Advertise on podcast: The Good Word- Sermons from First Christian St. Paul

In this All Saints Day sermon, Pastor Dennis retells “The Inner Light,” the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that the late Patrick Stewart himself named as his favorite. Picard’s ending, Dennis says, is a picture of what the church does on this day: “he is tasked with remembering and giving thanks for a community that is long gone. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Dennis Sanders, preaching | November 1, 2026 | All Saints Sunday Watch the worship Service: Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

Pastor Teresa uses that story to ask what Jesus means when he names the greatest commandment. The test question from the Pharisees wasn’t hard, and Jesus’ answer wasn’t new. As the sermon says, quoting Zina Jacques, “The failure lives in the space between knowing and doing.” We agree with the commandment on Sunday and have broken it by Tuesday. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Teresa Kim Pecinovksy, preaching | October 25, 2026 | Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

When Jesus asks for a coin, his questioners are exposed as compromised while his own pockets are empty, and the Greek word for "head" (eikōn, or icon) reminds us that we bear God's image and belong to God. All of us carry Caesar's coins, yet Christ, who had none, stood in our place and frees us to give ourselves fully to God. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Dennis Sanders, preaching | October 18, 2026 | Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

Opening with memories of his father's famously loud 1970s wardrobe, Dennis Sanders turns to the unsettling parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22 and explores how God's invitation is open to everyone, yet is meant to change us, clothing us in Christ's righteousness rather than leaving us as we came. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Dennis Sanders, preaching | October 11, 2026 | Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

#sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Loren Richmond Jr. , preaching | October 4, 2026 | Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

We can trust that God's household is built on daily need rather than status, because "there's bread enough for all of us." #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Teresa Kim Pecinovsky, preaching | September 20, 2026 | Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

We can trust that God's household is built on daily need rather than status, because "there's bread enough for all of us." #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Teresa Kim Pecinovsky, preaching | September 20, 2026 | Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

How many times are we really supposed to forgive? Jesus answers: more than you can ever imagine. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Dennis Sanders, preaching | September 13, 2026 | Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

In a world that craves comfort, Jesus calls his disciples to something harder and more meaningful. Though the disciples repeatedly failed and chose comfort over faithfulness, grace had the final word. We are made worthy not by our own effort, but by Christ. And it is in that spirit that we are sent out, not to offer easy answers, but to bring the consolation of a God who is present with us in both joy and sorrow. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Dennis Sanders, preaching | June 21, 2026 | Fourth Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

In a world that craves comfort, Jesus calls his disciples to something harder and more meaningful. Though the disciples repeatedly failed and chose comfort over faithfulness, grace had the final word. We are made worthy not by our own effort, but by Christ. And it is in that spirit that we are sent out, not to offer easy answers, but to bring the consolation of a God who is present with us in both joy and sorrow. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Dennis Sanders, preaching | June 21, 2026 | Fourth Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

In a world that craves comfort, Jesus calls his disciples to something harder and more meaningful. Though the disciples repeatedly failed and chose comfort over faithfulness, grace had the final word. We are made worthy not by our own effort, but by Christ. And it is in that spirit that we are sent out, not to offer easy answers, but to bring the consolation of a God who is present with us in both joy and sorrow. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Dennis Sanders, preaching | June 21, 2026 | Fourth Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

When Jesus sees the crowds oppressed and thrown down, he feels their suffering in his own body and responds not by doing all the work himself, but by commissioning unlikely, imperfect disciples—then and now—to participate in his ministry of restoration, proclaiming through their words and lives that the kingdom of heaven has come near. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Teresa Kim Pecinovsky, preaching | June 14, 2026 | Third Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

When we reach the end of ourselves and feel unworthy, unclean, or beyond help, God meets us exactly there — not with shame, but with grace, calling us beloved children and transforming us through mercy. #sermons #ordinarytime #firstchristianchurch Dennis Sanders, preaching | June 7, 2026 | Second Sunday After Pentecost Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

The Spirit of God, present since creation, moving powerfully in times of chaos and despair, falling especially on ordinary people of every age, language, and background, empowering them to imagine and embody a world shaped by God's love rather than by empire, wealth, or domination. #sermons #pentecost #firstchristianchurch Teresa Kim Pecinovsky, preaching | May 24, 2026 | Pentecost Sunday Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com

The Spirit of God, present since creation, moving powerfully in times of chaos and despair, falling especially on ordinary people of every age, language, and background, empowering them to imagine and embody a world shaped by God's love rather than by empire, wealth, or domination. #sermons #pentecost #firstchristianchurch Teresa Kim Pecinovsky, preaching | May 24, 2026 | Pentecost Sunday Watch the worship Service: Learn more about First Christian: ⁠⁠https://fccsaintpaul.org Support the ministry of First Christian: https://fccsaintpaul.org/give First Christian Church of St. Paul is a small, open and affirming, and multicultural church located in St. Paul. We are a local expression of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saintpauldisciples.substack.com