All Episodes
This Week at Zion UCC — 349 episodes
Living Together in God's Diversity / Colossians 3:1-17
God Bestows / Acts 11:19-30
God Has Come / Philippians 2:5-11
God Judges / Isaiah 58
God Seeks / Isaiah 55
God Creates / Deuteronomy 30:11-20
We believe in God / John 1
It's Hard to Intimidate Trinitarians / Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-35
What to Expect on Pentecost / Acts 2:1-13;37-47
Preparing for Pentecost / Acts 1:1-14
The One Who Calls is Faithful / 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
The Day of the Lord / 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
Dealing with the Power of Death / 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5,11-13
How It Started and How It's Going / 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13
Themes of 1 Thessalonians / 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
BONUS CONTENT: 1 Thessalonians
Resurrection as Resilience / John 20:1-18
Render unto Caesar / Mark 12:13-17
The Shepherd Mindset / John 10:1-18; Ezekiel 34:1-10
Imitators, Not Admirers / Luke 6:17-36
Lent in the Wildness / Matthew 4:1-11
Revealing and Concealing / Mark 9:2-10
Prodigal is Not a Compliment / Luke 15:11-32
Lost and Found / Luke 15:1-10
Arrow Power and Spiral Power / Mark 4:1-20
Baptism: An Identity and a Vocation / Mark 1:1-15
Sing a New Song
Love That Never Gives Up / Matthew 1:8-25
Joy as an Act of Resistance / Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 1:41-55
Hope in Christ's Return / Isaiah 2:1-5; Mark 13:33-37
What Kind of King? / Jeremiah 23:1-8; Colossians 1:11-20
A Mix of Joy and Weeping / Ezra 3:10-13; Nehemiah 13:15-18
Exile and Promise / Jeremiah 52:1-16; Ezekiel 11:14-20
How to Live as a Saint / Jeremiah 22 & 17
Justice, Hypocrisy, and Grace / Amos 5:14-24
Everyone Did What Was Right in Their Own Eyes / Judges 2:6-19
The Pattern of Faith / Exodus 16
Don't Keep Still / Exodus 14:5-21
Covenant, Not Contract / Genesis 11:27-12:9
God's Answer to Corruption / Genesis 6-9
In the Beginning / Genesis 1:1-2:4a
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory / Matthew 6:13
The Danger of Homophily / Micah 6:1-8
Lead Us Not / Matthew 6:13
Forgive Us, As We Forgive / Matthew 6:5-15
Give us this day / Matthew 6:5-15
Your Kingdom Come / Matthew 6:5-15
Our Father / Matthew 6:5-15
The What and Why of Trinity
Who is the Church? / Acts 2:1-13,41-47
Experiences of the Risen Christ: Go, Disciple-ize, Remember / Matthew 28:16-20
Regrets: Grace Super-Abounds / John 21:15-19
Attentiveness: Knowing Who to Be / Luke 24: 36-52
Call: Which Voices Do We Trust? / Mark 16:9-20
Openness: On the Road to Emmaus / Luke 24: 13-35
Values: Doubt Instead of Despair / John 20:19-30
Easter While It's Still Dark / John 20:1-18
The Jesus We Never Expect / John 11 and 12 selected verses
Jesus Doesn't Calm the Storm / John 6 :16-21
Anticipating Abundance / John 6:1-15
Choosing to Follow / John 5:1-24
