Progressive Christian Sermons with Rev. David Wheeler

The Good News Is… Together, the Impossible Is Possible | Third Sunday in Lent – Drew Southworth

Guest preacher Drew Southworth brings the message for the Third Sunday in Lent in our series “The Good News Is…”. In a world that often pushes people away from the table, the gospel invites us to pull up chairs instead. Through simple acts of welcome, shared humanity, and courageous love of neighbor, we discover that when communities choose belonging over division, the impossible begins to become possible.
 
This sermon invites us to imagine what could happen if ordinary people committed themselves to widening the circle—making room for one more story, one more life, one more seat at the table.

The Good News Is… Great Love for God and Neighbor

Luke 7:36–50 | Matthew 25:35–40
On this Second Sunday of Lent, Rev. David Wheeler explores the story often titled “The Sinful Woman” and Jesus’ teaching that whatever we do to “the least of these,” we do to him.
What if the real failure in Luke 7 isn’t scandalous behavior — but withheld welcome? What if the most dangerous sin is not what we do, but the love we refuse to give?
Preaching in the midst of U.S. military action toward Iran and rising global violence, this sermon names the tension between empire and the kin-dom of God. It reflects on power, national identity, soldiers who carry out orders they did not choose, and the human cost of turning people into categories.
The question at the heart of the gospel is not “Were you respectable?” or “Did you win?”It is far simpler — and far more disruptive:
Did you love?
This message is both lament and hope — an invitation to see differently, to love courageously, and to refuse to let any human being become invisible.

The Good News Is... So Good, it Catches Us By Surprise

John 2:1–11 | Matthew 13:31–32 | First Sunday in Lent
At a wedding in Cana, the wine runs out. Instead of shame or scarcity, Jesus brings abundance. Instead of tightening boundaries, he widens the table.
In this Lenten sermon, we explore what the miracle at Cana and the mustard seed parable reveal about joy, justice, and the kin-dom of God. What does it mean to practice joy as resistance in a culture shaped by fear? How do we embody courageous love for immigrants, students, and neighbors in uncertain times?
The good news isn’t fragile. It’s disruptive. It’s abundant. And it still catches us by surprise.

A Better Way to Read the Bible Today

James 2:1–9; Matthew 23:23–24
Not every Bible verse carries equal weight.
In this sermon from The Bible They Never Told You About series, Rev. David Wheeler explores what Jesus called the “weightier matters” of the law: justice, mercy, and faith.
How we read Scripture shapes who gets a seat at the table — and who gets pushed to the margins. The Bible has been used to defend power and to proclaim liberation. Same text. Different lens.
In a time of political anger, polarization, and spiritual exhaustion, this message wrestles with forgiveness without surrendering justice — and asks what happens when we choose love, not fear, as our interpretive lens.
If your faith feels strained by culture wars, this sermon offers a deeper way forward.
Love as the lens.Justice as the weight.Mercy as the measure.

When the Bible Disagrees With Itself — and the Verses Used to Harm

What do we do when the Bible seems to contradict itself?And what happens when Scripture is used not to heal—but to harm?
In this sermon, Rev. David Wheeler explores two foundational questions many people are quietly asking today: how to read biblical contradictions with honesty, and how to confront verses that have been weaponized against LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and women.
Drawing from Genesis 1–2 and Acts 15, this message shows how the Bible itself models faithful disagreement—and how the early church chose love over control when Scripture was contested. We examine how certain passages have been misused to justify slavery, racism, exclusion, and patriarchy, and why those interpretations were always more about power than faithfulness.
This sermon is especially for:• People who love the Bible but struggle with it• Those who have been hurt by how Scripture was used against them• Anyone seeking a faith they won’t need to deconstruct from later
Rather than defending or dismissing the Bible, this message invites listeners into a more honest, humane, and life-giving way of engaging Scripture—one rooted in justice, humility, and love.
Because love is the point.

What God Requires. Who Jesus Blesses.

What happens when faith steps out of the sanctuary and onto streets marked by fear?
After traveling to Minneapolis to witness the impact of immigration enforcement firsthand, Pastor David reflects on what he saw — and how two ancient scriptures suddenly felt urgently alive. Drawing from Micah’s call to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly” and Jesus’ surprising list of who is truly blessed, this message explores what discipleship looks like when real lives are at stake.
It's not about politics. It's about following Jesus when mercy and courage matter most.

In the Time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In

In part 1 of this Advent series, Rev. Wheeler suggests that in every era, the world has had leaders, like Herod, who led unjustly, hoarded wealth and power for themselves, and let the real needs of their people go unaddressed. In times like these, we long for God to "break in" and set the wrongs to right. But what if God has already been breaking in? What if God works through us instead of through proverbial lightning bolts from the sky?

Reign of Love, Not Domination

This was Rev. Wheeler's Reign of Christ/Christ the King Sunday sermon on November 23, 2025. Based on Luke 23:33-43, he suggests that the world will never be transformed by the love of power; only the power of love can transform it! Christian Nationalism and other coercive forms of attempts at change do nothing but add to the noise and division. Can we love our way into a better world?