Transforming Unbelief into Belief, Mark 9:14-29

When Jesus comes down from the mountain after his transfiguration, he and the three disciples are confronted with a scene of chaos. The other disciples are arguing with the scribes about casting out a demon and healing a boy. The father of boy explains to Jesus what is happening and confesses his own unbelief mixed into his faith. What are we to make of such a story from the Bible? Is this a reminder to us that even small faith with unbelief can help us to grow in faith? Can that very unbelief be transformed?

Image: Jesus casting out demons, photo taken by Nick Thompson, mosiac located in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna. License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 (No Changes made). Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pelegrino/4670683038

Believing Even if You Haven't Seen, John 20:19-31

Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed?” Why is this so important for us today? Guest preacher Harrison Northey helps us to understand that we are truly blessed in our faith when we haven’t seen Jesus with our physical eyes.

Image: Doubting Thomas puts his finger in the risen Christ's lance, See page for author, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Doubting_Thomas_puts_his_finger_in_the_risen_Christ%27s_lance_Wellcome_V0034835.jpg

Fear and Anxiety in an Age of Faith, Luke 12.32-40

Fear and anxiety are part and parcel of this life in a broken and sinful world. What are we to do about these feelings when they come upon us? Father Jeremiah reminds us that in this Age of Faith we can look to God’s promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ and poured upon us by the Holy Spirit to begin dealing with these responses to the world around.

Image: Anxiety, by Edvard Munch, digitally enhanced by raxpixel. Licensed with no changes under: CC BY 2.0. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anxiety_%281896%29_by_Edvard_Munch._Original_from_The_Art_Institute_of_Chicago._Digitally_enhanced_by_rawpixel._%2850434737057%29.jpg

Hope through an Ashen Cross, Joel 2, Matthew 6

On Ash Wednesday, we gather to get an ashen cross marked upon our foreheads. What is the purpose of this? How does it relate to our faith? What does it tell us about ourselves and the work of Christ? Father Jeremiah helps us to understand that this ashen cross directs us to the cross of Christ and the death of our old self that we might live in new life.

www.gracegastonia.com/sermon-blog/2022/3/2/hope-through-an-ashen-cross-joel-2-matthew-6

Words and Actions without Distinction, James 2:1-18

St. James confronts his hearers with their sin of favoritism of the rich over the poor and connects it to the reality that our faith will work itself out with good deeds that reflect the change that God the Father has accomplished in us. How do we respond to this? How does our faith show up in our actions? Does your faith work itself out with the transformation God has made in you?

Image: CC0, Public Domain

www.gracegastonia.com/sermon-blog/2021/9/12/words-and-actions-without-distinction-james-21-18