Sermons

Read or download the text from past sermons.  The most recent sermon is typically available online by 3 PM each Monday.
 
 
 
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Christa Mastrangelo Joyce
April 14, 2024
 

This past summer of 2023, The Barbie movie made its debut in the US and quickly became a pop-culture phenomenon. It was very low on my list of movies to see, however, until our own Mary Ann Hitt posted on social media that not only had she seen it, but that she loved it. If Mary Anne says so, it must be true, I thought. And so it was that I became one of more than a billion people to see this movie.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

March 31, 2024

 

Based on John 20:11-16. Mary supposes Jesus to be the gardener.
Also based on Littlefoot, 19, by Charles Wright. “The bird hour.”

In my family, my husband is the gardener.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

March 24, 2024

Based on Mark 15:24, And they crucified him.

Also based on “A People’s Historian” by Kenneth Carroll

If we want to recover, we have to tell the truth. A terrible story has to be told.

This is the premise for any form of healing. From addiction, from abuse, from violence, from historical harm. First, we have to admit we have a problem.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

March 17, 2024

 

Based on John 12:20. Now my soul is troubled.

According to Phoebe Zerwick, writing this week in The New York Times, her mother made an announcement as her breathing became labored on the day before her death in upstate New York:

I have a new leader, Phoebe’s mother said.

Who is that? Phoebe replied.

Mark, Phoebe’s mother answered. He’s going to take me to the other side.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
March 3, 2024

Based on Exodus 20:6

Showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation

In the past couple of weeks, more than one of you has shared with me that the SPC History Project, with its unveiling of our pro-slavery heritage, has shaken your sense of enthusiasm when it comes to defining this church we love so much.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

Feburary 25, 2024
 

Based on Genesis 17:15

Sarah shall be her name.

Many of you know that the congregation I served in upstate New York before I came to SPC includes a sizable population of immigrants from the West African nation of Togo.

The first challenge I encountered in this cross-cultural context of ministry came through the most basic of questions: What is your name?

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
February 18, 2024

Based on Mark 1:12

And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.

Many years ago, when I first moved to Tucson, Arizona, I was warned about the prevalence of what they call The Tucson Headache.

The air is so dry and the humidity is so low that water near the surface of the human body evaporates almost immediately. I would joke that my hair would dry before I got out of the shower! My eyelids would crack. Bridges would cross rivers with no water in them.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

February 11, 2024

 

Based on Mark 9:2-9. Transfiguration as Inner Work

A couple of years ago, one of our members here at SPC reached out to me with a historical question: what was the congregation doing in the days leading up to the Civil War?

The assumption was that we were actively engaged with the social justice issues of the day, in much the same way we try to be now.

It broke my heart to respond gently, but truthfully, that we were not. In fact, quite the opposite.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

February 4, 2024

 

It can seem as if we have been abandoned, when the person who has stepped up in a moment of crisis to heal us and restore us to some semblance of sanity is called to move on.

How could you leave us! we might cry out. We still need you. What will we do without you?

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

January 28, 2024

 

Based on Mark 1:16-20. Fishing for a Movement.

We, as a communal species, are at a pivotal point in our human evolution. So says Deborah Threadgill Egerton, author of Know Justice, Know Peace: A Transformative Journey of Social Justice, Anti-Racism, and Healing through the Power of the Enneagram.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
January 21, 2024

Based on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31. Paul Prepares for the End of the World

One of the most beloved prayers in the recovery community, that is not often known beyond that community, is termed The Set Aside Prayer.

God, the Set Aside Prayer, says, help me to set aside everything I think I know about addiction, about recovery, about myself, and even about you, God, so that I might have a new experience with all of these things.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
January 14, 2023

Based on Psalm 139:1-18. The Beauty of the Body

Early in my ministry, as many of you know, I worked with college women around the country to claim a Christian faith that empowers women. Many of us had experienced a Christian faith that does not empower women, or people of color, or the LGBTQIA+ community, or people who live in poverty, and on and on. Much to the chagrin of Jesus, I would suggest.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
January 7, 2024

Based on Genesis 1:1-3 and Mark 1:9-11. Water, Spirit, Word, and Light

The most effective tag line in American Protestant history, in my opinion, comes to us from the United Church of Church: God is still speaking …

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

December 31, 2023

Based on Isaiah 61:11, adapted.

The earth will bring forth its shoots and a garden will cause what is sown in it to spring up.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

December 24, 2023, 8 p.m.

 

Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

December 24, 2023, 8 p.m.

Based on Isaiah 9:2, 6. Shining Light in the Darkness.

We cannot sing tonight of a child born in Bethlehem without hearing the cries from that city this Christmas.

Gone are the massive throngs who normally congregate in Manger Square. Gone are the feasts and the parades, the carols and the candles, gone is the festive celebration announcing the birth of the Prince of Peace.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

December 24, 2023, 11 am Service

Based on 1 John 4:7.

Beloved, you should love.

Don’t forget the most important thing, we say to our children at the end of First Pew every Sunday: God loves you! And so do we …

We hope it sinks in. That it really, truly, sticks in their soul. So that when all the lies of un-loved-ness they will inevitably receive in this world tell them the exact opposite, those lies will simply slide off the backs of our children - and ourselves - like so much water down the drain.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
December 17, 2023

Based on 1 Thessalonians 5:16

Rejoice always.

We can tell a little something about the state of the world, this Third Sunday of Advent, Two Thousand Twenty Three, when the headlines out of Bethlehem proclaim: Christmas Is Canceled.

Bethlehem is sad and broken, says the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, Pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church. If Christ were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
December 10, 2023

Based on 2 Peter 3:14, adapted

Beloved, while you are waiting, strive to be found at peace.

We begin, as we should, with Beloved.

If you hear nothing else from me today or throughout our entire service of worship, hear this: A great love permeates the universe from the beginning of time through the end. That love has claimed you [insert your name here] - by name! - and simply wants you to be well.

And also y’all, SPC.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

December 3, 2023
 

Based on 1 Corinthians 1:7

You are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

YOU [insert your name here],

And also Y’ALL, meaning you plural in the Greek, meaning the Church, meaning SPC, meaning the Corinthians in the first century, meaning all of the various branches and denominations and independent sects of communities who follow the Way of Jesus,

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

November 26, 2023

“The Honorable Harvest”

Based on Matthew 25:31-46. The Feast at the End of Time

Whether we have known it or not, you and I here at SPC have been building up to this particular liturgical moment for the entire month of November and even, truth be told for the entire year. Today we celebrate a mythological vision of an honorable harvest at the end of time when all has finally been made well and we can feast at the table in a Reign of Love forever and ever amen.

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