Sermon Archives
Our sermon archives is a resource for you wherever you are in your faith journey.
How Jesus Reveals God to Us (December 22, 2024)
This week, Pastor Magrey deVega explores how Jesus reveals God’s heart, mind, and presence to us in ways we can understand. Learn how his life, actions, and teachings show us who God truly is—and how we can reflect that love in our own lives.
Reflection Questions:
1. How do you think Jesus experienced full divinity when he was on earth?
2. How does thinking about the life of Jesus draw you closer to God?
3. How will you live out Jesus’ example more fully?
-- Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps --
Music this week:
Light of the World (Sing Hallelujah)
Ed Cash, Scott Cash, Franni Cash, Martin Cash, & Andrew Bargthold
Arr. Dan Galbraith
© 2020 Capital CMC Publishing, We the Kingdom Music, Capital CMC Genesis
Comfort, Comfort – arr. John Ferguson
© 1987, Augsburg Publishing House
Onelicense.net License #A-724828
The Christmas Letters
God's Promises for Past and Present (December 1, 2024)
Discover how the words of Paul bring hope and assurance, reminding us that God’s promises are fulfilled and his presence is with us in every moment.
Reflection Questions:
1. What do you enjoy about receiving Christmas letters this time of year?
2. How has God been faithful to you in the past? How is God active in your life now?
3. If God were to write a Christmas letter to you now, what would it say?
-- Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps --
Beyond the Sermon: God's Promises for Past and Present
This week Mat and Magrey dive into the deeper meaning behind Magery's prayer and how we can stay faithful to every moment, even when we're called to something bigger then ourselves.
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The Powerful Truth About God's Love (December 8, 2024)
Pastor Magrey DeVega shares a powerful message about God’s love made real through the birth of Jesus. Discover how this truth can transform the way you experience life and faith every day.
Reflection Questions:
1. What do you imagine the “magical circle” was like when you were born?
2. When have you most vividly experienced God with your senses?
3. How will you become more aware of God’s love in ordinary moments?
-- Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps --
Beyond the Sermon: The Powerful Truth About Gods Love
This week, Mat and Magrey dive deeper into the letter of 1 John, exploring how our beliefs are shaped by the trust we place in God's promise of love.
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How Humility Leads to True Joy (December 15, 2024)
This week, Bernie Lieving dives into the connection between joy and humility. Discover how living with a humble heart can bring lasting joy into your life and the lives of others.
Reflection Questions:
1. How do you express your appreciation to those who have done or said something that has helped make your joy complete?
2. Is there something you do on a regular basis that gifts joy to another person?
3. What might God be calling you to do in 2025 that will be “living the same mind that was in Christ Jesus?”
-- Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps --
The Christmas Letters: Part 4 // Pastor Magrey deVega // December 22, 2024
In Jesus the full divinity of God “was pleased to dwell.” Therefore, through Christ, we can be at peace with God and we can live in peace with one another.
Reflection Questions:
1, How do you think Jesus experienced full divinity when he was on earth?
2. How does thinking about the life of Jesus draw you closer to God?
3. How will you live out Jesus’ example more fully?
-- Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps --
Not the End of the World
Remembering the Saints (November 3, 2024)
On the first Sunday in November, Christians all over the world celebrate "All Saints Day." We pause and reflect on the lives and legacy of people who have died in the last year and the impact they have left on the world.
Whether you are s Christian or not, this service is an opportunity to reconnect with the memories of people who have made a difference in your life.
Reflection Questions
1. When you are struggling who helps you (or what helps you) get back up and try again?
2. What is one thing you could do today to encourage someone (a friend, family member, stranger) who is struggling with their faith in God?
3. Who are some of the saints that have encouraged you on the journey of faith? How did they encourage you? Take a moment and thank God for their presence in your life.
--Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps--
How to Overcome Hopelessness (November 10, 2024)
Ever feel like the end is closer than it seems? Discover what it means to keep moving forward, even when things feel uncertain.
Reflection Questions:
1. How have you attempted to stay grounded in your faith with unsettling news or alarming situation in today’s world?
2. How do you think modern-day predictions or claims about end times events impact people’s faith, both positively and negatively?
