The Sacred Community (Week 1)

Beginnings, Endings & In-Betweens (Week 6)

What is Christian Community?  Pastor Scott examines Acts Chapter 2 to see how Luke described the church's infancy in his description of their communities.  The writer speaks of great awe, generosity, and authenticity shared among them.  They spent time, not just in worship, but in each other's lives and each other's homes, accepting each other just as they are.  They were a family.

Beginnings, Endings & In-Betweens (Week 5)

Pastor Scott's sermon series on Beginnings, Endings & In-Betweens looks at the biblical concept of the "end times."  What we believe about the end informs how we live in the present. If our belief in God somehow leads us to be less caring, we are worshiping something less than divine. So what do these end-times look like?  The Apostle Paul encourages those "in Christ," who have already been reconciled to God through Christ as a "new creation," are themselves called to the ministry of reconciliation.  How is God leading you in your ministry of reconciliation?

Beginnings, Endings & In-Betweens (Week 4)

Today Pastor Scott examines the story of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead—continuing on the theme of his sermon series, Beginnings, Endings, and In-Betweens. What do you imagine happens when the body dies?  The Jews had their traditions about the afterlife—it was little more than a state of limbo where you went to wait for the resurrection on the last day.  Other religions speak of reincarnation.  Dante outlines both paradise and torment.  What do you think happens on the other side of the grave?  What can we learn from the story of Lazarus?

Beginnings, Endings & In-Betweens (Week 3)

What is your framework for Truth?  It's not a simple question.  Ask ten people, and you'll probably get ten different answers.  So this week, Pastor Scott lays out the fourfold Wesleyan approach to spiritual understanding: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.  Each of these can be unpacked at great length, but the shorthand acknowledges not all scripture is created equal; tradition for tradition's sake is nostalgia, and reason isn't a substitute for faith.  Somewhere along the journey, you begin to understand that Truth must be lived before it can be fully understood. And through your lived experience, what resonates is Truth.

Beginnings, Endings and In-Betweens (Week 2)

Last week, Pastor Scott talked about the beginning of the Christian journey - our baptism.  This morning, he looks at the food for the journey – the sacrament of communion.  Using the depiction of the disciples in Matthew's gospel, before, during, and after the last supper, Jesus must have been so disappointing in his hand-picked brothers.   Yet he broke the bread and poured the cup of forgiveness with, undeniably, some of the world's worst friends – which begs the question, is your table open to all?  Listen to the Good News!

Bible On Broadway (SpongeBob)

This morning, AUMC's Bible On Broadway series focuses on belonging from the musical SpongeBob.  The story celebrates friendship, cooperation, unity, and inclusion - very much the same way the apostle Paul instructs the church at Corinth about the body of Christ.  Every individual gift is given for the common good – the good of the whole body.  Even if you're only a simple sponge, you are essential to the whole! At Arapaho, we belong to each other.  Lean into your gifts, whatever they are.  You belong here.

Bible On Broadway (Come From Away)

Most of us have our own stories about September 11, 2001. “Come From Away” shares the story of the town of Gander, located in the northeastern part of Newfoundland, Canada. This small town of 9,000 was changed overnight when thirty-eight jets headed for the United States were diverted to the island. Over 6,500 displaced strangers from almost 100 countries were now stranded on the runways. How would the “Islanders” respond to the sudden influx of refugees? Would fear take over, or would love and care for neighbors prevail?

The Greatest Of These

Today, Pastor Holly examines I Corinthians 13 – an oldie, but a goodie - the scripture passage you only hear in church anymore at weddings. However, marriage was not at all the point of Paul’s exhortation.

Corinth was a Mediterranean trade route and cultural melting pot. And Paul was a newly redeemed Christian persecutor and a born-again missionary. So, where did he go to start churches? Corinth.

In the previous chapter, Paul enumerates the gifts of the holy spirit. In this chapter, he tells us what these gifts are to be used to accomplish.

