Dreaming Together at the End of the World 2/7

Sharing material resources to further the church’s goals. In this dream, John sees a diverse, numberless crowd surrounding a throne declaring that the “Lamb who was slain (Jesus)” is worthy of power, wealth, wisdom, strength, glory, honor, praise, and dominion. In John’s world, the people calling for this sort of attribution were imperialistic rulers, and here John is dreaming of the slain one (the threat-to-empire, criminalized Jesus) as the one who is worthy. What is it to dream a dream like this when the powers-that-be are breathing down your neck, crying out for loyalty daily? When folkx don’t have enough money to buy food? What is it for the “Lamb who was slain,” the victim, the helpless, the suffering, the criminalized, the “guilty” one who was killed to be the one worthy of all these things? If this dream inverts those who are really worthy of wealth and power, what does that say about how we use our own resources as a church (in how we give, share, and create)? Maddy Hall Aaen is preaching.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Dreaming Together at the End of the World 1/7

Extension of the Church’s Welcome to Friends, Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies. Just like when you wake up from a strange dream and you want to tell someone about it, in this passage, John experiences a dream/vision from God, who tells him to write it down.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Easter Sunday 2025

Feral Hope. Here’s a quote from an essay I’ve been reading and re-reading: “Feral hope is radical hope. As Jonathan Lear describes it, ‘What makes this hope radical is that it is directed toward a future goodness that transcends the current ability to understand what it is. Radical hope anticipates a good for which those who have the hope as yet lack the appropriate concepts with which to understand it.” Like… going to a tomb, finding it empty...

With thanks to Cody Sanders for his essay ‘Feral Hope for Futurist Leaders,’ accessed here.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Becoming (like) Jesus 5/5

The Expanse of His Care, from Small to Ginormous. (There is a section just before this, Jesus teaching in the Nazareth synagogue, that we read recently.) Here we see Jesus coming into his power as a holistic healer: tending to the spirits and bodies of all those who suffer. He has a remarkable capacity to deal compassionately and powerfully with big stuff – unclean spirits! – and small stuff – an old lady with a fever! And similarly we are called to attend to and alleviate the full scope of human suffering in our life together. 

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Becoming (like) Jesus 4/5

The Hardest Part, For Now. Jesus told us to pray to escape trials, because he himself endured trials. “Trial” is more than temptation, right? It’s about the deep-down questioning of whether God is trustworthy. Pray that you don’t ever have to really ask that – but if you do, know that Jesus did it first.  

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Becoming (like) Jesus 3/5

Double lineage: Born of God, Born of Adam. Where does Jesus come from? From the transcendent God… from the human community of his ancestors… from the cosmic materiality of creation (water, dove) – and these all converge to make him completely human, as are we.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Becoming (like) Jesus 2/5

Building on a Legacy. Jesus doesn’t invent his “reign of God” preaching from whole cloth; he builds it on a legacy of teaching and prophecy that comes before him, including from John the Baptist, his single biggest influence. Did they have a friendship before? Did he listen to John’s preaching before the day of his baptism? What did he take from it? What did he leave behind? These are choices we all are making… (As in premarital counseling, when I ask couples to think about what they’ll leave behind in their FOO as they form their new family…)

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Becoming (like) Jesus 1/5

Growing Up Jesus. What is it like to grow a child into a messiah? And what does it mean that we, too, are growing? “Wisdom” is not something we gain suddenly, but a slow ascent toward maturity that takes our whole life long. (The song referenced at the beginning of the sermon is Sunday Mornings by Susan Werner)

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Dangerous Work of Worship 8/8

Go. The radical act of worship requires that we stop and leave, carrying with us the gifts we’ve received, newly energized for our work in the world God still loves. I can’t quite imagine carrying on with Christian discipleship without the weekly reset of worship; how does one maintain an endless and unchanging line of faith-hope-love without the Sunday peaks in the graph? It’s a full-circle concept – you can’t “go” from worship until you’ve come to worship.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Dangerous Work of Worship 7/8

Share. Our days are consumed by the impulse to get – consumed by consumerism! But generosity is a muscle that atrophies as our consumption grows. The paired stories about Barnabas and Ananais-n-Sapphira can be told as fables: “Here’s how they’ll remember you someday.” And the small “gives” we give today add up over a lifetime to form that story.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Dangerous Work of Worship 6/8

