Cedar Park United

Our guest speaker in worship today was Julia Asselstine, Executive Director of Literacy Unlimited, a non-profit serving English-speaking families, youth, adults and seniors from Verdun to the Ontario border. Literacy, Julia explained, is agency; it is power; it is allowing people to fully participate in society. If you can read and write, you can fly like a bird, and nobody can stop you. This is the truth about literacy. ▶ Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

We are not alone.  We do not always see where the path is going, or how it will unfold. Yet the One who walks with us has already taken this path. Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to remember: The Good Shepherd leads us into life. Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

The first Sunday after Easter is “Holy Humour Sunday”. Today, lay worship leader Elizabeth Chown Lafreniere invites us to walk with Thomas, and all those who doubt, or hesitate, or feel a little bit out of step. But first, we’ll sing and dance.   Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! On Easter morning, what was buried begins to rise. New life unfolds, even before we can see it clearly. We gather at the table where death and life meet: where love is broken and shared, and nothing is lost to God. On this Easter Sunday, with Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier we rise together in life made anew.Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Branches rise. Voices shout. The city stirs. The Way becomes a public journey. Yet, even in the crowd, the Way is chosen in love. On this sixth Sunday of Lent, Palm Sunday, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier asks, What does it mean to walk with the One who abides?Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

On this fifth Sunday of Lent, we walk with the knowledge that the human life of Jesus is close to completion. Death is near. Yet, we enter spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The dying in the winter transforms into rebirth. Snow becomes water again, even as the Southern Hemisphere enters the Fall season, slowing down and dying. The whole planet lives into death and rebirth simultaneously. And so do we. Worship leader Joanne Kalan invites us to ask the question: Who steadfastly leads us through these seasons of change? Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording. Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

Lent is a spiritual journey of prayer, honesty, and renewal. We remember both our fragility and our belovedness. Though the journey may sometimes feel solitary, we do not walk it alone. Jesus goes before us, leading us on the Way that leads to life. Today, on this fourth Sunday in Lent, Rev. Cathy Hamilton invites us to meet Nicodemus and a Samaritan woman, two who are searching for new life. Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

We hunger for certainty and thirst for relief in this season of Lent. And yet, it is in the wilderness that God meets us –and communities experience wilderness seasons, too. Times of change and uncertainty. Moments when the question rises again: Is God among us… or not? Sometimes the answer only becomes clear when we look back.We check the rear-view mirror of our shared life and begin to notice things.Today, on this third Sunday in Lent, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to notice what we truly need.Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

On this second Sunday of Lent, we gather in faith that spring is near, that each seed of justice will grow, that caring for the homeless, feeding the hungry, and nurturing community moves the world towards compassion, even if it is beyond what we can see. Our guest speaker, Kirstie Jagoe, speaks to this from her perspective as the founder of the Montreal-based charity Bread and Beyond. During the COVID lockdown, she began supporting local shelters for people experiencing homelessness. As she began to understand the complexity and impact of homelessness in Montreal, Kirstie founded Bread and Beyond to harness the power of community networks to inform, connect and respond to the needs of the organizations supporting people experiencing and at risk of homelessness.Watch the video that Kirstie references.Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

We're so glad you found this podcast! Welcome.Lent is a spiritual journey of prayer, honesty, and renewal. We remember both our fragility and our belovedness. Though the journey may sometimes feel solitary, we do not walk it alone. Jesus goes before us, leading us on the Way that leads to life. On this first Sunday of Lent, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to consider that this season is not meant for us to change who we are by sheer effort or spiritual achievement. Rather, it is a season that reveals who we already are: beloved children of God, learning again to trust the One who leads us. Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

The Transfiguration is a pivotal New Testament story where Jesus becomes radiant with divine glory on a mountain. Together with Peter, James, and John, guest worship leader Vincent Randy invites us all to reflect on its deeper meaning for our lives. Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