Paul didn’t want the new church postulating over who has the best spiritual gift. Spiritual gifts are for the common good, not for personal gain. Love is the greatest gift because it is the most transformational.

Blessed Are The Uncomfortable (Week 3)

As the gospel spread, many diverse peoples came together under one name - Christian.  As such, Christian unity has been a struggle from the very beginning.  Today, Pastor Scott examines different passages from Ephesians 4 as a guide to Christian unity.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:3-6

The road to unity is uncomfortable.  The letter to the Ephesians lays out the work ahead of us – to see each other as irreversibly connected, live and speak our truth in love, and follow Christ through anger to compassion.

Blessed Are The Uncomfortable (Week 2)

Welcome to Arapaho United Methodist Church, a Christ-centered community called to the work of social justice in Richardson, Texas. We are happy you joined us for online worship.

It is uncomfortable to own who we are as colonialists.  Our myths are helpful.  Jesus used parables as a teaching tool.  Today, we look to the Prophet Amos to see how myths can also be weaponized.

It is not the great and powerful who make history. It's just the great and powerful who write history books and rewrite, revise, sanitize, add, subtract and even fabricate events to paint us in the best possible light.  

Knowledge of one's history is crucial to anyone who wishes to make positive social change.  When we replace history with myths, denial replaces reality.  As God helps us deconstruct myth from history, leads us to hold each with equanimity as intended, and guides us in rebuilding a better future – despite our past.  Therein lies hope.

Summer Psalms (Week 3)

Summer is filled with lots of traditions: outdoor cooking, travel, life celebrations, rest. In general, we do life at a more relaxing pace. We linger more because the days are longer. In this sermon series, we will read a Psalm each week and reflect on particular summertime activities and customs. Where is God’s presence found in these customs? How is our summertime like that of the Psalmist? And what can we learn from the Psalmist that will help us embrace the spiritual nature of this season?

The week, Pastor Eliana shares her experience with identity and what it means to be God's beloved.

Summer Psalms (Week 2)

Members of the Arapaho family share their encounters with God's love experienced through their travels, answering the psalmist questions, "Where could I go to get away from your spirit? Where could I go to escape your presence? Ps 139:7

Thanks to Pastor Cathy, the adventurous Waltermeyers, the Sharps, and Cindy Rowe for sharing your "God moments" from the road - in the many new faces and friends made along the way, reconnecting with family, opportunities to serve others, or drink in the beauty of the created world. Indeed, God's love is inescapable.

Summer Psalms (Week 1)

Summer is filled with lots of traditions: outdoor cooking, travel, life celebrations, rest. In general, we do life at a more relaxing pace. We linger more, because the days are longer.  In this sermon series, we will read a Psalm each week and reflect on particular summertime activities and customs. Where is God’s presence found in these customs? How is our summertime like that of the Psalmist? And what can we learn from the Psalmist that will help us embrace the spiritual nature of this season?

Our Work

In an economy of grace, work is a public good, not a private one.

Work gives our lives purpose and stability; it gives us a form of identity.

If God has called us to love each other, then perhaps it is love that is our work.

‘Til Gods' work is done and all things are made new; God has work for us to do.

A Generous Life

This Week:

God, where do you want me to be in my giving?

Spirit-Breath

Religion without the power of the Holy Spirit is dead…religion without the influence of the spirit is dead, religion without the discipline to listen to God’s guidance and direction is dead…the people of Israel exist, they exist but they are existing as people who are dead, they are a dead sect, they are dry bones.

Do you sometimes feel like you are dry bones? That you are existing as one who is already dead, that you are going through the motions…or that parts of you are slowly dying.

What this passage says, what our faith says is: you can live, you can come alive again. You don’t have to live like dry bones.

So how does that happen? 

