Dr. Jim Rigby's Sermons:
Lessons in Living
Join us Sundays at 8:30 or 10:45 for worship and at 9:30 for
Jim's Sunday school lesson on the same topic.
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Jim is back this Sunday, August 1!
Guest Speakers in July
In July we heard from four guest speakers while Jim was gone. Check them out!
July 4 – Barbara McCarty, regular attendee at St. Andrew’s and past moderator of the Presbytery.
"What IS Security?" Audio file (Mp3)
July 11 - Rev. Dr. Ilene Dunn – Pastor of Madison Square Presbyterian Church in San Antonio.
"The House Built on a Strong Foundation" Audio file (Mp3)
July 18 – Laura Westerlage, member of St. Andrew’s and student at Austin Seminary.
"The Radical Inclusiveness of God's Grace" Audio file (Mp3)
July 25 – Bob Jensen, member of St. Andrew’s and UT Professor of Journalism.
"Why Are We Here?" Audio file (Mp3) Text: transcript (pdf)
June Sermons
June 27: "The Beatitudes as a Revolutionary Manifesto"
Audio file (Mp3) Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "When everybody gets comfortable, we're going in the wrong direction. To be a loving human being requires a toleration of ambiguity that does not come naturally."
June 20
Audio file (Mp3) Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "The word "church" is a not very good translation of the word "ekklesia." In Greek that means "called out." The early Christians were those who heard the call -- outside their culture, outside their economic status, outside the systems of violence, outside the systems of domination -- heard a call to be universal ministers to the world. That is what it means to answer the call."
June 13: "In Times of Fear"
Audio file (Mp3) Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "The Psalms lead us to those places in the heart that sometimes we least want to go. But then the wisdom on the page of the psalm awakens the wisdom in our own heart."
June 6
Audio file (Mp3) Text: transcript (pdf)
Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (The Inclusive Bible) Hear, O Israel: YHWH, our God, YHWH is One! You are to love YHWH, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Let these words that I command you today be written in your heart. Teach them diligently to your children, and repeat them constantly -- when you are at home, when you are walking down a road, when you lie down at night and when you get up in the morning. Tie them on your hand as a reminder; wear them as a circlet on your forehead; write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Jim: "One of the most important decisions you will ever make in your life, if not the most important, is whether your spiritual life will be animated out of fear or out of love."
Previous Sermons and Sermon Series
Around the World in 40 Days: A Loving Look at World Religions from a Christian Perspective
The world is getting smaller and smaller. If we do not learn to respect human differences, our prospects as a species look dim. This sermon series will move around the globe to study the similarities and differences between world religions. Each week we will take a world scripture and a Christian text to find a common depth between them. The last week will show that even atheism can be a source of wisdom and love and need not end the dialog between respectful human beings. From Part 1: "We have a duty to be world citizens - and it's not comfortable, but it's wonderful once we start doing that - but that is the calling a Christian has."
April 11 audio: Part 1: What a Christian can learn from Hinduism Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "There is one religion in the world. I am not a relativist. It's a religion you see all around the world in the depth of every true religion, which is universal love. And when you're called to be "in Christ", you're being called to love that way and live that way."
"What we're called to do as Christians: to be more than your religion, to be more than your nation, to be more than the narrow frame you would draw around your own survival."
"We will never know the depths of Christianity if we stay in sectarian Christianity."
April 18 audio: Part 2: What a Christian can learn from Buddhism Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "There is an incredible difference between a religion of belief and a religion of awareness. When I was exposed to Buddhism, I not only realized the value of a religion of awareness, but I realized that's what Jesus was talking about."
"What Jesus is teaching us is how to see the divine in each other."
April 25 audio: Part 3: What a Christian can learn from Taoism Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "For many people, that idea of a vengeful, vindictive God has been what derailed them from theology in general. It's helpful to realize it was never intended that way, at the start. Yes, it's been used that way, but it's talking at a deeper level."
"Love is the most powerful and enduring force in the universe."
Lao-tzu: "The tao [the way] that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding."
May 2 audio: Part 4: What a Christian can learn from Confucianism Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "Like Confucius, you were born in a time of great change and turmoil. Every understanding is tottering now. The exciting thing is that just like Confucius, you can live by principles. Know that no matter how tumultuous your world is, you begin to change the world when you change yourself."
Confucius: "They who know the truth are not equal to they who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it."
