Out of Egypt: Introduction - Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

This sermon opens the fall series Out of Egypt, in which we read Exodus alongside Acts. Exodus is the story of God freeing a people from empire and teaching them to trust; Acts is the story of that same God pouring out the Spirit and forming a new family that crosses every border. Why tell the story of a people held in captivity? Because getting out of Egypt is one thing; getting Egypt out of you is the work of a lifetime. Pharaoh, who is never named in the story, represents the powers of empire: fear, greed, violence, material wealth, and scarcity, and everyone in the story is confronted with the same choice, empire or God. Every week this fall we will return to one invitation: Name your Egypt. Trust the God who brings you out. And take another step toward becoming the people God is forming. The heart of the sermon is Exodus 1:1-14, read slowly as a plan that unfolds in four phases. First, Pharaoh attacks the nation’s memory: a new king comes to power “to whom Joseph meant nothing,” refusing to remember that Egypt is standing because of a refugee, which is exactly where Stephen begins his own retelling in Acts 7. Second, he misrepresents the Hebrews to exploit social divisions, teaching his people to “look” at their neighbors as a threat over a betrayal that had not happened. Third, he enforces division through forced labor, building store cities for a king who had all the grain in the world and still believed there was not enough. Fourth, he institutionalizes it as a caste system, bitter labor in brick and mortar with no rest for anyone, not even for Pharaoh. God is not named anywhere in these fourteen verses, and yet “be fruitful and multiply” is still running underneath Pharaoh’s feet: the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied. The sermon closes by looking at the fear behind the plan. Pharaoh’s anxiety is fear of the future, and it asks him to partner with evil today to prevent tomorrow’s evil, what the sermon calls a demonic imagination, against which God invites us to a prophetic imagination of liberation, peace, healing, and jubilee. Then the text turns and looks at us: forget the ones who saved you, teach the people to see their neighbor as a threat, build the warehouses. It is read from the good book, not the newspaper, but the pharaohs are not only out there. There is a pharaoh of fear, of scarcity, and of exclusion in each of us. The invitation stands: name your Egypt, trust the God who brings you out, and take another step. God is not named in these verses, but God is not absent. God is in the “And.” God is in the multiplying. And next Sunday the story reaches the delivery stool, where God is finally named in the hands of two women who decided they were not afraid of Pharaoh.

Waking Up: Our Vision - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

What happens when we move through life—or even our faith—on autopilot? What does it cost us? Others? In Ephesians, we’re invited to wake up to God’s presence and the beautiful vision God has been unfolding for centuries: a people being transformed by Jesus, learning to belong to one another across differences, and living with freedom, joy, and boundless generosity. Pastor Hannah explores how we can move from simply going through the motions to becoming more awake to what God is already doing in us, among us, and around us. There are several directions we're heading as a church community to press into our vision and move toward God's dreams together this year. We'd love for you to take a step with us toward becoming all God made us to be.

Prodigal: The Merciful Father - Pastor Donnell T. Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

After three weeks with the younger son and the older son, this sermon turns to the one character in the parable who never gets a name: the Father. The sons are the mirrors; the Father is the point. Jesus tells this story, along with the lost sheep and the lost coin, in answer to the Pharisees’ complaint that he welcomes sinners. They say exclude the lost; Jesus reveals a Father whose heart is a picture of pursuit, with a party thrown at the end. And if “prodigal” means recklessly extravagant, it is the Father, in his mercy, who is the truly prodigal one. The first thing the story shows us is a Father whose love does not hold anyone hostage. Asked for the inheritance, he lets his son go because he would rather have a son who is free to leave than a prisoner who stays. The heart of the sermon is Luke 15:20 and its six verbs, every one of which belongs to the Father before the son has said a word. He saw him because he had been watching the road every day. He was filled with compassion, not anger. He ran, something no dignified man in that world would do. He covered his shame, meeting the boy on the road so he would not have to walk the village’s gauntlet of contempt alone. He threw his arms around him: the son deserved punishment and received an embrace instead. And he kissed him while the rehearsed speech was still in the boy’s pocket. The embrace and the kiss are forgiveness offered before repentance is spoken; the Father forgives first, and the confession comes second. When the son does begin his speech, he never finishes it. The Father interrupts his repentance with mercy and calls for the robe, the ring, the sandals, and the feast. The Father then leaves the house a second time, going out to the older son, who refuses to come in. He does not defend himself or argue about fairness; he pleads. He is entitled to justice from both sons and collects it from neither because, as Paul says, it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. The sermon closes by asking about our picture of God, which A. W. Tozer called the most important thing about us. If God is a master to be served, we will live like the older son—in the house but never at the party. If God is a creditor waiting to collect, we will stay in the far country. But if you have been the younger son, the Father is already running. If you have been the older son, the Father is standing in the yard with you. You can stop behaving like a servant because you were always a son. The prayer is simple: Give us the Father Jesus gave us, whose love for us is unrelenting.

