This is the fourth Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s scripture is the passage from Luke wherein a pregnant Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary’s response to Elizabeth is what has come to be known as …

Breath for Dry Bones – This Service of the Longest Night is designed to hold space and a quiet place for those who are suffering loss or other distress. Delivering the sermon is Tammy Lewis Wilborn, our Pastoral Intern, and the text is Ezekiel’s well-known vision of the valley of dry bones. She compares much of today’s situations to that valley in …

This is the third Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s message is from Zephaniah. The candle we light today is the pink one, symbolizing joy. In this season we experience a lot of joy with Christmas cards, gifts, and such, but, in contrast,…

This is the second Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s message is from Malachi. Our Senior Miniter, Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon, cites a book, Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, who says that in the corporate world feedback is important. Carol sa…

Our Hope Is Built – This is the first Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we will hear some messages from the ancient prophets. Today we begin with a passage from Jeremiah, who, while in prison and having witnessed Jerusalem destroyed by the Babylonian army, nevertheless offers a promise from God of re…

This is Reign of Christ Sunday, and the scripture reading from John is the encounter between Pilate and Jesus when Pilate asks Jesus if he is king of the Jews. Jesus doesn’t deny it, but he says that his kingdom is not of this world. As Americans we understand monarchy knowing our country was founded upon rebellion against such rule, but Jesus demo…

The scripture for today is from the first chapter of 1 Samuel wherein Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, goes into the shrine at Shiloh to pray to have a child. Not only has she been unable to conceive, but Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, often makes fun of her “mercilessly.” Our Pastor of Children and Families, the Rev. Maggie Jarrell, deliv…

An Open-Handed Future – Today we are following the story of Ruth that we began two Sundays ago when Ruth, leaving her own land, went with Naomi, her mother-in-law, to Naomi’s home in Judah. Ruth, an immigrant in the territory of what had been the enemies of her people, was there out of love for mother-in-law, Naomi. Delivering the sermon on the sec…

West End UMC lay and clergy voices join together to offer a morning prayer podcast for the mornings of November 4-6. The liturgy generally follows the “Order for Morning Praise and Prayer”. ...Av Rev. Will McLeane and

West End UMC lay and clergy voices join together to offer a morning prayer podcast for the mornings of November 4-6. The liturgy generally follows the “Order for Morning Praise and Prayer”. ...Av Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye and Beth Bernard

West End UMC lay and clergy voices join together to offer a morning prayer podcast for the mornings of November 4-6. The liturgy generally follows the “Order for Morning Praise and Prayer”. ...Av Rev. Aimee Baxter and Andrew Breeden

Today is All Saints Sunday when we remember those who have gone before us, and, specifically, those members of our church who have died in the past year for each of whom we light a candle during the service. It is a communion service using the old Cranmer liturgy, and Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye delivers the Communion Meditation based on the first part…

What Do You Want Me to Do for You? – In today’s reading from Mark, Jesus, his disciples, and a large crowd are about to leave Jericho when they encounter Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who calls out to Jesus. The author of this first gospel tends to be brief and to-the-point, and although this story must certainly have been one of the many encounters J…

Side by Side – In today’s reading from Mark, two of the disciples of Jesus ask to sit at his right and left when Jesus enters his glory. The Rev. Aimee Baxter, our Pastor of Young Adults, delivers the sermon today. She says that the motivation for James and John to ask this is not clear – do they want to be close to Jesus, or is it a power grab? In…

In today’s familiar scripture passage from Mark, a rich young ruler comes to ask Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, and, first, Jesus cites a number of the commandments, all of which have to do with relationships. The young man says that he has kept all the commandments. Then “Jesus, looking at him, loved him” and told him he must sell …

Common Ground – Today is World Communion Sunday. Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, our Pastor of Mercy and Justice Ministries, delivers the Communion Meditation, based on the Genesis 2 creation story where God creates the first human from the dirt of the earth. She reminds us that although so many things tend to divide us (politics, ball teams, etc.), human…

Today we continue with the Epistle of James, written to a congregation that the writer feels has strayed. Dr. Tammy Lewis Wilborn, our Congregational Care Intern, is preaching today and begins with her experience working at Alive Hospice this summer and her perspective on faith in the face of dying, citing a patient who, in tears, said he hoped God…

