Sermon 02.08.2026: The Gift of Desperation

Guest Preacher Mark Yaconelli • February 8, 2026

Many of us feel things are falling apart-either in our personal, professional, or public life. How can suffering invite us toward deeper freedom, integrity, and trust in God? How can our helplessness transform us into the people God has created us to be?



Download Sunday Bulletin

Scripture


John 4:46-54


Then Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my little boy dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, ‘Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.’ The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.





Sermon


Please watch livestream video above. Thank you!

Ecco Homo by Caravaggio, c 1605. Jesus on trial
By Rev. Marci Glass March 22, 2026
In this passage from John's gospel, we're reminded that while the occupying Roman government murdered Jesus, they did so with the encouragement of Jesus' own people. What does this story have to say for how we live together, how we acknowledge our mistakes, and how we are called to be faithful today?
A road sign that reads ‘good choice, bad choice’
By Rev. Joann Lee March 15, 2026
After Pilate examines Jesus, he finds no fault in him. And yet, he offers the crowd a choice any way: release Jesus or Barabbas? The crowd chooses Barabbas, a convicted criminal over Jesus. How do we continue to choose Barabbas over Jesus still today?
A big starry night sky with the sun setting and the Milky Way galaxy. The text reads “I AM (not)
By Rev. Marci Glass March 8, 2026
In today's reading, Peter denies Jesus three times. Peter isn’t any worse than any other sheep in God’s flock. Here, at least, he’s also not better. We are people, like Peter, who deny. We deny our connectedness. We divide into “us and them”. We seek easy answers to complicated questions.
Cover photo of the annual report
By Rachel Wolf March 3, 2026
A coupon that reads ‘bread bath and beyond 100% free grace, never expire!’
By Rev. Victor Floyd March 1, 2026
On the night we expect bread and cup, John’s gospel gives us a towel and a basin. Jesus kneels, turning ritual into relationship and power into vulnerable love. Communion is not words at a table, but embodied connection that changes and binds us together—when we dare to be present.
An opening tomb with a rock moving out of the way to light - the text reads 'living, dying, rising
By Rev. Marci Glass February 22, 2026
The rhythm of living, dying, and rising is the story of our faith, and the rhythm of our lives. We worship a man who rose from the dead. After he had lived. And after he died. As we enter the season of Lent, we'll focus on the story of Lazarus, and see how living, dying, and rising affected him and his community.
A lens inside a pair of glasses looking into a field of flowers - text reads ‘blinded by the light’
By Rev. Marci Glass February 15, 2026
In John's Gospel, the signs Jesus performs are supposed to point people to see who Jesus is, to connect them to God. But in the sign of the blind man receiving his sight, it doesn't seem to work. When Jesus' signs don't match what we know to be true in the world, do we dismiss them, explain them away?
Jesus & the Samaritan Woman by James He Qi • heqiart.com
By Rev. Marci Glass February 1, 2026
We live in a world full of shallow wells, creating a thirsty, isolated world. There’s a lot of anxiety in the world, in the church, because we turn to those shallow wells and are never satisfied. Jesus offers the Woman at the Well living water. What would it take for us to leave our water jars by our wells so we can ha
A gorgeous colorful illustration of Nicodemus and stars and clouds swirling behind him
By Rev. Victor Floyd January 25, 2026
Salvation is not an exit plan! It's God’s deep commitment to redeeming what the world has learned to call normal. God does not abandon the world’s brokenness but enters it to make it whole.
'Flip it like this' book cover by David Hayward
By Rev. Joann Lee January 18, 2026
What makes Jesus angry? Injustice, exploitation, and religious complicity with corruption and power, among other things. Tom Morello said in the 80s, "If you aren't angry, you aren't paying attention." Perhaps it is time to join Jesus in overturning some tables.
More Posts