Missed last week’s service, or curious about our preaching and teaching here at DCC? Listen to or watch our most recent sermons! You can view all our services on our YouTube channel. Worship bulletins can be found here.
Easter Sunday—April 10, 2022
Rev. Eric Sherlock preaching from Luke 24:1-12
Music by John Kendall Bailey
Palm Sunday—April 10, 2022
As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the multitude of disciples begins to joyfully shout with praise. The Pharisees try to silence them, but Jesus responds: “I tell you, even if these were silent, the stones
would shout out.” All of creation cries out with praise—that
message rises above the noise, even if the oppressive powers want to silence it. As we begin our walk through Holy Week, let us ask: What can’t be silenced? What must be said? What things can we not stay quiet about? What is bubbling up that we need to give voice to—faith questions, apologies, issues of justice, truth-telling? As we go deeper into the story, the truth will soon be set free.
Rev. Eric Sherlock preaching from Luke 19:28–40
Music by John Kendall Bailey
Fifth Sunday in Lent—April 3, 2022
God is brazen in turning tears into joy. Not so long after their brother Lazarus dies and is raised from the dead, Mary and Martha joyfully welcome Jesus into their home. Mary pours out fragrant perfume (perhaps originally intended to anoint her brother’s body after death) and it fills the whole room. This is a brazen act of beauty. Beauty is resistance to death; beauty is an act of love. Her anointing of Jesus’ feet is also a public act of worship. Her faith does not hide; it is not frugal. It is embodied, broken open, and poured out. This isn’t a frugal faith—it is an abundant, extravagant faith. Mary’s act is also risky—she puts her full body into it, sort of like a protest. She exhibits a shameless and brazen faith.
Rev. Todd Atkins-Whitley, preaching from John 12:1-8.
Music by John Kendall Bailey
Fourth Sunday in Lent—March 27, 2022
The word “prodigal” is commonly used to describe the son who squanders his inheritance. Yet, this parable invites us to consider how God’s grace is also prodigal—extravagant, lavish, illogical. This parable disrupts and expands our definitions of grace. Once again, grace is not earned. After wasting his resources, the younger son becomes destitute and returns home to his father, saying, “I am no longer worthy” (Luke 15:21). In response, his father welcomes him with a celebration and the fatted calf. The older son, in contrast, has done everything “right”—he’s tried to perform, work hard, check all the boxes—but he forgets how to celebrate. How might you receive and extend prodigal grace?
Rev. Eric Sherlock preaching from Luke 15:1–3, 11b–32
Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, Sandra Lepley, and the DCC Chancel Choir.
Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, Sandra Lepley, and the DCC Chancel Choir.
Third Sunday in Lent—March 20, 2022
Like the fig tree, you are worthy. You’re not a lost cause. You’re not a waste of resources. You deserve audacious hope. You deserve to be nurtured. Your fruit will come. Like the gardener, you are invited to see others with audacious hope and budding potential. The lesson of the fig tree invites us to unpack the source of our worth in a system and society that often measures worthiness by commerce, production, output, success, status, achievement, ethnicity, and/or gender identity. We might ask, “Can the fig tree have worth even if it never produces any figs?” What does that mean for us if the answer is “yes”? Patience, nurture, asset-based thinking, and audacious hope are counter-cultural practices needed for an expansive life.
Rev. Eric Sherlock preaching from Luke 13:1–9
Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, and the DCC Chancel Choir.
Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, and the DCC Chancel Choir.
Second Sunday in Lent—March 13, 2022
God is our refuge. There is nothing that can separate you from God, or could keep God from gathering you in, protecting you fiercely. Jesus’ lament for Jerusalem is seemingly counter to how he is treated by Jerusalem. And yet, we receive grace upon grace, even if not deserved. Jesus as a mother hen is an image of fierce love and protection. You are a precious child of God. God longs for you. God will gather you in. No matter how much we try to separate ourselves from God, God will run to protect us. God’s love for us is fuller than we can imagine.
No recording of this service is available.
Rev. Eric Sherlock preaching from Luke 13:31–35
Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, and the DCC Chancel Choir.
Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, and the DCC Chancel Choir.
First Sunday in Lent—March 6, 2022
Even in the desert, Jesus expands our definitions of a full life. It’s not the life the Tempter presents: a life defined by excess power, control, or reign. Excess is not abundance, but there is more. There is a fuller life we are called to live. Even in the midst of struggle, oppressive forces, hardship, and grief—God’s promises spill over, like the bounty of the first fruits from the ground. Even in the desert, you are called to the riverside to be washed by grace.
Rev. Todd Atkins-Whitley preaching from Luke 4:1–13
Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, and the DCC Chancel Choir.
Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, and the DCC Chancel Choir.
Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany, February 27, 2022
This Sunday, we conclude our journey through Epiphany, which has been enriched by a focus on Black history and Black futures. Throughout this“season of light and life,” we have been so fortunate to hear a variety of voices and stories and perspectives in our virtual sanctuary—preachers, activists, musicians, singers, poets, scientists, and ordinary people who spoke up, rose up, and made things happen. We have been illuminated by new understandings made available to us by hearing the Bible from the perspective and experiences of women and in perceiving God as woman too, through feminine language for her. [Thank you, Dr. Wil Gafney!]
As we return to the sanctuary (in-person and via Zoom), we are thrilled to welcome the voices and energy of the majority of the young people who make up our youth group here at DCC. I assure you: we will be deeply blessed by their participation facilitating and leading worship. And we will undoubtedly be inspired as we bear witness to our graduating seniors Zac Furber-Dobson, Piper Stickler, and Kimi DeBarger-Gestring sharing their reflections on their faith and their engagement with the world around them.
And as we anticipate the return of our beloved Pastor Eric next week from his sabbatical, I express such deep joy and thanksgiving to be a part of a community so “full to the brim” with people who love God, who love each other, and who ardently desire to be that love—that light!—to the world around us. You shine so brightly, Danville Church!
Scripture translations from A Woman’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W by Rev. Wil Gafney, PhD.
Reflections by Zac Furber-Dobson, Piper Sticker, Kimi DeBarger-Gestring
Music by John Kendall Bailey and Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols
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