What does it really mean when we invite someone in and say, "Make yourself at home"? Is it a sterile, performative greeting where we guard the decorative towels and point out the drink coasters, or is it a true welcome where guests know they can open the refrigerator without asking?On this Second Sunday of Lent, Rev. Dr. Charissa Clark Howe continues the "Tell Me Something Good" series by exploring the inseparable loop of loving God and loving our neighbor. Looking at the story of Simon the Pharisee and the woman with the alabaster jar (Luke 7), alongside Jesus's ultimate mandate to care for "the least of these" (Matthew 25), we are challenged to examine our own hospitality.We can't literally crash a first-century dinner party to wash Jesus's feet with costly perfume. But as we discover in this episode, when we abandon performative religion and offer true, messy, uncurated welcome to the hungry, the stranger, and the outcast, we are breaking open the alabaster jar right at the feet of Christ himself.

We often treat our faith and our institutions like a perfectly manicured lawn—exhausting ourselves to keep everything orderly, respectable, and predictable. But what happens when the wine runs out and our carefully cultivated resources fail?.On this First Sunday of Lent, Rev. Dr. Charissa Clark Howe explores the surprising nature of God’s Kingdom through the Wedding at Cana and the Parable of the Mustard Seed. Jesus completely flips our expectations of power and order. Instead of a majestic Cedar of Lebanon or rigid jars of purification, he brings 180 gallons of extravagant joy and plants an invasive, scrappy weed that grows into a sanctuary for the vulnerable.Listen in to discover why the Good News catches us by surprise, why we don't need to be a pristine lawn, and why the church does its most profound work when it embraces being the "scrappy underdog".

On this Ash Wednesday, Rev. Dr. Charissa Clark Howe reflects on the Parable of the Great Dinner in Luke 14:15–24. When the comfortable and secure make excuses to avoid the feast, the host doesn't cancel the party—he expands the guest list to the streets and alleys. Too often, the modern church expends its energy fretting over empty pews and courting those who are already safe and full. But what if our true calling is to fill our sanctuary with those who actually need a sanctuary—the vulnerable, the fearful, and the neighbors pushed to the edges by the "wolves" of our world?

Listen in as we explore what radical, protective welcome looks like, and how the ashes we wear today level the playing field, destroying worldly hierarchies by reminding us that whether we are an "insider" or an "outsider," we are all made of the exact same dust.

We often think of "mountaintop experiences" as spiritual highs, but in Scripture, they are usually terrifying. On this Transfiguration Sunday, Rev. Dr. Charissa Clark Howe explores Matthew 17:1–9, where Peter reacts to the glory of God not with joy, but with a frantic desire to build tents—to freeze the holy moment and avoid the hard road ahead.Listen in to discover why God interrupts our attempts to stay comfortable, why Jesus’ touch is the only cure for our fear of change, and why we must eventually pack up and head back down the mountain. Because while tents are for staying, Transfiguration is for sending.

We often curate our spiritual lives like a social media feed—cropping out the mess to present a picture of perfect piety. But God isn't scrolling for likes; God is looking for justice. In this sermon on Isaiah 58:1–12 and Matthew 5:13–20, Rev. Dr. Charissa Clark Howe confronts the trap of performative religion.Jesus calls us to be salt and light—elements that are useless if they stay in the shaker or hide under a bowl. True worship requires us to dissolve into the world, using our spiritual practices not as a trophy, but as fuel to feed the hungry and break the yoke of oppression. Listen in to explore how we can move from empty rituals to becoming "Repairers of the Breach."

Micah 6:8 is often treated as a comforting quote for a cross-stitch sampler, but in its original context, it is the dramatic verdict of a cosmic lawsuit where God pleads a case against humanity before the mountains. In this sermon, we explore why we are so tempted to offer God "ten thousand rivers of oil"—transactional sacrifices to buy our way out of guilt—rather than the intimacy of a relationship. Connecting the prophet’s call to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1–12, we discover that God doesn't want our "stuff"; God wants our walk. Join us as we move from the exhaustion of transactional religion to the freedom of walking humbly with the God of hesed—a sticky, loyal love that refuses to let us go.

When the headlines are heavy and the world feels overwhelming, it is validating to remember that even Jesus needed to withdraw after receiving bad news. But his retreat in Matthew 4:12–23 was not an escape; it was a strategic move to gather a community that could shine in the "deep darkness" prophesied in Isaiah 9:1–4. Join us as we dismantle the myth of "pole fishing" spirituality and discover why the true Light of the World is found not in individual heroics, but in the collective net of a community willing to drop its expectations and weave its lives together.

When we are stuck in the "miry bog" of life's crises, patience feels impossible and the old songs of hope can feel worn out. Exploring Psalm 40:1–11 , this sermon challenges us to stop fighting the "quicksand" of our circumstances and instead trust in the God who has a history of lifting us from the pit. Join us as we learn how our past deliverance becomes a testimony for today, giving us the strength to endure while we wait for God to put a "new song" in our mouths.