Urban Vineyard

Following on from Jim's sermon last week on Mark's account of Jesus calming the storm, Pete takes us through Luke and Matthew's account of the same event showing how Jesus is present to us whether the storm is raging or whether the storm has been stilled and that he wants to bring his blessing not just to us as individuals but to all the other 'boats' in the same sea.

Jim shares an encouraging message from Mark 4:35-41 to remind us of three things: 1) Jesus Loves taking us into the unknown, 2) we might think Jesus doesn't care 3) but Jesus wants to see what we are made of.

In this second sermon of the year, the magnificent John Peachy offers us a heartfelt, insightful, and grace-filled reminder that the God we serve is one who loves us 'without flaw' (perfectly, completely, utterly) even within our flaws. Sharing from his own story, John reminds us that while our awareness of flaws lead us into the lie that we are abandoned, rejected, forgotten, and unloved (like the so-called "bummer lambs") the truth of the gospel is that God is a shepherd who comes to gather us in his arms, to bring us close enough to hear his heartbeat, and to seat us at his table to eat with him in true and perfect peace. That is what it means to feel completeness/shalom, to know God's goodness, and experience his loving kindness. That is what it means to be saved.

"Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Lloyd opens our first gathering of the year by reflecting on the wisdom and challenge found in psalm 90 and inviting us to examine and adjust our lives, habits and practices in light of God's grace.

The third Sunday of advent is a time for reflecting on the joy of the gospel. In this sermon, James makes the point that joy cannot be established by any earthly power or agency; no human circumstances can secure our joy; it can only be brought by Jesus who draws people in to be freed from evil, transformed, renewed and shaped to be like him. In Jesus' earthly ministry we the seeds of God's Kingdom were laid in the ground. Through the faithfulness of God and the believers who dared to trust him, everywhere for 2000 years those seeds have been popping up in the form of little communities of faith where deserts have been transformed into places of rejoicing and where wastelands of the soul have blossomed into gardens. Our hope is not in our own ability to make life go well, it is in the God who raises what is dead back to life. That is why we are people of joy.