Douglass Church - Douglass Blvd Christian Church
289 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsEvery Sunday @ 11am in Louisville, KY, Rev. Derek Penwell broadens our minds with his sermons. Now, thanks to the interwebs, we can share them with you.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Where God Is (Revelation 21:1-7)
October 31, 2021 16:15 - 30 MBOur passage this morning about the new Jerusalem doesn’t say that God’s home is among mortals … except for, you know, the Muslims, or the atheists, or the Republicans (or Democrats, depending on your politics). God doesn’t say, 'This place would be just perfect if we could get rid of the people who live on the other side of town, if we could just check papers for the undocumented, or the hoodlums, or St. Louis Cardinals fans (😉).' God says, 'Ok, so it’s a fixer-upper. I’ll take it. I’m goin...
What Do You Want Me to Do for You? (Mark 10:46-52)
October 24, 2021 15:51 - 33.3 MBSo when Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” I’m pretty sure I know how to respond. “This or that,” I think, is what will enable me better to follow Jesus “on the way.” A little tuck here, a pinch off there, and I’ll be good as new. I don’t need much. Already in pretty good shape. But what if Jesus’ vision of what I need is different? What if Jesus sees a completely different road from the one I’ve been trained to expect? What if following Jesus is being given eyes to see that ...
The Taste of True Glory (Mark 10:25-45)
October 17, 2021 15:52 - 32.6 MBWhat the disciples demonstrate they don’t understand about Jesus’ mission has less to do with whether or not it will come true, but what it might mean if it does come true. What do I mean? Simply this: the disciples ask to have important positions alongside the new messiah, to be included in all the grand happenings after Jesus comes into his glory. They assume they know exactly what that glory will look like. That they don’t grasp Jesus is going to be killed as a common criminal demonstr...
On the Way to What? (Mark 10:17-31)
October 10, 2021 15:47 - 32 MBIn the young man’s search to inherit eternal life, Jesus shows him that he needs the poor just as much as they need him. So, when the young man walks away dejected, it’s not only because he can’t bear to part with his stuff. Part of what drives him away is the thought of letting go of a system in which he has few needs, in favor of a system in which the powerless are on equal footing, a system in which the rich looking to inherit eternal life need the poor ... as much as the poor looking fo...
A World for People Different from Me (Mark 10:2-16)
October 03, 2021 15:56 - 31.4 MBJesus argues that God set down the law as a way of establishing a community whose primary purpose is to protect those who are often too defenseless to stand against the way the world is ordered. In other words, Jesus offers a vision of God’s reign that turns the taken-for-grantedness of those who are privileged on its head, and stands beside those who are too easily trampled by folks at the top of the food chain. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc
It Takes Practice (James 5:13-20)
September 19, 2021 15:53 - 32 MBAccording to James, we’re not called to believe the right things, say the right things, or have the right bumper stickers on our cars. According to James, our job is live like Jesus asked us to live. Simple. Do the things Jesus did and people will see Jesus standing right in front of them. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, bind up the broken-hearted, give voice to those who have no voice, sing with those who sing, mourn with those who mourn, heal the sick, pray and cry...
Helping in Bearing Our Crosses (Mark 8:27-38)
September 12, 2021 15:58 - 33.5 MBJesus isn’t talking about some subjective experience, some inconvenience, like being near-sighted or having an uncle whose an overbearing loudmouth nobody wants to sit next to at Thanksgiving dinner. The cross is something we decide to bear, something we take up, not some physical infirmity, our aches and pains. This is a voluntary thing, not something thrust upon us by genetics or lack of aptitude or just sheer bad luck—things over which we have no control. The crosses we bear, like Jesus...
Just A Crumb (Mark 7:24-37)
September 05, 2021 16:11 - 33.6 MBI believe this Syrophoenician woman challenges us to encounter newness and change not as a threat, but as God trying to break in among us and stretch our understanding of how big this welcome is we’re supposed to be giving, how expansive is the vision of just who God wants to offer hospitality to. So, here’s what I think: We ought to be asking ourselves what kind of gifts God is sending us in people courageous enough to seek us out to see if there’s anything to this “Jesus thing.” Because ...