3. How can you stand firm in your faith during difficult times, and how might you offer this to others?
--Find out more at HydeParkUMC/org/NextSteps--
Beyond the Sermon: How to Overcome Hopelessness
Join Mat and Justin as they dive deeper into the message of 2 Thessalonians, exploring how to find hope when it feels like the end is near. Justin shares a personal story of facing hopelessness, and together they reflect on what it means to persevere with faith.
-- Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps --
Standing Firm in the Face of Chaos (November 17, 2024)
How do we stay grounded when life feels chaotic? In this message, we reflect on Christ’s call to stand firm, even when the road ahead demands sacrifice.
Reflection Questions:
1.) When in your life did all you thought was true and reliable seem “thrown down”?
2.) When have you seen evidence of God not giving up during your hard times?
3.) How will you release your energy as an act of defiant hope in the world?
-- Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps --
Beyond the Sermon: Full Disclosure
This week, Mat and Magrey reflect on what the crumbling temple might look like in your life, and how to find hope and guidance in those times of uncertainty.
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The Empathy the World Is Missing (November 24, 2024)
How can we embrace a Christ-centered identity in a divided world? Join us as we reflect on the call to empathy, engaging others with generosity and compassion.
Reflection Questions:
1.) What do you think it means to call Jesus king?
2.) Do you think empathy is in short supply today? Who models it best for you?
3.) How will you emulate Jesus in your everyday life?
-- Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps --
Beyond the Sermon: The Empathy the World is Missing
This week, Mat and Magrey explore the Christian Liturgical Calendar more deeply, reflecting on what uncertain times mean to them and how they can find comfort in them.
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Living Impact:
Built to Last
What Does Prayer Do? (September 22, 2024)
Wherever you are in your relationship with Jesus Christ—even if you're just exploring faith—regular prayer and meditation will transform your life.
HydeParkUMC.org/nextsteps
Reflection Questions:
1. Reflect and describe the first time you remember praying.
2. How have you struggled with prayer?
3. How does regular prayer practice strengthen your inner being, root you in love, and help you comprehend God’s grace?
Why Presence Matters (September 29, 2024)
God calls us to be present in our community, both inside and outside the church. What does this mean, and how do we strengthen our fulfillment of this promise?
Real Generosity (October 6, 2024)
Generosity is at the heart of our faith, a reflection of God's love and provision. In today's sermon, we'll explore how giving—both in spirit and in resources—helps us build a stronger, more compassionate church community.
Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/nextsteps
Reflection Questions:
1. When have you had a good experience baking bread, or enjoying bread someone else made?
2. What difference does it make to see yourself as part of the global church of Jesus Christ?
3. How will you see your financial generosity as a way of making a living impact for God and others?
Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/nextsteps
How Do I Serve Others? (October 13, 2024)
What does it mean to serve others? For many of us, growing in our ability to serve means learning how to be uncomfortable in situations that stretch our boundaries. It means learning new names, extending ourselves, and focusing on the needs of others instead of our own.
Learning to serve can be a process. Thankfully we have many examples of processes in our day-to-day lives that can model for us what it means to serve.
Reflection Questions:
1. How do you think serving others can lead to deeper relationships or even friendships in your own life?
2. How does knowing and taking care of yourself help you serve others better? Have you ever felt too drained to help others?
3. Why do you think it can be difficult to accept help from others, and how does this challenge your understanding of mutual service?
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How To Be A Witness (October 20, 2024)
God calls us to be a witness to others—how can a simple invitation create meaningful connections and impact lives?
Reflection Questions:
1. What experience have you had with evangelism that is coercive or argumentative?
2. What natural ways will you be a witness for Jesus?
3. Which of the five ways to be a witness come easiest for you? Hardest?
Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/nextsteps
Being Committed to the Church (October 27, 2024)
What does it look like to fully live out your faith? This Sunday, we reflect on the pillars that guide our community and invite you to consider your commitment to our shared journey.
Reflection Questions:
In what way do you experience this congregation as a “household”?
How are you uniquely called and gifted to build up the work of this church?
How will you recommit your efforts of prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness?
--Find out more at HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps--
Living Impact:
Celebrating 125 Years of Making God’s Love Real
Living With Eternity In Mind (September 1, 2024)
Have you ever thought that we live our lives with both our ancestors and our descendants in mind? We have inherited the legacy of those who have gone before us, as we seek to leave a living impact for those to come. At every step, God’s faithfulness has strengthened us for the journey, and will enable this church to make God’s love real for decades to come.