Growing in Trust / John 4:46-54
Transfiguration: Do Whatever Jesus Tells You
Redemption: A Metaphor of Freedom AND Reconciliation: A Metaphor of Relationship
Sacrifice: A Metaphor of Worship / 1 John 1:5-2:6; 4:7-12
Justification: A Metaphor of Status / Romans 3:21-30
Remember Your Baptism / Mark 1:1-14
Sing a New Song
Love is a Sacrifice / Psalm 139
Joy is a Reorientation / Psalm 100
Peace is a Relationship / Psalms 130 & 131
Hope is a Choice / Psalm 126
How We Talk About What God is Doing / Selected Scriptures
How We Talk About God / Deuteronomy 4:14-20
The Commitment of Involvement / Genesis 17
The Commitment of Money / Genesis 14:17-21
The Commitment of Presence / Genesis 11 & 12
What We Learn from the Sabbath / Exodus 16
What We Learn from the Animals / Job 38-42
What We Learn from the Stars / Psalm 19
What We Learn from Plants / Ezekiel 47, Revelation 22
What We Learn from the Light / 1 John 1, Revelation 21
God in the End / Revelation 21:1-14, 22-27; 22:1-5, 12-17
The Faces of Jesus / Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:10-12,14-18; 4:14-16
The Spirit of Life / 1 Corinthians 15
The Spirit of Holiness / 1 Corinthians 3:9-15; 15:20-28
The Spirit of Power / Ephesians 6:10-20
Spirit of Unity and Diversity / Ephesians 4:1-16
Spirit of Love: Loving Self / Romans 12:3-21
Spirit of Love: Loving Neighbor / Acts 10:1-48
The Spirit of Love: Loving God / Psalm 116
Whatever Happens, Keep Rising Up / 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
The Uprising of Stewardship / 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
The Uprising of Partnership / Matthew 10:1-33; 28:16-30
The Uprising of Discipleship / John 21:1-15
The Uprising of Fellowship / John 20:19-31
The Power of Life / Luke 24:1-12
What Kind of King Do We Want? / Luke 18:29-46
The Lenten Disciplines / Matthew 6:1-18
Be "Perfect" (as God is "perfect") / Matthew 5:17-48
The Beatitudes / Matthew 5:1-16
Transfiguration: We Don't Always Get It Right / Matt 16:13-17:9
The One About Hell / 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
Meet Jesus and Make Room / Luke 5:17-32, 18:15-19:9
Slow Down: Parables at Work / Mark 4:1-25,33-34
The Mystery of Miracles / Mark 1:21-32
The Baptism of Christ / Luke 3:1-22
Love Now / Matthew 1:18-25
Joy Now / Luke 1:46-55
Peace Now / Isaiah 9:2-7
Hope Now / Isaiah 40:1-11
How to Read Violent Texts / Deuteronomy 7:1-11
10 Commandments for Community / Exodus 20:1-21
Our Openness and God's Possibility / Exodus 3:1-15
Wrestling with God / Genesis 32:22--33:11
Get Off the Altar / Genesis 22:1-14
Blessed to Be a Blessing / Genesis 12:1-9
Why We Need to be "Saved" / Genesis 4, 6, & 8
Sin & The Original Lie / Genesis 3:1-13
The Second Creation Story / Genesis 2:4-25
The First Creation Story / Genesis 1:1--2:3
ONA Sunday: The Body of Christ / 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
Vocation - Who are you called to be, and what are you called to do?
