Passing Over Deservedness
“As long as we believe that some people deserve despair and death, we’ll never experience True Peace within ourselves and within the world . . . Our liberation is when we accept undeserved love for ourselves and then share it with others, especially the least ‘deserving.’ ”
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Joel Daniels
Sunday, September 6, 2026
I AM
“You aren’t any-thing. You are fundamentally, infinitely more than every-thing. In fact, there are no things whatsoever. There is only change and becoming. No-thing stays the same because no-thing exists independently. We were told that here in Exodus – the Ultimate Truth of Reality is “I AM.” Am what? No-thing, which is the same as saying every-thing . . . So, may we be, untethered to the “things” of this world, foolish and naïve enough to believe that change in ourselves, in our city, and in the world is possible. Amen.”
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Joel Daniels
Sunday, August 23, 2026
Spiritual Midwifery
“The midwives revered God and, thus, did not follow Pharaoh’s order. We are being called to this kind of spiritual midwifery. We are being called to care for others despite our laws. We are being called to Love – come what may.
So, may we revere God more than ease and ‘safety,’ and may we help birth change in ourselves, in our city, and in the world. Amen.”
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Joel Daniels
Sunday, August 23, 2026
Prejudice and Healing
“Jesus tells the woman that he came for the people of Israel, then he says it’s wrong to give children’s food to dogs. And NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED!”
Matthew 15:21-28
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Joel Daniels
Sunday, August 16, 2026
YOU Give Them Something to Eat
“I think what Jesus said to the disciples is a prophetic word for this church at this moment in time. Jesus starts by telling the disciples, ‘Do not send them away.’ And here comes the simple truth, the simplicity of truth that we are invited into: Jesus then adds, ‘YOU give them something to eat.’”
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Joel Daniels
Sunday, August 2, 2026
Love’s Abyss
"God does not love. God is Love. In other words, God is the free-falling that we experience Love to be. It’s like we step off the edge, into the bottomless abyss, relinquishing control, and refusing to try to grab ahold of the side. "
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Joel Daniels
Sunday, July 26, 2026
Parable of the Sower
“The parable of the sower is not a show of force; it’s not an emperor on a throne. This is God’s wild, irresponsible, chaotic spreading of joy and love. A liberal scattering, far and wide, right there in the midst of the rocks and the weeds and the dry soil and the whole weedy world.”
Meditation by The Rev. Liz Peterson
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Field of Weeds
“In this world of desirable plants and weeds, nobody can presume to be good. In this world of desirable plants and undesirable weeds, no one can presume they have the authority to judge another. That is the work of God and God alone.”
Meditation by The Rev. Liz Peterson
Sunday, July 19, 2026
Parable of the Sower
“The parable of the sower is not a show of force; it’s not an emperor on a throne. This is God’s wild, irresponsible, chaotic spreading of joy and love. A liberal scattering, far and wide, right there in the midst of the rocks and the weeds and the dry soil and the whole weedy world.”
Meditation by The Rev. Liz Peterson
Sunday, July 12, 2026
In-Dependence Day: Restriction or Resurrection?
“Our dependence on God is not enslavement to God but rather freedom in Love. Jesus came to liberate and to set the captives free. It is a dangerous message, and it must be our message and life, otherwise we might as well put a political party logo on the sign outside because all we are doing is propping up a system designed to control and subjugate.
But Jesus says to the world today, the message and purpose of our very existence as a church, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’ Amen.”
Meditation by The Rev. Joel Daniels
Sunday, July 5, 2026
We are Family
“Jesus placed value on community and radical love for our neighbor rather than blood relations, a stance which upsets anybody in power. You can see this upset and fear in the Tennessee legislature’s move to declare June ‘Nuclear Family’ month in opposition to Pride Month. They idolize the ‘nuclear family’ to protect their own power and ideology. If our legislature really cared about ‘family,’ they wouldn’t enact legislation to tear children away from their immigrant parents. But that is exactly what they are doing.”
Meditation by The Rev. Elizabeth Peterson
Sunday, June 14, 2026
We are Family
“I have many parents and siblings here at CoS - folks who have stepped in to those roles in my life at various junctures and who may not realize the profound healing effect their presence, love, and respect have had on my life.