Getting It Right on the Inside (Mark 7:1-7, 14-15, 21-23)
August 29, 2021 16:11 - 34.6 MBBut Jesus knows the dangers of sounding righteous and pure, while you’re secretly wallowing in cruelty and exclusion—of saying one thing in the breathy tones of piety or patriotism, while simultaneously doing what you need to in order to retain power and influence. In other words, you better get it right on the inside first … because the inside is where God is, and the inside is where God is calling you to throw open the doors and invite everyone, to embrace those who are different from you...
There Was No One (Ephesians 6:10-20)
August 22, 2021 16:16 - 35.3 MBIn other words, according to Isaiah, there was a time when God alone was seeking justice for the weak and the powerless. The author of Ephesians says that the community of the faithful, because of the example of Jesus, needs to take its place alongside God, to put on the same armor God put on all those years before in Israel—not so that we can fight our individual demons, but so that justice will no longer stand at a distance and truth will no longer stumble in the public square. Paul says...
Actual Bread (John 6:1-21)
July 25, 2021 17:01 - 35.8 MBIn the ancient Near East, the small number of the rich and the powerful, the rulers and their retainers benefitted from a political and economic system where a few lived well, while the rest of the population had to scratch out a living by the skin of their knees and fingertips. That is to say, the folks in charge had a vested interest in promoting the belief that religion is about holiness and spirituality, and should, at all costs, avoid such messy things as economics and politics—because...
You Give Them Something to Eat (Mark 6:30-44)
July 18, 2021 16:15 - 36.9 MBIn the new reign over which Jesus presides, the sick are healed, the hungry are fed, the outcast are welcomed, the forgotten are remembered, and sinners are forgiven—for the simple reason that that’s what God wants. That’s the way God is. Perhaps it doesn’t make good business sense to go to all that trouble for people who can’t offer you anything in return, but that’s God’s idea of a good time ... lavish, extravagant, unthinkable. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc
How Will They Know? (John 13:31-35)
July 11, 2021 16:25 - 35.1 MB"I’ve seen people kicked off food stamps by Christian politicians who announce their 'love' with words like 'personal responsibility' and 'incentivizing the poor.' "I’ve seen people who claim to follow Jesus 'love' immigrants by putting their children in cages. "I’ve seen homeless LGBTQ kids who’ve been 'loved' out into the street by families with Jesus dripping from their lips. "Love, at least the way it gets enacted in our world, appears to be a much more malleable concept than we like...
When Church Gets Interesting (Mark 6:1-13)
July 04, 2021 16:18 - 33.8 MBBut maybe what Mark intends for his readers to understand is that, no matter how you slice it, this following Jesus stuff is really inconvenient. If you’re true to the gospel, then not everybody’s going to like what you have to say. Perhaps the point is in trying to negotiate the troubled middle ... between making Jesus so innocuous that he starts looking like the inoffensive neighbor on a Nickelodeon sitcom and identifying with him so closely that you start being insufferable in the way th...
The Other Side (Mark 4:35-41)
June 29, 2021 15:03 - 37.5 MBBut for those people who’ve regularly found themselves oppressed and marginalized, for those whose history always seems to get erased when it challenges the systems that keep some people in power, the mega-storm of the reign of God must feel like the very breath of God. It feels like a peace that that finally establishes justice and equity for all God’s children, especially those who’ve spent their lives living on the other side—in the dark unforgiving environs that all the polite people ha...
Walking the Margins (Mark 5:21-43)
June 29, 2021 14:58 - 40.4 MBWhat I find interesting about these two intertwined stories is the issue of how short-sighted they make Jesus appear on the front end. In both cases, Jesus participates in activity guaranteed to marginalize him in everyone’s eyes. In both cases, he risks the social and political costs of being unclean by touching those who are unclean. A true test of your convictions is what you’re prepared to look like a complete idiot for—what you’re willing to lose everything for. Subscribe to us on iTu...
