is still to come.Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Defiled and Washed The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. David Collins August 9, 2026 Genesis 34-35 Summary Genesis 34 is the chapter nobody preaches. Dinah is assaulted, her brothers slaughter a city in response, and the word "defiled" runs through all of it three times, a purity word rather than a moral one. Rev. David Collins looks at what happens to people once they decide their enemies aren't dirty but contaminating, and what it costs when the only other option in the room is an old man who stays quiet and calls it wisdom. Then Genesis 35, where God doesn't render a verdict, and hands the family something to do with their hands instead. Bury the gods. Wash. Change your clothes. Part of the Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible at Maitland Presbyterian Church. Learn more or read past sermons: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Listening to the Women The Untitled, Open-Ended Study Bible Preacher: The Rev. Megan Collins August 2, 2026 Genesis 30 & 34 Excerpt: "We know women are often still silenced today. Stories of trauma and assault are swept under the rug out of an insistence for polite conversation or to protect powerful people at their expense. And not just about assault. Women’s voices are ignored in businesses, in doctor’s offices, in the pulpit, in their own homes. How can we hear the stories of assault if we aren't listening to their stories in general?If we take a closer look at Genesis, the ancient writers in Genesis are actually doing better than we are. They record the women's names and their stories. So we can insist on the bare minimum of what we see in Genesis: that the stories of these women are told, that the stories of others with a story like theirs, is told.  But we have to look to Jesus. And the bare minimum was never where Jesus stopped. Jesus went looking for the women no one else was listening to.  These women speak. And Jesus listens to them." Learn more or read past sermons: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons

Heel-GrabberThe Untitled, Open-Ended Study BiblePreacher: The Rev. David CollinsJuly 26, 2026Genesis 28–33Summary:Jacob's story runs from a womb-grab to a wrestling match by a river — Bethel on the way out, Peniel on the way back, with twenty years of scheming, marrying, and running in between. Rev. David Collins traces how the very trait that made Jacob a "heel-grabber" (never letting go) is the same trait that finally gets him truly blessed.Learn more or read past sermons:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.maitlandpres.org/blog/categories/sermons