lian’s articles, sermon nuggets, and conversation starters…
This picture describes Lent better than 10,000 words… …but let me offer a few for context. This past Saturday was a huge heavyweight boxing title fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. I don’t know if any of you grew up with “fight nights” aka watch parties, but a big fight is tantamount to a […]
After talking about the power of stories, it is time to craft our own “spiritual autobiographies” – stories of the development of our faith. While we are doing this as a congregation during our 9am Bible Study time, you can follow this page for weekly updates and to do your own creating from afar! January […]
The woman in John 4 was probably a very quiet person. She ordered her life in the same way as you or I – that is to say, minding her business – except she had a secret: she had five husbands before, and the man she was with wasn’t her husband. For reasons we won’t explore here, […]
(pic courtesy of Vox media) In 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, there were still slaves in Galveston, TX who had not heard about their freedom. A group of Union troops came to deliver the news, and the last slaves were finally freed. This under-noticed occasion should be celebrated as a holy day in […]
A few years ago, a dream began to take root inside the minds and hearts of the leaders of University Church. We dreamed that there would be a space inside of our building that was safe, loving, and warm – expected characteristics of any church – but also justice-seeking, full of art, and committed to […]
(pic copyright: Neighborhood Initiative) Mary Stainton preached this past Sunday. (This previous sentence truly represents the poverty of the English language; she did far more than preach. Audio will be on the website soon). Her scripture, Psalm 23 reflected on the shadow of death…and what it means to be cast under this shadow as […]