The Kingdom of God Isn't Always Good News (Mark 4:26-34)
June 13, 2021 16:31 - 34.6 MBWhen we say “reign of God” in church, it sounds like good news. But to Caesar, to the powerful, to the people who always come out smelling like roses, to the people who benefit from a nice, orderly system that they alone control and benefit from—it doesn’t sound like good news at all. It sounds like the end of everything that has consistently given them advantages that most people will never enjoy. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: [ web][1] | [ doc][2] [1]: [2]: https://drive.goo...
When Your Faith Makes People Nervous (Mark 3:20-35)
June 06, 2021 16:48 - 35.2 MB"For too many people in our culture, being Christian means obsessing about what average people do with their genitals, while ignoring what wealthy people do with their checkbooks. "It means embracing people who say 'Merry Christmas,' while ignoring babies born into squalor and poverty. "Christianity, for too many people today, means 'saving souls for Jesus,' while often despising those same souls until they have the decency and good sense to become more like you." Subscribe to us on iTun...
No Cheap Grace (Isaiah 6:1-13)
May 30, 2021 16:24 - 39.2 MBWe live in a world where the deck has been historically and consistently stacked against those who haven’t had the power to protect themselves and their children. Racism, huge disparities in wealth and opportunity, xenophobia, misogyny, vast repositories of prejudice against LGBTQ people and the disabled. These are wrongs that can’t be fixed with well-intentioned expressions of regret. Sometimes, when things are bad enough, historically entrenched enough, systems need to be dismantled and r...
A New Unsettling Force (Acts 2:1-21)
May 23, 2021 16:28 - 31.8 MBThe temptation is to believe that if you’re doing the right thing for all the right reasons that you should win everyone’s approval. How can anybody be mad at you? You’re just trying to do the right thing? But that’s not how it works. Sometimes doing the right thing can get you fired. Ask Jesus, sometimes doing the right thing can get you killed. I want to say to folks who claim that Jesus makes everything better: 'Have you ever actually met this Jesus? I don’t know about you, but every ti...
Re-drawing the Circle (Acts 8:26-40)
May 02, 2021 16:06 - 30.3 MBThe circle of the beloved community isn’t wide enough until the poor and the powerless get to sit at the same table with the rich and the powerful. It isn’t wide enough until that corner of the lunch room where they sit has been moved to the center, and the kids who’ve never had a voice get to sing like angels.
True Healing (Acts 4:1-12)
April 25, 2021 16:14 - 33.3 MBA new power has been unleashed against the powers and principalities—a new reign of justice and peace, a confrontation of the powers who, at worst, punish those who are broken and cast off, and at best, ignores them. And all it takes are a few ordinary people willing to stand up by the power and name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to the rulers of this world and offer true healing. A few words can make a lot of noise. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: [ web][1] | [ doc][2] [1]: [2]: ...
The Three Saddest Words (Luke 24:13-35)
April 18, 2021 16:06 - 33.3 MBEaster is God's unwillingness to abide a future defined by loss and grief. Easter opens up a new horizon where oppression and exploitation no longer rule, where the machinery of the state no longer serves only the powerful and the wealthy, where hope is no longer mindless dreaming but the promise of a new world built on love and justice. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: [ web][1] | [ doc][2] [1]: [2]: https://drive.google.com/file/d/172c6wARb5pMvjq0eHFORQkxLCzKqDktc/view?usp=sha...
What Happens When You Let the Holy Spirit Loose? (John 20:19-23)
April 11, 2021 16:20 - 33.3 MBIn other words, when structures and organizations, when systems and laws, when policies and procedures are put in place to make sure the people in power stay in power while simultaneously making sure that the people who are 'supposed' to stay on the outside stay on the outside, the Holy Spirit shows up and starts making trouble. Every time. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: [ web][1] | [ doc][2] [1]: [2]: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aLd4zXtmFfCyfaxMlpb42YiPf6huo5OP/view?usp=...
On This Mountain (Isaiah 25:6-8)
April 04, 2021 16:19 - 33.3 MBIsaiah also seems to think there’s more to see. We’ve lived with a vision of reality that includes the clutching, grasping, irresistible pursuit of Death—not only the death of the body, but the threat of death that makes us hate and fight and fear. But Isaiah sees more. Isaiah sees a world where God reigns on a holy mountain. And on this mountain Death no longer calls the shots. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: [ web][1] | [ doc][2] [1]: [2]: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JTz...
