Hope Springs Eternal

Three historical markers stand within a few steps of each other on a trail in North Arlington. One remembers a peacemaker who freed captives and brought them home. One remembers a raid that attacked a village. One remembers a treaty that opened a people's land to be taken. A mercy, a killing, and a displacement, all on the same small patch of ground. That is where this sermon begins.It turns out Paul stands his people on honest ground too. Romans 5 does not arrive until he has spent chapters proving that no one is righteous, not one. He tells the worst of the story first. And only then comes the line that changes everything: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.This is not a sermon about cleaning up your past in order to be loved. It is the announcement that the love came first, and that is the only thing that ever makes honesty survivable. We can tell the whole truth about ourselves, and about our history, because we are not justified by the story being clean. We are justified by faith. In a year when the country is arguing over how to tell its own story, that turns out to be good news.Part of Roman Roads, a summer series walking straight through Paul's letter to the Romans, one passage at a time, each week paired with a real Texas historical marker standing on the roads around us.Reading: Romans 5:1-8 (Proper 6)Markers: Jesse Chisholm, the Site of Bird's Fort, and the Sloan-Journey Expedition, North Arlington

In this sermon, we turn to Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes to ask a simple but brave question: Who are we becoming as a church?Jesus’ Beatitudes are not rules to follow but a vision of the kind of community God is already forming among us. This sermon explores how a Beatitude shaped church becomes authentic, merciful, courageous, and grounded in grace.The question is not whether we can achieve this vision, but whether we trust that God is already at work bringing it to life.Blessed are we, not because we are finished, but because God is not finished with us.

What does Christmas mean once the carols fade and the candles burn low?In this sermon on John 1:1-18, we turn to the opening of John’s Gospel, where Christmas is not told through shepherds and mangers, but through mystery and meaning. John pulls the curtain back to the very beginning and shows us who Jesus really is: the eternal Word, the Light that shines in the darkness, and God who has come near in flesh and grace.This sermon explores what it means to live not just hearing the story of Christmas, but knowing it deeply. Knowing that God is not distant. Knowing that darkness does not win. Knowing that grace keeps coming, again and again.As we move from Christmas Day into ordinary time, this message invites us to carry the truth of Christmas into everyday life, trusting that God is still with us, still shining light, and still offering grace upon grace.

On Christmas Eve we hear the same story every year. The same Scripture from Luke 2. The same carols. The same familiar sounds. And yet, we never hear Christmas quite the same way twice.In this sermon, Do You Hear What I Hear, we explore how Christmas speaks differently to us each year because we come carrying different joys, losses, hopes, and fears. Like bells that all ring but sound different because of what they are made of, the Christmas story rings into our lives in unique ways depending on what this season has been for us.Luke tells the story of Jesus’ birth through sound. The noise of empire. The quiet vulnerability of a manger. The song of angels. The hurried footsteps of shepherds. The silent pondering of Mary. Everyone hears the same birth, yet each hears it differently.The good news of Christmas is that Jesus still speaks today. He speaks in the language we most need. The language of hope, forgiveness, healing, belonging, or joy. We may not all hear the same thing, but we all hear it from the same source. The child born in Bethlehem for the love of the world.Wherever this Christmas finds you, good or bad, happy or sad, easy or hard, God meets you there. The question Christmas Eve invites us to ask is simple and holy.Do you hear what I hear?

On this Thanksgiving Eve, Father Alan reflects on John 6:25-35 and the honest truth that none of us are ever fully satisfied.He begins with his recent HYROX race, where even after beating his goal he crossed the finish line wanting more. That feeling, he says, is something we all carry. We try to satisfy our restlessness with achievement, success, possessions, or praise, but the hunger always returns.Jesus meets a crowd in John 6 who feel that same hunger. They have just witnessed a miracle, yet they come searching for more. Instead of shaming their need, Jesus invites them to be honest about it. He reminds them of the manna in the wilderness, when God provided enough for one day at a time. Then he makes the central claim: “I am the bread of life.” Jesus does not offer something to fill us. He offers himself.Father Alan reminds us that Thanksgiving is not about pretending we are full. It is about naming our dependence on God, the one who meets us in our hunger with grace we cannot earn. Like the Eucharist, Thanksgiving begins when we bring our empty hands to the God whose property is always to have mercy.Jesus is the one who satisfies the hunger we cannot fill on our own. From that gift, real gratitude begins.

Most sermons on the healing of the ten lepers focus on the one who came back to say thank you. But what about the other nineIn this message, Fr. Alan Bentrup invites us to listen for the stories we don’t hear. The stories of grace that continue beyond the page. Ten people were healed. All ten received God’s mercy.God’s grace is not earned or repaid. It is given freely, without condition or transaction.What if the nine went home and shared their healing in their own way: feeding neighbors, mentoring kids, paying off debt, making lunches for the hungry, or building a community where others could find life again?Gratitude is not just about returning to say thank you, but about living thankful lives.Our stewardship, our service, and our giving are not transactions, but responses.