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"Wonderful Words of Life" Sermon Series

This series invites us to consider new and deeper meanings in Bible characters and events that may be very familiar and yet can also be disturbing and challenging. As people who embrace the scripture as “wonderful words of life,” how do these passages call us into deeper discipleship today?

Slow Cooker Faith

October 29, 2023 • Pastor Beth Snarr • Mark 8:22–26

With the help of the study, “Bible Stories for Grown Ups” by Pastor Josh Scott, this series will invite us to consider new and deeper meanings in Bible characters and events that may be very familiar and yet can also be disturbing and challenging. As people who embrace the scripture as “wonderful words of life”, how do these passages call us into deeper discipleship today?  “This story, the opening of a person’s eyes in stages, is the human experience. It is the way the journey works. It takes time. A lot of patience. Kindness toward ourselves and one another. Transformation is less a microwave and more a slow cooker.” pg. 113

Repent and Repair

October 22, 2023 • Dr. Harold Henderson • Luke 19:1–10

With the help of the study, “Bible Stories for Grown Ups” by Pastor Josh Scott, this series will invite us to consider new and deeper meanings in Bible characters and events that may be very familiar and yet can also be disturbing and challenging. As people who embrace the scripture as “wonderful words of life”, how do these passages call us into deeper discipleship today?  “Yes, Zacchaeus repents, but he also takes another step in the process: repentance leads to repair. Perhaps we could say that repentance and repair are two sides of the same coin. It’s not simple embracing different information in our brains, but it’s also allowing that new information to transform our hearts, which will lead to a different way of being in the world.” pg. 92

Use It or Lose It?

October 15, 2023 • Pastor Beth Snarr • Matthew 25:14–30

With the help of the study, “Bible Stories for Grown Ups” by Pastor Josh Scott, this series will invite us to consider new and deeper meanings in Bible characters and events that may be very familiar and yet can also be disturbing and challenging. As people who embrace the scripture as “wonderful words of life”, how do these passages call us into deeper discipleship today?  “Needless to say, I have come to realize that the standard interpretation of this parable - an interpretation I held and preached for many years - is just wrong. It paints a portrait of God as a punisher, as one deepens the suffering and injustice of the world. That is not the God Jesus knew. The more I dig into the context, both culturally and within Matthew’s Gospel, the more I think our interpretive lens for this story has been shaped by American values. It’s all about success, after all. To be faithful means to work hard and reap a reward. I don’t think this story by Jesus is affirming this lens. He’s actually challenging it.” pg. 69

A Whale of a Tale

October 8, 2023 • Pastor Beth Snarr • Jonah 4

With the help of the study, “Bible Stories for Grown Ups” by Pastor Josh Scott, this series will invite us to consider new and deeper meanings in Bible characters and events that may be very familiar and yet can also be disturbing and challenging. As people who embrace the scripture as “wonderful words of life”, how do these passages call us into deeper discipleship today?  “At the beginning of this chapter, I said that I think the story of Jonah conveys one of the central messages of the Bible. Let’s unpack that now. I think the point the Book of Jonah is making has to do with how we see God ourselves, and our relationship with our enemies.” pg. 49

Abraham’s Awakening

October 1, 2023 • Pastor Beth Snarr • Genesis 22:1–14

With the help of the study, “Bible Stories for Grown Ups” by Pastor Josh Scott, this series will invite us to consider new and deeper meanings in Bible characters and events that may be very familiar and yet can also be disturbing and challenging. As people who embrace the scripture as “wonderful words of life”, how do these passages call us into deeper discipleship today?  “Could this story be symbolic of the journey many of us have been on, a leaving behind of understanding of God that have proven too small, and an embracing of a vision of God that is more expansive, compassionate, and inclusive than we thought possible? May the question for Abraham and for us is this: Will we leave behind the familiar and journey into the unknown?” pg. 34

The Flood and a New Future

September 24, 2023 • Dr. Harold Henderson • Genesis 7:1–10

With the help of the study, “Bible Stories for Grown Ups” by Pastor Josh Scott, this series will invite us to consider new and deeper meanings in Bible characters and events that may be very familiar and yet can also be disturbing and challenging. As people who embrace the scripture as “wonderful words of life”, how do these passages call us into deeper discipleship today?  “Human violence is not dissipating with each successive generation but multiplying and creating the context for the story of Noah and the Great Flood: the earth is full of human violence… A creation that had been integrated is becoming dis-integrated. The order spoken into existence by God is being dis-ordered. The result is the collapse and destruction of human civilization.” pg. 12   “We aren’t left without safe passage, however. In this story, Noah and his family are provided with an ark to guide them through the Flood and into a new future. With that in mind, what might the arks available to us look like?” pg. 16

Looking Through New Lenses

September 17, 2023 • Pastor Beth Snarr • Psalm 119:89–105

With the help of the study, “Bible Stories for Grown Ups” by Pastor Josh Scott, this series will invite us to consider new and deeper meanings in Bible characters and events that may be very familiar and yet can also be disturbing and challenging. As people who embrace the scripture as “wonderful words of life”, how do these passages call us into deeper discipleship today?  “We need grown-up lenses because these stories really weren’t written for children. They were written for grown-ups. They are nuanced and complicated, but doing the hard work of reading and interpreting them through these new lenses is worth it - it opens up new layers of understanding and possibility.” pg. xxi