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Reflection Questions:
What favorite stories do you know about your ancestors?
What does it mean for you to think of yourself as a simultaneous descendant and ancestor?
How will you live faithfully now to leave a living impact for those to follow?
Beyond the Sermon: The Church's One Foundation
As Hyde Park begins its celebration of 125 years, Magrey and Mat sit down to discuss what it means to have a spiritual legacy.
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What Thread Runs Through Your Life? (September 8, 2024)
The poet William Stafford writes of the thread which you never let go of. A thread that sets your course and your pursuits. As we continue celebrating our 125th anniversary, Jim Harnish, our Senior Pastor from 1992 - 2014 describes the thread he discovered at Hyde Park as he began uncovering our history from early in the 20th century.
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Beyond the Sermon: What Thread Runs Through Your Life?
This week Mat sits down with former senior pastor of Hyde Park, Jim Harnish, with the topic of discovering and recognizing continuing threads of your life in the both spiritual and historical sense.
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Our Theme In Glory (September 15, 2024)
We cannot control how we will be remembered. 125 years from now, who knows what will be said about us by our descendants. All that we can do – and must do – is remember the stories of our ancestors and live into the grander story of God.
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Reflection Questions:
1. How can you re-prioritize your life, to focus less on being remembered, and more on being part of a story bigger than yourself?
2. How will you remember the “old, old story” of God’s love in your life?
3. How will you live into the story of God’s love through this church?
Branching Out:
Our Place in the Faith Family Tree
What Makes United Methodists Distinct? (August 11, 2024)
Have you ever wondered how Methodism is connected to the other denominations of faith? As we begin this new series, we explore our "roots" in Christianity and how we might seem different from many other faiths, but how we are more connected through our similarities than divided by the differences.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What is the story of your religious journey? What faith traditions shape who you are?
2. What similarities among denominations do you find most meaningful?
3. What is best about being United Methodist to you?
Beyond the Sermon: Our Personal Faith Journeys
This week, we have started a new sermon series discussing our Christian heritage and how we can relate to people of other faiths. Magrey and Mat sit down to talk about their own personal experiences in exploring and being raised in environments of differing faiths.
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What is Our Relationship With Other Faiths? (August 18, 2024)
Christianity's relationship with other religions is a complex issue, especially considering Jesus' claims in John 3:16. How can we balance Christian conviction with love and respect for diverse faiths in today's world?
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Questions for Reflection:
1. What is your experience with people of different faiths?
2. In what ways are you using your gifts to cross barriers and build connections/relationships with those whose beliefs are different from yours?
3. What is one thing you could do to start a dialog with someone who practices a different faith?
Beyond the Sermon: Our Relationship With Other Faiths
Sally and Mat sit down this week to discuss how inter-faith relationships can work and how to build those bridges.
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How to Connect with People Seeking Meaning (August 25, 2024)
A common question that all people ponder is this: what is the meaning of life? What are we meant to do? It's in this question that we can find common ground with those who do not take part in any faith, and build a relationship with them.
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Reflection Questions:
1. How have you struggled with questions of meaning and purpose in your life?
2. How do your struggles help you connect with unchurched people with similar experiences?
3. How does putting Christ at the center of our lives help with those struggles?
Beyond the Sermon: Rethinking Conflict
This week Magrey sits down with Gary Mason to talk about the current situation with Israel-Palestine and how to find common ground in the mist of intense disagreement and conflict.
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Voices of Inspiration:
Great Lives that Light Our Way
What Is The Cost of Following Jesus? (June 30, 2024)
What if following Jesus was costly and not comfortable? Would that make you reconsider? For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, following Jesus meant wrestling with his morals, his calling, and ultimately giving his life in resistance to the evil of Nazi Germany. His life seems inimitable. But there is something in his story for us to learn about the cost of discipleship.
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Reflection Questions:
1. Who have been the significant “voices of inspiration” in your own spiritual journey?
2. What is something new you learned about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
3. How will you follow Jesus more closely this week?
Beyond the Sermon: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Mat and Magrey sit down to discuss the impact Dietrich Bonhoeffer had on Magrey's calling to ministry and the conflict between our inner and outer selves.
