Refine
Clear All
Your Track:
Live:
Search in:
Kuna United Methodist Church Sermons
Kuna United Methodist Church Sermons

Kuna United Methodist Church Sermons

Sermons of Kuna United Methodist Church in Kuna, Idaho

Available Episodes 10

On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the beginning of the human community called the church. This journey started when Jesus’s apprentices, the disciples, were filled with the Holy Spirit and became the apostles who went out to preach.

Today, the journey continues with us and the places we will go. Despite the rewards, faith journeys aren’t always without challenges. One of the difficulties is the realization that the destination constantly seems out of reach. The more we learn about God, the more we realize the day we know it all is never going to happen in this life. In this moment, we need to understand that God is found in both the journey and destination. God has been there all along—we need to realize it.

Part of a faith journey is constant change and constant reformation. One of the first changes after Pentecost is described in the Acts of the Apostles when Peter stated, “God shows no partiality.” Peter realized God accepts people who were not of Jewish descent, God accepts the people who worship him, and God accepts the people who do what’s right.

Peter’s realization was big moment in the church’s metamorphosis. Pastor Mia reminds us that there have been more transformational moments since then and more are to come. Every wall we build to separate ourselves, God will bring down.

Mark’s Gospel tells the story of four people tearing a hole in the roof of a crowded building so they could lower a paralytic down to Jesus for healing. They didn’t do the healing, however, they were essential to the story.

Healing for the paralytic was an urgent matter for the four . They couldn’t wait for Jesus to finish preaching to the crowd—they needed to get the paralytic to Jesus immediately. Their faith and creativity caught Jesus’s attention. He forgave the paralytic’s sins and gave the order to, “take your mat and go home.”

During the encounter with the paralytic, Jesus had a mission to forgive and to heal. He still has the mission to forgive and heal. Today, the forgiveness and healing is for each of us.

This week, Pastor Mia highlights an important theme in the story of the paralytic. With Christ’s healing, we can emerge from darkness like a butterfly leaving the cocoon and taking flight. To fly, we must be dedicated to our own healing and we need the help of others to make it possible.

Carrying a rock on the Camino de Santiago became a powerful symbol of letting go—of burdens, grief, or sin. As I journeyed, I realized the rock I needed to release was my hyper-vigilance, a habit born from years of living in an unsafe home environment. Though it once served a purpose, it had become damaging, and God made it clear it was time to lay it down. Letting go is never easy, even when we know it’s necessary. It requires deep trust that God will be present and faithful as we step into the unknown.

The transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly offers a vivid image of this process. As a caterpillar, clinging to the branch is survival; as a butterfly, letting go is the only way to soar. The spiritual life is much the same: we must release what no longer serves us, even if it once kept us safe. The mantra “gulp, leap, soar” captures this journey—pausing to breathe, taking the risk, and discovering that God’s faithfulness holds us up. Until we let go, we cannot experience the freedom and strength God has prepared for us.

The Israelites, freed from slavery, struggled with the uncertainty of the wilderness. They longed for the familiarity of Egypt, even though it meant bondage. God provided for them in new ways—manna and quail—teaching them to trust in unfamiliar freedom. We, too, often resist change, preferring the comfort of what we know, even if it limits us. Yet, the only way forward is to trust God and step into the unknown.

When Jesus rose from the dead, the whole world changed and there was no going back. The disciples who followed Jesus knew things would never be the same after the crucifixion, but they didn’t see the future clearly. When they encountered a stranger on the road to Emmaus, their eyes were opened. At that moment, the disciples discovered Jesus is Lord.

This week, Pastor Mia highlights the ways in which the disciples’ journey to Emmaus mirrors our faith journey. The disciples prayed together, and today Christians practice faith in community at Sunday worship, Bible study, and singing together. The disciples also ate meals together. Communion and fellowship are part of today’s worship experience.

On the road to Emmaus, the disciples experienced a mysterious encounter with God. Perhaps you’ve had a vision or a strong experience with God. Furthermore, Jesus opened the disciples minds to understanding the scriptures. The stranger the disciples encountered chastised them for looking for the God they wanted, instead of the God who is. We are no different.

For the disciples, faith was not the arrival but the journey. It is the same for us. When a stranger joins us and a truth is received, our lives are changed.

Mary Riedl, guest preacher, takes us into the difficulty of leaving comfortable places. It's difficult for butterflies, and it's difficult for us. But we are made for it. Leaving comfortable places is where we find life. What safe grave do you need to leave?

Wombs, tombs, and cocoons. In this message about emergence and transformation, Pastor Mia reminds us that Easter is God’s invitation to new life.

