Douglass Church - Douglass Blvd Christian Church

Trying to See (Luke 19:1-10)

The promise of the reign of God is that we will all be seen for who we really are … and we won’t have to worry anymore about everyone seeing all of us—even the humiliating parts. And now, if we want to follow Jesus, our job is to try to seek out others who are desperately trying to be seen themselves—to see them as they truly are … children of God, people God loves just as much as God loves us. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Getting Angry for the Right Reasons (Luke 18:9-14)

It should come as no surprise that Jesus sets this parable within the confines of the temple in Jerusalem, which kept you constantly aware of where everyone fits into the great cosmic org chart. There was a wall in the temple to separate the Gentiles from the Jews. A wall separating the women from the men and the priests from the *ordinary men. And there were walls separating the high priest from everyone else. Walls divide us by identifying who’s allowed in and who has to stand outside w...

Grant Me Justice (Luke 18:1-8)

We pray not so that God might get frustrated and finally provide us with what we think we deserve but so that God's reign here on earth might be revealed. A reign where the vulnerable and the destitute, the unseen and the unheard, the abused and the neglected will not be an afterthought to those in power but whose protection is the very reason power gets wielded in the first place. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Using Only What You've Got (Luke 17:5-10)

And Luke doesn’t seem helpful when he says, “What? Did you think you were getting a Barcalounger and a lifetime supply of attaboys?” But you see, in the reign of God, that’s good news. You don’t have to feel like a failure just because your life with Jesus isn’t one long unbroken string of notable successes. Just because you don’t always feel like you believe hard enough. Just because people aren’t breaking down doors to tell you what a great job you’re doing. If you’re doing it the way L...

Navigating the Thin Places (Luke 17-11-19)

In a world where crosses and leper colonies exist to dispose of “human waste”—Jesus says “no.” In the face of all the name-calling and lynching and fighting and warring, Jesus appears, takes his place on the tree, and offers up what, at first, sounds like a whispered “no”—weak and ineffectual. Just the words of a dying man on a government hit list. But the echoes of that “no” reverberate. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

What Happens When You Realize the World You Thought You Lived in Isn't the One You Inhabit? (Luke 16-19-31)

I mean, if the rich man isn’t the hero and Lazarus isn’t a cautionary tale you tell your kids, so they’ll do their geometry homework and get into Harvard, then everything we’ve taken for granted as true about *this world gets chucked out the window. If we’re judged more by how we treat the invisible people, the people everyone agrees it’s okay to ignore, than by whether or not we’ve checked all the boxes for morality everybody can see when we go out in public, that changes everything, does...

Blaming the Wrong Person (Luke 16:1-16)

But here, I would like to suggest that Jesus isn’t just talking about people with money. He’s talking about the systems of domination, exploitation, and violence that keep money in the hands of the powerful and out of the "grabby" hands of the perpetually unsatisfied poor—because they’re always complaining about how they don’t have enough to eat or find shelter. But Jesus turns that whole way of conceiving the world on its head. He winds up celebrating Robin Hood and trashing the Sheriff o...

The Real Reason for Rejoicing (Luke 15:1-10)

Because they bear part of God’s heart with them, who do we care about so much that we’re willing to risk the wrath of the folks in charge just to welcome them, to have a meal with them, to call them our family? We need to be acutely aware of the implications of this question in a world in which some of our fellow travelers have to point out to the rest of us that—given the suffering they’ve historically endured (and endure to this day)—their lives matter too. Subscribe to us on iTunes! S...

Don’t Bring Anything with You (Luke 14:25-33)

Part of the reason Jesus puts out this disclaimer about counting the cost is that too often people think they what they want from faith is ease-of-use, friction-free, pre-packaged, no muss—no fuss, no ironing necessary. But Jesus knows that a few hardy souls aren’t in the market for easy; they want interesting. The kind of people Jesus is appealing to are looking for meaning, purpose, adventure. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Playing by the Rules (Luke 14:1, 7-14)

Jesus isn’t inviting us to forget about this world and concentrate on the next. He’s inviting us to begin living as if this new realm of God’s hospitality were already present, fully realized right here, right now. And the thing of it is, when we begin to practice this sort of countercultural hospitality, we soon come to learn that we were never in charge of the guest list or the seating chart in the first place. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Adult Sunday School on Modern Christian Thought Resumes on September 11

Because of the pandemic, we haven't had Sunday School for almost 2 1/2 years. But as things seem to be improving, we've decided to resume Adult Sunday School on September 11th, at 9:45 a.m. We're going to be studying Modern Christian Thought, the class that Derek taught at the University of Louisville last semester. Note: You don't have to have any knowledge of the subject to participate in the class (though many of the things we'll discuss will be familiar to many people). Note 2: You ...

