Abiding Love Sermons

The calling to love God with the whole of our being is the foundation of Biblical tradition and practice. It is as central to Jesus' ministry as it has been to the faith of all his Israelite forbearers. Jesus teaches this love in a variety of different contexts in the Gospels as "the greatest commandment" and as "the key to inheriting eternal life." In Jesus' spiritual heritage, it is the morning prayer of the Israelites: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."(Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

It is a calling upon our lives today, just as it was upon the lives of believers in Jesus' time. When he teaches on this truth, Jesus always connects it with loving others ... "love your neighbor as yourself." For him, the two are inextricably linked: we love God best when we love others as we would be loved ourselves.

In this Pentecost season we will be exploring our calling to love God in all that we say and do - with all that we are - and to manifest this love in our relationships with others.

October 5 - Loving God with all your Strength
October 12 - Loving Yourself
October 19 - Loving Your Neighbors

Sunday, September 21, 2014

"Loving God with all your Soul"

When Jesus is challenged to name what is most important in life, he says it is to love God by loving others as we ourselves are loved. And he says, as Moses did before him, that this love is to be all-encompassing: to love with heart, soul, mind and strength – the whole of our being. As we explore how that touches ground in our lives, we contemplate what it means, not only to love as a soul, but in truth to BE a soul! Today we engage the reality of our whole, true selves and how God is calling forth the very essence of us as a gift of love to the world.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The calling to love God with the whole of our being is the foundation of Biblical tradition and practice. It is as central to Jesus' ministry as it has been to the faith of all his Israelite forbearers. Jesus teaches this love in a variety of different contexts in the Gospels as "the greatest commandment" and as "the key to inheriting eternal life." In Jesus' spiritual heritage, it is the morning prayer of the Israelites: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."(Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

It is a calling upon our lives today, just as it was upon the lives of believers in Jesus' time. When he teaches on this truth, Jesus always connects it with loving others ... "love your neighbor as yourself." For him, the two are inextricably linked: we love God best when we love others as we would be loved ourselves.

In this Pentecost season we will be exploring our calling to love God in all that we say and do - with all that we are - and to manifest this love in our relationships with others.

September 28 - Loving God with all your Mind
October 5 - Loving God with all your Strength
October 12 - Loving Yourself
October 19 - Loving Your Neighbors

Sunday, September 14, 2014

"Loving the Lord your God with all your Heart"

The calling to love God with the whole of our being is the foundation of Biblical tradition and practice. It is as central to Jesus' ministry as it has been to the faith of all his Israelite forbearers. Jesus teaches this love in a variety of different contexts in the Gospels as "the greatest commandment" and as "the key to inheriting eternal life." In Jesus' spiritual heritage, it is the morning prayer of the Israelites: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."(Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

It is a calling upon our lives today, just as it was upon the lives of believers in Jesus' time. When he teaches on this truth, Jesus always connects it with loving others ... "love your neighbor as yourself." For him, the two are inextricably linked: we love God best when we love others as we would be loved ourselves.

In this Pentecost season we will be exploring our calling to love God in all that we say and do - with all that we are - and to manifest this love in our relationships with others.

September 21 - Loving God with all your Soul
September 28 - Loving God with all your Mind
October 5 - Loving God with all your Strength
October 12 - Loving Yourself
October 19 - Loving Your Neighbors

Sunday, September 7, 2014

"Loving God"

Pastor Brad Highum talks to us about how to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."

The calling to love God with the whole of our being is the foundation of Biblical tradition and practice. It is as central to Jesus' ministry as it has been to the faith of all his Israelite forbearers. Jesus teaches this love in a variety of different contexts in the Gospels as "the greatest commandment" and as "the key to inheriting eternal life." In Jesus' spiritual heritage, it is the morning prayer of the Israelites: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."(Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

It is a calling upon our lives today, just as it was upon the lives of believers in Jesus' time. When he teaches on this truth, Jesus always connects it with loving others ... "love your neighbor as yourself." For him, the two are inextricably linked: we love God best when we love others as we would be loved ourselves.

In this Pentecost season we will be exploring our calling to love God in all that we say and do - with all that we are - and to manifest this love in our relationships with others.

September 7 - Loving God with all your Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength
September 14 - Loving God with all your Heart
September 21 - Loving God with all your Soul
September 28 - Loving God with all your Mind
October 5 - Loving God with all your Strength
October 12 - Loving Yourself
October 19 - Loving Your Neighbors

Sunday, August 31, 2014

"Love + Life" "Sweet and Salty"

by Pastor Lynnae Sorensen

How do you understand the Cross?
We explore the sweet and the salt of the cross.

Last week Simon Peter and the disciples finally seemed to understand who Jesus really was, but this week their ideas are dashed as Jesus firmly corrects Peter's ideas of the way to salvation. They would not be saved by a military intervention, political coup or divine mediation. Instead, Jesus love, suffering and compassion would mark the transformation of the world. Sometimes, we will be corrected and sometimes we will be disappointed in the ways of God. Today we will take a look at how much trust has to do with suffering and with our eventual salvation.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

"I Believe"

a sermon by Pastor Lynnae Sorensen

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH—MASAI CREED

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love.

He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Lord Help Me! He said what?

When Jesus is confronted by a Canaanite woman begging for his help – someone from outside “the tribe” – he responds to her with one of the ugliest racial epithets of his time. He says the gifts of God are not to be thrown to “the dogs.” How could Jesus – of all people – say such a thing! But what’s even more amazing is that this woman doesn’t back up a step! “Even dogs deserve crumbs from the master’s table.” We begin to realize that something profound is happening here, something new and expansive about God and humanity is being revealed. We are invited to delve into the nuance and subtleties beneath the obvious repugnance of Jesus’ statement. And how, in the face of the woman’s rock solid faith, something new is awakened, and God’s miracle power begins to flow.