As a Christian community, called to peacemaking and reconciliation, we affirm that people of any race, ethnic identity, gender, who are gay or straight, of any ability, age, or economic status, are welcome to full participation in our congregation.
In the third sermon on the theme of “What is church for?”, Melissa talked about God’s countercultural vision of hierarchy demonstrated by Paul’s body metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12: 14-31. Since antiquity, the institutions of government and the economy have a distinct continuity: they have created social, political, and economic hierarchies that we have often […]
I Corinthians 12:12-26, Luke 24:44-53 On this last Sunday before Melissa and her family leave for a three-month sabbatical, it was also Ascension Sunday. It was also the Sunday following another deadly mass killing in a Texas school, and just a week after a mass shooting in a Taiwanese church in LA, and a day […]
Melissa continues our fall series on gifts. The scripture from I Corinthians 12 focuses on the gifts that everyone brings to the benefit of the body of Christ. The things the world prizes as powerful–it’s easy to believe that we did that. That we worked hard. That we got that education. We built that skill […]
I Corinthians 15:1-6 In the continuing series of RMCers sharing a scripture or song that is particularly meaningful, Dave Cooper reflects on this passage from I Corinthians. Melissa introduces the passage before Dave shares and closes with the song When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Christ has freed us to a life of right relationships–with […]
I Corinthians 8 As we continue our Zoom services online, Melissa continued her series talking about the church in Corinth. As we work at being church together at Raleigh Mennonite, we’re given this gift of seeing how this little church in Corinth worked out its conflicts, and how it might be good news for our […]
Sriprakash Mayasandra and Rachel Taylor provided our message this morning in the form of an interview. Sri, a former RMCer, has been studying in France before taking on his latest role with Mennonite Central Committee in Chad. He was able to join us via web conference and share some of his testimony and current work. […]
Acts 18:1-4 I Corinthians 1:10-18 In the scripture passages for today we see the early church is in disarray. There is division and tumult. But Paul urges the church in Corinth to keep their focal point on one place: on Jesus. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but […]
I Corinthians 15:1-26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. But death is roaring all around us these days in the midst of the pandemic. That makes “Holy Humor Sunday,” a tradition of RMC for the last few years, a lot more difficult right now. But in many ways, our times are much less […]
John 6:25-40, I Corinthians 11:23-26, 12:12, 24-27 Melissa continued the series on communion, focusing today on the role of bread. How bread comes to be is significant, from the grains to the yeast that acts as leavening. In many ways, we are bread. How do we break ourselves open to be made whole?How do we […]
