Ekklesia Church at Raleigh

Ekklesia Church at Raleigh

by Ekklesia Church at Raleigh

Season 2025

Seven Last Words: Part 4 - Here is Your Son, Here is Your Mother (3/30/2025)

Today, our saying from the cross is, "Here is your son, here is your mother." This saying can feel out of place among the other quotes from the psalms, symbolic statements, and deeply theological words from the cross. But it’s that simplicity and domesticity that actually makes it so important. Additionally, we shone a spotlight on one of our campus partners, The Bridge International, to learn about their important work with survivors of human trafficking.

Seven Last Words: Part 3 - Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit (3/23/2025)

When Jesus said "Into your hands I commit my spirit" from the cross, he wasn't improvising — he was drawing on prayers that had shaped him his entire life. Our daily practices aren't just things we do; they're shaping who we become and how we respond to what life throws at us.

Seven Last Words: Part 2 - Today, You Will Be With Me in Paradise (3/16/2025)

This Sunday we discuss Jesus’s words to the “criminal” being crucified next to him. This interaction has many historical, spiritual, and theological resonances. But perhaps the thing we need to hear most from this is the intimate and personal.

Seven Last Words: Part 1 - Father, Forgive Them (3/9/2025)

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." These words from Jesus on the cross invite us into a deeper understanding of both the grace and challenge embedded in authentic forgiveness.

The Lord's Prayer: Part 9 - The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory (3/2/2025)

This Sunday, we conclude our series on the Lord‘s prayer with the doxology. What does this section about the kingdom, the power, and the glory, which appears in some versions of the Lord‘s prayer but not others, teach us about the church and ourselves?

The Lord's Prayer: Part 8 - Deliver Us From Evil (2/23/2025)

From movie villains to social media algorithms, evil takes many forms. In this exploration of the Lord’s Prayer’s plea for deliverance from evil, we examine how Jesus’ wilderness temptations reveal evil’s true nature and favorite temptations. What does this ancient prayer teach us about modern struggles with power, influence, and the seductive promise of Kingdom without cross?

The Lord's Prayer: Part 7 - Lead Us Not Into Temptation (2/16/2025)

This Sunday, we arrive at the line of the Lord's Prayer: 'Lead us not into temptation.' However, 'temptation' can also be translated as 'testing.' How does this translation change the way we look at this line? Plus, a brief discussion about the Super Bowl halftime show.

The Lord's Prayer: Part 6 - Forgive Us Our Trespasses (2/9/2025)

Forgiveness isn't only personal - it's also communal. In this sermon on 'forgive us our trespasses,' we explore how Germany's approach to historical memory offers lessons for our own angry, divided moment. From Jewish tradition to contemporary examples, we'll explore what it means to acknowledge our trespasses and find freedom in forgiveness.

The Lord's Prayer: Part 5 - Our Daily Bread (2/2/2025)

When Jesus tells us to pray for our daily bread, he is not introducing a new concept. Rather he is building on centuries of tradition. This Sunday we look at the stories Jesus is pointing us to with this line of the prayer and ask what we are really aiming for when we pray it.

The Lord's Prayer: Part 4 - Thy Kingdom Come (1/26/2025)

With divine timing (or perhaps divine humor), this sermon on "Thy Kingdom Come" lands during inauguration week, inviting us to examine what this prayer truly demands of us. Through stories of ancient Rome and Civil Rights history, we discover how Jesus' vision of God's Kingdom remains a radical challenge to every earthly power structure – calling us not just to pray differently, but to live differently.

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