Read or download the text from past sermons. The most recent sermon is typically available online by 3 PM each Monday.
Sermons
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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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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
April 9, 2023
Based on Jeremiah 31. Resurrection as an Act of Resistance.
About ten years ago, a man I will call Bob had taken a bad fall and hit his head. He needed surgery and a lengthy recovery period. Given Bob’s age and diminishing health, we were worried this might be the beginning of the end.
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
April 2, 2023
Based on Psalm 118. On the Steadfast Love of God
Who do you love? Tell me who you love.
These were the words that came out of my mouth as I tried to minister with a woman named Mary in her hospital room, as she was crying out in pain in the middle of the night, when nothing else would calm her down.
Tell me who you love.
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
March 19, 2023
Based on John 9. Healing, Rejection, and The Church of Last Resort.
Before the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr became midwife to the movement for full inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community in the life and ministry of the Presbyterian Church, she was just another pastor in just another parish doing her best to love God and serve her congregation.
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
At Asbury United Methodist Church for Lenten Series Week 2
March 8, 2023
Based on Mark 9:2-8. The Transfiguration of Jesus.
This sermon was preached for the Shepherdstown Ministerial Association Midweek Lenten Series: Created for Community, hosted by the Asbury United Methodist Church, March 8, 2023. It is adapted from a sermon first preached for the St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, Tucson, AZ, March
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
March 12, 2023
Based on Romans 5:3-5. Suffering, endurance, character, and hope.
To mark the third anniversary of COVID shutdown, members of the congregation were invited to reflect on the following questions: What do you lament? What have you learned? What have you let go?
Season Jones offered the following reflection:
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
At Asbury United Methodist Church for Lenten Series Week 2
March 8, 2023
Based on Mark 9:2-8. The Transfiguration of Jesus.
This sermon was preached for the Shepherdstown Ministerial Association Midweek Lenten Series: Created for Community, hosted by the Asbury United Methodist Church, March 8, 2023. It is adapted from a sermon first preached for the St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, Tucson, AZ, March.
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
March 5, 2023
Based on Psalm 121. Where Is My Help?
At some point for all of us on the journey of faith, the moment arrives when the God we thought we knew seems utterly absent, beyond all help, beyond all hope, perhaps even beyond all existence.
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
February 26, 2023
Based on *Genesis 2-3 and Proverbs 8. Wisdom and Knowledge and How to Discern?
*incarnational translation below
We think we know the story: Adam and Eve, a snake, a fall, and then nakedness, banishment, and, yes, mortality, all in the name of pursuing wisdom.
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
January 29, 2023
Based on Matthew 5:1-12. Blessing the Un-Blessable.
There was a time in my life, maybe ten years ago, when things were really hard, and I could not see how they were going to get better. Lots of people gave advice, as people want to do, and some of it was well-meaning, and some of it was awkward, and some of it was downright bad. In the midst of it all, one piece of wisdom was so profound I return to it every time a whiff of despair whirls my way:
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
January 22, 2023
Based on Matthew 4:12, 17-23. One fish, two fish, Jesus calls us human fish.
It seems so obvious in hindsight. Jesus strolling along the seashore, collecting one follower after another, the way you and I collect seashells on vacation at Rehoboth Beach. Telling them to fish for people - and they do! - as if somehow that makes any more sense to first century Galileans than it does to us today.
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Shepherdstown Presbyteian Church
Debbie Romano
December 25, 2022
Our lesson this morning comes from the Gospel according to John. Chapter 1, verses 1-4. Listen to these words and may we hear a word--of transformation:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him, not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
Wait, what? This is the scripture for Christmas Day?
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
January 8, 2023
Based on *Genesis 1:1-2 and Matthew 3:13-17. Creation and Re-creation
*Liturgical Reading Below
A few years into pastoral ministry, a mentor of mine checked in to see how things were going.
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Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist
December 24, 2022
Based on Isaiah 9:1-5. No More Suffering
A beloved Hasidic tale, as told by the author, Holocaust survivor, and Nobel Laureate Eli Wiesel, goes something like this:
When the great Rabbi Israel Baal Shem-Tov saw misfortune threatening the Jews it was his custom to go to a certain part of the forest to meditate. There he would light a fire, say a special prayer, and the miracle would be accomplished and misfortune averted.