Sermons

Read or download the text from past sermons.  The most recent sermon is typically available online by 3 PM each Monday.
 
 
 
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

“Holding Up Stars”
November 12, 2023

Based on Matthew 25:31-40. Jesus Tells Us Who He Is.

Imagine, if you are a parent, and even if you are not, that one day your beloved child leaps off the school bus, bounds into the house, starry eyed, with a gleeful grin and declares, “When I grow up, I want to be … hungry!”

Oh, and thirsty, too!

Don’t forget sick and in prison.

And then with the biggest gleefulest grin of all: When I grow up, I want to be NAKED!!!

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

“Contemplation and Action”
November 5, 2023

Based on Matthew 25:31-40. Jesus Tells Us What Really Matters

On All Saints Sunday, we are compelled to admit things tend to become quite a bit more clear in that moment when death begins to have its hooks in us. All of the things we think are so important suddenly fade: prosperity, prestige, even an ego-driven sense of purpose.

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Rev. Dwight McCormick

October 29, 2023

“Forgiving God”

Sermon on Jonah 3:3-4:10

Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

October 22, 2023

Based on Romans 7:15-25. Paul Admits His Shortcomings

Poor Paul. He really does want to get it right.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

October 15, 2023

Based on Matthew 18:15-17, 21-22. Forgiving Seventy Times Seven.

There was a time, back when school shootings still seemed shocking, that a community’s response seemed more shocking still.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

October 8, 2023

 

Based on Matthew 6:8-13. The Prayer of Jesus.

The sermon topic request was stark: Forgiveness, it read. HELP!

My guess, although I do not know for sure, is that this plea relates to forgiving someone else. Someone has caused great harm to the one requesting this sermon topic. How in the world can we forgive when we are still wounded by the hurt?

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquistt

October 1, 2023

 

Based on *Exodus 17:1-17. A Place of Respite in the Wilderness

*incarnational translation below

It is supposed to be a place of rest. This well-known oasis in the wilderness where Moses leads the people, a couple of months beyond their liberation from Egypt. It is supposed to be a spring of living water gushing from the rocks to whet the thirst of all who come, human and more-than-human alike.

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Gusti Linnea Newquist

September 24, 2023

Based on *Ephesians 4:25-32, selected verses. On Anger.

*incarnational translation below

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Gusti Linnea Newquist

September 17, 2023

Based on Exodus 15:1b-11. An Ancient Liturgy of Freedom

Note: One hundred sixty-one years ago, on September 17, 1862, the bloodiest day in American history unfolded on the Battlefield of Antietam, turning the sanctuary of Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church into a Confederate hospital, and leading to the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed those who were enslaved within the very walls of SPC that day.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

July 30, 2023

 

Based on Psalm 22. Praising God in the Church.

With the notable exception of the 23rd Psalm, Psalm 22 is the most recognizable of these biblical hymns. We just don’t know that we know it.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
“Live Long and Prosper”

Based on *Luke 7:18-22. Jesus Confirms He Is “The One”

*translation below

Three weeks ago, on a hot June Sunday afternoon, yours truly practiced what we call “the ministry of presence” during what I hope will become the first annual Guns to Gardens event in Shepherdstown.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

"PRIDE-Making Progress

June 4, 2023

Based on Luke 9:1-6. Shaking the Dust

In the early 1960s a man named Johnny Zander found himself out of a job.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

May 21, 2023

Based on Luke 24:49-53. Jesus Ascends Into Heaven

They were continually in the temple blessing God. Luke’s version of they all lived happily ever after. Even as Jesus really was leaving them. For good this time. And they really would now have to figure out how to do their ministry without him.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

May 14, 2023

Based on John 14:18-19. Jesus will not leave us orphaned.

In a beautiful description of first century gender bending, Jesus describes himself, in Matthew’s Gospel, as a mother hen, desiring to enfold her vulnerable hatchlings into the protective shelter of her wings to nurture, guide, and defend.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

April 30, 2023

 

Based on Acts 2:42-47. The Apostles Practice Radical Hospitality

We Choose Welcome, we say here at Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church. Radical Hospitality, we call it. Insisting that everyone and everything, and every part of ourselves, is included in the circle of God’s love. Including you. Including me.

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church put it this way, in a posting that went viral on Facebook a few years ago:

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

April 23, 2023
 

Based on Luke 24:13-35. Mourning-to-Hope at the Table

A few weeks ago, our own Mary Anne Hitt found herself in the role of guest speaker on a college campus, speaking to students about her work in the climate justice movement. Her biggest takeaway from the experience was the profound lack of hope so many of the students conveyed.

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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

April 16, 2023

 

Based on John 20:19-21. The Risen Christ Brings Peace.

Every Sunday, in our liturgy, our Declaration of Grace and Gratitude concludes with words along the lines of what we said today: proclaiming a deep peace that passes understanding, followed by a prayer from your pastor that this peace may be with you, and a response from the congregation that this peace may also be with me.

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