Worship Services on Sunday

Join | Invite | Share

10:00 am Worship Services

Facebook Live

YouTube Streaming

Fall-Winter 2025 Sermon and Study Series

Hope Rising: Restoring the Afrikan Spirit

The focus of this sermon series is hope. It builds on the previous theme of faith. Hope is the flower of faith. Hope is not passive waiting – it is a sacred act of resistance, faith and creative restoration. For African people, hope has always been a communal power that fuels survival, liberation, and renewal.

Hope is sacred resistance – the divine power that enables African people to rise, rebuild, and rejoice through every trial. Hope is not escapism. It is the breath of God renewing the people and the world. It is built into creation itself; it is God’s gift to humanity, the divine energy that transforms darkness into purpose.

This sermon series also addresses the Nguzo Saba, the seven principles of Kwanzaa to demonstrate that hope and faith are cultural as well as spiritual values. We do not have to choose between faith and culture because true African spirituality accommodates every aspect of human beingness. Ntu, the life giving, life renewing, life sustaining spirit, is in everything and everyone simultaneously. The Nguzo Saba provides healthy and self-affirming ways for African peoples to live harmoniously and healthily in a world that fails to honor African humanity.

Finally, we dub this series “Hope Rising” as a reminder that one of the greatest acts of resistance to our collective determination to survive and thrive is hope.

Sermon: Sunday, November 2

Sermon Theme: Hope in the Struggle

Biblical Text: Exodus 3:7-10

Sermon: Sunday, November 9

Preaching the Nguzo Saba/The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa

Theme: (Umoja) Hope That Unites

Biblical Text: Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon: Sunday, November 16

Theme: (Kujichagulia) Hope That Names Itself

Biblical Text: 1 Peter 2:9-10

Sermon: Sunday, November 23

Theme: (Ujima) Hope That Works Together

Biblical Text: Nehemiah 4:6-9

Sermon: Sunday, November 30

Theme: (Ujamaa) Hope That Shares

Biblical Text: Acts 2:42-47

Sermon: Sunday, December 7

Theme: (Nia) Hope with Purpose

Biblical Text: Jeremiah 29:10-14

Sermon: Sunday, December 14

33^rd Church Anniversary

Theme: (Kuumba) Hope That Creates

Biblical Text: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

Sermon: Sunday, December 21

Theme: (Imani) Hope That Believes

Biblical Text: 1 Corinthians 13:13

Sermon: Sunday, December 28

Theme: Farewell

Biblical Text: Galatians 6:9