The transformation to new life begins in the dark. Sometimes the darkness is a place of pain or sorrow—a tomb. And sometimes the darkness is a place of safety and warmth—a womb. Emerging from the darkness is challenging, especially when it’s comfortable, because we aren’t sure about the new life promised.

Like Jesus and like caterpillars, we have an instinct to move toward transformation. However, emerging to that new life requires the willingness to trust the darkness where transformation begins.

At the crucifixion, Jesus’s disciples betrayed him and they ran and hid. After the resurrection, it all changed. Those disciples publicly preached about Jesus the Christ Risen, and ultimately they were executed for their teachings. That’s a big a transformation.

With the resurrection, we can emerge with Jesus out of the darkness. Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, we can be unfurled to all the beauty God calls us to be.

The crowds who followed Jesus lived under violent and repressive Roman occupation. They needed to be saved and couldn’t do it themselves. Because they witnessed Jesus’s teaching and healing, they believed Jesus was the new king would give them the victory. And so, when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they welcomed him with a parade.

The victory those crowds anticipated was a military defeat of their Roman rulers, not the moral victory that Jesus delivered. After the Crucifixion, Rome was still in charge, and so where the Pharisees and Herod and the temple leaders. What Christ’s early followers didn’t immediately realize was that when Jesus died on the cross, he was actually launching the victory. Jesus didn’t conquer an empire. Instead, he conquered death by dying.

On this Palm Sunday, Pastor Mia reminds that that the victory was given to early Christians and it is given to us. However, we sometimes miss God’s enormous strength. When a group of women approached Jesus’s tomb on Easter Sunday, they discovered the huge stone at the entrance had been rolled away. God cleared the way for those women and God clears the way for us. After all, only God can move the stone that blocks our way to a free and full life.

All relationships have problems. Failed relationships aren’t necessarily caused by big issues like abuse. More likely, failed relationships are the accumulation of many little things brought on by neglect and disconnection.

We’ve all neglected our relationship with God. We don’t keep the sabbath, we worship the idols of consumerism and materialism, and we fail to help the needy. You could say, God is like that friend should call but you never get around to it.

Jesus, however, got around to dealing with the disconnect. He died on the cross so God could be close to us in a relationship we give freely, by choice.

Jesus restores our relationship with God. This week, Pastor Mia reminds us that following Christ and modeling our lives after him improves all of our relationships. When we stop trying to save ourselves, our relationships change because we are free to love and care for each other.

We all have something we're powerless against. Death is one. The other is the collection of things that get in between us and God. When we admit we are powerless and finally turn to God, Jesus washes away the things that suppress us from living in full relationship with the Lord.

When Jesus makes us clean, he's not washing dirt off our bodies. Instead, he's cleansing us from another type of grime, the captivity of sin and death that make us feel spritually dirty. In this context, clean means life and unclean means death. When we're tainted with sin, we can try to ignore it and we can justify it. However, the result is guilt and self doubt. Although we want sprititual cleanliness, we simply can't achieve it on our own.

At the Last Supper, Jesus humbled himself to an act of service, washing the disciples' feet. In that moment, Jesus demonstrated that faith and loyalty to God are part of being clean. The next day, a reluctant Pontius Pilate turn Jesus over to the authorities to be crucified. Then Pilate washed his hands of the matter, blaming his decision on the crowds Like Pilate, we can try to stifle our guilt, mistakes, and failures, or we can follow the example of Jesus. In other words, there are handwashers, and there are footwashers. On this fourth Sunday of Lent, Pastor Mia asks, which one are you?

In this third Sunday of Lent, we explore the profound ways Jesus is our Savior, focusing on Jesus as a moral example. Jesus teaches us to live a life of love, integrity, and selflessness. Jesus' life is a testament to kingdom living, calling us to shift from self-centeredness to self-giving. Through actions and teachings, Jesus provides a model for moral and ethical living, inspiring us to embody the image of God within us.

Jesus' life inspires us to live with love and integrity, challenging us to reflect God's character in our daily lives.We are reminded of historical figures like Rosa Parks and Oscar Romero, who, inspired by Jesus, stood against injustice and oppression. Their courage and moral fortitude exemplify how one person's actions can ignite a movement towards justice and righteousness.

Jesus as a Moral Example: Jesus' life serves as a powerful moral example, teaching us to live with love, integrity, and selflessness. His actions and teachings guide us to embody the image of God within us, inspiring us to reflect God's character in our daily lives. [19:35]-

The Power of One: Jesus' life inspires us to initiate change through selfless actions. Our individual efforts can create a ripple effect, leading others towards love and righteousness.