January - February 2009

In this "Bible Study" series, we learn big lessons from Old and New Testament characters who play small parts - the Bible's best "supporting actors."

Lenten Season • March 1 - April 12, 2009

The faithful will undoubtedly face loss, failure and suffering. But we do so armed with a power unmatched on the face of this earth - Resurrection! This series discusses the resurrection power for everyday living.

April 19 - May 17, 2009

This sermon series looks at our responsibility as God's children to care for this world. We mix theological reflection, accurate information, and practical application to discover ways we can all to our part. After all, God's got the whole world in his hands, but he's counting on us to take care of it. For more resources on the theme of Creation Care, click here.

May 24, 2009

This Memorial Day, we remember those who demonstrated their priorities by giving the supreme sacrifice. As we celebrate Memorial Day, we do not celebrate conflict and war, but rather we give thanks for men and women who fought and died so that others might have liberty. We pause to ask for healing and strength for their parents and families and friends who they left behind as we remember that it is always a sobering thought to reflect upon the reality that the life we enjoy today came at a great loss. So, we pause as a nation to express our recognition and to collectively say that we will not forget. This is the reason for this national holiday - to not forget.

Pentecost Sermon LogoMay 31, 2009
Pentecost was a Jewish festival that took place not long after the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus has been raised. The disciples have seen him, resurrected and returned to them. Yet now he has ascended, and what about them? He told them to wait in Jerusalem until he would send them his Spirit to be with them. They waited. They waited and worried about what their future might hold. Many of them felt fear and doubt and despair. Yet on Pentecost, there was a rush of mighty wing, tongues of fire - and the Holy Spirit prevailed. The church was born. The once disheartened disciples moved out, prodded, enabled by the Holy Spirit which gave that which the human spirit could not.

Be A Hero Series LogoJune - August 2009
During this summer sermon series, we take a look at the many spiritual gifts God bestows differently on each of us, and how we can use those gifts to live the life God intended and for the Good of His creation. During this series, everyone was encouraged to take the Spiritual Gifts Inventory offered by the United Methodist Church.  Take it today!  Click here.

During this five week sermon series, the focus is on how we as Christians connect the dots. And, be sure, there is absolutely nothing random about it. From the very beginning, the Church was called to be the Church - to connect the dots - in a particular way. God's plan for this is outlined for us clearly in the New Testament. And, if we will just follow that plan, if we will just connect the dots accurately, we can be quite confident that the right picture will appear. The right picture of each of us as a disciple AND the right picture of of our church, Christ Church, a picture that will be pleasing to us and to the one we want to please - our God.

 October 18 - November 22

"Grounded in Gratitude, Revealed in Prayer, Lived in Faith." This is our theme for the 2009 Stewardship campaign for our 2010 annual budget and capital campaign for the planned youth facility.  Within this sermon series, we will explore the importance of moving through thanksgiving, prayer and faith on our personal stewardship journey.  The series will include special events at worship, such as receiving devotion guides and a Parade of Ministries.  The series concludes on November 22 with Commitment Sunday.  Click here to learn more about this campaign.

 Christmas lights are showing up everywhere this time of year. You can see lights of Christmas trees through windows. Houses are outlined with lights. Lighted figures adorn telephone poles and front yards. White lights, colorful lights, lights that look like icicles. They are everywhere. But as wonderful as these lights might be, they are not the real lights of Christmas. The real lights of Christmas cannot be purchased in stores or pulled out of boxes from the attic. The real lights of Christmas can only be found in the pages of scripture. Join us on Sundays during Advent and special worship opportunities as Christ Church turns on the Real lights of Christmas. We'll discover lights that reveal, lights that illuminate, lights that guide and lights that seek. These are the real lights of Christmas, lights that last the whole year long.

Our year-long emphasis for 2010 on the Bible begins with a 6-week sermon series starting January 10. We will feature sermons from the primary literary components of the Bible: Law, Gospels, Wisdom Literature and so forth. The Good News will be proclaimed every week, but structuring our series this way gives you the chance to see how varied the scriptures really are. And these books are smaller books within the larger Bible, meant to be used. Every one of them could be considered a how-to book. They show us how to be the people of God.  

Join us on a special journey this Lenten Season. We're calling it "A Journey of Stones" and it will take us all the way to Easter and the Cross.  You may be surprised to discover how such a common object like a stone can open our eyes to the uncommon wonders of this season. 

