Accepting Each Other

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 14, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

A few years ago we invited Stan Ott, a church consultant, to join us for a weekend. One of the takeaways from that time was this: We must be the people of God before we attempt to do the work of the people of God.

One can stand at a distance and chuckle – of course! But I think many of us fall into a trap, a no win situation. We see what’s happening in the broader church where statistics don’t paint a positive picture. We are aware of the shifting loyalties, patterns of behavior, what appears to be waning commitment to the ‘church’ as we have known.

And while we don’t shield our eyes from what’s right before us, we need to - with eyes wide open - look deeper and beneath the surface. If we look with compassion at people’s lives today we see health issues, soccer weekends, family caregivers, multiple jobs. We see that lives are different and that yesterday’s norm is not today’s.

Dear friends, we have an opportunity to be a part of and live into Jesus’ new creation. We will spend the coming Sundays exploring what it means to be the people of God. We will accept each other, build each other up, come to know what it means to forgive, and allow ourselves to be forgiven with humility modeled by our Christ.

What is in the way of your marriage, your friends, your work, your aspirations? By becoming the people of God we will be set free to partner in God’s work which is our destiny (and our joy!). 

In great anticipation –

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I Desire Mercy

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 7, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

Cleo La Rue was my professor of homiletics at seminary. He was the first Black tenured professor in the department. He was from south Texas, played stride piano and was unflinching in his criticism and lavish in his praise – in other words – perfect.

He writes in his commentary on this section of Matthew, “Jesus typically calls busy folks. He was not known for recruiting lollygaggers.” In these short verses we have:

• a vocational-180 – detested tax collector to disciple,

• a restoration – an ‘unclean woman’ restored to wholeness,

• a resurrection – a dead child brought back to life. 

What do these episodes tell us about Jesus? Various people shown mercy  - all sick or perceived as sinful, healed by Jesus, restored to new possibilities for living in wholeness and purpose.

We are in ‘ordinary time’ – a long stretch to engage the life and work of our Lord that starts this Sunday at the table – our Lord’s.

Here's your chance for perfect attendance post Memorial Day!

In anticipation –

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Above, Beneath, Within

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 31, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

This is the only day of the year that calls us to ponder a teaching of the church rather than a teaching of Jesus. Although this mystery of God revealed in three ways is the core belief of Christianity, we struggle to explain it. Monotheistic Christians do back flips explaining why such a belief in the triune God doesn't make them polytheists!

Well, Sunday we won’t be exegeting doctrine. We’ll be savoring the multifaceted nature of our God - creative, redemptive and sustaining - all of which we will need to employ if we are to be the radical, loving, transforming agents our God is calling us to be.

• We’ll celebrate graduations and student accomplishments.

• We’ll ordain and install the new officers called by God and elected by you.

• It’s Gospel Sunday – we welcome Grace Ramsey back!

The beginning of summer – its cool in God’s house! Invite someone you love. Take a moment to position yourself for grace!

In anticipation –

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A Mighty Wind

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 24, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

As of this coming Monday we will have entered ‘Ordinary Time’ – meaning that it is neither festival nor penance, but ‘ordered’, numbered, the in-between time within which most of our life is lived.

I usually comment that all time spent in service to and under the call of the Christ is extra-ordinary. This year is no exception.

Our scripture tells of the Spirit of God, the promised Spirit. The same Spirit that hovered above the deep, above Mary, and lighted upon Jesus at his baptism. The rushing of this Spirit sounding like a mighty wind bringing the word, a blessing, our advocate. This occurs as disciples are gathered together. {Hint}

In anticipation –

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Mysterious vs. Miraculous

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 17, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

Traditionally, on the 40th day after Easter, the church celebrates the feast of the Ascension. But rather than a midweek service, it’s commonly celebrated by the church, if at all, on the first Sunday after.

It only appears in the Gospel of Luke and The Acts of the Apostles written by the same author. The accounts are addressed to a character named Theopholus which is Greek for ‘lover of God’. Thereby penned for us as well.

Is Luke describing miracle, or leading us into a mystery? Has the incarnate set aside humanity to enable God’s ubiquity? The crux is this:

We are not orphaned. We are entrusted to do that for which we were created.