So, folks, as many of you already know, this is a place of chosen family, bound together in Christian community that goes beyond acceptance to celebration of you as a child of God, queer or not. It’s a place of respect and dignity for us all, a family you may choose- or not. If you do choose, just know that you are already chosen and they will show you that if you let them!”
Meditation by The Rev. Tonya Barnette
Sunday, June 14, 2026
Four-Letter Words
What is your word for whatever “it” is that pulls you out of bed on a Sunday morning when you’d prefer to sleep in. I’ve heard it called a nugget, a "something," a spirit, an atmosphere. It is that “something” that makes us who we are. This is our time, our veriditas. The greening power of God is among us. So I’m going to encourage all of us to keep breathing and take some advice from Paul: to LOVE, to CARE for one another, to HOLD one another with honor and respect, to HATE EVIL, to HOLD FAST to what is GOOD, rejoice in HOPE, persevere in PRAYer, rejoice together, WEEP together, BLESS all. And I would add, be KIND.
Meditation by Ceil Sheahan, preacher
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Defecting in Place
“When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, the Jesus movement transformed overnight from a close-knit community of believers who shared everything in common to ensure nobody went without, to a state religion sanctioned and mandated by the Roman Empire. What could possibly go wrong?”
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Peterson
Sunday, April 26, 2026
Origins
“Our origin story includes that truth that we come from a God who made us in their own image. This means that caring for the creation includes care for the value and dignity of every individual human. Because when we do so, we recognize the divine in each of us.”
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Peterson
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Sitting on a Fence
“God, give us the courage of your compassion.”
Meditation by The Rev. George Waters
Sunday, April 12, 2026
The Good News of Peace by Jesus Christ
“Jesus is the Good News. ... You must know that, because the world will tell you lies. Someone will tell you that compassion is weakness. Jesus shows otherwise. Someone will say that ‘empathy is a made-up … term that does a lot of damage.’ But Jesus put flesh and blood on empathy, lived and died empathy, raised up and proved its real power to save. Some believe the myth of redemptive violence and the rhetoric of ‘holy war.’ Jesus was a victim of violence, not a perpetrator of it. He is the Prince of Peace, so whoever sides with those who kill are on the wrong side of God’s equation. Someone will tell you that God condemns you and hates who you are. Don’t believe it; you can know that’s not true, because Jesus is good news.”
“It is not God who stokes and exploits fear. God’s message is, ‘Do not be afraid’ – we do not need to fear even death. Jesus is God saying, ‘Look at me! This way! I’ll show you. I’ve got you. Follow me.’ Believe the good news of Jesus.”
Meditation by The Rev. Valerie Coe Lowder
Sunday, April 5, 2026
Resurrection Now
"What does resurrection look like for a community of faith? What does resurrection look like in our own valley of bones? It can look like a community that has been battered by the daily onslaught of attempts to divide us...a church beaten nearly to death by the knowledge of what our country is doing in God’s name … a people worn down to dry bones by the constant fight against each wave of injustice that empire unleashes-against our immigrant neighbors, our LGBTQ neighbors, our black neighbors, our Muslim neighbors.... It can look like that community grieving together, sharing one another’s pain. Then, reminding one another of God’s promise of steadfast love and forgiveness, opening ourselves to the spirit breath of God, inhaling rejuvenating hope. It can look like us unbinding and freeing each other to do our part of the work of unbinding and freeing our neighboring communities. At this moment, death is now and resurrection is also now. We are all connected by both. May we remember both our oneness and God’s promises so that we live out hope even after every death."
Meditation by The Rev. Tonya Barnette
Sunday, March 22, 2026
The Holy Power of Anger and Despair
“Lament is a sincere form of praising God. As a people of faith, we must re-claim the powerful voice of lament found throughout the Psalms. When we raise our complaints to God and demand that God intervene on our behalf, we express our trust that God can and will help us. In so doing, we avoid the misdirected feelings of guilt and blame that so often accompany hardship.”
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Peterson
Sunday, March 15, 2026
“The woman with the alabaster jar of expensive oil at Bethany gave Jesus a gift nobody else was willing to give him: she drew near to him and anointed his head with oil when his death was imminent. She was not afraid to stand by Jesus when the rest of the world looked away.”
Meditation by The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Peterson
Sunday, March 8, 2026