May 9 audio: Part 5: What a Christian can learn from Native American religion Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "It seems to me, with the history of how people on this continent treated the Native Americans, that there's a humility that I think is required when we lift up the teachings."
"The indigenous people around the world have something to teach us. People who've stayed close to the earth have something to teach us that we've lost... and that we need, to survive as a species."
Black Elk: "The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."
May 16 audio: Part 6: What a Christian can learn from Judaism Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim focuses on the passages from the Hebrew Scriptures known as the "Jubilee texts." These words are echoed by Jesus when he teaches in the temple.
Jim: "If you take "Jubilee" out of Christianity -- the social justice message: on earth as it is in heaven -- when you take that out of Christianity, you're not talking about what Jesus was talking about."
May 23 audio: Part 7: What a Christian can learn from Islam Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "If you call yourself a Christian, you have a duty not to take up the enemies that anyone else tells you to take up. All religions have to get past power. All religions have to get past belief. And get down to what the prophets have really come to tell us, and that's that love is at the core. It's at the core of life, it's at the core of the universe, it's the core of each of us."
May 30 audio: Part 8: Can Atheism Be Spiritual? Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "We need to build a bridge between theism and non-theism, because that's where the hope of humankind lies."
Easter 2010 (audio) Transcript (pdf)
Jim: "We need to come to life, wherever we are. The resurrection happens when we stop seeing the sacred only in Jesus, and begin to see it in each other."
The Disciples' Prayer
All the sermons in Jim's series on prayer are based on Matthew 6:7-13, as follows from The Inclusive Bible: “And when you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles. They think God will hear them if they use a lot of words. Don’t imitate them. Your God knows what you need before you ask it. This is how you are to pray: ‘God in heaven, hallowed be your name! May your reign come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven: give us today the bread of Tomorrow. And forgive us our debts, as we hereby forgive those who re indebted to us. Don’t put us to the test, but free us from evil.’”
February 7 audio: The Disciples' Prayer, Part 1 Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim delivers a very personal introduction to this series, as he relates the ideas to his very recent experience of the death of his father.
February 14 audio: The Disciples' Prayer, Part 2 Text: transcript (pdf)
The symbol of heaven and its meaning today.
February 21 audio: The Disciples' Prayer, Part 3 Text: transcript (pdf)
The phrase "Hallowed be thy name." can have a new depth of meaning and make us mindful of the ground of our being.
February 28 audio: The Disciples' Prayer, Part 4 Text: transcript (pdf)
Jim: "To pray for it to be 'on earth, as it is in heaven' means to give ourselves to that voice we hear right now, calling us to care... to be an ambassador for another kind of world."
March 7 audio: The Disciples' Prayer, Part 5 Text: transcript (pdf)
"Give us this day our daily bread." Can a 21st century person ask for gifts from "out there", or is prayer meant to be something much deeper than most of us realize?
March 14 audio: The Disciples' Prayer, Part 6 Text: transcript (pdf)
"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Jim: "If there's going to be hope for our species, we need to learn this art of forgiveness."
March 21 audio: The Disciples' Prayer, Part 7 Text: transcript (pdf)
"Lead us not into temptation." Jim: "The point is that every spiritual pilgrim will run across certain crises as they grow." Our awareness of the choices that will confront us on the path is crucial to our spiritual maturation.
March 28 audio: The Disciples' Prayer, Part 8 Text: transcript (pdf)
"For thine is the kin-dom, the power, and the glory forever." (We use the word "kin-dom",coined by theologian Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, because God transcends gender, and to emphasize our familial relationship with each other, both here and world-wide.) Jim: "The true source of happiness is giving everything we have and are to the common life."
Humor in the Bible
January 3 audio: Part 1: "Balaam's Ass" Text: transcript (in Word)
This sermon is based on the story of Balaam and his donkey, found in Numbers 22:21-35.
January 10 audio: Part 2: "Baldy and the Bears" Text: transcript (in Word)
This story, involving the prophet Elisha, is found in II Kings 2:23-25.
January 17 audio: Part 3: "The Incompetent Exorcists" Text: transcript (in Word)
Acts 19:13-16 is where you can find this teaching story about some exorcists who got in over their heads.