Discernment as a Way of Life / Romans 12:1-2; Philippians 1:9-11
Reframing Regret / Psalm 51
The Holy Art of Attentiveness / Philippians 4:1-9
Experiencing God in Everyday Life / 1 Kings 19:6-17
Living into Our Values / Matthew 12:1-12,23-28
Openness: Embracing Holy Indifference / Ephesians 1:15-23
Listening to Your Longings / Matthew 9:14-22
God's Expansive Church / Acts 2
Satisfying the Thirsty / 1 John 3:16-18
Caring for the Sick / Matthew 25:31-46
Feeding the Hungry / Matthew 25:41-46
Clothing the Naked / Luke 3:7-18
Visiting the Imprisoned / Matthew 25:31-46
Welcoming the Stranger / Deuteronomy 10:12-22
The Power of Life / Matthew 28:1-10
Peaceable Kingdom: Justice Wins (Eventually) / Matthew 21:1-17
Peaceable Kingdom: No Eternal Conscious Torment / Matthew 25:31-46
Peaceable Kingdom: Consequences of Nonviolence / Matthew 13:24-30
Peaceable Kingdom: Enemies and Victims / Matthew 18:21-35 part 2
Peaceable Kingdom: Lavish Forgiveness / Matthew 18:21-35
Peaceable Kingdom: Thinking Differently about Fairness / Matthew 20:1-16
After the Mountaintop / Matthew 16:21-17:8
Reflections on the Lord's Prayer / Matthew 6:9-14
Principles for Loving Our Enemies / Matthew 5:38-48
Tests and Temptations / Matthew 3:16--4:17
Remember Your Baptism / Matthew 3:1-17
Love Anyway / Matthew 1:18-25
Joy Anyway / Isaiah 42:1-9
Peace Anyway / Esther 4
Hope Anyway / Habakkuk 3
What Are We Waiting For? / Micah 4 & 5
A Covenant of Internal Motivation / Jeremiah 30 & 31
Introducing Our Core Values
No One Empty-handed / Psalm 89
Do Something for God / 2 Samuel 7:1-17
You Gotta Serve Somebody / Joshua 24:1-18, 25
10 Commandments for Freedom and Safety / Exodus 19 & 20
We Cannot Keep Still / Exodus 14:5-22
A Covenant Is Not A Contract / Genesis 39
Belonging Shapes Behavior / Genesis 11:27-12:9
Violence Never Fixes Violence / Genesis 6--9
Walk Humbly / Micah 6:1-8
Love Mercy / Micah 6:1-8
Do Justice / Micah 6:8
Following Jesus / John 21:15-25
After the Spiritual High / John 21:1-14
Resurrection Testimony / John 20:1-18
Remembering and Reenacting / John 12
The True Vine / John 15:1-7
The Way, the Truth, and the Life / John 14:1-17
The Resurrection and the Life / John 11:1-53
The Light of the Wold / John 8:12-20
The Bread of Life / John 6:22-59
The Sign of Openness / John 9
The Sign of the Not-Stilled Storm / John 6:14-21
The Sign of Abundance / John 6:1-15
The Sign of Trust / John 4:46-54
The Sign Nobody Noticed / John 2:1-11
God's Love and the UCC's Christmas Fund / John 1:1-18
God's Joy in Habitat for Humanity / Isaiah 55
God's Peace in Delaware County Jail / Ezekiel 37:1-14
God's Hope in Sierra Leone / Jeremiah 29:4-14
The Reign of Christ / Isaiah 9:2-7
Let Justice Flow / Amos 1:1-2, 5:14-15 & 21-24
Moving Forward in Transitions / 2 Kings 18 & 19
Imperfectly Unfinished Transitions / 1 Kings 5, 6, 7, 8
Living in Transitions / 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Who's Calling? / 1 Samuel 3:1-15
The GenerUSity of Contribution / Exodus 16
The GenerUSity of Participation / Exodus 2:23--3:14
The GenerUSity of Attendance / Genesis 28:10-22
Facing Our Heritage of Biblical Violence / Genesis 21:1-3; 22:1-14
Let There Be Light / Genesis 1:1--2:4a
God Promises: presence and Kingdom life
God Promises: grace and courage / 2 Corinthians 1:19-22b
God Calls Us: the Church / 2 Corinthians 4
God Bestows: the Holy Spirit