It is a wondrous thing to be able to share salt and light. Today, Rev. Cathy Hamilton invites us all to consider what the world could be like if each of us used the valuable salt we have been given to restore sanity– to be joyous and hopeful, generous, creative and kind. Just imagine! Hear the scriptures readings from the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

Today’s guest speaker, Suzanne Scarrow, is Executive Director of West Island Mission, a cherished community partner of Cedar Park United. Suzanne invites us to reflect on the real needs in our community and how we can respond, recognizing that food is only the beginning. “Enough for everyone”, she says, doesn’t start with a warehouse full of supplies–it starts with a heart that notices. It starts with someone saying: “I see you.” “You’re not alone.”“You can sit with us.”“Let me help carry this.” That’s the kind of world we hope to build. And it’s the kind of world Suzanne sees Cedar Park United helping to build, too — one meal, one hamper, one conversation at a time. Hear the scriptures readings from  Matthew 25: 31-40 and Acts 2.42-47 in the livestream recording.🥫Find out how you can support West Island Mission.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

“I give thanks to God for you, for you have been enriched, and you have enriched my life, and the lives of many here and across the world,” says worship leader Rev. Cathy Hamilton, reading to the people of Cedar Park United the words that St. Paul said to the people of Corinth. But, she goes on to ask: In a world that seems to have gone mad, what if all of that is not enough? This is where she invites us to hear  the words of St. Paul again–and those of the poet Jan Richardson–for encouragement and strength. Hear the scriptures readings from 1 Corinthians 1: 1-9 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food

On this Sunday of Epiphany and the Baptism of Christ, we gather at the meeting place of star and water, between seeking and choosing. God reveals love not only in dazzling signs, but in shared commitments and trusted relationships. Worship leader Jessica Gauthier invites us to listen for the Spirit who names us beloved, calls us into covenant, and invites us into the future.Hear the scriptures readings from Matthew 3:13-17 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United:❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

On this first Sunday of 2026, guest worship leader Sam Farrugia invites us to consider the strange promise of the New Testament – that as we go about this humble, selfless work, of modeling our lives after the life of Jesus, we may well find ourselves experiencing true, unquenchable…joy.Hear the scriptures readings from Isaiah 45:20-23 and Philippians 2: 5-11 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ ⁠Find out more about this community⁠⁠ ⁠🧡 ⁠Make a donation⁠💛 ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠💚 Follow us on Facebook ⁠💙 Subscribe to our YouTube channel ⁠💜 ⁠Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food⁠

On this holy night, we gather to tell the ancient story of Christmas and to sing it into our hearts. With the shepherds and angels, we proclaim the Word made flesh, who came to live among us. With candles, carols, and communion, we make space for wonder, for silence, and for welcome. We pray that Christ, born long ago in Bethlehem, may be born in us today. ▶️ Listen to the scripture reading here. Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ Find out more about this community 🧡 Make a donation💛 Follow us on Instagram 💚 Follow us on Facebook 💙Subscribe to our YouTube channel 💜 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food

Today we read about Joseph deciding to marry Mary anyway, because of a message from God’s angel in a dream. Worship leader Margrét Kristjanssonow (who was joining us in Quebec from Manitoba, via Zoom) wonders–do we know what’s the right thing to do? Even if we know, maybe we’re afraid. Does it take courage to do the loving thing? Part of the answer may be found in the telling of three stories… ▶️ Watch Margrét’s story, “Grandpa”▶️ Watch Elizabeth’s story, “The inspiration of Gary and Earl” ▶️ Watch Martha’s story, “Courageous love in community”Links from the stories:🔗The Art for Healing Foundation 🔗Rev. Phlippa Phaneuf’s coming-out sermon▶️ Listen to the scripture reading that preceded this reflectionThe song you hear sung between the stories is from More Voices #90, Don’t be afraid:Don’t be afraid.  My love is stronger.My love is stronger than your fear.Don’t be afraid. My love is strongerAnd I have promised, Promised to be always near.N’ayez pas peur, mon amour est plus fort,il est plus fort que votre peur.N’ayez pas peur, mon amour est plus fort;je vous ai promis, promis d’être toujours là.Connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community🧡 Make a donation💛 Follow us on Instagram💚 Follow us on Facebook 💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food