Being Set Free (Luke 13:10-17)

So the question this story raises for us is, where are we working to bring tear down the barriers put in place by the powerful (intentional or not) that serve to keep people isolated, unseen, forgotten, but not yet gone? Who are the bent-over people whose faces we lift to finally look in their eyes? Will we be the people God depends on to see the invisible people and remember their first names? Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

You Who Were Far Off (Eph. 2:11-22)

The thing is, though, you can’t see them from far off. You have to get right up next to people in order to see them, I mean really see them. And by the grace of God and the mystery of Christ, we’ve been brought near enough, according to Paul, to see them no longer as enemies, or aliens, or foreigners, or strangers, but as human beings, as the children for whom God is creating a whole new world. And it is the one whom I thought was my enemy, the one whom, to me, was a stranger, who is bound...

Guest Preacher: Chuck Lewis

What We Really Need Right Now (Luke 12:13-21)

But Jesus says, “God has another world in mind, one in which there’s enough for everybody, and nobody gets forgotten. Even the sparrows and the hairs on your head have value. And here’s the thing, if the ruling authorities come after you for holding out for God’s new world rather than tucking your tail between your legs and settling for the one the powerful want you to think is inevitable, don’t worry; God will stand with you in the face of their wrath. If you’re unwilling to settle for thi...

Guest Preacher: Ilse Apestegui

When Basic Justice Isn't Enough (Amos 8:1-12)

How do we ensure a world that refuses to allow the powerful to take advantage of the powerless? We need to help make a culture in which people in power are no longer more afraid of being ashamed of being racist, misogynist, homophobic, ableist, or transphobic than being called racist, misogynist, homophobic, ableist, or transphobic. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

The Mercy of Judgment (Amos 7:7-17)

Turns out, people in power aren’t casually waiting for someone to show up and tell them that not only are they doing it wrong, they’re the source of injustice in the world. Nobody wants to hear that—especially those folks who’ve been told their whole lives what precious flowers they are, that the world is lucky to have them. The thing is, it’s not just modern people who have a hard time with God as judge, being told the world they’ve made for themselves has failed to please God. But Lord k...

Keeping the Upper Hand (Luke 10:1-12, 16-20)

You get a small group of people willing to live as if everyone is a neighbor, as if there’s plenty enough to go around, as if the maladies that make us ill unto despair are capable of being healed—and all of a sudden, demons bow down and Satan falls from the sky like a flash of lightning. And the thing of it is, we’re not talking about the Avengers here. It’s just a bunch of ordinary people willing to head out into the world, carrying only their trust in Jesus and a different kind of kingd...

The Road to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-62)

We who follow Jesus follow him to Jerusalem. We follow him not just so that we can sleep better at night but so that those who go to sleep at night terrified of what this world holds for them will finally find some peace, a chance to rest from the relentless notion in our culture that their lives have no value. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

The Mending Fence (Luke 8:26-39)

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grey-and-brown-brick-wall-966927/ So, here’s what I think: I think that we who would be like Jesus, we need to take the risk and cross the borders to go looking for the people Jesus himself went out in search of, and to speak the words and do the work necessary to see them free. We need to brave the wasteland and go into the graveyards that house so many and find ways to break the chains that keep them in bondage. We can’t af...

Upon Which Altar? (Acts 17:22-31)

In a world willing to pray to any god who promises to keep us safe from people who don’t look like us, in a world where the music of our worship sounds like the ticking of a time clock, or the growl of an SUV, in a world in which we tithe our time and money to gods defined by national boundaries or party affiliations or racial designations, we have good news about a new world God is busy creating that we can’t keep to ourselves—even knowing that in proclaiming it we risk looking like the ve...

Holy Disruption (Acts 2:1-21)

The power of holy disruption is present when followers of Jesus stand together to offer witness to the truth. The power of the Spirit is less to be found in the heroic individual than in the community knit together by the power of a common witness on behalf of those whom Jesus loves. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

The Unlikeliest Faces (Acts 16:9-15)

The unlikeliest faces, out minding their own business, when the Holy Spirit shows up and things get interesting: God chases after the untouchables, women become central players in the gospel game, demons flee, prisoners are set free, and the powerful find humility. And that’s the thing about the reign of God: it’s always in the midst of such implausible circumstances, in the presence of the unlikeliest faces that God is busy establishing a whole new world. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Serm...