The spirit of God. The spirit of God has the power to bring you to life again—and—and here’s what’s even more remarkable. It’s not just that God has the power to bring you to life again, God has the desire to bring you to life, God wants you to come alive again.

Changed For Good (Wicked)

What is the pain and hurt you’ve experienced? Now I have learned that you can’t put an institution in the box, you can’t put the church in the box, you can’t put a business in the box or the government in the box. You’ve got to get specific here, who hurt you. People hurt other people-who has hurt you? 

Name the hurt, get your mind around what is in the box. It’s very freeing to be honest about the hurt you’ve experienced and how you were made to feel. So put it in the box and then you put the box down and you send it away. You could even do this for real, like you could do a ritual around this.

You could write it down and put it in an actual box and drive to a shredding company, watch them shred the paper and recycle the box, leave it there-you get the point: whatever you need to do whether literally or metaphorically with the box, send it away, leave it somewhere so you don’t have to carry it anymore. You can be set free from it, so this hurt is no longer in circulation.

When forgiveness happens, we no longer carry this burden around with us. We are changed for good and so is the world.

We Refuse To Wear Masks (Phantom Of The Opera)

If there are no sick or sad or sinful or silly people in your church, I’m not sure you are preaching the gospel…because the gospel is not just everyone is welcome, the gospel is also: you don’t have to put on a mask here. You are accepted.

The reality is that God’s love and grace is available to you, take off your mask. Accept that you are accepted. 

And when we do that, then our work together is to unmask the injustices outside of these walls—

To unmask the racism and the sexism and the homophobia in our culture—to unmask the atrocities going on at the border—to unmask the culture of guns and violence in our country—we are the ones to unmask the cruelty and carelessness and unchristian actions, because we follow a God who refuses to wear masks.

And so a group of us are going to the Texas-Mexico border in October to see for ourselves the situation there; A group of 80 clergy recently returned from the border and they said that what you hear on the news and from the White House is not what you see: they unmasked the poor conditions migrants are facing and they are telling the story and organizing to work to end policies that are causing harm.

We refuse to wear masks and play games.

When we go and serve breakfast to our homeless neighbors in downtown Dallas, we look them in the eye and we see the reality they face in their faces, and we make this human connection—the homeless are no longer other than us, they are our brothers, our sisters, our friends…

We refuse to wear masks and play games.

When we listen to the stories of our LGBTQ+ siblings, when we hear how the church has excluded and pushed them out and made them feel less than, when we hear how they have in some cases been forced to wear masks to hide their true selves…

we as the church proclaim what is God’s truth that they are loved and accepted for who they are, and God blesses them and their relationships—

We refuse to wear masks and play games. 

 So may you take off whatever mask you have been wearing, may you be real and know that you are loved and accepted for who you really are—and may we work together to unmask what needs to be seen in this world for what it is: 

so that we can right wrongs, so that we can work for a world where there is not just the appearance of peace but true peace, the kind of peace rooted in justice and respect and understanding.

Think Theologically

The book of Job is mostly Job questioning God and his friends telling him to settle for their answers.  Job wants to talk to God. And after they go around and around long enough, God appears and talks to Job.  God’s words to Job are difficult. God tells Job his idea of God is too small. God’s power is far greater and God’s ways are more mysterious than anything Job could imagine.  It’s presumptuous to imagine you know what God is thinking.  

And just when it looks like Job has been put in his place and that asking questions of God is arrogant and useless, God turns to Job’s friends and says, “ . . . You have not spoken of me what it right, as my servant Job has done.”

God is bigger, higher, deeper, more powerful, more mysterious than anything you can imagine.  Some will tell you that’s why you shouldn’t question God. I’m saying that’s why you should. God is big enough, high enough, deep enough, powerful enough, and mysterious enough to handle your questions.  And the Bible is good enough to guide you as you encounter that God.

God is big enough to trust with your questions. Your answers will only be as good as your questions. And you get what you settle for - So work out your salvation, With fear and trembling.