Westminster Presbyterian Church, Alexandria VA
572 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsSermons and educational audio from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, VA.
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Episodes
Why Give?
November 03, 2019 21:39 - 20 minutes - 4.8 MBGiving to the church can be more than a pragmatic decision to support the church’s work. It can be part of a challenged, inspired, aspirational heart. Our giving reflects the center of our being…our hearts. Rev. Dr. Larry Hayward preaches on the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture lesson is Proverbs 3:1-12, and is read by Rev. Patrick Hunnicutt.
Be Humble
October 27, 2019 20:58 - 18 minutes - 4.34 MB"One of the great gifts of being on the staff at Westminster is that several Sundays - twice on a Sunday - I get to hear about the importance of using Pulitzer Prize-winning authors in your sermon. So I will follow suit when I make an allusion to Kendrick Lamar." Rev. Whitney Fauntleroy preaches on the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture lesson is Luke 18:9-14, and is read by Rev. Larry Hayward.
In the Bubble: Interfaith Conflict and Dialogue (Part 1) [Common Threads]
October 27, 2019 20:43 - 55 minutes - 15.9 MBA common criticism of today’s society is that we live in our own particular bubbles and often fail to understand those who have very different beliefs and aspirations than our own. This 3 week interactive course with WPC member Dr. Jim Muyskens is designed to provide us a better understanding of other major religious traditions as we compare & contrast the basic tenets of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism with those of Christianity. The hope is we’ll gain greater understanding of ...
In the Bubble: Interfaith Conflict and Dialogue [Common Threads]
October 27, 2019 20:43 - 55 minutes - 15.9 MBA common criticism of today’s society is that we live in our own particular bubbles and often fail to understand those who have very different beliefs and aspirations than our own. This 3 week interactive course with WPC member Dr. Jim Muyskens is designed to provide us a better understanding of other major religious traditions as we compare & contrast the basic tenets of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism with those of Christianity. The hope is we’ll gain greater understanding of ...
The Bible and Family
October 13, 2019 16:06 - 58 minutes - 16.4 MBWhat can we learn from the Old and New Testaments about some of the issues and structures that vex us today? Pastor Larry Hayward will lead us to take a look at government/politics, class differences, legal traditions, the military and the family and challenge us to think about these structures through the lens of the Old and New Testaments. Week Four: Family.
Why Organized Religion?
October 13, 2019 15:48 - 19 minutes - 4.58 MBBecause our faith exists within the world, we join with others and become a community, an organization, an institution within the world. We are more than a collection of individuals who seek interaction with God on a personal level; we are a people, a community, organized to worship, serve, learn and grow together. We are an organization. We are an institution – what Peter calls “a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” Rev. D.r Larry Hayward preaches on the twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Ti...
Why Ask Why?
October 06, 2019 19:42 - 20 minutes - 4.79 MBRev. Patrick Hunnicutt preaches on the twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture lesson is Luke 17:5-10, and is read by Rev. Jacob Bolton.
The Bible and Legal Traditions [Common Threads]
October 06, 2019 15:31 - 1 hour - 17.8 MBWhat can we learn from the Old and New Testaments about some of the issues and structures that vex us today? Pastor Larry Hayward will lead us to take a look at government/politics, class differences, legal traditions, the military and the family and challenge us to think about these structures through the lens of the Old and New Testaments. Week Three: Legal Traditions.
The Bible and Class [Common Threads]
September 29, 2019 18:47 - 59 minutes - 16.8 MBWhat can we learn from the Old and New Testaments about some of the issues and structures that vex us today? Pastor Larry Hayward will lead us to take a look at government/politics, class differences, legal traditions, the military and the family and challenge us to think about these structures through the lens of the Old and New Testaments. Week Two: Class.
The Bible and Government [Common Threads]
September 22, 2019 17:44 - 58 minutes - 13.3 MBWhat can we learn from the Old and New Testaments about some of the issues and structures that vex us today? Pastor Larry Hayward will lead us to take a look at government/politics, class differences, legal traditions, the military and the family and challenge us to think about these structures through the lens of the Old and New Testaments. Week One: Government.
Why Mission?
September 22, 2019 17:34 - 22 minutes - 5.18 MBI want to ask today why a local church would engage in ministries that seek to improve or change society as a whole or ministries that focus on people who lie beyond the congregation’s membership: people who have spiritual or physical needs, people who may live anywhere in the world, and people who may or may not profess Christian faith. In other words, why does the church give time and attention to people beyond its members? Rev. Dr. Larry Hayward preaches on the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Or...