On this third Sunday of Advent, we light the pink candle, for Joy. We hear Jesus respond to John’s doubts, spoken from the shadows of a prison cell. In our part of the world, the light continues to fade and the nights stretch long. Worship leader Jessica Gauthier invites us to consider that the Good News is this: that life is already breaking in. Joy may be something steadier, stronger, and quieter than anything we expected.▶️ You can listen to the scripture reading that preceded this sermon here. You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: cedarparkunited.org🧡 Make a donation: cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch 💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

None of us wants to be judged and found wanting. But John the Baptist invites us to turn around and repent.  Our worship leader for this second Sunday in Advent, Rev. Cathy Hamilton, wonders whether judgment could, in fact, be a catalyst for peace?  Could facing judgement bring peace between you and others, and peace within your own heart? ▶️ Listen to the scripture reading that preceded this sermon or read the text here. Connect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

Advent prepares us to welcome God-with-us. Radical Welcome sets the table and lets go of what no longer serves to make space for new possibilities. Depending on how we understand it, service can be an act of worship drenched with hope and gratitude. Today, on this first Sunday in Advent, we hold the theme of hope as we listen to an apocalyptic text. Today, pastoral minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to consider how we serve, and how we hope–even at the world’s end.The scripture reading for this sermon was Matthew 24:3, 36-44:One time, when Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his followers came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?”[Jesus first warned of how many are deceived in times of suffering, persecution, war, natural disaster, imprisonment, betrayal and mistrust. He spoke of the end of the world as a place where the love of many would grow cold. Then he said:]“But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the heavenly angels and not the Son. Only the Father knows. As it was in the time of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Human One. In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. They didn’t know what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. The coming of the Human One will be like that. At that time there will be two men in the field. One will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and the other left. So, stay alert and awake, because you don’t know what day the Lord is coming. But understand: The head of the house who knew at what time the thief would come, would have stayed awake, and would not allow a thief to break in.In the same way, you must also be prepared, because the Truly Human One will come at an hour you do not expect. ▶️ You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

November 23, 2025 marks 100 years of the church observing the feast day we call “Christ the King” or the “Reign of Christ”. Worship leader Martha Randy—with help from some friends—invites us to see that this reign is nothing like the rule of monarchs, political parties or empires.Instead, it’s what happens when we live out the Way of Jesus…hand in hand in hand.We're grateful to Rev. Dr. Sarah Townes of the Church of the Good Shepherd for her Instagram inspiration—The Reign of Christ, Explained—for inspiring our worship today.You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

Psalm 98 invites us to sing a new song to the Lord, a song of praise for the marvelous things of all creation. And in Isaiah 65, we are invited to delight in the new thing that God is creating. Can we join as the sea roars, and the rivers clap? Rev. Cathy Hamilton invites us to wonder: can we celebrate as equity, justice and love take hold in God’s new creation?  You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

In her reflection on this Remembrance Sunday, pastoral minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to remember the cost of conflict and the fragility of peace. Can we nurture life and beauty, like the poppies that take root in disturbed ground? Can we listen for the song of peace, and sing it bravely above the noise of war and fear?Experience this entire worship on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/TATq_hXST-g?si=wX_t2ExasZbmIKyXConnect with Cedar Park United: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

This week, Rev. Rosemary Lambie invites us to explore the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector in the temple. Jesus, she says, challenges us to think about who we are, and whose we are. Who do we see when we look in the mirror? Whom does God see and how are we reflecting the love of Jesus Christ in our daily lives?You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation:https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: http://eepurl.com/hzTfUD

