Sermons

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.

Sunday, June 13, 2021—Third Sunday after Pentecost

I love a good story. Within the gospels, we often see Jesus teaching the crowds using parables, a type of story. In this Sunday’s parable, we listen to Jesus using everyday agricultural language, scattering seeds, and faith like a mustard seed to talk about God and to invite people to wonder about the Kingdom of God.

That’s the point of a good story—to cause us to wonder. Jesus used parables to invoke wonder so that his listeners could find their place in the story. I hope you will join us Sunday as we think about the concept of a parable and the invitation for us all to wonder, fodder, and find our place in the story of God.

Rev. Eric Sherlock preaching from Mark 4:26-34
Music by John Kendall Bailey and Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols

Sunday, June 6, 2021—Music Sunday

We gather for a special service of music on Sunday. Every year on the first Sunday in June, we celebrate Danville Congregational Church’s music programs with a Music Sunday. This Sunday, Music Director, John Kendall Bailey and the choirs are looking forward to sharing with us their efforts in creating this year’s program. Through the gift of technology, we are once again able to offer a virtual choir, where the talents and voices of our choir enrich our service of worship. This Sunday, may we come together with grateful hearts for the abundance we have been given, making a joyful noise to the Lord.

Music by John Kendall Bailey, Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols, and the DCC Chancel Choir

Sunday, May 30, 2021—Trinity Sunday

The Trinity is one of those theological constructions that has been deemed central to our understanding of God but which is at once mystifying and head-scratching—resulting in a downright theological conundrum. “How can three be one and one be three” is a question people have been asking for centuries.

Formulated in the fourth century and developed over hundreds of years, the doctrine of the Trinity was an attempt to inspire a deeper understanding of the intricate nature and character of God. This doctrine’s antecedent can be traced to the words of Jesus who commanded the disciples to go forth, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But the doctrine itself does not appear in the Bible.

At its heart, I believe the Trinity to be an attempt to express God as a relational being who is to be experienced versus explained. To wit, Catherine Mowry LaCugna wrote,

“The doctrine of the Trinity is ultimately…a teaching not about the abstract nature of God, nor about God in isolation from everything other than God, but a teaching about God’s life with us and our life with each other.”

So, this Sunday morning, we will gather to consider this mysterious doctrine—to wonder together, to share our wisdom, and offer our insights about the Trinity as it pertains to God’s life with us and our lives with each other. I hope you’ll join us.

Music by John Kendall Bailey and Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols

Sunday, May 23, 2021—Pentecost Sunday

Giving birth is, to put it mildly, difficult—so I’ve been told. Likewise, growth can be difficult, as can the process of re-emerging; the work of transformation; the shared labor of co-creating something new.

As we approach the commemoration of the birth of the Church called Pentecost, we are acutely aware—perhaps more than ever—of the groaning that is happening all around us, perhaps even from us:

The groans associated with difficult work around knowing how to safely re-engage with the world around us.
Groans prompted by a return to a faster-paced lifestyle and an increasingly fuller calendar.
The groans from the prolonged internal and corporate work around racism and reconciliation.
Groans from realizations that many things around us may never return to what they once were.

Oh but keep hope, people of God!

Though God’s Holy Spirit, our groans are heard, are interpreted, are held deeply in the presence of our God. And even when we feel weak, good things are being birthed all around us! Because anywhere you see, express, or experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control—the “first fruits of the Spirit”—you can be sure our God is atwork bringing about that which “we hope with true perseverance and eager anticipation.”

Let’s dwell in that hope as we prepare to gather this Sunday to celebrate the birth—and the continued birthing—of the Church.

Rev. Todd Atkins-Whitley preaching from Romans 8:22–27
Music by John Kendall Bailey and Gabrielle Goozée-Nichols

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