Genesis 1: 26-31

Our recent societal and political experiences with the concept of gender are highly charged, to say the least, and often the insistence of a black and white interpretation of God's word is used as a club to injure others who do not share our viewpoint. Sarah Neff, a student at Duke's Divinity School, guest preaches today at Raleigh Mennonite on the topic of God's gender in our ongoing sermon series, "I'm not so sure about that." Sarah asks us to give the book of Genesis room to breathe and some well needed pauses to separate verses we have unwittingly entangled when we speak of God's image and the creation of genders in humans. We may be created in God's image as male and female but the triune God in their wholeness has no gender as we know it and is not made in our image. Moreover, even the seemingly binary creations of male and female, day and night, and water and land in Genesis, which seem clear and proscriptive for use in developing theology, upon further examination appear less an exhaustive instruction manual for world-building and more a poetic reflection on the good gifts of God's creation, with humans as the capstone. Twilight, dawn, estuaries, and marshes, not included in Genesis, are all less than binary expressions of day and night or water and land, yet we know God made and loves these creations as well. Ultimately, Sarah reminds us that our ultimate example of understanding gender and yet breaking gender binaries resides in the life of Jesus. Although born a male, Jesus used his privileged position to dignify and uplift women and the "other" as equal in society. Amongst other males, he eschewed violence, patriarchal displays of dominance and self-aggrandizement, and taught mercy, love, and sacrifice. If we can find it within ourselves to give room for the scripture to breathe, perhaps we can then follow Jesus's example and give room for a theology beyond a rigid binary.

Matthew 6:24-34

The third topic Melissa takes on in the series exploring questions, wonderings, and themes that come from our congregation, focuses on our relationship as Christians to other faith communities and religious groups.

Serious sports fans may be the most ardent religious fanatics, forming around a common belief in something bigger than themselves, sharing a devotion that changes how people spend their money, time and energy.

The Christian life will demand a particular allegiance, a form of life that requires setting aside other allegiances, including our allegiance to money.

Melissa offers a caution about the kind of belief that all religious paths lead to one god. This glosses over some very serious disagreements in our communities and defaces the self-identity of those distinct religious commitments. But an even more important reason is that it gets us out of the hard work of the Christian life.

Luke 24:36-48

In this second in a series exploring questions, wonderings, and themes that come from our congregation, Juliet joins Melissa to bring today's message.

After Jesus' resurrection, he keeps showing up. Jesus meets their doubt with what they need and gives it to them.

Jesus helps us know that we all are special. What do you need for God to be in your life?

Colossians 1:15-23

Melissa started a new sermon series this week, "I'm not sure about that," exploring questions, wonderings, and themes that come from our congregation. The most frequent submission was around the subject of hell.

We live our whole lives bearing consequences, around retribution and punishment. If you make a bad choice with money, no one is coming to bail you out. If you break the law, you go to jail. We want bad people to get what's coming to them. But that should also give us pause.

Just a few months ago, Pope Francis was asked what he thought about the afterlife. "I like to think hell is empty," he told an Italian reporter. "At least I hope it is." Melissa also hopes that it is, and that hope is a core of her Christian faith. Core to a belief that no one is too far gone. No one is the worst thing they have done.

John 20: 1-18

Happy Easter to everyone! In this sermon Melissa Florer-Bixler preaches on the resurrection and the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene at his tomb. Jesus asks Mary, "whom are you looking for?" This is a loaded question, however, as Melissa shows us. The question asks us to look into our own selves, our own motivations, and our hopes when we seek out Jesus, who asked this probing question of Mary, his disciples, and also (tellingly) Judas. Whatever you come seeking for from Jesus you will find it, for even Judas got a quick payout. Ultimately, Melissa asks us to consider how we will live and conduct ourselves if all of this is true, just as the early Church sought to help the sick, the poor, and the downtrodden. This Easter when you consider the life, sacrifice, and resurrection of Jesus ask yourself, whom are you looking for?

Mark 11: 1-11

Note: The English voice you hear in this podcast is that of the translator. You can hear Miguel in the background, preaching in Spanish

In this sermon, RMC's Miguel Cruz preaches on the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem as related in the Gospel of Mark. While we often focus on the exhilaration of the scene with Christ surrounded by followers and having performed miraculous healings and casting out of demons in the previous verses, Miguel asks us to focus on the transition that is taking place at this moment in Jesus' life, ministry, and future which should act as a guide to order our own lives. Jesus arrives on a humble donkey, argues with the priests and vendors, curses a fig tree, and talks intimately with his followers about prayer, taxes, wealth, power, and betrayal. Miguel helps us to see in these passages that Jesus is leading us to a new understanding of triumph and success that rejects the accumulation of wealth, material possessions, and positions of power that the world teaches us to expect and respect.

John 12: 20-33

Note: At 2:19, ten seconds of audio was lost due to a technical problem during the live recording.

Melissa Florer-Bixler preaches on a time in Jesus' life where there is no time left for ministry, but only to speak to those present of his imminent demise and fulfillment of God's plan. The Jesus who has constantly upset our comfortable balance with life and often called us to the do opposite of what we instinctively think correct, again reminds us that if we choose to follow Jesus faithfully, our path will lead to the cross. But the wheat that dies bears a field of fruit, albeit of a type we may not expect to be helpful in creating what we think the Kingdom of God should look like. Herein lies a freedom that comes from our vulnerability, in giving up our attempts to control and rectify the problems of the world, history, politics, and society. We can instead leave it to a God that is always faithful in his love and work of redemption. Our sacrifices, living the life of wheat, brings more wheat, which brings more wheat - beautiful, vulnerable, and a fundamental part of our calling to follow Christ.

John 15:14-15 & Acts 8:26-38

Ann Roberston shared two of the favorite songs of her father as our summer series continued. She spoke of learning from him how he loved the songs “In the Garden,” which many of us know better as “He Walks with Me and He Talks with Me,” and “What a Friends We have in Jesus.” In the process of reflecting on the songs, Ann weaves in the passages from John about Jesus calling us friends and from Acts about Phillip befriending the Ethiopian Eunuch and baptizing him.

The ways in which we walk with and befriend Jesus may be different for each of us. Our decision to be a Christian is personal and individually meaningful to each of us in our own way.