Sermons – The Table UMC

ALL IN

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 18:29:57 +0000

Both spiritual practice and steadfast activism require a pattern of faithful presence over time (often with no visible result). Showing up, again and again, is the shape of both spiritual practice and activism.

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Steadfast Practice

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 19:25:28 +0000

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Free and be Freed

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 19:43:03 +0000

The Christian gospel is a liberation announcement — and being set free demands a response. If life in Christ is a life set free, what kind of world is that life called to help build?

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Resist Kingdom

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 18:26:07 +0000

Contrast the domination system against the kingdom of God: our faith gives us a vision of the world organized around love and justice rather than power and domination — a vision in tension with the kingdoms of this world.

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Love Your Enemy

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 18:06:56 +0000

One of the highest challenges to Christians. What does this mean, and ask of us, in relation to real-life “enemies”?

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Honor Human Dignity

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 31 May 2026 18:46:46 +0000

If every human being bears the divine image (which scripture says we do), then we must affirm a fundamental human dignity/sacred worth that obligates us to oppose systems that degrade human beings.

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Church / Movement

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 24 May 2026 18:43:35 +0000

Pentecost Sunday commemorates the Pentecost event in the book of Acts, when people from all across the world speaking many languages could suddenly understand one another through the movement of the Holy Spirit. Symbols are fire and wind.

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Being A Blessing / Being Blessed

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 17 May 2026 19:07:41 +0000

Being awake to God, learning to be comfortable in our own skin, leaning into our pain, being open to the journey, and embracing restfulness are some of the ways we’ve explored what it might look like for us to become more fully alive. Notice that what we have explored has been less about attaining something and instead more about becoming aware that the means are already ours. As author Barbara Brown Taylor puts it, “All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need.”

The creation story from the first chapter of Genesis makes one thing perfectly clear, the goodness of God is woven into the very fabric of creation. All that exists, shares in God’s own holiness. In that sense, we can think of being, as blessing.

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Being Restful

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 10 May 2026 19:08:46 +0000

Barbara Brown Taylor says, “In a world of too much information about almost everything, bodily practices can provide great relief. … In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life.” We continue this week with our Easter season theme, “Come Alive!”, offering an invitation for us to come more fully alive.

In the first version (yes, there are two) of the fourth commandment (Ex. 28:8-11), we read that God made the Sabbath holy (not just good), so we shall rest as God rested on the seventh day. In this second version of the fourth commandment (Dt. 5:12-15), we read that the Sabbath is a day of remembering that God liberated God’s people from slavery with a mighty hand and outstretched arm.

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Being On The Journey

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 03 May 2026 18:44:07 +0000

In our scripture reading for this Sunday, we find Abram setting out on a journey, heading into an unknown land. This is just one of many journeys we find throughout scripture – journeys taken by many prominent figures of our faith.

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Being Present With Our Pain

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 18:13:43 +0000

The book of Job is not an easy read. And it is deeply connected with Easter. Job’s story is essentially a passion narrative in wisdom form. Job suffers unjustly, is abandoned by friends, and cries out to a seemingly absent God — mirroring Good Friday. Job refuses false comfort or tidy theology. He brings his raw anguish directly to God rather than suppressing it. His cries mirror Jesus’ from the cross — “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22). Easter doesn’t erase that lament; it answers it. The resurrection similarly doesn’t explain the cross theologically so much as it transforms it. God’s presence is the answer. There is restoration on Easter morning — not because everything is explained, but because God shows up.

Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us that “pain originates in the body. It happens in the flesh, while suffering happens in the mind. It is difficult to bear or even be near either one without entertaining grave questions about divine justice”. Despite our search for good news, pain and suffering is all around us. How do you bring that to God?

She also affirms that “life can be as full of meaning as it is of hurt. The two have never cancelled each other out”, even if some religions promise to put pain and suffering away. How do we, as a community, pay attention to pain and suffering? What do we do about it?

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Being Comfortable In Our Own Skin

matt@thetableumc.org (The Table at Central UMC) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 18:49:23 +0000

John’s gospel begins by telling us that “the Word became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1:14) Reflecting on the gospel of John, preaching professor Karoline Lewis writes: “This is a full sensory Gospel. Sometimes it’s tasting (John 6), sometimes it’s smelling (John 11), sometimes it’s hearing (John 10), sometimes it’s touching (John 13:23), and sometimes it is seeing. This is what it means to be human and to experience relationships as human beings. A full, intimate, meaningful relationship will encompass the entirety of who we are and what it means to be human. God wants nothing less than this kind of relationship with us.”

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