A Contrast Between Two Parades (Mark 11:1-11)
March 28, 2021 16:09 - 30.2 MBPilate represents a king who rules the masses through fear and intimidation, a king who’s quick to unleash violence upon those who might question his reign. Surrounded by the engines of war, this king demonstrates his weak hold on power, knowing that if he lets down his guard for even a moment, if he lets any slight go unanswered, the oppressed will rise up against. But Jesus, he’s a ruler 'who will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem.' Jesus, riding on the ba...
The Weight of Glory (John 12:20-38)
March 21, 2021 15:56 - 42.6 MBThere’s no room in the economy of God for self-promoters and glory hounds. It's easy to think that it's all about me, about what's in it for you-know-who. So when I come looking for Jesus, what I see still surprises me. In Jesus, the powers and principalities behold God’s countering of this world’s glory with glory of God’s own. Because God doesn't always see glory in the things that we we value, in the people we hold up as 'winners.' Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: [ web][1] | ...
Surely, Jesus Didn't Mean Everyone? (John 3:14-21)
March 14, 2021 15:59 - 42.6 MBThe good news of the gospel is that Jesus announces that a party’s being thrown in the light, a party the whole world’s invited to—even those people the cool kids are convinced don’t have any business being there. Are you sure he meant the 'whole' world? Surely, Jesus didn’t mean everyone. That seems unnecessarily generous, don’t you think? Yep, the whole world. And no, I don’t think it’s unnecessarily generous. It sounds like good news to me. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: [ w...
Righteous Anger (John 2:13-22)
March 07, 2021 16:59 - 31.1 MBDon’t let anyone fool you. When Jesus went into the temple that day, it was an explicitly political act. It was an ancient Near Eastern version of John Lewis marching across the Edmund Pettis bridge. So, knowing that the people who are the most vulnerable are the ones getting fleeced by the folks in power, maybe the question shouldn’t be 'How can Jesus be angry?' but 'How could he not?' Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: [ web][1] | [ doc][2] [1]: [2]: https://drive.google.com/fil...
Altering the Landscape of Our Expectation (Mark 8:31-38)
February 28, 2021 17:06 - 31.7 MBOnce you start talking about LGBTQ people having the same rights and protections as everyone else, you’ve put yourself in the crosshairs of everyone who likes the world the way it is. Just say what should be obvious to everyone—that Black Lives Matter—and you’ll start experiencing the power of the people who employ crosses as a threat. Speak up and tell the world that children ought to be free to go to school without the fear of some aggrieved loner with an AR-15 busting in, or that housele...
Out in the Wilderness with the Wild Beasts (Mark 1:9-15)
February 28, 2021 16:57 - 32.6 MBWhen Jesus meets us out in the wilderness, he doesn’t magically cure all the violence, doesn’t stopper the mouths of the wild beasts who reside there. Instead, he provides healing … which is a different frame, one that offers hope where before there was only the inevitability of fear and death. Healing gives us enough space to consider new possibilities, to truly see those with whom we were formerly at war as themselves children of the God who breaks in on all of us. God ripped open the he...
Why Can't We Just Stay Here? (Mark 9:2-9)
February 14, 2021 16:58 - 32.5 MBWhy does he leave—when it’s safer to just camp out here? Jesus goes down the mountain into the valley of the shadow of Lent, because that’s where his presence is needed most. That’s where the last, the least, and the lost scramble to survive. Down there. I suspect he goes down there because he’s heard the voices of people terrified at the thought of what the future holds. Jesus heads down there because that’s where the action is, where the tempest toss’d live in fear of the night. Down t...
When Sickness Is about More Than Being Sick (Mark 1:29-39)
February 07, 2021 17:00 - 30.5 MBIf we take the first two stories of Jesus’ ministry in Mark seriously, we’re left to conclude that Jesus understands the right thing to be the restoration to full participation in the community to those who’ve been cut off, left on the sidelines, forced to press their noses against the stain glass windows to try to get a glimpse inside. He offers not just a cure, but what people really need: true healing. Because here’s the thing for those who follow Jesus: there are too many people who’ve...
