Runneth Over | More Than a Doughnut: Living a Cruciform Life “How Everyday Acts Reflect Christ’s Overflowing Love” October 20, 2024 Galatians 2 Rev. Teer Hardy To live a cruciform life means our lives take the shape of the cross. Paul tells us that we have been crucified with Christ and that Christ now lives in us. This isn’t just some lofty spiritual idea or metaphor; it’s a call to live our lives mirroring the sacrificial and abundant love of Jesus. Everything we do—our giving, our vocations, ...
Oct 21, 2024•15 min
Runneth Over | The Weight of the Plate:Responding to God’s Abundant Generosity October 13, 2024 Ephesians 1:3-10 Rev. Teer Hardy Stewardship is less about checking boxes or paying bills at the church. Stewardship is a recognition that God has already given us, given all of creation, the greatest gift of all. Only when we fully grasp this gift – the fullness of Jesus Christ and the grace that freely flows Him and overflows our cups – can we truly understand what it means to give. Giving is not ou...
Oct 15, 2024•13 min
“A Meal for the Ages: Celebrating Unity Through Christ’s Table” October 6, 2024 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 Rev. Teer Hardy Today is World Communion Sunday. Across the globe, Christians are gathering around tables just like ours, breaking bread and sharing a cup. We gather not just as a local church, not just as a congregation of The United Methodist, but as part of the great body of Jesus Christ – spanning nations, cultures, and generations. Christ's table of grace unites us across the barriers of g...
Oct 09, 2024•12 min
One of the most troubling trends in the life of the church is the notion that we are the ones doing the searching. It is as if we have convinced ourselves that God is off in a galaxy far, far away from us. But the truth is that God has always been searching for us. The truth is God has always been searching for you. We may think that we have been doing the searching and have ultimate responsibility in this relationship, but it turns out God has been searching for us the whole time. You are not j...
Sep 16, 2024•13 min
“Fitting In or Standing Out: Following Jesus in a World of Expectations” September 1, 2024 Mark 7:1-23 James 1:17-27 Rev. Teer Hardy Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 02, 2024•12 min
“When Jesus Offends: Finding Life in Jesus' Hard to Swallow Teachings” August 25, 2024 John 6:60-69 Rev. Teer Hardy Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost We read these verses from an ancient book and give you music you will not find on the radio or social media. Many call it “going to church” or something to check off the to-do list. But I want to call it something else. Let’s call it trying to see. Let’s call it practicing paying attention to the presence of the living God among us, here in Arlingt...
Aug 26, 2024•13 min
“Something Happened” August 18, 2024 John 6:51-61 Rev. Teer Hardy Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost Jesus brings us something that is beyond our reach; beyond our understanding. He is offering us the very life of God, revealing a God we could not imagine on our own. He comes to us before we seek Him. He comes to us before we project God upon the world. And he comes to us even as we attempt to explain him away. There is a living God who speaks and acts even while our modern world is full of ways ...
Aug 19, 2024•13 min
“Bread for the World: Embracing the Fullness of Christ” August 11, 2024 John 6:35, 41-51 Rev. Teer Hardy Jesus does not explain himself in terms of who he is not or high theology. Instead, he says I am bread that will sustain you. I am bread that gives you new life. I am bread for the world. Standing before the crowd, standing before use, in the flesh is the fullness of God. If you have ever wondered what God looks like, look at the altar and the bread that sustains. If you have ever wondered ho...
Aug 12, 2024•11 min
“Satisfied” July 28, 2024 John 6:1-21 Rev. Teer Hardy Tenth Sunday After Pentecost To be satisfied is the goal of pretty much everything we do. In your professional life, if you are not satisfied with your work, you might make a move to a new employer or even a new line of work. If a vendor you are working with is not providing a service that satisfies your organization's needs, you will find a new vendor that can. We all want relationships that satisfy our needs and goals. Parents want schools ...
Jul 29, 2024•14 min
“The Kingdom of Heaven is Near: Preparing the Way for Christ in a Troubled World” July 14, 2024 Mark 6:14-29 You see, in the face of violence, when confronting the consequences of our sin we return to the words of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” “Repent, because the messiah has conquered our Sin and Defeated our death.” Christ has conquered the ways we cause harm to one another, creation, and ourselves. Christ has defeated that which separates us from God and...
