Advent Series on Healing Atonement, Part 1: Hope for Healing from Our Sin-Sickness

Speaker: Jesse Harden, New Creation Albuquerque, NM, Nov 28, 2021. A 30 minute podcast sermon on Advent 2021 week 1, on Deuteronomy 30:6 and Jeremiah 31:31 - 34. “The Great Physician, Jesus Christ, has shared in our diseased humanity, so that we might share in his healed humanity. The Spirit of God is coming to us and the world now, healing and restoring us to new life.”

Advent Series on Healing Atonement, Part 2: Healing as Our Stories Retold

Speaker: Jesse Harden, New Creation Albuquerque, NM, Dec 5, 2021. A 25 minute podcast sermon on Advent 2021 week 2, on Matthew 3:13 - 4:11. “God in Jesus by his Spirit is re-telling your story, healing the wounds of sin you’ve inflicted on others and that others have inflicted on you.  God is making peace in your humanity with God, others and all Creation.”

Advent Series on Healing Atonement, Part 3: Healing Joy

Speaker: Jesse Harden, New Creation Albuquerque, NM, Dec 12, 2021. A 36 minute podcast sermon on Advent 2021 week 3, on 1 John 1:1 - 4. "In a sin sick world of disconnection and relational trauma, we proclaim that joy is possible: The place of your wounding is the place of your healing. Jesus is inviting you back home into the healing relationship of joyful connection in the life of God. Join us as we discover how neuroscience reveals, not only the devastating effects of relational sin, but also how our brains can be healed and restored by God in and through the life and presence of Jesus with us. Joy is life lived in the loving presence of Jesus."

Advent Series on Healing Atonement, Part 4: Healing Love, and the Gospel in Chairs

Speaker: Jesse Harden, New Creation Albuquerque, NM, Dec 19, 2021. A 35 minute podcast sermon on Advent 2021 week 4. “We conclude and culminate our Advent series, exploring healing atonement, with the "Gospel in Chairs," comparing two versions of the salvation story: 1. The more modern, Western, and legal/retributive model with 2. The more ancient, restorative/healing story of God revealed in Jesus.”

God’s Love is a Refining Fire

Speaker: Gino Curcuruto, The Table Philly, Philadelphia, PA, Dec 12, 2021. Text of a sermon on Joy (Advent week 2), from Malachi 3:1 - 4 and Luke 3:7 - 16, following the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C.

God Remembers the Forgotten

Speaker: Mako Nagasawa, given at Neighborhood Church of Dorchester, Dec 19, 2021. Text of a sermon on Love (Advent week 4), from Luke 1:39 - 45 and Micah 5:2 - 5, following the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C.

Why is God’s Love the Baby Jesus?

Speaker: Mako Nagasawa, given at Neighborhood Church of Dorchester, Dec 18, 2022. Advent Week 4: Love. A creative piece of Mary and Joseph, read aloud as a story.

Recognizing Who Jesus Is

Speaker: Mako Nagasawa, given at Neighborhood Church of Dorchester, Jan 1, 2023. Text of a sermon on The Day of Adoration, from Matthew 2:1 - 11. We explore the meaning of the three gifts — gold, frankincense, and myrrh — as honoring Jesus’ human roles of king, priest, and prophet.

What Joy? Christmas for the Marginalized

Speaker: Mako Nagasawa, given at Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship in 2006. A Christmas reflection on Hebrews 2:14 - 15. The birth of Jesus is, first, God’s partaking, second, God’s power, and third, God’s paradigm.

Santa v. Jesus 

Speaker: Mako Nagasawa. Text of a Christmas message and slides. There is a theology that comes with Santa, and it is very American: It’s the image of a God who lives far away, who knows stuff about you, and leaves you as you are so you can prove on your own strength whether you deserve goodies. Jesus reveals a God who comes to live with us, to bring us back to him, so we can rely on his goodness. Many people actually interpret Jesus through the lens of Santa, as if Jesus watches us from some ‘North Pole,’ as if he just waits for you to prove on your own strength whether you deserve his goodies.