Children’s Sabbath – Today we focus on children as we read a familiar passage from Mark 9 where the disciples have argued who among them is the greatest, and Jesus uses a child as a lesson to say that in order to be first, one must be last, putting on the mantle of a servant or a child. For our services today, children’s choirs are featured, Bibles…

Today we continue with the Epistle of James, written to a congregation that the writer feels has strayed. In today’s reading from chapter 3, using some analogies the writer cautions against the harmful words one can utter – a small rudder can change the course of a great ship. Rev. Will McLeane relates an account of John Lewis, about to speak in an…

Good Company – Today we begin a series from the Epistle of James, which was written to an early congregation who have, according to the author, lost their way. The author cites them for accepting and welcoming people like themselves, but ignoring the poor who are unlike them. Historically, the church to whom the epistle was directed was a diaspora …

Today is communion Sunday, and Thornton Muncher, a Vanderbilt Divinity School student and our summer intern, is delivering the Communion Meditation, based on a passage from Mark 7, an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees when they question him about the behavior of his disciples relative to the law. Thornton has studied and worked for reconcil…

This is the final in a three-weeks series of focus on the Sabbath and rest as Senior Minister, Carol Cavin-Dillon, preaches her last sermons before her three-months sabbatical. Today she begins by reviewing that series on rest. Today’s passage from Matthew is the familiar scene wherein the disciples, being hungry, pick grain on the Sabbath and are …

The theme for these three weeks is and has been “Rest” and the significance of the Sabbath, part of the initiative for which is that the Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon, Senior Minister, will be on a three-months period of rest and renewal beginning in September. Today she asks us to consider the factors that might prevent our resting. In today’s scrip…

The theme for the next three weeks is “Rest.” There are times when for each of us rest is difficult, when we have trouble sleeping and/or relaxing because we’re tense or worried. There is scientific and medical evidence that sleep is essential and beneficial, but even without such scientific evidence we know from the first Genesis creation story th…

The Bread of Life – Last Sunday our scripture reading was the Fourth Gospel’s version of the feeding of the 5000, and this week’s reading follows that one. The miraculous feeding of the crowd satisfied their hunger, but now the crowd has followed him and Jesus realizes they have come to him now to ask for more bread. In this text, without actually …

Continuing in the Fourth Gospel for our scripture, today’s reading is the familiar story of the feeding of the 5000, and this account emphasizes how miraculous it was. The writer of this gospel says, at the end, that he has written the accounts of seven signs of Jesus so that the reader may believe. In this story of the feeding of the 5000, we are …

In the Beginning – Today’s scripture is the familiar passage opening the Fourth Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word . . .” With those words we are celebrating Christmas in July to focus on the meaning of the birth of Jesus, the mystery of the incarnation. For Christmas proper we always rehearse the story of Mary, Joseph, and the birth of the bab…

Today’s scripture is from 2 Samuel in which David and his troops transport the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Preaching is Rev. Shannon Baxter, our Pastor of Congregational Connection, and he describes his family’s experiences with Nintendo Wii and how it helped with their joy and celebrating via dancing. In the text for today, at the end of uph…

As we continue to read from the Gospel of Mark, today’s reading offers an opportunity to talk about the development of his followers from disciples to apostles. The word, “disciple,” means one who learns, and we have seen many instances of followers learning from Jesus. In this passage Jesus is sending out the twelve apostles, two by two, and “apos…

As we continue to read from the Gospel of Mark, today’s reading includes two stories of Jesus healing, both somewhat unusual and different from each other. The gospel writer integrates them, setting one inside the other. A synagogue leader comes to Jesus, desperate, because his daughter is at the point of death. In the midst of that, a woman who ha…

The scripture for today from Mark is the familiar story when the disciples and Jesus are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and a storm hits. In this gospel, the disciples frequently seem to be thick headed and not understanding, but in this situation, their frustration seems more justified. This is, apparently, a terrible storm, and in the midst of …

From this week’s Vacation Bible School, the Children’s Moment, led by Minister of Children and Families, Maggie Jarrell, remembers and celebrates that. We have been working our way through the early parts of the Gospel of Mark, and today’s passage includes the very familiar parables of the seeds and the mustard seed. We live in an age when technolo…