January 24 audio: Part 4: "When Pigs Fly" Text: transcript (in Word)
A herd of pigs runs into the lake in this story. But who are the pigs, really? Matthew 8:28-34
January 31 audio: Part 5: "The Algebra of Bigotry" Text: transcript (in Word)
Paul attempts to jolt Titus from his prejudice. Titus 7:1-16
Advent/Christmas Series
November 29 (first Sunday in Advent) Audio: "Giving Birth to Hope, Part 1" Text: transcript (in Word)
December 6 Audio: "Giving Birth to Hope, Part 2: Mary" Text: transcript (in Word)
December 13 Audio: "Giving Birth to Hope, Part 3: Waiting" Text: transcript (in Word)
December 20 Audio: "Giving Birth to Hope, Part 4: The Importance of Song" Text: transcript (in Word)
December 24: "Giving Birth to Hope, Part 5: Angels" Only text is available: transcript (in Word)
December 27 Audio: "Giving Birth to Hope, Part 6: Hope Speaks" Text: transcript (in Word)
Thanksgiving 2009
The Challenges and Hope of a Realistic Look at Thanksgiving
Finding Your Path
- October 11: "Finding Your Path Part 1" transcript (in Word)
- October 18: "Finding Your Path Part 2: A Theology of Opening" transcript (in Word)
- October 25: "Finding Your Path Part 3: Cloud of Witnesses" transcript (in Word)
- November 1: "Finding Your Path Part 4: A Listening Heart" transcript (in Word)
- November 8: "Finding Your Path Part 5: Family of Choice" transcript (in Word)
- November 15: "Finding Your Path Part 6: Obstacles" transcript (in Word)
Genesis 2: Eden Song
The book of Genesis is not history or science. It is sacred poetry. The images of the creation story are not meant to shame us, but ask how we have "fallen" out of nature and how we might find our way back in.
- September 6: "Pt. 1 - The Garden" transcript (in Word)
- September 13: "Pt. 2 - Adam" transcript (in Word)
- September 20: "Pt. 3 - Eve" transcript (in Word)
- September 27: "Pt. 4 - The Snake" transcript (in Word)
- October 4: "Pt. 5 - The Tree" transcript (in Word)
“On Love,” based on I Corinthians 13.
- August 2: "Pt. 1, Love is Patient" transcript (in Word)
- August 16: “Pt. 2, Love is Kind” transcript (in Word)
- August 23: “Pt. 3, Love is Not Jealous” transcript (in Word)
- August 30: “Pt. 4, Love is Not Puffed Up” (audio not available)
- August 9: Babs Miller spoke on “Saying Good-bye,” based on John 14:1–4.
July’s Super Summer Extravaganza
While Jim was on writing leave, these speakers brought us great sermons from diverse standpoints:
- July 5: Barbara McCarty, minister for Poiema, spoke on “Blood, Sweat, and Laughter: Why I Am a Member of an Intentional Christian Community.” Her sermon drew from Matthew 6:7–15, Matthew 22: 36–40, and Ephesians 2:10. transcript (in Word)
- July 12: Tom Spencer, chief executive officer of Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, spoke on “Real Hope.” transcript (in Word)
- July 19: Chuck Freeman, minister for Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church and founder of the Free Souls Project, spoke on “My Feet Is Tired, But My Soul Is Rested,” based on the response of Mother Pollard when the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., suggested that, because he felt that she was too old to walk, she could use the bus during the 1955–56 Montgomery bus boycott. transcript (in Word)
- July 26: Rabbi Neil Blumofe, who is also a cantor with several jazz CDs out and often mixes biblical, mystical, and musical insights, drew from Isaiah 1:1–17 for his sermon, “Telling Time to Save Our Life — The Importance of Living in Sacred Time.” transcript (in Word)
The Gospel According to Monty Python
British comedy group Monty Python made some of the most insightful critiques of religion ever. There is nothing more respectful of the sacred mystery than a good laugh at human efforts to capture it in religious forms. This series of sermons will examine the jokes of Monty Python as a way of understanding the teachings of Jesus.
Each sermon is based on an inoffensive scene from either “Life of Brian” or “The Meaning of Life” and a related Scriptural passage in which Jesus makes the same critique of religion.
