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Raleigh Mennonite Church

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Isaiah

From Confession to Penance – March 23, 2025

March 23, 2025

Melissa preaching at RMC on March 23, 2025

Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-9 God’s version of confession and penance is entirely different from the world’s understanding of confession and penance. During Lent we have to let go of the anxiety that comes from the long-held cultural myth that confessing can only make things worse. Penance is to accept responsibility and to repair what is broken. […]

From Confession to Penance – March 23, 2025

Tagged With: confession, Isaiah, Lent, Melissa Florer-Bixler, penance

God is with us! – Nov. 3, 2024

November 4, 2024

Susan holding out a hand while preaching in front of a purple star-shaped quilt on Nov. 3, 2024

Isaiah 43:1-7, Hebrews 11:32-12:3 In just two days we have a national election. It’s something that has many of us anxious and concerned. The two texts for today are both addressed to people in anxious circumstances. Even with all of the anxiety of the situation in the first passage, the summation of the Isaiah’s prophecy […]

God is with us! – Nov. 3, 2024

Tagged With: anxiety, election, Hebrews, Isaiah, Susan Scott

A Hope Big Enough For Everyone – Oct 20, 2024

October 21, 2024

Melissa F-B preaches at RMC

Isaiah 40: 1-8 This Sunday Melissa Florer-Bixler continued to move further into the words of the prophet Isaiah, when the Persian king Cyrus allowed God’s people to return to Israel, ushering in a time of comfort and hope. The prophet spoke of a highway being built from through hostile land between Babylon and Jerusalem, and […]

A Hope Big Enough For Everyone – Oct 20, 2024

Tagged With: aesthetics, Cyrus, hope, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler

We Are A People Who Remember – Oct.13, 2024

October 14, 2024

Melissa Florer Bixler preaches at RMC

Isaiah 46: 1-13 Melissa Florer-Bixler invites us to consider the question, “why do we come to church every Sunday?” as she preaches on Isaiah’s message about idols. Isaiah mocks the idols of Israel’s former conquerors, now laid low and unable to even help themselves from falling over. In last week’s sermon, Melissa stated that we […]

We Are A People Who Remember – Oct.13, 2024

Tagged With: hope, idols, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler

What We Choose to Love We Become Oct. 6, 2024

October 7, 2024

Melissa preaches at RMC

Isaiah 11: 1-9 Melissa Florer-Bixler preaches on Isaiah’s vision of the lion laying down with the lamb and reminds us, rather appropriately on World Communion Sunday, to consider more deeply in that context how we address the multitude of intractable conflicts occurring throughout the world. Naturally, we cannot rely on willpower alone to overcome the […]

What We Choose to Love We Become Oct. 6, 2024

Tagged With: conflict, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler, peace, Wild Robot

A Politics of Hope – Sept. 22, 2024

September 22, 2024

Melissa Florer-Bixler A Politics of Hope

Isaiah 9: 1-7 Merry Christmas everyone! We know it’s only September, but Raleigh Mennonite Church took a moment this Sunday to sing Christmas carols and reflect on the birth of Christ during a season far less busy and distracting than the end of December. Melissa Florer-Bixler’s sermon reminds us to take time and examine the […]

A Politics of Hope – Sept. 22, 2024

Tagged With: Christmas, hope, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler, Nicaragua, Politics

An Impossible Pocket of Peace & Hope – Sept. 15, 2024

September 15, 2024

Melissa preaching at RMC on Sept. 15, with her hands tapping her chest, in front of a colorful purple and yellow star-shaped quilt.

Scriptures: Isaiah 2:1-11, Matthew 5:1-12 Melissa continues her sermon series, Hope in a Time of Fear, focusing on the book of Isaiah. As we’re drawing closer to the election, what does hope look like for followers of Jesus? The people who heard Jesus’ sermon on the mount may have been thinking about Isaiah’s words when […]

An Impossible Pocket of Peace & Hope – Sept. 15, 2024

Tagged With: Beatitudes, Gospel of Matthew, hope, Hope in a Time of Fear, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler, peace, Sermon on the Mount

Hope: The mandate for our community – Sept. 1, 2024

September 1, 2024

Melissa, in a white shirt, preaching in front of a quilt wall hanging.