Chosen Family – Rev. Will McLeane is preaching on a story in Mark 3 when Jesus comes to his home, and the crowd is oppressive. The multitudes are there for different reasons: some because of his powers of healing, some because of the words he has spoken, and some who see him as a false prophet and a threat to the status quo. His own family members …

Healing the Withered – The scripture for today is from Mark 3, a scene in which Jesus is being watched to see whether he will, on the sabbath, cure a man with a withered hand. He does, of course, heal the man. This man with the withered hand has likely been overlooked. A withered hand is easy to hide or overlook, and it may be that he wasn’t notice…

Born Into Love (Again) – This is Trinity Sunday, and the scripture from the Fourth Gospel is about the learned Pharisee Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night to ask a number of questions. Much as Nicodemus had questions, even as learned as we may be, we, too, can have questions, even about the concept of “The Trinity.” Although for centuries The Trini…

This is Pentecost Sunday and we are reading the account of the Holy Spirit coming in dramatic fashion to inhabit the disciples after the ascension of Jesus. The account is demonstrative of the power and work of the Holy Spirit as it acts in dramatic fashion, but not in random fashion. The participants are around 120 people, and there were surely di…

This is Ascension Sunday, the day we acknowledge and celebrate Jesus’ ascension to heaven after his crucifixion and resurrection. The text for today is from the opening verses of Acts, recording that ascension of Jesus. In some ways it is reminiscent of this season in our lives when there are graduations from high schools, colleges, and such, where…

Love Is the Way – Today we continue a post-Easter series of several weeks of focus on 1 John and the idea of love, that God loves us and that our response to that is to love God in return, but also to love others. This is also Confirmation Sunday when we present a dozen young people who have been through the confirmation process and are ready to be…

Love Casts Out Fear – Today we continue a post-Easter series of several weeks of focus on 1 John and the idea of love, that God loves us and that our response to that is to love God in return, but also to love others. There are numerous examples in our lives and in our day of fears. Even among some churches the incentive for believing in God is the…

Today we begin a post-Easter series of several weeks of focus on 1 John with some verses from chapter 3 that are centered on God’s love and how our love can be manifested in acts. Although the English word, “love,” can refer to a wide variety of emotions and acts, Greek has several different words that can be translated “love” – philos, eros, and a…

This is West End’s annual Youth Sunday when youth take on every role in the service, including all readings, music, and preaching. The two delivering the sermon(s) are Brazier Pierce and Mary Peacock, both of whom give their own experiences related to the scripture from Luke 24:36-48, where the disciples of Jesus, having seen him crucified, are sur…

Forgiveness Is Not What You Think – On the Second Sunday of Easter, our Congregational Care Intern, Dr. Tammy Lewis Wilborn, delivers the Communion Meditation, based on the passage from Genesis 45 where Joseph’s brothers have come to Egypt during the famine to seek food. Unbeknownst to them, he is the one from the Egyptian administration who meets …

Easter Sunday! The Gospel reading for our Easter service is the one from Mark’s Gospel (16.1-8). It is an odd and somewhat unsatisfactory ending to the story in that the three women who go to the tomb and are told that Jesus is risen and are then directed to tell the disciples about that and instruct them to return to Galilee where they will see hi…

This is our Good Friday service, a remembrance held at the traditional hour of the crucifixion of Jesus. It begins with the chiming of the hour, which sets the mood. It includes a reading of two chapters of the Fourth Gospel that describe the arrest, condemnation, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus, a familiar and agonizing section to hear and recall…

We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering podcasts every day during Holy Week. ...Av Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon and Dr. Matthew Phelps

This is Maundy Thursday, the service in which we remember and participate in the Last Supper. The scripture for this service is the familiar story from the Fourth Gospel wherein Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and leaves them with the commandment to love one another. Delivering the communion meditation is our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, R…

We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering podcasts every day during Holy Week. ...Av Rev Stacey Harwell-Dye and Emily Robbins

We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering podcasts every day during Holy Week. ...Av Rev. Will McLeane and Rev. Maggie Jarrell