- May 31: “Clueless Guides”
(based on the scene from the Sermon on the Mount in “Life of Brian”; Matthew 15:10–20) transcript (in Word) - June 7: “Empty Prayers”
(based on the prayer scene in “The Meaning of Life”; Matthew 6:5–15) transcript (in Word) - June 14: “Deedless Revolutionaries”
(based on the People’s Front of Judea from “Life of Brian”; Luke 17:20–37) transcript (in Word) - June 21: “Empty Omens”
(based on the sandal scene in “Life of Brian”; Mark 8:11–13) transcript (in Word) - June 28: “Mindless Piety”
(based on the stoning scene in “Life of Brian”; Mark 3:19b–30 transcript (in Word)
Warning! Watch the full movies only if you are not easily offended. And watch “The Meaning of Life” only if nothing offends you.
May 24: The Journey: Learning to Re-Image God
Our special guest was the Rev. Nan Jenkins, retired minister from First Presbyterian Church in Elgin. Drawing from Genesis 12:1–2 and 4–9, Ruth 1:7–22, and Luke 9:1–6, Rev. Jenkins shared the experiences of her journey of faith. (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
Resurrection Stories, the Risen Christ, and Life
Each of the Gospels relates a story of an encounter with the risen Christ — resurrection stories, as they are called. In many of these stories, the encounter comes in the form of mistaken identity. The disciples come to recognize the risen Christ in a mysterious stranger. Eventually, at Pentecost, they come to experience that same spirit in one another.
In this series, Rev. Rigby explores the message of these particular resurrection stories:
- Luke 23:32–43 and Mark 15:40–41 on Apr. 12 (Easter Sunday): “The Heart of the Matter” (Audio available)
- Mark 16:1–8 and I Kings 19:9–13b on Apr. 19: “Finding God in the Emptiness” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Matthew 28:1–20 on Apr. 26 (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Luke 24:13–24 and 25–35 on May 3 (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- John 19:11–18 and 24–31 on May 10 (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Acts 17:22–34 and the Gospel of Thomas on May 17 (Pentecost Sunday) (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
Is Easter the story of a walking cadaver or an experience of the spirit of life itself? When the risen Christ calls us, are we being called to the Christian Church? Or to the one life of us all?
Palm Sunday
Apr. 5: “When You Don't Know What to Do” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
The Biblical Roots of Activism
In March, Dr. Jim Rigby reviewed the Scriptural call to Jubilee and its significance to the way we are called to live today:
- Mar. 1: “Good News to the Poor” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Mar. 8: “Care for the Earth” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Mar. 15: “Women Belong to Themselves” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Mar. 22: “Call No One Unclean” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Mar. 29: “Blessed are the Peacemakers” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
Working with the Emotions
In February, Dr. Jim Rigby explored what Scripture has to say about our emotions and how we are called to work with them:
- Feb. 1: “Anger” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Feb. 8: “Grief” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Feb. 15: “Desire” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Feb. 22: “Fear” (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
The Book of James
- Jan. 25: On Prayer, from James 5:13–18. (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Jan. 18: Finding the Steering Wheel of Your Soul, from James 3:1–12. (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Jan. 11: Favoritism — Sit Here; Sit There, from James 2:1–11. (Audio and transcript (in Word) available.)
- Jan. 4: On Trials and Teabags, from James 1:12–18. (partial Audio and transcript (in Word) available.) (Due to an error in the booth, the recording has only the last 11 minutes and 56 seconds of this sermon.)
Saving Christmas
The task of theology is to build a bridge between the sacred as presented in our scriptural traditions and the world in which people actually live. Rather than fight against secular aspects of Christmas, we must attempt to reclaim the secular elements of Christmas wherever we can without betraying the message Christmas is intended to proclaim.
This series includes five sermons from Nov. 30 through Dec. 28, 2008.
Bringing AGAPE to Life
This series presents the background for the model we use at St. Andrew’s to ensure that we follow a balanced approach in pursuing our mission.
Dr. Rigby gave these five sermons from Oct. 20 through Nov. 17, 2008.
Earlier Sermons
To find other sermons delivered at St. Andrew’s:
- Check our online archive, Podcasts and Transcripts of Sermons and Speeches.
- Pick up a sermon tape for $1 in the church office. Each Sunday’s sermon is available right after the service.
- Find printed copies of some of Jim Rigby’s recent sermons in the church foyer.
Please use these opportunities to share our progressive Christian message with interested friends, family, and those unable to attend our worship services.
You might also be interested in other articles about St. Andrew’s and our mission.