How to Make A Difference (July 7, 2024)
Almost all of us have probably heard of Mother Teresa. A name synonymous with doing good deeds and loving others. Sometimes when we aspire to be like her, or any other person we might look up to, it can be hard not to fall into a trap of comparison. But you may not know is that Mother Teresa has a lot more in common with you and me than you think.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What is “Your Own Calcutta?” How will you practice and compassion and mercy to others?
2. In what ways can you be more persistent in doing the work Jesus calls you to do?
3. What lessons can you learn from Mother Teresa in how she named and dealt with doubt?
Beyond The Sermon: Mother Teresa
Mat and Magrey dive deeper into Mother Teresa's story, paying particular attention to her own struggles with doubt, faith, and God's perceived absence. We talk about what we can learn from that today and how we can manage our own anxieties and fears.
Resources:
"The Questions Jesus Asked"
Magrey deVega
https://a.co/d/05e3zfA1
"Come Be My Light"
Mother Teresa
https://a.co/d/02AQBil8
Taking Action With Your Faith (July 14, 2024)
What injustice in the world breaks your heart? Have you ever wondered how to channel that frustration or pain towards change? Howard Thurman was a 20th century Black mystic, writer, and theologian who laid the ground work for the non-violent movements that would mark the middle of the 20th century. Through his life and legacy we can learn how to resist evil and injustice with peace.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What group or person is it most difficult for you? How might you practice seeing the divine in them?
2. How have you or will you build a relationship with the disinherited?
3. How can you dismantle discrimination? Specifically, what action will you take?
Beyond the Sermon: Howard Thurman
Mat and Justin LaRosa discuss action and contemplation. We need both to be active in our world, especially if we want to make a difference. And we take a close look at Psalm 139—how it can be re-read in light of the sermon.
A Faith That Sings (July 21, 2024)
There is evidence all throughout the Bible of how singing has salved the struggles we face. In Exodus, the Israelites marched through the wilderness after escaping enslavement from Pharaoh, and they were led by a song leader, Moses’ sister Miriam. And all throughout the plight of enslaved African-American people, the Negro spirituals buoyed their spirits and brought them in solidarity with each other, a melodic defiance against the systems of racism that held them. The life of Mahalia Jackson is filled with reminders that in our darkest and toughest moments, it can be a song that lifts our eyes toward hope and inspires us to struggle toward brighter days.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What do you think makes singing such a powerful form of individual and communal expression?
2. What songs have been most inspiring to you throughout your life?
3. How familiar are you with the music of Mahalia Jackson? How might you listen to her music over the coming days?
Beyond the Sermon: Mahalia Jackson
Mat and Magrey have a discussion about how songs shape us, how they shaped the Bible, and how they continue to bring the biblical text alive today.
What Would You Sacrifice to Follow Jesus? (July 28, 2024)
Similar to when we talked about Howard Thurman, Oscar Romero was another voice that championed the cause the oppressed and suffering. Romero's life and witness exemplify to us what it truly means to hear the call of Jesus and put our convictions into action.
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Reflection Questions:
1. Did you know much about Oscar Romero before today’s sermon? What surprised you about his life and witness?
2. In what ways are you using your influence to bring Good News to other people?
3. How might God be inviting you to change your heart? How are you evolving, changing, growing in your Christian witness?
Beyond the Sermon: Oscar Romero
Mat and Sally sit down the discuss the witness of Oscar Romero from El Salvador in the 1970s. And how Sally's own experience in El Salvador influenced her call to ministry.
Education For All (August 4, 2024)
Everything Mary McLeod Bethune did was grounded in her faith. She was centered in her convictions about Jesus Christ as the one who not only set people free from sin, but tore down every wall that separates us from each other. And not just by race. She was a profoundly ecumenical person who believed in the honoring of every religious tradition, without barriers among Christians, Jews, Muslims, or any other faith.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What Voices of Inspiration in this worship series have been most meaningful to you, and why?
2. What insights and inspiration does Mary McLeod Bethune’s story evoke in you?
3. How will you become a voice of inspiration to others?
Beyond the Sermon: Mary McLeod Bethune
This week, Sally and Magrey talk about the impact that was the witness of Mary Bethune in education and how all of us can be inspired from it.