How Do We Know a Prophet? (Deuteronomy 18:15-22)
January 31, 2021 16:53 - 29.5 MBThere are all kinds of people who would love to hear about a God who raises an arm against injustice, who will not tolerate bigotry, who refuses to sit by while the work of the laborers is monetized in ways that only benefit the people in charge, who are desperate for a word from a God who is incensed with a world in which Black parents lie awake at night in fear of what might happen to their children on the way home from school or their families on the way home from the grocery store. If...
Call Them to What? (Mark 1:14-20)
January 24, 2021 16:58 - 33.4 MBAs Jesus says, these tyrants and oppressors need to repent, because there's a new ruler who is going to go fishing, hooking the jaws of the unjust and the proud, leaving them out in the wilderness for the carrion-eaters to pick apart. The kingdom of God is at hand. So, when Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James, and John to follow him and he will make them fish for people, he's issuing a call to a kind of revolution against the powerful enemies of God who have been grinding them and their famil...
Your Servant Is Listening (1 Samuel 3:1-20)
January 17, 2021 16:58 - 35.6 MBSo, this story of Samuel’s courage is an uncomfortable one. It raises questions: "Where are those places in our world where justice has been cast aside?" "Where is God asking us to tell those in charge that they've failed to do what's right, failed to treat those at the bottom of the pile in a manner pleasing to God?” “Where are we when the cries of millions of grieving and terrified Black people tear the night in two, or tens of thousands of immigrant children torn from the arms of thei...
Tearing Open the Heavens (Mark 1:4-11)
January 10, 2021 17:02 - 33.7 MBMark opens and closes the ministry of Jesus in spectacular fashion. He announces that in Jesus—in his life and work and death—God has come among us. God has torn the veil that formerly separated humanity from the divine. And this tearing is no sweet opening of a door. Open doors can be closed again. In Jesus, God has ripped the door off the hinges! God has transgressed the boundaries that separated us from God. But unlike Wednesday, God’s breaking in isn’t about trying to retain the power...
That's Your Idea of a King? (Matthew 2:1-12)
January 03, 2021 17:00 - 29.3 MBThe world we live in is busy looking for a chief executive who’s not afraid of unleashing power to retain control—even if it undermines everything a country says it stands for or costs the lives of innocents and the dignity of the oppressed—but Matthew gives us a shepherd. But you see, that’s the good news. Because a ruler born in a stable in a nowhere town, surrounded by filth and despair understands how the world is shaped, understands what life looks like from the underside. Subscribe ...
Patient Impatience (Luke 2:22-40)
December 27, 2020 17:05 - 34 MBIndeed, the patience we evince as followers of Jesus is one that harbors in its very DNA a kind of impatience—a refusal to remain detached in the face of wrong, a holy sense that the world as it is isn’t what God had in mind. Though we can’t set everything right by force of will, we refuse to sit on our hands, grumbling about our impotence. Because, you see, it’s not just waiting in traffic jams that challenges our capacity for patience. We read the newspaper, listen to the news, and we se...
Christmas Eve Service (Goes live at 6:00 p.m.!)
December 22, 2020 16:03Our Christmas Eve service this year, like almost everything else, is online. The service will go live at 6:00 p.m. right here, or over on YouTube. We will also release the video on the DBCC Facebook page at 6:00. Tune in and enjoy!
God Among the Dispensable (Luke 1:39-55)
December 20, 2020 17:04 - 32.3 MBThat's the thing about humiliation, it's not just about embarrassment; it's what's left after embarrassment has moved in and made a home. It's the vulnerability so much of the world knows first hand and only too well. Humiliation is trying to figure out how to keep the lights on and pay the rent, let alone buy Christmas presents for the kids when the Senate doesn’t think the plight of the average American is nearly as important as saving corporations from liability in their business decisi...