Why Learn?
September 15, 2019 21:02 - 22 minutes - 5.37 MBOur primary forebear, John Calvin, opened his massive theological treatise on what Protestants believe – Institutes of the Christian Religion – with these words: “Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God;” followed by, “Without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self.” When we learn of the world through all its systems of knowledge, we learn of self and we learn of God; when we learn of God, through liturgy, music, preaching, and teaching, we learn of God and we learn o...
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Insider's Perspective [Common Threads]
September 08, 2019 20:24 - 1 hour - 17.1 MBA conversation with an award-winning Israeli journalist about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the potential for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Amir Tibon, the Washington correspondent for Haaretz newspaper, Israel’s paper of record, will speak about his work covering the conflict on the ground, and what he has learned about America’s role in the conflict here in Washington. Why has this conflict been so difficult to resolve? How is the United States affecting the situation? An...
Why Worship?
September 08, 2019 19:48 - 24 minutes - 5.67 MBIt struck me that as we kick off our program year this fall, I want to build on sermons I preached last fall – which could be labelled “The Restatement of the Obvious.” I hope that while I will be “restating the obvious,” I will restate it in ways that remind us who we are and why we are here in this congregation of God’s people. I want to begin with “Why Worship?” Why attend church, Sunday morning, nearly every week? Why sing hymns, listen to anthems, speak to God to confess our sins, refle...
When We Disagree
September 01, 2019 15:45 - 22 minutes - 6.91 MBWe have been focused on the Book of Acts this summer, in which its author Luke traces events and developments in the earliest decades of the church, first under the leadership of Peter, then of Paul. These early Christians and their leaders take the hope and idealism that came out of the resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit they had received at Pentecost and lead the Christian movement from its roots in Judaism and Jerusalem into the Greco-Roman world culturally, religiously, geograph...
The Sons of Sceva Scurry
August 25, 2019 18:14 - 23 minutes - 7.07 MBIn presenting the story of seven sons of Sceva scurrying from an evil spirit, Luke helps us approach the power of evil with some welcome but dark humor. It is neither Paul, nor the Word of God, nor the Holy Spirit that drives out evil. In this story, it is evil defeating evil that allows the good to prevail. Rev. Dr. Larry Hayward preaches on the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture lesson is Acts 19:11-20.
Your Time Has Come
August 18, 2019 19:15 - 20 minutes - 5.78 MBThe Rev. Jacob Bolton preaches on the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, as the candidate for Associate Pastor for Christian Formation. He will join the staff of Westminster in early October. The Scripture lesson is John 2:1-11.
Innumerable Grains of Sand
August 11, 2019 19:18 - 15 minutes - 3.61 MBRev. Whitney K. Fauntleroy preaches on the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture lesson is selected verses from Hebrews 11.
The Relentless Return
August 04, 2019 14:48 - 12 minutes - 3.09 MBIn what may seem like the crevices of our scripture, we find a painstakingly beautiful reminder of God's love for us. Hosea shows us a God who has inner turmoil about whether God should exercise wrath or grace on their creation. We are reminded to what ends God will go to call us home, and of the lavish manner in which God chooses to love us. Rev. Whitney Fauntleroy preaches on the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The scripture lesson is Hosea 11:1-11, and is read by Rev. Patrick Hunnicutt.
Freedom Bound
July 28, 2019 18:18 - 22 minutes - 5.26 MBToday we discover a gift for us, through the rather uncompromising stance of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church he helped found in Galatia. That gift is freedom. We will probe what it means to be free in Christ and to see how this freedom binds us in the direction of love for others and for God. Rev. Patrick Hunnicutt preaches on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture lesson is is Galatians 5:1-6, 13-14.
When Compromise Enhances
July 21, 2019 15:11 - 23 minutes - 6.99 MBAs many words formerly considered off limits in our culture have gained general acceptance or at least have lost their ability to shock, another word which once enjoyed a respectable reputation has become a word of off-limits: compromise. A compromise is something that we promise together, as representatives of two or more groups who have been in discussion, dissension, disagreement, debate and yet have managed to come to some form of resolution and to a promise into which each is willing to ...