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Hard to Believe:
Essential Yet Challenging Aspects of the Faith
How Can Three Equal One? (May 26, 2024)
The Christian faith is filled with many wondrous propositions, each of which stretch our thinking and remind us that God is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. At the same time, these ideas can be so challenging that they prompt moments of skepticism, and even disbelief. Each of these Sundays explores a different, central aspect of the Christian faith and unpacks it using the resources of Scripture, tradition, experience, and most importantly, reason. The result will be an ability to embrace the tenets with a freshly constructed – or reconstructed – framework for belief.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What are the hardest questions about the faith that you wrestle with?
2. What is your favorite image of the trinity?
3. How will you live a trinitarian life this week?
Beyond the Sermon: A Conversation About the Trinity
How does the Trinity work? What metaphors are helpful? And what metaphors break down? Join Mat Hotho and Magrey deVega as they untangle this ancient mystery in our new bonus series, "Beyond the Sermon."
Divine Or Human Or Both? (June 2, 2024)
We can embrace the fact that believing in the full humanity and divinity of Jesus, is essential, but also mysterious. It is a mystery to believe that 1+1=1, one fully human nature plus one fully divine nature can exist as one nature in Jesus. And we can even have our own preferred image of Jesus, from the Savior God whose power throughout the universe is displayed, to the God who walks with us and talks with us and tells us that we are his own. But at the end of the day, it is essential to believe in this mystery, as hard as it is. Because it is in the full humanity and divinity of Jesus that we can be saved.
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Reflection Questions:
1. Do you tend to have a “high” or “low” image of Jesus?
2. What significance does the full divinity and humanity of Jesus have for you?
3. How will you deepen your love and appreciation for Jesus this week?
Beyond the Sermon: Divine or Human? Or Both?
Mat and Magrey are back to wrestle through the idea of Jesus being fully human and fully divine. We stumble across some heresies along the way (including a nod to Edgar the Bug from Men In Black). We also talk about strange texts that didn't make it into the Bible and why they didn't make the cut. And we explore how Jesus' dual nature is essential for many downstream Christian beliefs like salvation, atonement, and lordship.
Can We Fully Know God? (June 9, 2024)
Today, we explore the profound paradox of our faith: God is both knowable and unknowable. Through Jesus, the Bible, the church, and the natural world, we gain glimpses of who God is. Yet, there is always a divine mystery beyond our understanding. Discover how the early church grappled with God's omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence, and learn from personal stories of encountering God's nature. Join us and stay tuned in for next week, as we tackle another hard-to-believe aspect: why is there evil in the world?
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Reflection Questions:
1. Who are people who have embodied a quality of God for you?
2. Which attribute of God do you have the hardest time understanding or accepting?
3. When have you experienced the omnibenevolence of God?
Beyond the Sermon: The Nature of God
Mat and Magrey tackle the topic of the nature of God. How do we know who God is and what does that mean for downstream theological ideas like free will and suffering? Mat brings a background in post-WW2 theology, referencing Barth, Moltmann, and the critique of classical theism. And Magrey provides helpful ways to think about God's nature from a Wesleyan perspective.
Suffering, Evil, and Tragedy (June 16, 2024)
It's a question we ask all the time: How can God be omnipotent and omnibenevolent in the presence of all the suffering, tragedy, and evil in the world? This paradox is a huge reason as to why many have either left the faith or simply do not wish to believe in something that seemingly allows all of this to happen. As we discuss this hard-to-believe question, we are reminded that, though you may be going through hard times, God is still always with you.
HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps
Reflection Questions:
1. When have you wrestled with God’s relationship to human suffering?
2. What has given you strength during times of hardship? Where do you think God was?
3. How have you experienced God transforming your suffering into something positive?
Beyond The Sermon: Tragedy, Suffering, and Evil
Why do bad things happen? Where is God when we or those we love are hurting? In this conversation Mat and Magrey tackle one of the hardest topics in Christian theology—the existence of suffering and evil and what that means about the nature of God.
