Bethel Community Sermons Bethel Community San Leandro

Pastor Michael continues our "Expanding the Table" sermon series, preaching for Father's Day on the parable of the prodigal. How does the father in this story create new social imaginaries by rejecting the gender binary? How does this parable grant us a more expansive view of the revolutionary act of parenthood?

Pastor Erina preaches from Acts 11, about the Spirit's transgressive work in the early Church, which led to the inclusion of Gentiles in their community. What does Peter's encounter with Cornelius teach us about how to approach divine revelation? How might we wrestle with a Scriptural tradition in which the word of God presses against the word of God and brings about new and unexpected changes?

Guest preacher, Natarsha Sanders, preaches from Romans 12 about the nature of God's radical love - a love that we are called both to experience and to embody. What might our lives look like, planted in the fertile love of God?

Pastor Michael preaches for us on Trinity Sunday, about the life of our Triune God as an embodiment of family- a family marked by belonging and belovedness.

Pastor Erina preaches for Pentecost 2024, sharing about the Holy Spirit's leveling power and casting vision for a church community where power is shared. In light of Bethel's 5 year anniversary or revitalization, what does it look like to become a house of God marked by abundance and co-creation and inspired by the Spirit's leveling power?

Guest Preacher, Erna Kim Hackett, shares a special Mother's Day and AANHPI Month reflection on Yuri Kochiyama's legacy of radical solidarity and radical mothering. How might Yuri's life and witness point us to a God of justice, and teach us how to live in these days?