This week, worship leader Ian Fraser, in conversation with Montreal-based  jazz pianist Taurey Butler, explores the relationship between jazz music and spirituality. If Jesus had been a musician, Ian’s pretty sure he would have played jazz. Why? Keep listening to find out… and enjoy Taurey's inspiring musical offering, “What a Wonderful World”* *By Louis Armstrong, Bob Thiele and Weiss livestreamed and recorded under ONE LICENSE A-732154.❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

Last week we gave thanks at Christ’s table in The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving. This week, worship leader Jessica Gauthier reflects that, to be a Thanksgiving People is to let gratitude shape our hearts: to rejoice in all things; to pray with thanksgiving; and to let God’s generosity overflow through us. Thank you for listening to the Cedar Park United podcast. If it inspired you, or comforted you, or even ruffled your feathers in a good way, please consider leaving a positive rating or subscribing to help others find their way here, too.You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

The Season of Creation closes and we step into World Communion Sunday, carrying with us the image of the Tree of Life. Worship leader Jessica Gauthier speaks of how Paul reminds Timothy to guard the good gift of faith, passed down through mother, grandmother, and mentor, and now entrusted to us, to be shared with radical hospitality. It is like fruit from the Tree of Life, like bread broken at Christ’s table. In the Great Thanksgiving, we meet the living Christ and are strengthened with hope and courage for the life we share.You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

Today we hear from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to his friend and colleague Timothy.  God calls us to be rich in helping others. In his reflection, lay worship leader Paul Clarke asks, how hard can it be?You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community:https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

In Luke 16 a manager is described as “shrewd”. Is this complimenting his discerning wisdom or criticizing his wily ways?  Have we been shrewd in our relationship with creation?" Visiting minister Rev. Cathy Hamilton asks, “have we been shrewd with creation?Thank you for listening to the Cedar Park United podcast. If it inspired you, or comforted you, or even ruffled your feathers in a good way, please consider leaving a positive rating or subscribing to help others find their way here, too.You can connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch/💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

In a lovely synchronization to the new Fall season, this episode is a deep dive into the spiritual life of the pastoral minister at Cedar Park, Jessica Gauthier. She is a spiritual care professional, theologian, preacher, friend to plants and people, and accomplished singer. Follow the garden pathway with Jessica and Joanne that leads to a conversation about theology, Christian history, reforming church, and the cultivation of joy.🖋 Show notes from Jessica Link to Scriptures cited in order16:31Reference to women "saved through childbearing" (1 Timothy 2:15)Augustine teaches that all humans share one rational nature, in which contemplation and action are united as “one flesh,” so that Paul’s words on women and childbearing signify, sacramentally, the true offspring of faith—good works joined with love and holiness, made fruitful only in Christ. De Trinitate, XII. Edith Stein was a Jewish theologian murdered in the Holocaust. Her Carmelite name is Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. John Paul II named her as co-Patroness of Europe. She also argued against an essentialist interpretation of this passage.“The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace,” in Essays on Woman, 2nd ed., revised, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, volume 2, edited by Lucy Gelber and Romaeus Leuven, translated by Freda Mary Oben (Washington: ICS, 1996), 59-86.19:00 Methodist History: Revivalist Phoebe Palmer20:00 A Church with the Soul of a Nation (Phyllis D. Airhart, 2013).27:30 Hymn: “He Brought Me Out” [link to hymn] (Psalm 40:2-3)30:00 Diarmaid MacCulloch, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (2011). Also a TV Series for BBC Four: "A History of Christianity" with the author presenting35:00  “Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda est secundum verbum Dei”“The church, having been reformed, is always needing to be reformed according to the word of God.”36:00Princess Bride, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."39:00“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” (MLK Jr)“The kingdom of God is always but coming.” (Rauschenbaum)“Already, Not Yet”: this is called “inaugurated eschatology” 39:30 - Augustine: “My weight is my love.” Confessions, XIV.ix46:00The Church Militant is the community of believers on earth in spiritual struggle (2 Timothy 2:3–4). The Church Triumphant refers to the saints in God’s presence, beyond human flaws (Revelation 7:9–10).49:30 Humanity made in God’s image. Imago Dei (Genesis 1:27)"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden." (Genesis 2:8)"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." (Revelation 22:2)55-60 minutes Process Philosophy - God affected by timeDivine Simplicity - will and want are oneAugustine Divine Eternity God beyond timeCalvinism - heritage of Presybterian rootsArminianism - heritage of Methodist roots1:02:00 The “Assumption of Humanity” in ChristDivine Perfection and Human Potentiality: The Trinitarian Anthropology of Hilary of Poitiers (Jarred Mercer, 2019). Or my review of that book here1:05:00"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." (Philippians 4:11)Johann Sebastian Bach: Art of the Fugue (BWV 1080) Joanna MacGregor  Steve Reich: Tehillim (1981)Connect with Cedar Park United here: ❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org/🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united/💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch 💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