God Has Come: Jesus / John 1:1-9
God Judges: righteousness / Isaiah 58
God Seeks: salvation / Isaiah 55:1-11
God Calls: creation / Deuteronomy 30:15-20
We believe in God / John 1, 1 John 1
Walk Humbly. Or Not. / Micah 6:1-8
Love Mercy. Or Not. / Micah 6:1-8
Do justice. Or not. / Micah 6:1-8
We Are Part of the Solution / Matthew 7:1-5
We Are Part of the Problem / Matthew 7:1-5
Expanding Beyond Our Bias / Matthew 7:1-5
Pentecost: an Expansive Church is Born / Acts 2 and Galatians 3
The Woman Who Loved Much / Luke 7:36-50
The (Im)Perfect Hostess / Luke 10:38-42
Little Old Ladies / Luke 18 and 21
Emancipated Women / Luke 4, 8, and 13 / Guest Preacher: Rev. Jon R. Powers
Women's Work / Luke 8:1-3
Jesus is Alive and Everything is Possible / Luke 24:13-35
The Meaning of Resurrection / Luke 24:1-12
What Kind of King and What Kind of Kingdom? / Luke 19:29-44
You are Lovable and Capable / Luke 18:31-19:10 / Guest Preacher: Rev. Dr. Marshall Cook
Crazy Stupid Generous / Luke 16:19-31
Prodigals and Hypocrites / Luke 15:1-32
What About "Repent or Perish"? / Luke 13:1-9, 31-35
Isn't What I'm Already Doing Good Enough? / Luke 10:25-37
The Jesus We Need / Luke 9:28-45
Doing Good Every Day of the Week / Luke 6:1-11
The Both/And Savior / Luke 5:17-26
Risk, Release, and Reward / Luke 5:1-11, 18:28-30
Choosing Release / Luke 4:14-30
Judgment and Good News / Luke 3:1-22
The Work of Christmas / Luke 1:1-4
Love: Christmas is Spiritual / Luke 1:67-79
Joy: Christmas is Political / Luke 1:46-55
Peace in God's Promises / Isaiah 61
Hope in God's Character / Joel 2:12-13
A New Heart / Jeremiah 31
The Jonah Syndrome / Jonah 4
Just Enough / 1 Kings 17:1-17
Building a House for God / Guest Preacher: Rev. Beth Long-Higgins / 2 Samuel 7:-17
Yahweh Remembers You / 1 Samuel 2:1-10
The Golden Calf / Exodus 32:1-14
The God Who Brought Us Out of Egypt / Exodus 12 &13
Roller Coasters and Divine Jujitsu / Exodus 37-50
God's Promise to Abram and Sarai / Genesis 15
"The Fall" is Good News / Genesis 3
Spiritual Warfare is for Everyone / Ephesians 6
Submit to One Another / Ephesians 5
Keeping the Unity of the Spirit / Ephesians 4
God's Multi-colored Wisdom / Ephesians 3
Themes of Ephesians / Ephesians 1
Our Faith Is Not Magic / Acts 19:11-20
Fighting Fire with Snow / Acts 15:1-13
Conversion and Community / Acts 9:1-31
Obedience and Freedom / Acts 8:26-40
Does everything happen for a reason? / Acts 6:8–8:4
Truthful New Community / Acts 4:31--5:11
What is Pentecost For? / Acts 2
Big Questions: Trust AND Acts: Week 1 / Acts 1:1-14
Big Questions: Love / 1 John 3 & 4
Big Questions: Eternal Life / John 17
Big Questions: Resurrection / 1 Corinthians 15
Big Questions: Death / Romans 6, Galatians 2, 2 Corinthians 7
Big Questions: Sin / Genesis 3, Romans 7 & 8
How to Be a Disciple: Choose good news / Mark 16:1-8
How to be a disciple: Let Jesus be who he is / Mark 11:1-11
How to be a disciple: Don't be alarmed / Mark 13:1-8, 34-37
How to be a disciple: Love God, take care of others / Mark 12:28-34, 38-44
How to be a disciple: trust and pray / Mark 11:12-14, 19-25
How to be a disciple: Healed for service / Mark 10:32-52
Cultivating Love / Luke 1:5-25, 57-80; 1 Thessalonians 13:4-7
Cultivating Joy / Ezra 1:1-4 & 3:1-4, 10-13; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18
Cultivating Peace / Isaiah 40:1-11, Philippians 4:4-9