The Healing of Human Nature in Jesus 

A 30 minute video of a message on Matthew 3:13 - 4:11 that Mako Nagasawa gave to students at Boston College, Nov 15, 2013. This message is rooted in the story of Jesus going through his baptism and wilderness temptation, in Matthew 3:13 - 4:11, reflecting his commitment to fix and fulfill his human nature by going all the way through his faithful life, death, and resurrection, in order to share himself with us by his Spirit.

Jesus Frees Us from the Evil One

Text of a message on Matthew 3:13 - 4:11; alternatively, Luke 3:21 - 4:13. The focus is on Jesus’ deliverance of human nature from Satan’s influence, first in himself, then in us by his Spirit. See more Matthew and Luke.

Moving Mountains

A message on the Transfiguration of Jesus. A Vimeo video recording of Mako Nagasawa preaching on Matthew 17:1 - 8 and 20 at Newton Covenant Church in January 2023, on the theme of mountains not as obstacles but as places God was present in ancient Israel.

God and Mountain Climbing

A message on Exodus 3:1 - 12 given to Neighborhood Church of Dorchester. When God appeared to Moses at the burning bush by Mount Sinai, (1) He was revealing Himself in Moses’ ordinary routine of tending sheep; (2) using the burning and climbing mountains motifs as symbolic of the refinement and strengthening of Moses’ character, which connects to Moses’ ascent up Mount Sinai and Jesus’ ascent up Mount Tabor as an insight into his ascension to the heavenly throne; and (3) retelling the story of the fiery sword outside Mount Eden, showing Moses that the way back home was there. This is a nice example of biblical patterns and intertexuality, with the application of God’s restorative, not retributive, justice, for the sake of our spiritual formation.

When God Comes to Take Back What Is His

A message on Matthew 21:1 - 17 for Palm Sunday; Jesus retells David’s story to express his claim on Jerusalem and the Jewish people.

Who is Jesus? Exploring Two Christian Traditions: Medical vs. Penal Substitutionary Atonement

Presentation slides for a 40 minute presentation on medical vs. penal substitution; focus on Psalm 22, and how Jesus continued to retell David’s pre-enthronement story when he quoted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) from the cross. Jesus was forsaken to the Gentiles, but not forsaken by God in an absolute sense.

The King Who Entered Our Sin and Suffering 

Text and slides of a message on Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12. See more Isaiah.

Images of God in a Broken World

The following three messages were given at a weekend retreat. Images of God in a Broken World is the first; it explains why, in a broken world, we get the impression that if there is a “god,” that “god” is evil, at least partially. Jesus is the Image of God is the second; it is an explanation of Colossians 1:15 - 20, how Jesus is the accurate and perfect image of God despite our broken world, because he healed human nature in himself via his life, death, and resurrection. In Jesus, We Are God’s Image Bearers is the third; it is from Colossians 3:5 - 4:6, about how Jesus renews the image of God in us by his Spirit, to share God's goodness in a broken world.

God's Response to Human Evil: The Faithfulness of Jesus

Text of a message from Romans 3:21 - 26 about how Jesus’ faithfulness as a human being reflects and expresses the faithfulness of God to His promises to Israel, to bring about a healed human heart. See more Romans.

The Dreams that Refuse to Die

Text of a message that reflects on our desire for love, meaning, and justice. Where do these desires come from? Are they connected to the God who reveals Himself in Jesus Christ? This might be called the “problem of goodness,” specifically human goodness. This was the first of three messages at a retreat. The second is Jesus Is God’s New Humanity, from Romans 5:12 - 21. This message explores how Jesus became a “new Adam,” fulfilling the role that God originally set forth for Adam and Eve. The third was God's Victory Over Human Evil in Jesus — the text of a message from Romans 6:1 - 11 about how Jesus’ death and resurrection was the way he triumphed over the corruption of sin in the human nature he took on, and how we die and rise with Jesus to share in that victory. For more on this, see How Our Choices Shape Our Desires: Experiencing the Triune God, the text of a message on Genesis 1 - 2 and Proverbs 2 leading into questions for reflection and/or discussion. The message was given to students at Boston College, and reflects the concerns to discern God’s will as far as vocation and career and major are concerned. If you enjoy these topics, see our section on Desire: Jesus Leads Us to True Beauty.

Beyond "Near and Far": Jesus Overcomes Shame and Alienation

Text of a message on Ephesians 2:11 - 22. See more Ephesians.