The world tree, the tree of wisdom, the tree of life—ancient symbols of creation and renewal. Today, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to consider the cross as tree: rooted in suffering, rising in hope. How might this ancient image help us glimpse a theology of the cross that is truly good news?  ** Our worship audio is recorded live and this time, we had some slight technical difficulties. We thought the content was worth sharing despite the less-than-perfect sound–and we hope you’ll agree!❤️ Find out more about this community: https://cedarparkunited.org🧡 Make a donation: https://cedarparkunited.org/donate💛 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedar_park_united💚 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch💙 Subscribe to Sunday Soul Food: https://cedarparkunited.org/media-hub

Speaking to the gathered congregations of the West Island and Beyond United Churches cluster, Pastoral Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us all to consider how often we are tempted to clutch our time, resources, and energy as if we could have control by holding on tightly. But we can’t take any of it with us... Holy abundance is poured out extravagantly, not hoarded. What if we lived the same way, she asks, spending our time, our talent, and our love wastefully, trusting God to make it enough? If this episode inspired you, or comforted you, or even ruffled your feathers in a good way, please consider leaving a positive rating or subscribing to help others find their way here, too. It matters.🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

Distilled to essence: Parting words of joy and encouragement from Rev. Dr. Elisabeth JonesIn the week leading up to her last Sunday with the community of Cedar Park United, Rev. Elisabeth met with Ernie Bauer, teacher and member of Cedar Park United, for a beautiful 90-minute conversation about resistant joy, generosity, the Holy Spirit at work, and the role of progressive Christianity in this very complex time. Thank you for listening! You can connect with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 ⁠cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠⁠🟠 ⁠youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠🟡 ⁠facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠⁠🟢 ⁠instagram.com/cedar_park_united

Our Trinity Sunday worship was an invitation to wonder at the mystery of God as Love in relationship. Through music and scripture, we listened, sang, and shared in a service shaped by the worship life of those who live at Saint Andrew’s Residence, as they experience it each Sunday afternoon with our Pastoral Minister, Jessica Gauthier. Listen as she shares what “Sundays in the Solarium” are like and adds context to her role of walking alongside the Cedar Park United community through this season of transition. Thank you for listening! You can experience the entire worship service with the YouTube recording.And you can connect in other ways with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast! In her final sermon as Lead Minister of Cedar Park United, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones invites us to “turn” a sacred text together to encourage us all in our journeys of faith and witness. Which text…? Well, that’s for you to find out as you listen. Her parting message to this community of faith, however, is clear: "God has equipped you. God’s got you. You’ve got this. It’s your turn. Carry on, Cedar Park United, carry on."Thank you for listening! You can connect with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