Prodigal: The Older Son - Pastor Hannah White - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

In the second week of our Prodigal series, we step into the story from the perspective of the older son. While the younger son’s rebellion is loud and obvious, the older son’s lostness is quieter—comparison, jealousy, entitlement, and a transactional relationship with his father. Jesus reveals that both sons have misunderstood their father's nature, and both are invited home by a father whose love cannot be earned. The father’s words to the older son—“My son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours”—invite us to let go of our report cards and receive the gift of being God’s beloved daughters and sons. Pastor Hannah calls us to allow God's imagination to change us. What would it look like to become a people who celebrate rather than compare, repair relationships rather than keep score, and make room at our dinner tables for people who look, think, and live differently from us?

Prodigal: The Younger Son - Martha Balmer - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

Martha Balmer kicks off our three part series sitting in the story of the Prodigal Son, focusing on the experience of the youngest son. Martha brilliantly highlights how the greater the distance one is from God, the more profound the experience of God’s mercy, love, and grace upon return—and consequently the greater one's security in that love, not to mention the greater the love, gratefulness, joy that wells up for God. When entitlement has no place in our hearts, then everything is a gift. Martha's preaching invites us to see this parable with fresh eyes and a soft, humble heart.

Psalms: Psalm 42 - Gasping - Pastor Donnell Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

Have you ever been thirsty in a way that water couldn’t fix? Psalm 42 opens with a deer gasping for streams of water and a poet honest enough to admit that their whole self, not just the polished Sunday version, is running dry. In this sermon, Rev. Donnell Wyche explores one of Scripture’s most honest prayers: a lament that moves between despair and hope without pretending either one away. Along the way, we encounter two Hebrew words that deepen our understanding of this psalm. Ar’gah, often translated as “pants,” more accurately means “gasps”: audible, physical, desperate. And nephesh, commonly translated as “soul,” refers to the whole embodied self: your breath, your life, your very being. Psalm 42 reminds us that every part of who we are is welcome before God, including our grief, our confusion, and the questions we would rather keep hidden. When the taunt comes, “Where is your God?”, the psalmist doesn’t answer with certainty or strength. They answer with thirst. In a time when faith is often measured by volume, Psalm 42 offers a quieter, deeper vision: faith that is rooted enough to bring its longing honestly before God. You don’t have to stop being thirsty to come. You just have to come.

Psalms: Psalm 117 - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

Psalm 117 is the shortest psalm in the Bible, yet it carries truth that could transform the way we live. In a world that trains us to hurry, scroll, and stay distracted, Pastor Hannah explores how slowing down before God opens us to the unfailing love and enduring faithfulness that have always been available to us. Through Scripture, honest stories, and moments of quiet, Pastor Hannah invites us to discover that praise isn't something we manufacture—it becomes the natural response to encountering the God who never stops loving us. What if your wounds and failures weren't places to hide, but places where you could meet God's love most deeply? As we honestly bring our grief, shame, and everyday struggles into God's presence, the walls we've built begin to come down, our identity is rooted in Christ instead of being self-made, and we're renewed to love our neighbors with freedom and compassion. Receiving God's love isn't just for our sake—it's how God forms a people who carry his kingdom into their homes, neighborhoods, schools, detention centers, and cities.