The Table. Jesus just has this whole way of upending the traditional “table math” – seats of honor, who’s invited. (I think that at my grandmother’s house he would’ve sat at the kids’ table, with his knees up under his chin.) Scripture often compares being at home with God to being seated at a banquet, secure in plenteous food and gracious welcome. This is the “eucharistic economy,” the radical way God has of giving generously without consideration of merit; and it’s an economy we’re invited/challenged to practice beyond the table of our Lord.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Dangerous Work of Worship 5/8

Preach. “Churches get the preaching they deserve,” Katie’s spouse has said, quoting someone else. Meaning, preaching is inherently dialogical. It has the form of monologue, but at its best it reflects the preacher’s conversations with the church, with the culture, and (most obviously) with the scripture itself, and thus with our ancestors in faith. This is the space where the Whole Project is called into question, and where the preacher demonstrates the Wrestling-with-God, and where the congregation is invited to imagine their own participation in God’s Big Story of Everything. “This is Who God is. This is who you(we) are. Right?”

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Dangerous Work of Worship 4/8

Sing. Singing before a crowd of people requires some courage; most of us aren’t that good at it and shouldn’t be on a mic. But singing with a crowd is different. It releases us from self- consciousness about raising our own voices. It requires that we breathe together, in and out. It puts the words of faith, hope, and love in our own mouths, even if we can’t quite muster those things ourselves. It’s like a spiritual workout, where the hymn is the personal trainer encouraging you to bend a little deeper, try a little more weight. And – as we’ve talked about in our Advent/Christmas series – the songs we internalize matter. What do we mostly sing about? Can we carry the songs from in here into our daily lives out there? Like Paul and Silas and their cell-stock singing? Carissa Robinson is preaching.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Dangerous Work of Worship 3/8

Read Scripture. This is how we introduce “trouble” into the narrative of worship. The stories our ancestors told assert that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” – i.e. that God gets everything God wants. It does not always appear to be true in our experience. And so every Sunday the text invites us to wrestle with tradition, promises made but not yet fulfilled. We let it trouble us, and sometimes let the tension stand, refusing the easy resolution that condescends both to us and to the text. (Also, sometimes scripture pisses people off.)

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Dangerous Work of Worship 2/8

Pray. Bowing our head, bending our knee, pledging our allegiance – this is the subversive work of prayer. Corporate prayer in worship is a stay against idolatry. We remember again that our time here is for the re-ordering of our lives: “God is God, and we are not. (And nothing else is God, either.)” The counter-narratives say that our lives depend on capitalism, work, the military, government, our own capacities. Even the simplicity of the Lord’s Prayer says otherwise.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Dangerous Work of Worship 1/8

Arrive. King David, having recovered the Ark of the Covenant, dances his way home. He is essentially bringing God’s Presence back to Israel, and his enthusiastic showing-up dance is unnerving to some (his wife!) who wish for more decorum, more “demure”, in worship. But it matters how we arrive for worship – do we bring our whole (exposed) selves, or do we hold back? Additionally, there are many “Psalms of Ascent” in Israel’s hymnal, designated for climbing the temple mount in Jerusalem – meaning that our ancestors gave some thought to how we gather for worship. As do we. (parts of worship: video prologue, welcome, query)

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Singing in the Dark 8/8

Simeon, Anna, and I can die now. Simeon is our final singer. He and Anna have waited many years, decades of waiting, for the fulfillment of one small piece of God’s big promise to redeem Israel and save the world. Waiting is a virtue, a practice, a skill that becomes a disposition for we who are tracing the long arc of the moral universe... (Carissa Robinson is preaching.)

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Singing in the Dark 7/8

Angels, shepherds, and all that had been told them. The angelic announcement (the third of four arias in this opera) stokes the shepherds’ curiosity, and they are the first “come and see” invitees. Do we imagine the angels only sang to these shepherds? Or did their song perhaps go to others who were not quite interested enough to drop everything and go?

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Singing in the Dark 6/8

Jesus: born under the boot of empire. Luke here situates Jesus’s birth in its political and economic contexts. Babies born now could be similarly announced: “When So-and-So was president, and So-and-So was governor of Texas; when interest rates were thus, and employment was such...” And what would it mean? If Jesus’s nativity happened now, where would it likely take place?

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Singing in the Dark 5/8

John, Zechariah, and being filled with God’s Spirit. The songs we sing to our children matter. What are the melodies and lyrics we fill their imaginations with? Songs of longing and lament; songs of empowerment and good cheer; songs that transport our spirits into God’s good future – these are the songs we must sing for generations to come.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060