Today we welcomed new members by affirmation of faith and by child-dedication–what greater affirmation of a faithful future held safe in the hands of God can we have? As Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones put it in her reflection on Lydia, one of the pivotal “matriarchs” of Christian life and witness, these new members are “rich purple cloth to add to the tapestry of this community’s Gospel story.”Listen to the scripture reading from Acts 16:16-34 with the livestream. Thank you for listening! You can connect with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

In holy conversation with Scripture, the Quran, and two women of faith – Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones and Dr. Afra Jalabi – we explore what holy Love looks like when humans embody it for the sake of others; it looks remarkably like compassion and mercy, and it is stronger than hate.  Thank you for listening! You can connect with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

The beloved 23rd Psalm helps us to explore God’s shepherding presence through life’s darkest valleys, and across the bridges to a faithful future. As a community about to begin a new chapter as Rev. Elisabeth’s retirement approaches, we’re faced with the question: How will we bridge the gap between this chapter and the next? All the cumulative stories of our faith, found in Scripture and in our experience, point to a dynamic movement between memory… and hope. When faced with an uncertain future, a good instinct is to look back–to see where we come from – AND to see in these journeys of the past, the presence of God, particularly as this Psalm characterizes God – as a good shepherd. Hear the singing of Psalm 23 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

What happens when someone’s unique talents are touched by a Gospel of love, compassion and hope? Listen to today’s conversation between Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones, Pat Mayberry and Heather MacIntosh and be inspired by this “Gospel according to everyone.”Hear the Gospel reading of the conversion of Saul from Acts 9:1-6, (7-20), in the livestream recording.The song Conversation was composed by Pat Mayberry and performed by Pat Mayberry and Heather Macintosh.Connect with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

Today is the 2nd Sunday of Easter — Holy Humour Sunday! Rooted in ancient tradition, it’s a day to let Easter joy rise in laughter, music, and surprise. This isn’t silliness for its own sake. It’s a celebration of the outrageous good news: Christ is risen, and joy has the last word. And to this, Candidate Minister Jessica Gauthier brings in the laughter… Hear the Gospel reading from John 20 and 21 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

In this, her last Easter sermon as Lead Minister of Cedar Park United, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones reflects on the 13 different sermons she’s preached on Easter, and how none of those sermons could preach to today. To this Easter, 2025. This year we need resurrection to be real, and specific, and concrete, and tangible, beyond doubt, and particular. This year, we need a resurrection more than ever! Hear the Gospel reading from Luke 24: 1-12 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here: 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

In today’s reflection, from the 5th Sunday in Lent, Candidate Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to reflect on love that overflows—love so generous it might seem wasteful. What do we hold back, and why? What might it look like to pour ourselves out with that same fearless devotion? Perhaps “foolish and ruined…”Hear the Gospel reading from John 12:1-8 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here:🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited🟡 facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch🟢 instagram.com/cedar_park_united

God’s “Nevertheless” of forgiveness for sins is strange wisdom, and stranger still when we witness those who have power using it to condemn and punish “to the full extent of the law”… and beyond. What can God’s strange wisdom offer to us, and to our human community, in these troubling times? In this reflection from the fourth Sunday in Lent, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones invites us to consider the question: Is there ever a circumstance when forgiveness is too much? Too soon? Too late? Hear the Gospel reading from Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, The Parable of the Resentful Sibling, in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here:⁠⁠🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠⁠🟢 ⁠⁠facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠ 🟣⁠⁠instagram.com/cedar_park_united