Where Jesus goes we are invited to follow—not by levitation or climbing, but by becoming…like Jesus.

Come be positioned –

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Fully Equipped

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 10, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul details how God has brought a fractured and fragmented world to the path that leads to unity. How, before the planets, the stars, and the seas were formed, it was intended that God would walk with us in our humanity. The path that is offered is through faith in Jesus the Christ, and it is the church’s task and the church’s privilege to proclaim this message to all the world.

We start Sunday. We welcome new members. Is there someone you haven’t seen of late? Tell them to meet you at 10:30!

In anticipation –

This Sunday we welcome new members Whitney Connell and Carla Davis.

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Where Are We Going?

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 3, 2026

As Jesus is giving his final instruction to his disciples on the night before his death, he leaves intimate instructions for his closest followers.

The reading for this Sunday focuses on the relationship Jesus has established with this new community and the strength they will find in and through each other.

When Thomas asks, “how can we know the way,” Jesus comforts their troubled heart (singular) by reassuring them they already know the way because Jesus has embodied the fullness of God.

Jesus proclaims, “I am the way!”

- Steven

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 Rev. Steven Baines is a Charleston native who currently serves as our church administer after 25 years in our nation’s capital. He served as executive minister at National City Christian Church, the “national cathedral” of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He has also held senior leadership positions at national civil rights organizations including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and People for the American Way.

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You Aren’t Who You Think You Are

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, April 26, 2026

Dear Friends in Jesus –

When we think about ourselves, most of us think that our selves are the result of what we have managed to make of our lives. That my self is whatever I have chosen, worked, decided, lived through and strived to be.

The Bible has a very different take on who we are. Who we are, says scripture, is not what we put together for ourselves, but what God has put together in us. Scripture says less of our earnest search for God; rather more typical of the Bible is to assert God's search for us.

May we be found… in worship on Sunday!
 
In anticipation, 

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We Had Hoped...

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, April 19, 2026

Dear Friends in Jesus –

This Sunday Luke continues the narrative of Christ’s resurrection in a way that resonates today. It resonates in opposition to tweets, texts and Instagram. Luke tells of a face to face encounter on the road. There follows discussion/conversation among the travelers. This leads to a connection resulting in an invitation to share a meal. In the sharing of the meal there is discovery of the one who said he would rise! And that discovery mandates action – those who have seen are compelled to proclaim and share what they have witnessed – Jesus is alive!  

In this age of internet chatter, fast food, and isolation, the 2000 year old narrative points us toward real fellowship, face to face discourse, rampant hospitality and joyful witness.
 
Join me Sunday and let’s live it!

In anticipation,

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The Day After

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, April 12, 2026

Dear Friends in Jesus –

Jesus came that we might have life, and have life in abundance. During Lent we imagined what that would look like as particular people in God’s particular purpose through Second Church. Not just that we would not know want, but that we would know abundant joy, generosity, holy purpose,  caring for God’s creation, preserving truth, heartfelt worship, promoting social righteousness, and living like we mean it!

Last Sunday we celebrated the resurrection – the pivotal moment in the cosmos!

So, what do we do the next Sunday? Easter II is often known as Low Sunday. No mystery here. Lower energy, lower attendance. Maybe, but I’m not a subscriber. I don’t buy it and won’t!

The narratives we return to each year beg us to see things in fresh ways, through resurrection eyes.

Sunday we remind ourselves why we may live in hope in the midst of wars, fires, floods and folly.

Ain’t nothing low about it. Let’s take another chance to celebrate salvation together!

Someone you haven’t seen in a while? Give ‘em a call.

See you Sunday –

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A New Beginning

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026

Dear Friends in Jesus –

The Christian writer Barbara Johnson suggests, “we are Easter people in a Good Friday world.”

I’d say that some days, these days, it may feel that way, yet we know that even though these feelings are real they’re not always based on fact. However, there does seem to be a real convergence right now!

Have wars and oppression, and hunger, and displacement always been around? Sure, but not with such intensity, rancor, or carelessness as we experience now. What’s different? For one thing, communication platforms that aren’t always linked to truth, kindness, or reality.

