Jordan Rimmer Sermons

Leading with Story

God is constantly living a big story and inviting people to play a part in His story. What if the way God leads us is also a model for how we should lead others?

Embody the Story

 

In this sermon I look at the body imagery of the Apostle Paul and think it through in terms of story. We as people embody our stories- we physically move into the stories that we see ourselves in. Marketers know this and invite us into a story with their products as part of the embodiment of our story. How does story give insight into how Paul talks about the faith? How do we learn to embody God's story about us instead of the world's story about us?

 

Living the Story

 

Here I use the story of Nathan and David to look at how our lives our like stories and story can help us grow in our faith. I apologize for the abrupt start to the recording but I did not hit record for the first 2 minutes.

Sabbath as Resistance

 

God said above all the commandments to remember the Sabbath and that the person who does not keep the Sabbath should be removed from the community or even put to death (Ex 31:12-17). Why is Sabbath so important to God? Why don't we practice Sabbath? How do we start a Sabbath habit in our world today? Many of the thoughts of this sermon came from or were inspired by Sabbath as Resistance by Walter Brueggemann.

 

Rethinking Social Justice--Me and We

                  

In this sermon I look at two aspects of our Christian Faith--The Me Gospel or personal salvation and The We Gospel of the kingdom or social justice. These are like two sides of the same coin. When we get too out of balance and emphasize one over the other, then the faith becomes warped to a point that it is no longer Christianity. I am indebted to the book Me and We by my teacher Leonard Sweet which helped me think deeply about this topic.

James : Pray, Praise, Confess (the last James sermon)

This is the conclusion to my series on the book of James. James is giving advice for staying a doer of the word throughout all of life's circumstances. We should lean into God through prayer and praise and into one another through confession and prayer. I also take some time to talk about anointing with oil because after the sermon I anointed those who wanted to with oil and prayer while they came forward for communion.

Of Members and Baptized Babies

 

On April 26 Westminster Church accepted 5 new members and we did an infant baptism.  I took a few minutes to explain membership and baptism and what we believe about them.

James Pt 10: Establish Your Heart

 

In James 5:7-12, James encourages his readers to be patient and establish their hearts because Christ is coming back. But shouldn't Christ's return mean we should be doing more?

James Pt 9: Wealth and Works

 

James has some harsh and bity words to say to the rich in this passage.  But does God think we should all be poor?  Here I compare a few other texts to try to develop a theology of wealth and possessions.  More than that, I make the argument that we should be going through this same process for every area of our lives.

 

Daybreak, Henri Nouwen, and Me

 

I recently took a trip to Toronto, Canada to do research on Henri Nouwen.  Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest who taught at Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Divinity School.  He wrote a number of books about Christian spirituality, leadership, and loss.  He spent the last 10 years of his life living in L'Arche Daybreak.  This is a community of disabled adults and their assistants where I went to stay for a couple of days.  I wanted to understand how Henri's personal story impacted his ministry.  I was surprised to learn a lot more about life, ministry, and myself on the trip.  This sermon is my attempt to share this experience with my congregation.

Easter 2015- The Resurrection Life

This is my sermon from Easter 2015.  I use the story of the road to Emmaus to talk about the meaning of Christ's resurrection.  It is about more than "God-talk."  It is about living the Resurrection Life.

The Symbolism of Palm Sunday

When Jesus comes into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday He is actually walking into a ton imagery and expectation.  As we begin to see all of this symbolism we begin to have a richer understanding of what happens on the rest of Holy Week.

The Symbol of the Cross

 

In this sermon I develop the symbol of the cross.  How could this "emblem of suffering and shame" become such a symbol of hope and power?  I also talk about different types of crosses, the motion of crossing yourself or doing the sign of the cross, and the idea of carrying your own cross.  I reference a Powerpoint slide that is posted here.

 

 

A Eunuch's Reading List

In Acts 8 Philip talks to the Ethiopian eunuch about the good news of Jesus based on the passage from Isaiah 53 that the eunuch is reading.  This sermon looks at that same chapter to find Jesus in it.

James Pt 8: Life, James, and the Movies

In this sermon I refer to a number of movies to look at how we struggle to live in the present and follow God with everything we have.

James Pt 7: The God Chair

This sermon takes a look at what I call The God Chair--the space in your life that God was meant to fill but that we put other things into.

James Pt 6: Wisdom and a Wrong Target

       

This sermon on James 3:13-18 is about the two kinds of wisdom that James describes.  Those are easy to see on paper, but is much trickier to see in our own lives.  How can we know if we are aiming at the wrong target in our lives?

James Pt 5: Tongues and Rudders

  

James 3:1-12 talks about one of the most difficult and most important part of being a doer of the Word--your tongue.  James uses a bunch of metaphors in rapid succession to share how our words are important to our faith.

James Pt 4: Faith that Works

 

How are we saved?  Is it faith without works as Paul says?  But James says that faith without works is dead?  In this sermon I look at these kinds of questions and try to look at how faith and works relate to each other.

James Pt 3: No Partiality

 

We continue in James talking about the need to be doers of the word and not hearers only.  James calls us to not show partiality and favoritism in the community, because our faith is one for the lost and the broken.

 

 

James Pt 2: Doers Not Just Hearers

 

In this sermon I look at the second half of James 1.  What do you see when you look in the mirror?  Are you ready to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer?

James Pt 1: Faith Testing

I am preaching through the book of James from the perspective of images and metaphors. Here we start the book with 7 images.  I even brought a live Alligator Snapping Turtle to church with me.  Listen to find out why.

A Biography of Worship

Westminster Church is in the middle of a transition in worship.  Our 37+ year organist is retiring and we are thinking about what kind of worship we want moving forward.  In order to set the stage for those discussions, I decided to preach a sermon about what worship is and how it developed into what it is today.

 

 

 

When All the Bows are put Away

What happens when all the bows are put away?  When Christmas is over?  We cannot possibly keep up the pace and the emotions of Christmas, but what part of the holiday can and should we keep going?

3 Lever for Your Best Year Ever

In this sermon I talk about 3 things you have to keep in balance as a Christian.  When you get these in balance they can become great lever to help you grow.

Mirace on Mercer and 1st Street

 

 

This sermon looks at the Magnificat--the song that Mary sings with Elizabeth.  What does Mary understand about this miracle in her womb?  What should we recognize about the same miracle happening in our lives?

 

Sermon- Twas the Nightmare Before New Years

 

 

In this sermon I take a look at all the pressure of the holidays.  How do we find the real meaning of Christmas in all of the chaos?

My Big Fat Dysfunctional Family Christmas

 

 

In this sermon I look at the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist.  Luke splices this story in with the story of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus.  What we find out is that since it began Christmas has been difficult for families.  What does that mean for how we relate to our families during the holidays? 

How the Grinch Stole Advent

 

In the sermon I talk about Advent.  I talk about what it is, the spiritual posture that we should take in it, and why I think it is a bad thing that we have lost it.  You can also read the sermon on my blog at http://www.jordanrimmer.com/how-the-grinch-stole-advent/.

Teach Us To Pray Part 3

This is the final of 3 sermons on prayer.  In this prayer I look at what prayer does to us spiritually and special situations and aspects of prayer.