The weekend of March 21-23, 2025 was one of connection and community across faith dividing lines for Cedar Park United and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, to find common purpose in movements of compassion. In today’s podcast, you’ll hear the sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones during the Erev Shabbat Friday evening service at Temple, as well as the message delivered on Sunday morning at Cedar Park United by Rabbi Dr. Lisa Grushcow. On this Third Sunday in Lent, we continued with our Lenten theme – “Nevertheless” – with two Scripture texts that remind us: First, that no matter how awful the news, our world is created and sustained by the Eternal One, so always there is cause for gratitude and praise. And second, that God empowers us to step beyond the barriers of fear, with a faithful “nevertheless” to participate in Tikkun Olam, world-mending, through movements, groundswells, revolutions of compassion.Experience the March 21, 2025 Shabbat livestream at Temple Emanu-El Beth Sholom.Experience the March 23, 2025 worship livestream at Cedar Park United.Connect with Cedar Park United here:⁠⁠🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠⁠🟢 ⁠⁠facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠ 🟣 ⁠⁠instagram.com/cedar_park_united

If Lent is a seasonal discipleship journey, then week two’s “rest stop” is at the station called “Lament!” You might prefer to drive on by, but please don’t. Jesus stopped here, in tears and anguish, to name hard truths, to ask God some pointed questions, and we can too. Jesus also resumed his journey, refreshed, renewed, and encouraged. And as Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones reminds us in her reflection, we can, too. Hear the Gospel reading from Luke 13:(1-30) 31-35 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here:⁠⁠🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠⁠🟢 ⁠⁠facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠ 🟣⁠⁠instagram.com/cedar_park_united

We stand at the threshold of both Lent and our Annual Congregational Meeting—a season of discernment, decision, and challenge. Everywhere we turn, we are encouraged to seek power, security, and control. Yet in the midst of this pull, God calls us to move forward in love, courage, and trust. In today’s reflection, Candidate Minister Jessica Gauthier invites to consider that what looks beautiful can also be dangerous, and what seems dangerous may in fact hold hold life-giving possibilities.Hear the Gospel reading from Luke 4:1-13 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here:⁠⁠🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠⁠🟢 ⁠⁠facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠ 🟣⁠⁠instagram.com/cedar_park_united

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast! Today is the grand finale of the Season of Epiphany – a season where we are trained to see God’s love and life unveiled, made clear in flashes of insight and spiritual wisdom, and in holy moments of encounter with glory in and beyond the created world. Today’s Gospel is the pinnacle of these moments of epiphany, telling a story of deep wonder and mystery when three disciples “get it” that this fully human one Jesus is also fully holy. We call it the feast of the Transfiguration. In this reflection, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones reminds us that God unveils….AND God redeems.Hear the Gospel reading from Luke 9:28-36 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here:⁠⁠🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠⁠🟢 ⁠⁠facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠ 🟣⁠⁠instagram.com/cedar_park_united

Last week, we heard some “Plain Speaking” from Jesus. Blessings for the poor, hungry, grieving, and persecuted. To those who are socially well-positioned, a challenge to wake up and pay attention. When the things that give us stability and control fall away, how will we respond? Today, we sit together with the discomfort of Jesus’ next words: “Love your enemies.” It sounds simple, but living it? “It’s Complicated!” Jesus invites us into a love that goes beyond what’s easy or expected—a love that stretches us and transforms how we see others, ourselves, and even God. I’s not about pat answers but about growing in compassion, mercy, and grace. Hear the Gospel reading fromLuke 6:27-38 in the livestream recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here:⁠⁠🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠⁠🟢 ⁠⁠facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠ 🟣⁠⁠instagram.com/cedar_park_united

Luke’s telling of the “Sermon on the Plain” is Gospel for our times, and for us as we try to live the Way of Jesus in a world where the gap between the poor and ordinary on the one hand, and the ultra rich on the other, is massive and getting larger. In today’s reflection, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones reminds us that in God’s eyes– and love – the poor, the grieving, the hungry, and the persecuted are the favoured ones – and that this has everything to do with our choices, and their implications. Hear the Gospel reading fromLuke 6:17-28 in the recording.Connect with Cedar Park United here:⁠⁠🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠⁠⁠🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠⁠🟢 ⁠⁠facebook.com/cedarparkunitedchurch⁠⁠ 🟣⁠⁠instagram.com/cedar_park_united