What We Talk About When We Talk About Faith
July 14, 2019 16:26 - 18 minutes - 5.83 MBOne of the best known short stories of Raymond Carver is entitled “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” What I propose is that “what we talk about when we talk about faith” sometimes needs to be “how can we talk about faith” at all because we so rarely do; and when we do, no matter how many sermons we have heard, no matter how many hymns we have sung, no matter how many classes in Old and New Testament we have taken, we don’t really know how to talk about our faith. We are not even ...
When Christians Hold Power
July 07, 2019 19:56 - 21 minutes - 6.64 MBIn today’s sermon, three days after we have celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence and hence the birth of our nation 233 years ago, around the idea – the idea, not race or soil – that all people are created equal, I want us to look at one scene in in which early Christians –in this case Paul and Barnabas – come into contact with a person who holds considerable political power in the Roman hierarchy of rulers. Looking at this story, I want us to consider what can happen whe...
When God Isn't Finished
June 30, 2019 19:46 - 20 minutes - 6.39 MBWe are in the midst of a sermon series on the Book of Acts, a book which recounts in dramatic fashion the story of the early Christians who – armed with the good news of the resurrection and commissioned by Christ at his ascension to carry that good news to all people and nations – are about the business of taking the spiritual force, the humanitarian idealism, the promise of ultimate redemption found in Jesus and translating it into the world of facts and fancies, kings and empires, families...
When Change Is Rooted in Continuity
June 23, 2019 15:52 - 21 minutes - 6.53 MBWe often assume that major times we experience the presence of God or make a deeper commitment to our faith involve a break with the past, more change than continuity. But while the direction of Paul’s life – and the focus of his deeply held service to God – takes a 180 degree turn on the road to Damascus, it is rooted in the faith and life, the language and literature, the vocabulary and vernacular that had shaped and formed him in his upbringing in Judaism. Rev. Larry R. Hayward preaches o...
Reflections on Mom: In Life and Death
June 16, 2019 16:40 - 31 minutes - 7.26 MB"I want to preach today on the recent death of my own mother, Carolyn Hayward, 22 days ago in her 87th year. Now I do so aware that such a sermon is fraught with potential pitfalls, not the least of which is that it can become more about the preacher than the good news to which the preacher is called to bear witness. I seek to walk through this sermon in the midst of you whom I love, and whose love I have received since I first stood in this pulpit 15 years ago." Rev. Larry Hayward preaches ...
Pentecost
June 09, 2019 18:00 - 9 minutes - 2.23 MBIt is Pentecost. While this morning you will not hear about the tongues of fire and the chaotic cacophony of that first Pentecost, rest assured that the Spirit moves. Whitney Fauntleroy preaches on Pentecost Sunday. The Scripture lesson is Romans 8:14-17.
This Passage is No Picnic
June 02, 2019 20:40 - 25 minutes - 5.86 MBWelcome to this "Picnic Sunday," the closest that Westminster gets to "casual Friday." But in the midst of all the woundedness in the world, how DO we have a picnic? Perhaps the ultimate point to be made in all of this is: in light of such loss and hardship that is out there and also with us here, you do not cancel the picnics. Jesus, after all, in the face of his people's despair, began his ministry at a wedding. Patrick Hunnicutt preaches on the Seventh Sunday of Easter. The Scripture les...
Emergence, See?
May 26, 2019 20:11 - 21 minutes - 4.97 MBGamaliel was a Pharisee: one of the foils of the gospel, the misguided bad guys who always got it wrong because they insisted on others getting it right. But in Acts, Gamaliel stands out as a person worthy of respect, and full of wisdom. Patrick Hunnicutt preaches on Acts 5:27-40.
Who Am I That I Could Hinder God?
May 19, 2019 15:49 - 15 minutes - 3.68 MBThe history of the church that chooses to divide and conquer with our privileges and preferences is long--it is indeed very long. This "us and them" mentality is seemingly so innate to our faith, we don't pause like Peter enough to ask, "Who am I that I should hinder God?" Whitney Fauntleroy preaches on the Fifth Sunday of Easter and Confirmation Sunday. The Scripture lesson is Acts 11:1-18.
Through Trauma Towards Praise (Part 2) [Embracing Transformation]
May 12, 2019 15:40 - 1 hour - 14.5 MBTrauma lies at the heart of the Old Testament, and its many books offer a range of models for embracing potentially traumatic transformations. Two quite divergent models can be found in the book of Psalms and Job. The Psalter builds a temple in space and in time that envelopes and moves through trauma toward praise. The book of Job places trauma at the beginning and moves simultaneously into the dark reality defined by trauma and out of that darkness into a world after trauma, at once more fr...