The book of Acts tells us that the followers of Jesus spent the time between Easter and Pentecost praying. Well, we are doing the same thing and will use the Bible as our prayer Book. During this sermon series, "Praying the Scriptures," we will use as our sermon texts various prayers that we find throughout the Old and New Testaments. And, we are asking you to do more than just hear the texts proclaimed, we are asking you to pray the texts too. It's all part of our Bible365 year-long emphasis. 

 Just like in our lives, there are times of celebration in the Bible, too. Special times of community gathering. Times of remembering. Times for family reunion. This summer (2010) we are going to use some of those special Biblical celebrations as the launching point for each week's sermons - still part of our Bible 365 emphasis.  Yet another way to explore this incredible gift from God. 

For the Adult Summer Sunday School Option this summer (2010) Rev. John Bletsch is presenting a series titled "The Parables of Jesus: Stories of Intent," July 11-August 22. Please click here to read more about this series and see a schedule of topics. Below you can download session notes and listen to weekly presentations.

Educators say that a surprising amount of time is needed after the summer break for students to simply regain their academic level - to catch back up with where they were when school was dismissed a couple of months earlier. They have to get back to the basics.  Here at Christ Church, we think this is true with the Bible, too. So, in the spirit of the season, and as part of our year-long Bible 365 emphasis, we are going to pause and spend three weeks getting back to Bible basics with three key teachings that are essential building blocks for every student of the Bible and essential guidelines for every Christian.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

This sermon highlights our Christian Education & Promotion Sunday, celebrating a new year of Christian Education. This year, the emphasis is on how God continues to work on each of us, "Christians Under Construction."  Read or listen to Pastor Jan's message from 1 Corinthians. 

This Labor Day, Pastor John presented the sermon "The Vanities of Work."  Click below to read or listen to this insightful message.

Fall 2010 • Beginning September 12
As part of our Bible 365 emphasis this year, we will be exploring the Biblical promises we can count on in this sermon series. Come discover for yourself the incredible promises God is prepared to make to you. Each one is really "an offer you can't refuse." 

Join us for our Advent sermon series, "Faces at the Manger."  During this series, we will take a closer look at the familiar faces invited to and gathered around the manger of Christ's birth including the shepherds, Mary and Joseph and YOU. What is your place in Christmas story?  What can we learn from these well known characters to help us make the most of this Advent time of preparation?  Come and learn more with us.

Join us for this first sermon series of 2011 as we explore how God is not fair and why that's actually a good thing.  

Our Lenten Sermon series for 2011 is "Wrestling with Angels."  We will explore how even the struggles of life can yield incredible blessings when God is with us. Such blessings don't always come easy. Sometimes we have to wrestle our way to them.

This sermon series uses the term "Acting Out" to refer to the way the Holy Spirit acted in the days, weeks and months following Jesus' death and resurrection. And, be sure, it was unexpected and surprising!  This series is being offered in response to a special request from the Western NC Conference's Bishop Larry Goodpaster that all conference churches make this the focus of their preaching between Easter and Pentecost and leading to our annual fathering at Lake Junaluska in June.   

Join us this summer as we once again look to the movies for illustrations in our sermons.  But be clear, we're not preaching the movies but - as always - we're preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ from the scriptures!  We will feature movies such as The King's Speech, Harry Potter Series, Cars 2, The African Queen and many more.

It may sound like a strange title for a sermon series, but it comes straight from the Bible. It was the prophet Hosea's way of describing the sin of idolatry that was a constant problem for God's people throughout the pages of the Old Testament. Our idols may not take the form of calves, but idolatry is still a problem for the faithful.  In this series, we explore the issue of idolatry in the lives of the faithful today. 

Christian Education & Promotion Sunday at Christ Church was celebrated August 28th with the theme "Recipe for a Christian Life."  The sermon offered by Rev. Jan Brittain uses the text from Acts:2:42, 46-47.  Read or listen below for the key ingredients and recipe for a Christian life.

As Pastor Jan's time at Christ Church draws to a close, we invite you to read and/or listen to her last sermon series, "Oh, Just One More Thing..." through which she will impart messages to the Christ Church congregation that she feels are too important to leave unsaid. 

  

For this year's stewardship emphasis, we are focusing on "Our Mission, My Mission" - centered around the Christ Church mission statement:  "To make disciples of Jesus Christ by being a community of faith where the Gospel is Encountered, Embraced, and Embodied."  Join us these few weeks as we focus on ways we can each make this OUR mission 

Below are the most recent sermon(s) preached at Christ Church.  For past sermons, please see our Sermon Archives page.