Cultivating Hope / Jeremiah 33:14-18, Romans 5:1-5
Do the Right Thing / 2 Kings 22 & 23
God is speaking to us / Isaiah 5:1-7, 11:1-5 / Guest Preacher: Rev. Seth Stout
God is the Best Parent / Hosea 11:1-11
How to maintain a living tradition / Hebrews 12:1-2, 1 Peter 2:1-5, 9
Icons and Idols / 2 Samuel 6
Taking the Easy Way Out / 1 Samuel 8
Comfort and Consolation / Psalm 46 & 2 Corinthians 1
God Needs Us / Exodus 1, 2 & 3
Surviving a Wrestling Match with God / Genesis 32:22-30
Hospitality, Scarcity, and Fulfillment / Genesis 18 & 21
Created for Generosity / Genesis 1
The choice between right and easy / Matthew 7:13-29
The Reverse Golden Rule / Matthew 7:1-12
Nothing to Fear When Everyone is Included / Matthew 6:25-34
The Lord’s Prayer / Matthew 6:7-15
Adultery, Divorce and Promises / Matthew 5:27-37
Revolutionary Beatitudes / Matthew 5:1-12
Who is the City on a Hill? / Matthew 5:13-16
God is for us. Who can be against us? / Romans 8:18-39
No self-loathing. No condemnation. / Romans 7:14-8:2,11
Guest preacher Rev. Dave Long-Higgins / Romans 6:1-14
Saved by grace: now what? / Acts 2 & Romans 5
How does Jesus save us? / Romans 5:1-11, 18-19
Sin is the injury; grace is the cure / Romans 3:21-30
Righteousness and transformation / Romans 1 & 2
Thank God, we are not God / Acts 13 & 14
No One Is Unclean / Acts 10
The Great Commission / Matthew 28:16-20
The Victory of the Power of Life / Matthew 28:1-10
The Last Judgment / Matthew 25:31-46
What can we do for each other? / Matthew 25:1-13
Best. Party. Ever. / Matthew 22:1-14
Who Is This Jesus? / Matthew 21:1-11
Quit Your Bookkeeping / Matthew 18:21-35
God is doing something new / Matthew 16:13-23, 17:1-8
Choose Abundance / Matthew 14:13-33
Jesus’ most radical words / Matthew 5:38-48
Live by the principles / Matthew 5:17-26
Guest speaker: Kearstin Bailey / Matt 5:1-13
Guest Preacher: Mary Harris / Matthew 3
Unexpected revelations / Matthew 2
Post-Christmas Story / Dec 30
Love: the power to never give up / Matthew 1
Joy: grace recognized / Isaiah 42
Peace: no mo' FOMO / Esther 4
Dreams for the Future / Isaiah 36-37 and 2
Do justice; love mercy; walk humbly / Micah 6
What kind of people will we be? / 2 Kings 5
What are we up against? / 1 Kings 3
David and Bathsheba / 2 Samuel 11-12
Guest Preacher: Rev. Gunnar Cerda
10 Commandments: Boundaries not Bondage / Exodus 19-20
Between the devil and the deep blue sea / Exodus 14
What does God promise us? / Genesis 12 & 39
Guest Preacher: Rev. Dr. Janine Wilson / Gen 12, Isa 55, Matt 5
Noah's Ark: God is not angry / Genesis 6-9
Faith is the victory / 1 John 5
God is Love. Period. / 1 John 4
Open and Affirming Sunday / 1 John 3
Guest Preacher: Rev. Mirjam Welsch / 1 John 2
Living in the light of truth / 1 John 1
Working with God to bring about what is good / Ruth 4, Romans 8
Guest Preacher: Lisa Ho / Ruth 3
Mimicking God’s faithfulness and redemption / Ruth 2
Returning again / Ruth 1
Don’t all y’all be anxious / Philippians 4
Motivated by love, not fear / Philippians 3 pt 2
God’s righteousness / Philippians 3 pt 1
Guest Preacher: Rev. Gwen Thomas / Philippians 2 part 2
PENTECOST / Acts 2
Be like-minded with Jesus Christ as Lord / Philippians 2 part 1
Joy and partnership in the gospel / Philippians 1
Paul speaking at Mars Hill in Athens / Acts 17
Paul and Silas bound in jail, all night long / Acts 16
Believing Thomas / Jn 20