The Shepherd
May 12, 2019 15:08 - 19 minutes - 4.63 MBThroughout the literature of the Bible, there is a link between the power of the voice and the omnipresent image of Shepherd. As a preacher, anytime I speak of “hearing the voice of God” or “Christ speaking to us” I know that a number of people will assume and hope that I am speaking symbolically; a number will look down at their bulletins in awkward silence; and a number will say to themselves “God has spoken to me, but if I say anything about it, people might avoid me.” Wherever you fall a...
Through Trauma Towards Praise (Part 1) [Embracing Transformation]
May 05, 2019 16:51 - 1 hour - 14.6 MBTrauma lies at the heart of the Old Testament, and its many books offer a range of models for embracing potentially traumatic transformations. Two quite divergent models can be found in the book of Psalms and Job. The Psalter builds a temple in space and in time that envelopes and moves through trauma toward praise. The book of Job places trauma at the beginning and moves simultaneously into the dark reality defined by trauma and out of that darkness into a world after trauma, at once more fr...
Now That I Can Dance
May 05, 2019 15:11 - 19 minutes - 4.41 MBThree times, Jesus asks Simon Peter, "do you love me?" And three times, Peter answers correctly. But like the church that Peter would come to represent, Peter did not always do so well with questions--especially when his own life was in jeopardy. Patrick Hunnicutt preaches from John 21:15-19.
The Story We Don't Tell Enough
April 28, 2019 15:53 - 24 minutes - 5.55 MBThere is an aspect of the resurrection of Christ that we don’t talk about often, an aspect that is part of a larger story we don’t tell enough. This aspect is the redemption not just of our own lives as individuals, but the redemption of the whole of the created order. Just as there is a “life to come” for individuals, so also there is a “life to come” for all of creation. Larry Hayward preaches from Revelation 1:4-8.
The Empty Tomb
April 21, 2019 18:46 - 22 minutes - 5.15 MBPerhaps the most important words the men in dazzling clothes speak to the women may not be, ironically, “He is risen.” Rather, the most important words may be “Remember…remember how he told you.” The reason these words are so important is that they are instructive. They chart the way the women come to trust the message that Christ is risen – and as such they form a way we can come to such trust as well. Larry Hayward preaches on Easter Sunday from Luke 24:1-12.
Sermons in Stones
April 14, 2019 16:23 - 22 minutes - 5.22 MBIt is a regret of my life, perhaps not beyond repair, that I have not read more of Shakespeare. When I first started preaching, I encountered a phrase from Shakespeare’s As You Like It that has stayed with me for obvious vocational reasons: And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. It is the “sermons in stones” that I remember. Larry Hayward preaches from Luke 19:28-40.
Construing the Cross: The Serpent
April 07, 2019 17:46 - 17 minutes - 3.96 MBFrom the story of Creation to Jesus’s calling the Pharisees a “brood of vipers,” the serpent in the Bible is not the most inviting of creatures. Yet their rep is not always disreputable—in various cultures and religions, serpents are symbols for fertility and rebirth, guardianship of temples and sacred places, and medicinal healing. As in history and mythology, the association of serpents with the cross is a mixed bag. Larry Hayward preaches from Numbers 21:5-9 and John 3:11-15.
Construing the Cross: The Tree
March 31, 2019 19:49 - 22 minutes - 5.09 MBWe come now to sermon four of five in a Lenten series entitled “Construing the Cross.” Through these sermons we are looking at different but complementary ways the Christian faith interprets the death of Christ on the cross: sacrifice, scapegoating, deliverance, tree and serpent. All these ways I hope prepare us to celebrate even more hopefully that day on which we will sing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” Larry Hayward preaches from Genesis 2:8-9, 15-17; Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Revelat...
Why Be A Christian? (Part 4) [Embracing Transformation]
March 31, 2019 17:28 - 51 minutes - 11.7 MBWhat does it mean to “follow Jesus,” to “practice” Christian faith in an increasingly post-Christian culture? What makes us uneasy about claiming Christian faith in the current climate? Is there a difference between being a good Christian and just trying to be a good person? Does being a Christian mean we have to reject other religions? This 5-week Lenten series explores these and other questions as a way of helping us name in new ways our sense of Christian identity in contemporary cultur...