Seeing with Different Eyes (Acts 11:1-18)

Where is God moving in the community of faith today, threatening old patterns of belief? What sorts of people is God busy inviting into our fellowship who make us uncomfortable? The implications are troubling. But we can take comfort in the fact that it’s not our question. It’s God’s question, and like the good book says, “Who am I that I should hinder God?” I’m afraid of this text. But I’m also just as afraid of getting in the way of what God wants to do. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Ser...

Resurrection Moments (Acts 9:36-43)

And that’s the thing: The world, as chaotic and torn as it is right now, needs a little resurrection—needs people like you and me to get up and bring new life to folks who feel like everybody else has given up on them. LGBTQ kids are dying, waiting for someone to care about them. Traumatized refugees are languishing in camps, waiting for someone to notice them. Our Black neighbors are literally dying in jail, waiting for someone to realize that we seem to live in a system designed not to d...

The Dangers of Not Keeping Your Mouth Shut (Acts 5:27-32)

Whether or not Jesus was a political radical in the way we think of political radicals is irrelevant; the Romans believed he was a political revolutionary. And they executed him like one. And that’s the danger of not keeping your mouth shut about Jesus. Start talking about protecting the poor and the powerless, and people get twitchy. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

It’s about the Work (John 20:1-18)

True freedom, as we find it in Jesus, can never be about ever more elaborate ways to justify selfishness—to say that we have responsibility only for ourselves and those we love. True freedom for those who follow Jesus is being given the opportunity, no matter how much it costs, to love those whom Jesus loves. But the thing is, we have to leave the empty tomb to do it. We remember it; we love it, but we see it as a place from which we’re sent out into the world—because that’s where the sic...

Where Are the Poor? (John 12:1-8)

Salving our consciences by looking away betrays Jesus and the world God is busy creating. Shuffling the houseless off to someplace where the people can’t see them may be good for tourism, but it fails our community and vocation as Jesus-followers by making some of our neighbors expendable. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

A Tale of Power (Luke 19:28-40)

In other words, unlike the kinds of rulers people are used to, who always seem to be using their power for themselves, Jesus’ use of power is always focused on the most exposed and exploited among us. Jesus’ use of power builds up instead of dividing and tearing down. Heals people rather than afflict them. Sets them free instead of subjugating them. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Which Is Better? (Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32)

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons In fact, the story’s not about us at all. We find out that if the father in this story is a stand-in for God, God’s not keeping score the way everybody else keeps score. In a culture where shame lessened everyone’s respect for you, God demonstrated God’s willingness to dive face-first into the slop to show us how much we’re loved. But God’s also willing to risk humiliation to find the entitled older brother and listen to his whining about how—after all he’s...

Going Home (Luke 13:1-9)

In the old windswept world, people like Vladimir Putin invade the homes of others for their own gain. In the new world, refugees are the very people best situated to understand how much returning home is worth. In the old desolate world, our worth is determined by the size of our bank accounts and the colleges we can get our children into. In the new world to which we long to return, our value is determined by God’s desire to bring us home. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | ...

What’s Your Story Say About You? (Deuteronomy 26:1-13

Consequently, The Great Man Theory of History should have been recast as The Great White Man Theory of History. But since everybody already took for granted that the only history worth telling would have white men as the central characters, being explicit about it was not only unnecessary, it was redundant. So, when white people complain during February every year that there’s no “White History Month,” and I say, “Oh yes there is; it’s called ‘the rest of the calendar,’” I’m not just being...

Since We Have Such Hope (2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2)

The wonderful thing about the popular version of Christianity is that it can be done with minimal inconvenience to one’s otherwise comfortable lifestyle. Much of it can be accomplished without ever making your back sore or getting your hands dirty. The trouble is ... that doesn’t sound like the Jesus of the Gospels at all. Jesus, it turns out, is interested in establishing the reign of God; but that reign is first about the lives we live as we try to love others before it’s ever about susp...

The Heart of Desire (Luke 13:31-35)

Unfortunately, what too many people mean by “freedom” is freedom from responsibility for anybody but myself and those I love. Freedom on this reading means something like, “You can’t tell me what to do. I can do whatever I want. Why? Because this is a free country.” But, I mean, come on. That’s how children think, isn’t it? Freedom read this way amounts to an ever more elaborate rationalization of selfishness. Think about the issues you can pass through this lens. Healthcare, unemployment ...

