Category: Sermons

Star Wars is no stranger to religious themes, and The Mandalorian is no exception. What happens when Mando’s strict code contradicts itself? Will he choose law or love? The Mandalorian’s way of mercy illustrates for us Jesus’ own injunction to choose mercy over sacrifice. This is a teaching with real-world consequences!

Breaking Bad was a show about a man who consistently chose to be bad. One decision after another took him down the path from beloved high school teacher to murderous drug kingpin. His transformation is a dramatization of what we all know: sin is insidious, and we feel trapped by our choices. Fortunately, Jesus offers us a way out of the Walter White Doom Loop – a way to freedom from and victory over sin.

Stranger Things runs on two things: nostalgia and a fear of the Upside Down. But is turning the world upside down really so scary? Maybe only to those who benefit from the way things are. The Upside Down could be a blessing to those who struggle for justice and hope in our day-to-day reality. How can we live upside-down lives?

Does the devil make us do it? The Lucifer TV show says no. And James (Jesus’ brother) agrees! James says temptation happens because of our own desires. So: how can we learn to want the right things?

Philosopher Jean Paul Sartre famously wrote that “Hell is other people.” But The Good Place begs to differ. According to the show, other people might be our best chance of truly being changed. How can we discover the path to authentic community? From Arizona trash bag to whole, healthy and loving? If we’re willing to choose vulnerability, we’ll find Sartre was wrong. It’s heaven that’s other people.

Before the Golden Age of Television was the rise of Reality TV. From Real World to the Bachelor to Survivor to cooking shows, we can’t get enough of real people on camera. Why is that? What does our obsession with reality television say about our desire for authenticity? And how can we resist the temptation to produce our own lives?

Marvel’s WandaVision explores our desire to hide from grief and pain. It’s easier to look to the past, to pine for the Good Ole Days than it is to imagine a future on the other side of pain. But Jesus assures us that the light of his truth is better than the darkness of our self-deception. By faith, we can hope that what’s ahead of us is greater than what lies in our past.

What does it mean to be a truly WILD church? On Pentecost Sunday, we’re looking back at what God has shown us since Easter and considering what it means to be a revolutionary church!

There’s a way of being religious that closes us up to people who aren’t like us. When we walk that path, we can’t be the people Jesus calls us to be to the people Jesus calls us to love. How can we remain open? We follow Paul to Athens to see a picture of bold, open faith – faith that can transform the wild!