Jul 15, 2024•12 min
July 7, 2024 Mark 6:1-13 Seventh Sunday After Pentecost The cross and resurrection of Christ are not “mighty” in the eyes of the world. The cross was a public spectacle of shame and defeat. The only way to know the cross as a mighty act is to have seen the resurrection. Yet, no one sees Jesus take his first steps out of the tomb. The resurrection is private, while the cross is public. And here is where we find the good news of the gospel. If we, as Christ's body, want to do what Jesus did and wh...
Jul 08, 2024•12 min
“It Is Everywhere” June 30, 2024 Mark 5:21-43 We find the Good News of the Gospel in the pervasiveness of death. God, Jesus, does not leave us to ourselves to overcome this separation. “We don’t have to wait for Easter for life to intrude and death to be defeated,” writes Rev. Will Willimon. In the face of the crisis of death, Jesus says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace,” and “Little girl, get up!” Notice that the man, the woman, and even the little girl do nothing except cr...
Jul 01, 2024•12 min
“God, Do You Care?” June 23, 2024 Mark 4:35-41 Season After Pentecost In Jesus calming the storm the temptation is present to focus on Jesus calming the wind and waves. Cosmic power resides in Mary’s boy who was present when the universe was a formless void. What a sight that must have been. Jesus asleep at the back of the boat, waking and springing into action. The disciples are saved. Here’s the thing: Jesus was not concerned with the storm. It was not the wind and the waves that woke Jesus fr...
Jun 24, 2024•13 min
“Caps, Gown, and Crowns” June 9, 2024 1 Samuel 8:4-20 To be called and set apart by God is no small feat, and the calling upon each individual and community is specific to the people and community called. The ways you are called by God are different from the ways God had called me. How you have been called by God is different from how God will call your children, partner, or friends. And Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe...
Jun 10, 2024•14 min
Here You Are” June 2, 2024 1 Samuel 3:1-10 S eason After Pentecost The lynchpin of “Here I am!” is that someone has to first be called. And the thing is, when God calls, we have time to answer. We have time to ask questions of our mentors, like Samuel asked of Eli. We have time to discern why God is calling us and what God is calling us to do. God’s calling upon our lives in one of the ways we experience God’s grace, because you see, God does not call us when we have everything in our lives figu...
Jun 04, 2024•14 min
Acts 2:1-21 Pentecost At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was once again set loose on creation, setting the church in motion, filling Peter with words to proclaim, setting us loose, and filling us with the cosmic-breaking power of God not so that we would retreat to the Upper Room. No, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, we, like Peter, point to the One who was present when that “wind from God swept across the face of the waters,” and there was light. Pentecost is proof that God is not silent. G...
May 20, 2024•13 min
May 12, 2024 Ascension Sunday Luke 24:44-53 Because Jesus gave the disciples everything they needed to turn their doubts and fears into praise and worship – peace, revelation, assurance, and blessing – we can rest assured that when we are in need, Christ will give us what we need. Recently, I noticed that when someone approached Jesus with doubt, he did not rebuke them. “Doubting Thomas” was not rebuked. Even those who doubted Jesus and sought to challenge him were given what was needed that the...
May 13, 2024•15 min
May 5, 2024 Galatians 3:23- 29 It is sinful to say that someone is "incompatible" because of who God made them to be. To those who have been told they and their families are “incompatible,” you have never been incompatible. It is sinful to put barriers in place to prevent or discourage those called by God from responding to their call. It is sinful to cherry-pick scripture to fit an agenda that is outside of God's grand plan for making all things new to push a political agenda within Christ's bo...
May 05, 2024•15 min
April 28, 2024 John 21:2-18 Easter 5 The light of the resurrection pulls us out of shame and guilt and invites us into a new life in Christ. Jesus did not repeat his line of question to Peter to shame the Rock upon which the Church would be built but rather to be crystal clear that not only has Peter been absolved of his sin but also that shame and guilt are no longer necessary. In the face of Peter’s public denial, Jesus gives Peter a great responsibility – “Feed my sheep.” A moment for which m...
Apr 30, 2024•12 min
Brewing Theology is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Psalm 23 When I saw that the Revised Common Lectionary assigned Psalm 23 this week, I thought, “Challenge accepted!” For many of us, Psalm 23 is reserved for funerals and memorial services. Every funeral and memorial service I have officiated has included Psalm 23. The other readings might vary, and the preacher may not even include the psalm in their sermon,...