You’re Not the Boss of Me (Luke 6:27-38)

You get to choose how you’ll view the world, to whom and what kind of attention you’ll give. Nobody is the boss of how you choose to act but you. No one can tell you what to do about the kind of love you offer to others. The whole “you’re-not-the-boss-of-me” thing is always about power. But here’s the thing, you don’t have to give yours away. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

That’s What It Looks Like (Luke 6:17-26)

Jesus says, "I’m talking about a cosmic rebalancing of the scales, where those who’ve had to hide who they are and whom they love will be welcomed and celebrated, where parents will no longer have to live in fear of their children being stopped by the police—just because they happen to have skin with a different color or worship in another way, where strangers and immigrants won’t have to endure the spite of the 'home team' and their children being ripped from their arms and thrown into cag...

The Deep Waters (Luke 5:1-11)

No less for us, the promise of plenty in the new world God is creating isn’t available to us after we’ve checked out of the current world and its uncertainty and taken up residence in another more stable home. The promise of enough lives in the very heart of the chaos we find ourselves in right now. Jesus’ followers aren’t looking for deliverance out of this world but for directions into the very dark and grubby center of it. Put more simply, the future for us lies not in surviving the diso...

The Danger of Opening the Doors (Luke 4:21-30)

Jesus goes home and kicks a hornet’s nest of hospitality and inclusion to all—one that won’t finally settle down until the powers and principalities, the folks at the top, finally get their way and push him over the cliff on Good Friday. Apparently, in the reign of God that Jesus announces, that’s what love requires. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

The Year of the Lord's Favor (Luke 4:14-21)

The good news of the reign of God is an exercise in narrating the possibilities of a world where everyone is invited to the party and nobody has to settle for crumbs and leftovers because there’s enough to go around. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Can't You Read the Sign? (John 2:1-11)

The good news of the reign of God is an exercise in narrating the possibilities of a world where everyone is invited to the party and nobody has to settle for crumbs and leftovers because there’s enough to go around. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

In Bodily Form (Luke 3:15-17, 21-22)

We’re called not just to point toward justice and peace but to be people who embody justice and peace. We’re not just given the task of telling people about God’s grace and compassion; we’re given the responsibility of extending God’s grace and compassion to our neighbors—even the ones (perhaps especially the ones) with whom we wouldn’t be caught dead on a Saturday night. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

The Brightness of Your Dawn (Isaiah 60:1-6)

In order to see what Isaiah 'calls the brightness of your dawn' though, you’ll have lift up your eyes—not just so you can see it, but so that that light might be reflected in your eyes to the rest of the world. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

The Battle Cry of the Humiliated (Luke 1:39-55)

In other words, what endears Mary to God, at least according to Luke, has more to do with her poverty than with her probity. She probably is a really great person on the inside, but that's apparently not what draws God's attention. God is moved by the fact that Mary's the perfect candidate for the kind of person on behalf of whom Jesus is being born to fight: a soon-to-be unwed mother from a backwater town on the poor side of nowhere. Her prospects in life added up to just about nothing. ...

The Best News (Luke 3:7-18)

How do you think the poor, the outsiders, the depressed, the bereaved, and those who’ve felt abandoned by a system that values its own interests above all else would hear John the Baptist telling the followers of God to think first not about themselves, not about their pocketbooks, not about their profit margins and brokerage accounts, not about their reputations in the community, but to think first about the last, the least, the lost, and the dying? What constitutes good news may just dep...

Crying out in the Wilderness (Luke 3:1-6)

If it feels like we already live in the lush lap of paradise, then maybe we aren’t properly situated to entertain the voice of liberation. But if we’re in a hard land where things are fractured and flimsy, if we roam through forsaken country where the streams have dried up and the flowers have wilted in the blazing heat, if we find ourselves in a realm where dust fills our nostrils and tears leave tracks on our dirt-brown, weathered faces, then a voice crying out in the wilderness is music...

Breaking Through the Numbness (Luke 21:25-36)

Apocalyptic is dismissed with a patronizing wave by the well-situated as fine for rubes and dullards. Sophisticated people, however, don’t pay much attention to the end-of-the-world talk. But, I would like to suggest to you that the tendency to shrug off apocalypticism is a sign that we’ve grown too used to the way things are—which is to say, too used to a world that seems designed with people like us in mind. A world where one group enjoys a life of relative ease, while others do not is n...

The Question Isn't "Where?" but "What?" (John 18:33-37)

It’s possible to live in fear, and to fail to live lives recognizable to Jesus—the one who embraced his fear, who—when presented with the opportunity to let love show the way—was never shy about walking down the dark alleys where fear lives and appears to make all the rules. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Guest Preacher: Ellen Sherby

Guest Preacher: Loren Powell