Continuing with our recycled sermons over summer, Mary Anne offers a sermon she received from Helen Paynter this past May at the Believers Church Conference in Amsterdam. Through Mary Anne, Paynter walks us through Isaiah 6:1-11, and how the call of Isaiah might address us as Christians today—and the honest ways we might respond.

River East is sister churches with Jubilee Mennonite Church, just down the road, and this summer we are populating our pulpits in partnership!

This week we welcome Elfrieda Schroeder from Jubilee, who offered us a sermon she had once prepared but never had the chance to preach, reflecting on the Road to Emmaus story in Luke 24:13-35.

Rather than continue through the Narrative Lectionary, over the summer months REC is continuing our tradition of offering 'recycled' sermons.

Rather than create something new each week, speakers are instead invited to choose a sermon that they have heard in the past that has stuck with them, for whatever reason. Then, at the pulpit, they share the story of why the sermon stood out for them, and then offer a 'recycled' version of that sermon once again, retaining the original author's voice as much as possible.

This week, Aaron kicks us off with a heavily edited version of David Bentley Hart's "Confessions of an Irreligious Christian," which draws on the resurrection account in 1 Corinthians 15:4-8

In this final re-upload of 2022's "Four Faces of the Prodigal Son" series, Aaron shares a so-called "dark reading" of Jesus' famous parable. Drawing on author Kester Brewin, this strange interpretation is a warning of how our best revolutionary instincts can be pacified and swallowed whole by the comforts of wealth.

Continuing with the throwback series "Four Faces of the Prodigal Son," this time Aaron takes a look at the parable with the help of Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine.

Happy Pentecost Sunday! At REC, our practice is to accept new members into the church in the Sundays surrounding Pentecost, which means our sermons are replaced by stories from new members' lives—which we do not record.

Thus, for the podcast, today we are continuing our re-uploads of 2022's "Four Faces of the Prodigal Son" series, this time Aaron interprets the parable in a more medieval, Christological way, tracing the journey of the prodigal as the journey of Christ.

For the next several Sundays at River East—due to Table Sundays, new member testimonies, and the annual church picnic—we won't have new sermons to upload to our podcast. Thus, for the next month, we'll instead be uploading an old, 4-part series that Aaron preached in late 2022, entitled "Four Faces of the Prodigal Son."

Each week, Aaron examined the famous parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) from a completely different angle, offering a completely different interpretation. Rather than seeing this as a problem, Aaron suggests that this surplus of meaning is is a feature worth exploring in any sacred text.

On May 25, Aaron took a look at the political turmoil behind the letter to the Galatians, and the emotions it seems to be stirring up in the Apostle Paul. What does love look like when our understanding of God's story clashes with other people's... especially people we care for?