Harvard Avenue Christian Church

text :: Colossians 3: 12 – 17 theme verse :: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col 3:17) // From mowing yards or babysitting or bagging groceries as teenagers to the roles of corporate life in […]

text :: 1 Peter 5: 6 – 11 theme verse :: “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10) // Few of us seek pain yet none of us […]

text :: John 1:1-14 theme verse :: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) // Preeminent American food writer, M.F.K. Fisher once said, “People ask me: why do you write about food, […]

text :: Genesis 28: 10 – 22 theme verse :: “Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!'” (Gen28:16) // How can we possibly know a God so vast and mysterious as intimately as we know the gift of rocking an infant […]

text :: Galatians 5:1, 13-25 theme verse :: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25) // When given a task to complete without any instruction, there are generally two responses. Some people are thrilled! They wouldn’t have pulled out the instructions anyway. Others are terrified. “I […]

text :: Romans 5:1-5 theme verse :: “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Rom 5:1) // The classic rock band, Boston, offers us a line in their 1976 hit song, Peace of Mind: “I understand about indecision. I don’t care if I get behind. People […]

text :: Hebrews 10:19-25 theme verse :: “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds…” (Hebrews 10:24) // 60TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION On March 22, 1959, a courageous few gathered imagining what it would mean for them to be Christ’s Church at 55th and Harvard in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sixty years […]

text :: Revelation 22: 12 – 21 theme verse :: “Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.” (Revelation 22:17b) // A sermon from the book of Revelation. That should be plenty different. Is it a dream? vision? prophecy? something else? We’ve made ourselves afraid of this text … when most […]

text :: Galatians 3: 23 – 29 theme verse :: “But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.” (Gal 3:25-26) // It’s race weekend in Indianapolis – Motorsports’ crown event. It’s truly an amazing thing – the […]

text :: Acts 8:26-40 theme verse :: “Philip commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.” (Acts 8:38) // Every time the waters of baptism are stirred, there is a stirring of the Spirit. It never fails. It’s just water and […]

text :: Acts 9: 36 – 43 theme verse :: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.” (Acts 9:36) // Dorcas, a disciple of Jesus, was “devoted to good works and acts of charity.” The actual […]

text :: John 21: 15 – 25 theme verse :: “Lord, what about him?” (John 21:21b) // ‘Tis the season for transition. Jesus moved from death to life. The disciples moved from followers to leaders. Our seniors are moving from high school to… whatever comes next. Any transition to a new existence comes as a […]

text :: John 20: 14 – 20 theme verse :: “…Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:20b) // In each of the gospel accounts, the women are the first to learn of the resurrection, first to see and hear the risen Lord, and first to be charged with the task to […]

text :: Luke 24: 1 – 12 theme verse :: “Peter got up, ran to the tomb; stopping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.” (Luke 24:12) // Rhythm is simply defined as a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound. Gloria […]

A series of readings and choral works, updating the traditional service of darkness, marking the solemn importance of the cross, and Good Friday. As the readings move us through the order of events in the crucifixion, most are followed by the extinguishing of a candle – 14 candles in all. In the audio, you’ll hear […]

text :: John 13:1-20 theme verse :: “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15) // Any musician will tell you that honoring the ‘rests’ are just as important as playing the ‘notes.’ Even so, we are culturally all about the notes and […]

text :: Luke 19: 28 – 40 theme verse :: “They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’” (Luke 19:34) // “Discernment is truly a gift from God, but not one dropped from the skies fully formed. It is a gift cultivated by a prayerful life and the search for self-knowledge.”(Ernest Larkin). There was a lot of […]

text :: Psalm 139:1-18; 23-24 theme verse :: “See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:24) // Some of us have been so shaped by shame-based family or church systems that we resist entering into deeper levels of self-awareness for fear of being debilitated even […]

text :: Exodus 19: 1 – 8 // Civilizations have long valued and cared for the mystery that is the human body. The Christian practice of honoring the body is, as Stephanie Paulsell notes, “born of the confidence that our bodies are made in the image of God’s own goodness.” The complexities of physical health […]

text :: Romans 8:26-27 // Many of us have learned a “go-to” prayer over time –often a bedtime prayer as a child or The Lord’s Prayer as we prayed it each week in worship. But ask anyone without notice to say a prayer aloud or share about their prayer life and most get wide-eyed and […]