Scripture: Isaiah 1:1-3, 11-20 Our world is not well. Our politics are not well. Our land and our oceans and our air is not well. We may be anxious. About the future, about elections, about what comes next for you and your family. So this series based on Isaiah will spend time with people who […]

Hope: The mandate for our community – Sept. 1, 2024

Tagged With: hope, Hope in a Time of Fear, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler

Who I am not – Dec. 17, 2023

December 19, 2023

Black and white drawing of a candle with background illuminated by the flame.

John 1:6-8, 19-28 and Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 On this third Sunday of Advent, Melissa shared about a list of “I am nots” that she made this week. John the Baptist knew who he was not, and who he was. Think about (or make) your own lists of “I am nots.” How does that sentence end? […]

Who I am not – Dec. 17, 2023

Tagged With: Advent, Gospel of John, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Melissa Florer-Bixler

Reorienting Time – Dec. 10, 2023

December 10, 2023

Melissa preaching with her hand raised outward. A star-patterned quilt is behind her.

Mark 1:1-8 and Isaiah 40:1-11 On this second Sunday of Advent, Melissa reflects on our relentless focus on time; our need for efficiency. Time is invented; we made it up. Advent invites us into a different pace of time, a pace we call “Waiting.” Time’s first purpose was to be loved by God.

Reorienting Time – Dec. 10, 2023

Tagged With: Advent, Gospel of Mark, Isaiah, L'Arche, Melissa Florer-Bixler, time, wasting time

Leaning into Fear – Dec. 3, 2023

December 3, 2023

Melissa, holding her hands out while preaching on Dec. 3, 2023.

Isaiah 64:1-9 On this first Sunday of Advent, Melissa acknowledged that there is so much in our lives, in our world, to be afraid of. We are not in control of the world. We are vulnerable beyond our imagining. Somehow though, God is at work in this Apocalypse. She told the story, among others, of […]

Leaning into Fear – Dec. 3, 2023

Tagged With: Advent, fear, Gospel of Mark, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler

You shall name him Immanuel – Dec. 18, 2022

December 18, 2022

Melissa preaching from home via Zoom on Dec. 18, 2022

Scripture: Isaiah 7: 10-16, Matthew 1: 18-25 Melissa preached from home since she had a child with COVID. We continue to hear from the prophecies in Isaiah on this fourth Sunday of Advent. God rolls God’s eyes at Ahaz because of Ahaz’s reluctance to listen to God. And God sends a token that Ahaz doesn’t […]

You shall name him Immanuel – Dec. 18, 2022

Tagged With: Advent, Gospel of Matthew, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler, prophecy

Pushing Beyond Utility to Beauty – Dec. 11, 2022

December 11, 2022

Melissa preaching at RMC on Dec. 11, 2022

Scriptures: Isaiah 35:1-10 and Matthew 11:2-11 How does one tie in excitement about the World Cup with the third Sunday of Advent? Leave it to Melissa!

Pushing Beyond Utility to Beauty – Dec. 11, 2022

Tagged With: ableism, Advent, beauty, disabilities, Expectations, Gospel of Matthew, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler, restoration

Holding Out for Hope – Dec. 4, 2022

December 6, 2022

Susan preaching at RMC on Dec. 4, 2022

On this second Sunday of Advent, the anticipation of Christ’s arrival, Susan Scott provided the message based on Isaiah 11:1-10. Most of us have plenty of light, hope and joy in our lives, but certainly it can be a struggle at times. Where in your life do you need to hold on to hope?

Holding Out for Hope – Dec. 4, 2022

Tagged With: Advent, hope, Isaiah, Susan Scott

Ain’t Gonna Study War No More – Nov. 27, 2022

November 27, 2022

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5 Melissa began her sermon on this first Sunday of Advent by sharing a rendition of Down by the Riverside by Rosetta Tharpe. In the Isaiah passage, God paints a picture for Isaiah of a world where tools of war become obsolete. That is a pretty bold vision for people locked into a […]

Ain’t Gonna Study War No More – Nov. 27, 2022

Tagged With: Advent, Down by the riverside, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler, spirituals, war

Praying with the Prophets – Aug. 14, 2022

August 15, 2022

Chalice Overy preaches at RMC on Aug. 14, 2022

Scripture: Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80:14-19 Pastor Chalice Overy, from Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, provided the message this morning. Prior to her preaching we heard a rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing and Chalice begins by sharing with us some of the significance of that song for her. Prayer is a place where our will […]