This may feel like a "Friday" moment in time, but I’m called to cling to a Tony Campolo sermon, 'Sundays Comin’!’

He tells of his old pastor rising to preach as he, Campolo, sat down rather satisfied with himself as they were having a ‘preach off.’ The old man tells him, "get ready," and he rises. He preaches for, could have been an hour! He starts off, “It was Friday and  Jesus was hanging dead on the tree. It was Friday, but… SUNDAY’S COMIN’!”  

Folks, today is Friday and the circumstances we abhor and we decry and we flail against may not disappear in two days, but on the third day we will celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise.

I will proclaim, “He is risen!” and you will affirm the mysterious truth we know, “He is risen indeed!”

Invite everyone you know to experience the joy that is ours!

See you in worship!

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Look, The Whole World Has Gone After Him

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, March 29, 2026

Dear Friends in Jesus –

One of the great things about the lectionary and high holy days is that as they occur, we get to engage the same scripture, the same narrative as believers, across the street or around the world.

So as we begin the final approach to Jerusalem, we all come together to ‘the parade.’ Children wave palms, trumpets blare, lowly donkeys around the world are elevated as much is made of Jesus of Nazareth- the audacious, the insolent, the disruptive- rides into town.  

A colleague of mine noted when Jesus traveled around the ancient world, he did so on foot. He walked from village to village, from plateau to lakeside, from Galilee to Jerusalem. Right up until Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday, the gospels tell us, Jesus rode. What led Jesus to upgrade for this leg of his trip?

Maybe he wanted to make a statement. He knew the people’s longings. Maybe he felt their hope, their anticipation, so entered the city like the Messiah as the prophet Zechariah had promised.

I suggest it was the first leg of the invasion!

See you in worship. Invite someone –

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Are We Wearing Blinders?

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, March 22, 2026

As we look at the signs of renewal all around us, let’s take a look at our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us. We will start with the profit Ezekiel and his field of dry bones and from there we will work our way to our “everyday” encounters with God.

Join us on Sunday as we flesh out one of those amazing passages in the Old Testament that leads us to the wonder that is Easter.

-Ken Carrington

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A Particular Obedience

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, March 15, 2026

Dear Friends in Jesus –

This Sunday we engage a narrative of biblical proportions: an intergenerational saga that is the foundation of lives of the faithful for millennia– Abram and Sarai setting out from Haran on a promise.

God has promised a child, and that Abram would be the progenitor of nations. Hmmm... he’s 75 and she’s 65. And yet, the promise will be fulfilled 25 years later!

There is much in the saga of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac over the 25 years that reveals ignoble behavior reflecting the culture and the time: slavery, surrogacy, harems, cowardice, deception. But the takeaway, supported by the Apostle Paul to the Romans, is Abraham’s obedience. And the many others' obedience who, through Abraham’s obedience, found the strength to follow and were reckoned righteous by God. 

What about us? Will we be obedient? Why not? Two commandments: love God and love your neighbor. Together we can do it!

Folks, we are at the top of God’s list to be conscripted for God’s wondrous, luscious, righteous work of redemption through particular purpose and obedience in this place.

And so we ask, in this time of war and fright and uncertainty, “What can we do?”

We can live into what Jesus says: We are salt. We are light. We are beloved. We are equipped. We are capable. But, are we willing?

In the middle of this season of Lent let us engage the Word and the world.

Bring a friend… ask a neighbor… invite a colleague to come to church. The children will usher, read, sing and inspire.

In great anticipation –

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A Particular Purpose

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, March 8, 2026

Dear Friends in Jesus –

This third Sunday of Lent, we begin... at the beginning. In the second chapter of Genesis it says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it.”

How’d we mess this up? Created by God, in God’s image for a particular purpose – to serve, to till and keep, the garden. Let’s imagine what that means. It means we move from purpose to mission – doing God’s work in the world. Anything more important? More satisfying? More joyful? Nah – let’s talk about it this Sunday! Leave your vices, bad habits and God separators at home. Bring some friends –

See you in worship!

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