Apr 22, 2024•15 min
April 14, 2024 Romans 12:1-10 Look, I get it; change is difficult. Renewal is even harder. But I am thankful that God has not left me with the faith or theology I had when I was younger. I give thanks every day that God is renewing my faith. God makes me see people in my midst, truly see them in ways that my prejudices would otherwise prevent. Because Christ’s Grace and faith are reckoned to me, my understanding of others is transformed. This is a transformation of the church as a body. Through ...
Apr 15, 2024•14 min
April 7, 2024 Genesis 1:26-31 Psalm 139:13-16 Easter 2 The resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for our whole selves – our bodies, minds, and souls. Who we are - every part of our being - is wrapped up in being created in the image of God and is tied up in Christ's life, death, and resurrection. From the beginning of humanity, we have been declared “good” by God. Do we always act “good?” Certainly not, but God called what God created, you, “good,” so you are good regardless of what you ...
Apr 09, 2024•19 min
March 31, 2024 John 20:1-18 Whatever the reason you came here this morning, our risen Lord is calling you by name, calling you to you in the midst of your grief or doubt. Calling you in the middle of joyous laughter and fun with onlookers says your behavior is inappropriate for the location. Calling you, just as he called the disciples away from their nets, calling you to a new life of following him, a life that promises new life. The grace of God, the love of God, is all around, especially on d...
Apr 01, 2024•12 min
March 24, 2024 John 12:12-29 In our procession of fools, we miss that there is so much more to this story. In each stop between the Mount of Olives (Palm Sunday) and The Skull (the cross), Jesus is gathering all of humanity into him, the very best and the very worst we have to offer. No prayer or ritual must first be spoken or performed on our part. And that is grace. If Jesus calling Lazarus from his tomb last Sunday was the prelude to Holy Week, then Palm Sunday is Act One of a larger story. A...
Mar 26, 2024•16 min
March 17, 2024 John 11:1-44 Jesus is calling each of us to “come out!” Now, I know what you are thinking. If God speaks to you or someone tells you, “God spoke to me,” the temptation to take a step back or to think the person chased their drinks from happy hour with a shot of NightQuil. But (and you know how I feel like big buts), the truth is that God is speaking to us today – in subtle and not so subtle ways – just as God has been speaking to the saints before us. To step out of the shadow of ...
Mar 19, 2024•14 min
February 24, 2024 John 11:7-15 Lent 2 When we lump a group of people in a category like “the Jews,” “the Muslims,” “the Russians,” “the Ukrainians,” “the Americans,” “the Mexicans,” “the Palestinians,” or the “Israelis,” we risk an attempt at reducing the imago dei [ix] – the made in the image of God-ness – of those people into a caricature that fits our prejudices and ignores the rich diversity of the group of people. If we learned anything from the Holocaust, if we are learning anything from w...
Feb 26, 2024•21 min
Lent 1 John 1:1-6 The following sermon is the first in a five-part congregational study of the raising of Lazarus. In addition to the Gospel of John, we will be using James Martin’s book Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle as a guide for our study. Set aside the good and bad of what the world has to say about you and know that You are God’s beloved. Consider for a moment what it means to be God’s beloved. Looking back on your life, what enables you to believe this? James Martin w...
Feb 19, 2024•14 min
Ash Wednesday 2024 Matthew 6 Isaiah 56:1-12 The fancy theological term for Ash Wednesday is “repent.” You will be impressed to know that the Greek word metanoia means to turn away or reorient. Today is when we, as Christ’s body, repent, with the help of spiritual disciplines, God’s grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit to turn away from our sin and back toward God. And it is in repenting that we find the Good News of this day. It is not that we repent on our own. If it were entirely up to us, ...
Feb 15, 2024•12 min
February 11, 2024 Mark 9:2-9 Peter had a glimpse into the mystery of our faith: that God became fully human so that humanity might become righteous. The Good News, the hope contained in the Transfiguration of Jesus, is not the message to come down the mountain and serve the poor – a message many would affirm without ever knowing Jesus. The Good News is that God became like us, like you and me. The light that beamed from the transfigured Christ is the same light that said, “Let there be…” The sam...
Feb 12, 2024•10 min
January 21, 2024 Mark 1:21-28 The story of Jesus Christ is a story of interruptions. The announcement of his birth by the angel Gabriels interrupts Mary's life and her plans to be married to Joseph. The silence of Christmas night was interrupted when angels announced the birth of the Messiah to shepherds who watched their flocks by night. John the baptizer was interrupted when Jesus stepped into the Jordan River to be baptized. The lives of the first twelve disciples were interrupted when Jesus ...
Jan 21, 2024•15 min