The Year of the Lord's Favor (Isaiah 61:1-11)
December 13, 2020 17:06 - 22.6 MBThe year of the Lord's favor, when God comes among us and puts things right that have been wrong for so long, delivering the weary and the dispossessed from their oppression, such glad tidings don't come as good news to the folks who have everything to gain by things staying the same. Because God isn't just saying pretty words. God will persist until the scales of justice have been balanced, until those who've lived so long with nothing have enough, until the widow, the orphan, and the stra...
Our Community Partners: JCPS Pod Instruction at DBCC
November 21, 2020 15:47At DBCC, we're fortunate to be able to provide space for a learning pod for students at JCPS. They meet ever day in The Commons and the Adult Sunday School Classroom. Because of your generosity, we're able to make the space available free of charge, so children can continue to learn during this difficult time.
Reaping What You Did Not Sow (Matthew 25:14-30)
November 15, 2020 17:24 - 22.4 MBThe third slave is treated like whistleblowers regularly are when they lay bare the despicable truth: The master in this story, as has so often been the case throughout history, isn't a benevolent employer handing out generous Christmas bonuses; he's a boss who's gotten rich by exploiting the labor of others—and when he's called on it, he lashes out to defend himself. In fact, if the third slave looks like anyone, he looks like Jesus before both the Roman authorities and their collaborator...
Our Community Partners: Feed Louisville
November 12, 2020 15:33During our Stewardship emphasis, we are highlighting our community partners who make the work we do at DBCC possible. This week we are featuring Feed Louisville. Under the direction of Rhona Kamar and Donny Greene, since the pandemic began, Feed Louisville is making and distributing hot meals to the houseless community in Louisville. Based out of our kitchen at DBCC, Feeed Louisville has partnered with 14 area restaurants to serve 500 meals a day to the houseless and food insecure. They've n...
You Had One Job! (Matthew 25:1-13)
November 09, 2020 00:49 - 21.2 MBUnfortunately, over the past four years, our country has been manufacturing more of these people who show up at our door, in our world, asking to be welcomed, asking to be allowed some human dignity, asking for a little peace and justice. So, we have an even bigger job than usual in trying to shape the world we live in to look a little bit more like one Jesus will recognize when he knocks on our door. The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, the imprisoned—Jesus is all around us. O...
Humility Ain't Easy (Matthew 23:1-12)
November 01, 2020 17:06 - 17.8 MBEven so, this is difficult to listen to if what you think Jesus came to do was to inflict niceness on an otherwise testy Near East. Jesus just sounds so … cranky. Couldn’t we get the nice Jesus—the one who loves children and little old ladies? This whole fire-breathing itinerant prophet thing is tough to watch. I mean, this is going to be a difficult story to teach in Vacation Bible School. But why? I think it’s because that kind of honesty makes people uncomfortable, and our culture tel...
Our Community Partners: La Casita Center
October 30, 2020 15:27During our Stewardship emphasis, we are highlighting our community partners who make the work we do at DBCC possible. This week we are featuring Karina Barillas, Executive Director of La Casita Center. Karina and La Casita Center do vital work serving the Latinx population in Louisville. La Casita Center is also one of the partnering agencies involved with Colectivo Esperanza, a consortium of local agencies serving the Latinx community and Douglass Blvd. Christian Church, charged with distri...
That May Be Enough (Deuteronomy 34:1-12)
October 25, 2020 16:13 - 23.3 MBMoses could tell us: only God knows where it all leads, what it finally means. We are the story God writes. God only knows. Whatever we or our lives as preachers, homemakers, executives, factory workers, or second sopranos means is ultimately up to God. We live therefore with the conviction that God really does put us to good purposes, even though we may not see clearly, even though we may not enter the promised land of concrete results and visible fulfillment in our exodus from here to the...
There's No Place Like Home (Jeremiah 24:1, 4-7)
October 18, 2020 15:52 - 18.1 MBIt’s so easy to think that the safest place to be ... would be ... to be ... where we’d been ... where we used to be. It feels so simple to think that if we could just recapture what was here before, we’d be able to handle what was happening now. The message of Jeremiah, however, is that the safest place to be is the place where God has placed us—which is to say, where God has made a place for us. .