How To Pray Powerfully (June 23, 2024)
There are some common question that arises when we discuss the topic of prayer: What good does it do? Does it even matter? Pastor Justin LaRosa has 3 key things to discover how to pray powerfully. And, in the end, it's not a question of if prayer even works, but a question of how we align our will with God's will.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What is the mountain you’d like to move?
2. How has the power of prayer changed you? The world?
3. Who do you need to forgive?
Life’s Highs and Lows:
Navigating the Landscapes of the Soul
The Journey Up (and down) the Mountain (April 7, 2024)
We love mountain-top moments. But it is the ascent and descent that can teach us the most about life itself. They remind us that there is both grace and caution in every moment of life, whether it is an incline, a decline, or most often, a combination of the two. To pay attention, to slow down your pace, and savor the presence of God, who is not just there to meet you at the top of the mountain, but to walk alongside you, every step along the way.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What are your most memorable “mountain top” moments?
2. How does an “uphill climb” and a “downhill descent” help you focus on God and slow your pace?
3. How will you let God help you keep your highs from getting too high, and your lows from getting too low?
"Thou Art With Me" (April 14, 2024)
The 23rd Psalm is one of the most iconic scriptures in our Bible. It is one of those passages you recognize simply by reference. Tucked amid the tranquil and lush images, between green pastures, still waters, and a dwelling place with God forever, there is this inescapable, unavoidable reality of life. The Valley, of the Shadow, of Death. It is in the valley that we can experience God most closely and most personally. As painful and as inescapable as the valleys of our lives are, they can be and often are the most transformational moments in our lives, because that is where we discover a relationship with God who is with us.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What valleys are you experiencing right now?
2. How will you shift from talking about God to connecting personally with God?
3. How will you remember that God is with you?
God's Steadfast Love (April 21, 2024)
Do you believe that God loves you? I know that might seem like an odd question. But what would your life look like if you truly believed that God loves you. In the words of Michael Card, we have no right to expect or demand anything from God, yet God loves us fully and deeply. If that were not true, then nothing else matters. And because it is true nothing else matters.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What are your most vivid memories of being in a desert?
2. Which of the four metaphors in Psalm 107 best describes what you are struggling with?
3. Do you believe that God loves you? What difference does that make for you?
Finding Your Balance (April 28, 2024)
Life is full of balances. Take the sun. It is necessary for life on Earth of function. We love the warmth and light it gives off. However, too much sun and we can definitely feel the burn. As we continue our series, Psalm 19 helps understand that even something as vital as the sun is ultimately not a being itself but is a product of God’s handiwork. The sun runs its course because God has set its course. God is in control.
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Reflection Questions:
1) Which of the three parts of Psalm 19 do you most resonate with—nature, scripture, or personal reflection?
2) What are ways you have found scripture, particularly the Old Testament, to be life-giving?
3) Where do you need balance in your life today?
The Choices We Make (May 5, 2024)
The author of Psalm 1 said that they "delight in the law of the Lord." How do we exactly achieve something like that? How do we know that what we are living a good life? Well, it's in the decisions that we make. They don't have to be big decisions, but it's the actions and choices we make for ourselves throughout the day, every day.
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Reflection Questions:
1. Among the 1000s of decisions you make everyday, can you think of a time where you felt really close to God, certain that you were on the right path with God, and felt deeply connected to the Holy. What was that like?
2. In what ways are you choosing to delight in the God’s instructions?
3. How might God be inviting you to change your thinking, your meditating, and/or the path you’re walking on, so as to bring renewal and refreshment to your life?
Life's Highs & Lows, Part 6 // The Rev. Justin LaRosa // May 12, 2024
Choosing a path of faithfulness means that we have fidelity to the journey of God’s love in any landscape—whether on a mountain, in a valley, in a desert, at or in a river, or in the skies. Love is the divine path. We must cling to loving God in each landscape. We must cling to loving others. And often, we must ask God to help us to love ourselves and ignore the self-criticism and hate that so many of us have running in our thoughts. This kind of divine love is fierce. It is powerful and gentle. It pierces and heals. It can come as a whisper or powerful wind. And being faithful to it is simple yet not easy. But it will lead to abundant life.