Psalms: Psalm 10 - Jonathan Hurshman - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

In this series, we are inviting the Psalms to speak a prophetic word to us. This week, after witnessing two more murders at the hands of ICE, we sit with Psalm 10, a very honest psalm of lament that calls on God to move in the face of injustice. Jonathan preaches that Psalm 10 instructs us to pray with honesty, to pray for God's action, and to pray banking on hope in God's character. He reminds us that this Psalm is not juxtaposing the good and evil, but rather the oppressor and the oppressed. Jonathan challenges us to remember that at times we might be the oppressor who needs sidelined. In conclusion, he simply has us pray Psalm 10, letting the Scripture powerfully speak for itself.

Migrant Journeys: Mary, Joseph and Jesus - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary:

Pastor Hannah concludes our Migrant Journeys series by inviting us to sit with Jesus' story of fleeing to another country due to violence and hatred. Christ was a refugee. Through Matthew 2, we follow Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as they flee Herod's threats of violence, placing their story alongside the stories of migrants today. Together, they reveal a Savior who doesn't remain distant from suffering but enters into it himself. If Jesus identifies with the stranger, how should his people respond? Pastor Hannah casts a vision for lives marked by courageous compassion rather than fear, inviting us to see the image of God in our fellow neighbors and to prayerfully discern our next faithful step toward embodying Christ's love, mercy and justice in our right here, right now life.

Migrant Journeys: The Syrophoenician Woman - Pastor Donnell T. Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary:

This sermon continues the Migrant Journeys series by examining Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:24–30 and Matthew 15:21–28. Unlike the previous stories in the series, the movement is reversed: Jesus is the one who crosses into Gentile territory, becoming the stranger, while the woman is at home in her own land. Yet despite being on her own soil, she must cross ethnic, religious, political, and gender barriers simply to stand before Jesus and plead for the life of her daughter. The sermon should invite the congregation to see the story through her eyes rather than through the perspective of the disciples. The sermon should resist the temptation to soften or explain away Jesus’ difficult words. Instead, it should linger in the tension of the passage, recognizing the painful reality of exclusion and dehumanization that immigrants, refugees, and marginalized people have experienced throughout history. The Syrophoenician woman refuses to accept the boundaries placed around her dignity. With remarkable courage and wisdom, she answers Jesus’ metaphor with one of her own, and Jesus receives her words, praises her faith, heals her daughter, and demonstrates that the kingdom of God is breaking beyond the boundaries people had assumed were permanent. The sermon should conclude by turning the question toward the church today. Rather than asking only what this woman teaches us about faith, it should ask where we still draw lines that Christ has already erased. Connecting Isaiah’s vision of God’s house for all peoples, Paul’s declaration that Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, and Jesus’ teaching that welcoming the stranger is welcoming Christ himself, the sermon should call the congregation to repentance, hospitality, and courageous love. The final invitation should leave listeners reflecting on a single question: Where have I been drawing a line that Jesus is asking me to let go of, and whose dignity is waiting on the other side of it?

Migrant Journeys: Naomi and Ruth - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch 

Summary: 

What does loyal love look like when life falls apart? In this sermon from the book of Ruth, Pastor Hannah invites us to walk alongside Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz as they navigate famine, migration, loss, and uncertainty. In the midst of a violent and broken world, they choose hesed—God's loyal, faithful love—again and again, discovering that small acts of courageous love can become the very places where God brings redemption. Their story ultimately points us to Jesus, God's hesed in the flesh, who entered our broken world, refused self-protection, and gave himself for us. As we receive Christ's faithful love, we're invited to become people who embody that same love in our ordinary lives, trusting that God uses everyday faithfulness to prepare us for moments that lead to redemption.