Sermons

The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859.

Sermon: Is it really that simple?

Speaker: Gretchen Geyer

Texts: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22; Matthew 5:44, 6:34, 16:24

Good morning everyone - Throughout this sermon, I am occasionally going to say the phrase
‘reflect and meditate on the word blank’ and in the place of blank, I’ll insert a specific word. Then I’ll
leave about 10 seconds for you all to think of whatever images, ideas, or other words come to mind
when I say that word. So let’s begin. Reflect and meditate on the word water. [Count to 10]

On June 13, 2008, while I was living with my parents in Iowa, a massive rain storm headed
towards our area. We watched as the storm clouds moved in and the rains started to pour down. While
my parent’s home was safe, a mere 30 minutes away, the city of Cedar Rapids was not so fortunate. The
water from the rains wreaked...

Worship | Epiphany | January 2

The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859.

Sermon | A Multitude of Camels

Texts: Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12

Speaker: Mark Rupp

One of the biggest losses for me during this pandemic has been the necessary cancellation of the extended family gatherings for my mother’s side of the family. We have still been able to gather with my brothers and their families while being as safe as possible, but I have deeply missed the chaotic large group gatherings with cousins and cousin’s kids running through legs and under tables, aunts making the rounds to catch up on all the family gossip, uncles quietly falling asleep in a chair until someone dares to change the TV channel, and the occasional significant other brought along for the first time who always ends up looking overwhelmed trying to remember so many names.

My mother is one of six siblings, each of which has multiple children, many with their own growing...

Worship | Christmas | December 26

Essentials: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, Immanuel, Epiphany

CMC Service 12-26-21.mp4 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859.

Sermon | God with us, Us with God

Text: Luke 1:39-56

Speaker: Joel Miller

In April 1977 a group of mothers gathered in the Plaza de Mayo outside the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was a demonstration of women whose adult children had gone missing under the current military dictatorship. They demanded the release of their loved ones but were instead expelled from the public square.

This was the first public action of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Later that year they decided to join the annual pilgrimage to Our Lady of Lujan, a Basilica with a statue of the Virgin Mary. They wore white headscarves with the names and birth dates of their missing children along with the words “Aparicion con Vida,” “Alive reappearance.” ...

Christmas Eve Service | December 24

CMC Christmas Eve 2021 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859.

Worship | Advent 4 | December 19

The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859.

Sermon: An essential story
Text: Luke 1:26-38

Speaker: Joel Miller

Song: STS 11 No wind at the window, v. 1
"No wind at the window, no knock at the door; no light from the lampstand, no foot on the floor; no dream born of tiredness, no ghost raised by fear: just an angel and a woman and a voice in her ear."

In this Advent season focused on the essentials, we have now reached the essential story. Not that the others aren’t important – Jesus calling to be watchful for the coming of the Human One, John the Baptist’s claim that one more powerful than he is coming, the hopeful words of the prophets Isaiah and Micah, even the birth of Jesus – these are all part of the holy drama of the season. But for any of those prophetic words to be fulfilled, for Jesus to be born in the first place,...

Sermons

Essentials: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, Immanuel, Epiphany

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