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Reflection Questions:
1. What landscape are you currently in?
2. What does setting God’s ordinances before you look like in your life?
3. How can you choose faithfulness this week?
You are Not Alone:
Spiritual Insights for Creating Community
Longing for Community (January 7, 2024)
It is not good for humans to be alone. Despite all of the new technology designed to bring people closer together, it seems that loneliness and all of the other condition associated with it, are on the rise. As we begin this series "You Are Not Alone", perhaps you would make one of your New Years' resolutions to seek out and be more involved in community.
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Reflection Questions:
1. Who is the person (or the people) in your life that make you feel ‘known’?
2. What is one thing you can do to help alleviate another person’s isolation and make them feel that they are ‘of worth’?
3. Name two things you can do to cultivate or nurture your primary relationships this week?
Baptized Into Community (January 14, 2024)
Your baptism is a gift from God. It is not just a singular moment in time from the past. It is an enduring reminder of God’s love for you—how God will always be by your side, no matter what you face. And it is a reminder of how we, as the church, are together as one community of love and support.
HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps
Reflection Questions:
1. What is your favorite memory of a baptism?
2. What do you think God is doing in a baptism?
3. What difference does baptism make for you, in how you think, act, and relate to others?
How To Build Stronger Families (January 21, 2024)
Families can be the most supportive and the most chaotic when it comes to relationships. But they are an essential part of building and maintaining community. According Paul, an early Christian leader, stronger families will mean stronger homes. Stronger homes can mean stronger communities of faith. And a stronger church, a stronger body of Christ, will mean a stronger witness of love and compassion to others, resulting in a stronger, more loving world.
HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps
Reflection Questions:
1. What is the best thing about your family? What is the hardest thing about your family?
2. How will drawing closer to Jesus help each member of your family draw closer to each other?
3. How do you think stronger families can improve your community?
The Power of Friendship (January 28, 2024)
Do you ever flip through the Bible and hope for practical advice? Maybe about how to maintain friendships? Well then you're in luck because an ancient wisdom author once wrote about the valuer of good company and how companionship can make us stronger.
HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps
Reflection Questions:
1. In what ways has your number of friends or closeness of friendships changed over the last several years?
2. Who are your close friends? How can you be a better friend to them?
3. How will you practice constancy, carefulness, candor, and counsel in your friendships?
A Stronger Social Fabric (February 4, 2024)
Perhaps the greatest cause of our loneliness and disconnectedness is the tense political and social climate. What if there was a way to bridge differences and have civil conversations about tough issues? What would that look like and could we model that new way of being?
HydeParkUMC.org/NextSteps
15 Practical Guidelines from Romans 12:9–21
1. Our love for each other will be genuine.
2. We will hate what is evil.
3. We will make goodness our bond.
4. The only competition between us will be to see who can show the other greater honor.
5. Together, we will put God first, even when we don’t feel like it.
6. We will be hopeful, not cynical.
7. We will be patient, even when our differences make things difficult.
8. We will never stop praying for each other or for the world.
9. We pledge to be welcoming to strangers, people who are different from us.
10. We will not speak ill of each other; instead, we will speak words of blessing.
11. We will choose harmony with each other over arrogance.
12. We commit to being with those who are less fortunate, less privileged, and less powerful, so that we can learn humility ourselves.
13. We will not respond to evil by doing evil ourselves. We commit to the most noble actions and motivations.
14. We will have hearts of peace for each other, rather than revenge.
15. We will not overcome evil with evil, but by doing good.
Mat Hotho
mhotho@hydeparkumc.org
Reflection Questions:
1. When have you had difficulty relating to a person based on partisan differences?
2. How can Christians be politically engaged, without devolving into polarizing partisanship?
3. What valuable insights have you gained about relationships throughout this worship series?
The "Thin Places" of Life (February 11, 2024)
Even if you aren't a Christian, you cannot deny that there are certain places or moments in life that have a more significant feeling than others. Some would even call it a divine experience. This Sunday marks a transition away from focusing on what Jesus can do (e.g. miracles), and more on who Jesus truly is: The Messiah.
HydeparkUMC.org/NextSteps
Reflection Questions:
1. Can you remember a time when you were so overcome with beauty or joy that you were rendered speechless? What was that like?
2. When was the last time you were “lost in wonder, love, and praise” of God because you felt the Lord's present so closely?
3. What is pulling on your heart (or calling to you), as we begin this season of Lent?
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