Send us Fan Mail

Text: Mark 11:1-11

Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

Power rarely looks the way we expect it to. We start with prayer and Mark 11’s Palm Sunday scene, then sit with an uncomfortable truth: we often fail to recognize what we most need. We miss grace when it is right in front of us. We overlook beauty when the world feels too broken. We ignore our bodies asking for rest because urgency gets mistaken for faithfulness.

Palm Sunday pushes back on every version of leadership that relies on spectacle. Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, surrounded by ordinary people and borrowed things, while the crowd cries “Hosanna,” meaning “save us.” In Mark’s Gospel, that moment becomes a recognition test. Can we see God’s power when it arrives as humility, service, and vulnerability rather than aggression and domination? Can we follow a king who moves toward the cross instead of around it?

We also lean into the verbs that drive the story and refuse to let us stay in the bleachers: go, untie, bring, spread, shout, follow. We talk about untying what has been bound in our lives and communities, bringing what we have in practical care, spreading mercy in quiet daily ways, and letting “Hosanna” become public witness that rejects cruelty and “us versus them” thinking. If you are walking into Holy Week asking where Jesus is showing up now, this one is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: what will be your Hosanna?

Follow us on Instagram @guilfordparkpresbyterianchurch
Follow us on Facebook @guilfordparkpc
Follow us on TikTok @guilfordparkpreschurch
Website: www.guilfordpark.org

Send us Fan Mail

Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

Texts: Matthew 23:23 & John 8:2-11

Nuance didn’t disappear by accident; we traded it for speed, certainty, and the rush of being right. We feel the fallout everywhere: online arguments that turn into rage, politics that punish compromise, and even faith conversations that mistake harshness for conviction. We’re trying to name what that does to real human beings and why it leaves so much collateral damage in its wake.

We open with Jesus’ sharp warning from Matthew 23:23 about religious life that majors in tiny details while neglecting the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. Then we step into John 8:2-11, where scribes and Pharisees drag an unnamed woman before Jesus and demand a verdict. The story invites uncomfortable but necessary questions: how was she caught, did she get to speak, was it consensual, and why is the man missing? Those questions aren’t a dodge; they’re a path back to ethical clarity, human dignity, and biblical justice.

What stops the public shaming isn’t a clever comeback. Jesus bends down and writes in the dirt, choosing a deliberate pause in the face of a supercharged moment. We reflect on why the pause matters, why the phrase “throw a stone at her” keeps the crowd from looking away, and how Jesus calls us to hold law alongside mercy and faithfulness. We also name “stones” we still throw today: shame, social media contempt, political caricatures, church gossip, and the need to win. If you’re hungry for a more thoughtful Christian response to division, discipleship, and accountability without humiliation, this one is for you.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s tired of outrage, and leave a review with your answer: what stone are you ready to put down?

Follow us on Instagram @guilfordparkpresbyterianchurch
Follow us on Facebook @guilfordparkpc
Follow us on TikTok @guilfordparkpreschurch
Website: www.guilfordpark.org

Send us Fan Mail

Mark ends his Gospel with an empty tomb, a breathtaking claim, and then one of the strangest final lines in the Bible: the women run away and say nothing because they are afraid. That’s it. No closing appearance of Jesus. No tidy wrap-up. If you’ve ever felt like faith is supposed to end with certainty but your real life ends with questions, this conversation is for you.

We walk through the resurrection endings in Matthew, Luke, and John to feel the contrast in our bones. Matthew closes with the Great Commission and a clear sense of mission. Luke slows down with the road to Emmaus, where grief shifts into recognition around a shared meal. John gives us the human realism of Doubting Thomas and the surprising tenderness of Jesus meeting exhausted disciples by the water. Then we turn to Mark 16:1–8 and face the abrupt stop, including a quick look at why many Bibles contain later shorter and longer endings.

Along the way we talk about the women at the tomb, what fear might mean in the face of resurrection, and why an unfinished ending can be a deliberate theological move. Mark’s cliffhanger does not let us stay spectators. It asks what we will do with the news that Jesus is risen when our lives still feel messy, unpredictable, and raw.

If you found this helpful, subscribe for more Bible study and theology conversations, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find it. What do you think Mark is trying to do with that final word: afraid?

Follow us on Instagram @guilfordparkpresbyterianchurch
Follow us on Facebook @guilfordparkpc
Follow us on TikTok @guilfordparkpreschurch
Website: www.guilfordpark.org