Construing the Cross: Deliverance
March 24, 2019 14:17 - 22 minutes - 5.06 MBThis series looks at different but complimentary ways our faith seeks to interpret the death of Jesus Christ: as sacrifice, as scapegoating, as deliverance, as tree, and as serpent. Today the association we explore is that of the cross as deliverance. God moves through history bringing freedom. God moves through humanity bringing salvation. These gifts are part of the larger movement of God’s redemption of all of creation – found within and jumping out at us from the pages of Genesis through ...
Why Be A Christian? (Part 2) [Embracing Transformation]
March 17, 2019 14:30 - 45 minutes - 10.4 MBWhat does it mean to “follow Jesus,” to “practice” Christian faith in an increasingly post-Christian culture? What makes us uneasy about claiming Christian faith in the current climate? Is there a difference between being a good Christian and just trying to be a good person? Does being a Christian mean we have to reject other religions? This 5-week Lenten series explores these and other questions as a way of helping us name in new ways our sense of Christian identity in contemporary cultur...
Construing the Cross: Scapegoat
March 17, 2019 14:09 - 19 minutes - 4.52 MBIn this series we explore differing but complementary understandings of the death of Jesus Christ: sacrifice, scapegoat, deliverance, tree and serpent. Today’s sermon explores the association of the death of Christ with the ancient practice of sending a scapegoat into the wilderness and the common phrase that ritual has bequeathed to our language. Larry Hayward preaches from Leviticus 16:7-10, 20-22 (KJV) and John 11:45-53.
Construing the Cross: Sacrifice
March 10, 2019 18:13 - 20 minutes - 4.65 MBIn Christian tradition, we say as a matter of course that the death of Christ involves sacrifice: Christ sacrificing his life or his being sacrificed for us. Today we look at sacrifice as related to the cycle of life and death in nature: as in the cycle of all living things, Jesus's death bears fruit that changes the human heart and overcomes the power of sin and evil in the world. Larry Hayward preaches from John 12:20-26 in the first of a five-part Lenten series.
Why Be A Christian? (Part 1) [Embracing Transformation]
March 10, 2019 14:42 - 54 minutes - 12.5 MBWhat does it mean to “follow Jesus,” to “practice” Christian faith in an increasingly post-Christian culture? What makes us uneasy about claiming Christian faith in the current climate? Is there a difference between being a good Christian and just trying to be a good person? Does being a Christian mean we have to reject other religions? This 5-week Lenten series explores these and other questions as a way of helping us name in new ways our sense of Christian identity in contemporary cultur...
What History and Literature Reveal about American Nationalism [Embracing Transformation]
March 03, 2019 15:56 - 1 hour - 15.3 MBBetween 1820 and 1850, the U.S. contended with a set of urgent problems: how to reconcile the ideal of liberty with the reality of racial slavery; how to square Christian belief with the removal of Native tribes from homelands coveted by white people; how to interpret the principle of “equality” vis a vis women, free people of color, and Catholic immigrants; how to invent a national identity and a robust nationalism in the face of conflict, demographic diversity, and geographical immensity. U...
Love Your Enemies?
February 24, 2019 21:03 - 21 minutes - 4.84 MB"Love your enemies is not the only teaching of Jesus Christ that leads me to question the seriousness, if not the reach, of my faith. Then when Jesus adds, 'do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" - my doubts remain. Larry Hayward preaches from Luke, Proverbs, and Romans.
Above and Be Woe
February 17, 2019 17:21 - 20 minutes - 4.81 MBPatrick Hunnicutt preaches on Luke 6:20-26.
Glory Days
February 10, 2019 17:29 - 16 minutes - 3.72 MB"In the year King Uzziah died." For all their tumultuous history, Israel lived in relative stability during the reign of Uzziah. When he left the throne, it ushered in a time of instability--Isaiah's career as a prophet will largely take place under Syrian occupation. Was it the finality of death and the inevitable reminiscing that comes with shock and mourning that made Isaiah recall "the good old days"? Rev. Whitney Fauntleroy preaches on Isaiah 6:1-8. The Scripture is read by Nico Gutie...
Raising a Child in Today's World (Part 2) [Embracing Transformation]
February 10, 2019 15:24 - 52 minutes - 11.9 MBA three-part series with Dr. Diana Bermudez, a psychotherapist specializing in early childhood who helps young children, parents, educators and administrators to enhance emotional health and decrease challenging behaviors. In this session, Dr. Bermudez discusses the transformation of parenting from the traditional generic/authoritative style to a more responsive/nurturing style.