Matthew 19:1-12 and John 1:14-16

Melissa wraps up the series about questions the congregation has asked this Sunday, focusing on the question of sex, and intertwines it with the need for grace.

Just before his conversion to Christianity the saint and theologian of the church, Augustine of Hippo, is in a garden and he prays a prayer. "God, give me chastity and countenance. But not yet." What does God have to say to us who are living, breathing bodies? One place we can begin is to acknowledge that our sexual lives are accommodations of grace; even those of us who are married.

For most of our religious history in the church, the church has placed a huge emphasis on getting sex right. Rowan Williams rightly says that this is always a doomed task. But the fact that it's a doomed task is also the key to understanding why sex matters to Christians at all, and it surely does.

We exist within a wide range of relationships that affirm to us that the bodies that we are, are desired and delighted in. Ethics is never a matter of just abstract rules. For Christians, it is a matter of living the mind of Christ. Sex is one area in which we order our lives in a way that tells the world the story that animates our being. We are created to be incorporated into God's love because we are loved.

Jeremiah 29: 1-9

Isaac Villegas guest preaches in our ongoing sermon series "I'm not so sure about that" on the topic of pacifism. Isaac explores the concept of peace through the lens of prisons. Using the above passage in Jeremiah, Isaac compares the exile of jews in Babylon to the exile that takes place within modern prisons as well as the awkward position that pacifists are confronted with regarding the part of current society that we do not have the power to change: We depend on prisons to protect society from violence even as prisons themselves commit violence on their occupants and even preserves the institution of slavery. Isaac Villegas tells us stories of his and others' experiences working in prisons to help us understand the intractable complexity of living out pacifism in such an environment, searching for the acceptance of things we cannot control while seeking out opportunities to change whatever we can to bring the kingdom of God here on earth.

Acts 2: 1-21 This Pentecost Sunday Melissa Florer-Bixler preached on the connection between the enormous changes that have recently taken place in our church life and membership, and the changes that took place with the fledgling Church on the day of Pentecost. The crowd didn't just hear a translation of God's message, they heard it in the language of their home (and heart), and thus the Holy Spirit knitted together of new community of believers that shared a new common identity while still retaining their own unique selves. In much the same spirit, Melissa reflected on how we have added new people, languages, generations, activities that advocate justice and build community, and much more besides as well as the conflicts, losses, illnesses, and deaths that we have had to processes and work through together in the "stickiness" that inevitably occurs in a family of faith struggling to walk through this difficult life together. We invite you to listen to our reflection on how the Holy Spirit has transformed and knitted together Raleigh Mennonite Church and share in our joy and awe at God's marvelous works.