Praying with the Prophets – Aug. 14, 2022

Tagged With: Chalice Overy, Isaiah, prayer, Prophet, Psalms

Yes, Look Up! – Feb. 13, 2022

February 13, 2022

Melissa preaching at RMC on Feb. 13, 2022

Today’s reading from Isaiah 16:1-5 opens us to a moment of a refugee crisis; we are reading about this massive disruption that happens across the Near East. Isaiah says “Like fluttering birds, like scattered nestlings, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.” Due in large part to climate change, so […]

Yes, Look Up! – Feb. 13, 2022

Tagged With: climate change, Don't Look Up, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler, Tuvalu

The Work of Healing – Jan. 23, 2022

January 24, 2022

Melissa preaching via Zoom on Jan. 23, 2022

Melissa recounts stories of Mennonites in Java–doing harm and learning to do better–as we reflect on what it means to be part of the larger global Christian church on World Anabaptist Sunday. Healing and restoration is always ongoing. We engage in repentance, over and over again, recognizing that this is how the reign of God […]

The Work of Healing – Jan. 23, 2022

Tagged With: Anabaptism, communion, Gospel of Matthew, healing, Indonesia, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler

Is this the place? – Oct. 10, 2021

October 10, 2021

Melissa preaching on Oct. 3, at RMC.

The scripture today from Isaiah 1:1-20 is a prophecy or indictment of those who have much, of those who have excess. It speaks to those who have more than enough with not attending to the needs of the poorest among them. It’s no secret that our air, land and waters face a devastating century, and […]

Is this the place? – Oct. 10, 2021

Tagged With: anti-racism, climate change, gifts, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler, sacrifice, Worship

Called Out – Dec. 13, 2020

December 14, 2020

Hans with a scarf over his head and candlesticks behind him.

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 & John 1:6-8, 19-28 – On the Road to Restoration During Advent the sermon again began with a monologue. This Sunday Hans told the story of a person at the temple who witnessed the questioning of John the Baptist by the Sadducees and Pharisees. Melissa gave witness to activities taking place […]

Called Out – Dec. 13, 2020

Tagged With: Advent, COVID-19, Gospel of John, Hans Linnartz, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Melissa Florer-Bixler, Prophet

Prophets Among Us – Dec. 6, 2020

December 8, 2020

Steve Derthick portraying John the Baptist in front of a babbling creek.

Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-8 – On the Road to Repentance On this second Sunday of Advent Steve Derthick opened the sermon time with a monologue as John the Baptist. Melissa continued the invitation for all of us to participate in the sermon by asking us to share a time there was a person who […]

Prophets Among Us – Dec. 6, 2020

Tagged With: COVID-19, Gospel of Mark, Isaiah, Jeremiah Wright, John the Baptist, Prophet

Preparing for the Journey – Nov. 29, 2020

December 8, 2020

Janet Fields portraying a woman preparing for a journey in biblical times.

After the scripture was read from Isaiah 64:1-9 and Mark 13:24-37, Janet Fields provided a monologue for the first Sunday of Advent. Melissa followed that with a short homily and then invited congregants to participate in the sermon by sharing a story of a journey they prepared for. How do we get ready during this […]

Preparing for the Journey – Nov. 29, 2020

Tagged With: Advent, COVID-19, Gospel of Mark, Isaiah, journey, preparation

Revolutionary Magnificat – Dec. 15, 2019

December 15, 2019

Melissa preaching at RMC on August 18, 2019

Isaiah 35:1-10 & Luke 1:46-55 When women in the Bible have something to say, it often comes out as a song. Mary’s song, recounted in Luke 1, is revolutionary. God is on the side of the dispossessed and Mary sings of the revolution taking place through God’s world-toppling love. Melissa’s message was preceded by a […]

Revolutionary Magnificat – Dec. 15, 2019

Tagged With: Isaiah, Luke, Magnificat, Mary, Melissa Florer-Bixler, Revolutionary

Fulfilled – Filled Up – Dec. 8, 2019

December 8, 2019

Melissa preaching at RMC on Oct. 27, 2019

Isaiah 11:1-10 & Matthew 3:1-12 On this second Sunday of Advent, Melissa told us, “this is a season to be shaken up and shaken out.” Christians have a profound failure to live out the Gospel, but we’re also attuned to our failure. We require outside intervention and Jesus comes through an intervention of love. It’s […]

Fulfilled – Filled Up – Dec. 8, 2019

Tagged With: Advent, Gospel of Matthew, Isaiah, Melissa Florer-Bixler

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