Gray Memorial United Methodist Church Sermons
Sermons offered at Gray Memorial UMC in Tallahassee, Florida. To learn more, visit graymumc.org.
Episodes
123 episodes
Recognizing Christ on the Road With Us
On the road to Emmaus, two disciples walk away from Jerusalem in confusion and grief, only to discover later that the risen Christ had been with them all along. This sermon explores how we, too, often fail to recognize Christ’s presence—not bec...
Love Made Visible in the Empty Tomb
In this Easter message from John 20:1–18, we follow Mary Magdalene as she moves from grief and confusion to recognition when the risen Christ calls her by name. The resurrection does not erase the darkness all at once, but reveals that God meet...
Love Made Visible in the King We Almost Missed
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem looked like the moment everyone had been waiting for—but the crowd misunderstood the kind of king he truly was. Expecting power and quick change, they celebrated with “Hosanna!” and turned to "Crucify him!"...
Love Made Visible in the Weeping
Joe Moxley reflects on John 11:33–37, where Jesus weeps, to show that God’s love is not distant but deeply present in human sorrow. Through stories of family, grief, and pastoral care, he reminds us that love becomes visible not just in words, ...
Love Made Visible: Opened Eyes, Changed Lives
In John 9, Jesus restores sight to a man born blind—but the deeper story is about learning to see what God is doing. As the man’s understanding grows layer by layer, he moves from simply knowing about Jesus to recognizing him as Lord. This serm...
Love Made Visible in the Listening
In “Love Made Visible in the Listening,” Rev. Beth Demme explores Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4, revealing how Jesus crosses deep cultural and religious boundaries simply by sitting down, listening, and truly seeing anothe...
Love Made Visible for the Sake of the World
On this second Sunday of Lent, we proclaim the heart of John 3:16–17: God loves the world and comes not to condemn, but to save. As we continue our Love Made Visible series and remove another layer from the painting in worship, w...
Love Made Visible in the Wilderness
In this first week of Lent, we follow Jesus into the wilderness and discover that love is formed long before it is seen. The temptations he faces are not obvious evils but subtle distortions—grasping for control, turning identity into performan...
Love Made Visible in the Ashes
On this Ash Wednesday, we begin our Lenten journey with Psalm 51 and the honest prayer, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Rather than bargaining with God or hiding our brokenness, we learn to lean fully on God’s steadfast love, the love that...
Awakened to Grace Through Service
In this final message of the Awakened to Grace series, we reflect on how ordinary practices (prayer, scripture, silence, fasting, Sabbath, and service) create space for God’s transforming grace. Drawing on Matthew 25, we see that grace...
Awakened to Grace Through Sabbath
In this sermon, Pastor Beth explores Sabbath as a gift of grace looking at Genesis, Jesus’ teaching in Matthew, and the wisdom of John Greenleaf Whittier. Through story, hymn, and Scripture, we discover that Sabbath is not about doing less perf...
Awakened to Grace Through Fasting
This is a look at fasting as a spiritual performance or act of deprivation, but as a way of creating space to awaken to God's grace. Drawing on Jesus's teaching in Matthew 6 and the prophetic call of Isaiah 58, the message invites us to fast fr...
Awakened to Grace Through Silence
In this sermon, we meet the prophet Elijah not at his strongest, but at his most exhausted—hiding in a cave where God does not appear in noise or spectacle, but in a sound of sheer silence. Drawing on Scripture and real-life stories, t...
Awakened to Grace Through Scripture
On the road to Emmaus, Scripture does not give the disciples new information—it awakens them to the grace that has been walking with them all along. In this sermon, Pastor Beth explores Scripture not as a test to pass or a weapon to wield, but ...
Awakened to Grace Through Prayer
Guest preacher Joe Moxley offers a message about prayer on January 11, 2026.
Notice the Light Still Shines
On Epiphany Sunday, we reflect on how God’s light often appears in ordinary places and unexpected moments especially for the weary, the searching, the outsider, and all who long to belong. Scripture reading by Kim Maxwell.
Love Has Come Close
On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we reflect on the nearness of God’s love, a love that does not stay distant but comes close to hold life in the midst of a complicated world. Drawing on Luke’s Christmas story and the image of refugia, we see ho...
Blue Christmas 2025: An Empty Chair
On one of the longest nights of the year, we gather to make space for what is often left unspoken at Christmas. Absence, sorrow, and long seasons of waiting still exist. God meets us not by erasing our pain, but by sitting with us in it, offeri...
Joy Breaks In So That It Can Break Out
On Joy Sunday, we explore how the angels’ proclamation of “good news of great joy” transforms ordinary lives. Through the story of the shepherds, we discover that joy does not erase hardship but reshapes how we live—and how we witness to God’s ...
Jesus Brings Peace to Our Torn Places
The shepherds lived on the margins, carrying wounds the world refused to see—yet God chose them to receive the first news of the Savior. Their story becomes a window into our own experience of feeling torn, weary, or unworthy. This message proc...
Nothing is Impossible With God
In this Advent message, Pastor Beth reflects on what it means to wait with hope when the world feels weary and the promises of God seem slow in coming. Looking at Mary and Joseph’s story, she reminds us that hope is rooted not in certainty, but...
Between Two Kingdoms
Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Luke 23:33-43 On Christ the King Sunday, we’re reminded that Jesus rules not by force or intimidation, but by mercy, compassion, and self-giving love. Standing between two kingdoms—fear and control on one side, f...
God Provides
A message by special guest, Seals Martin, a student with the Wesley Foundation at FSU and TSC. Scripture is read by Bill Eddy.