Roots Church Sermon Podcast

In the final message of the Revelation: Unveiling Reality teaching series, Pastors T. C. & Osheta combined for a homily that invites dialogue. Drawing upon the vision of chapter 21, of a new heaven and new earth, Pastors T. C. & Osheta point to God’s dream for a world characterized by shalom: a positive peace, restorative justice, and wholeness.

This sermon explores the theme of judgment in Revelation through the image of a controlled prairie burn—fire that looks destructive but actually restores life. Revelation’s vivid judgments (i.e. the seals, trumpets, and bowls, etc.) unmask the “beastly” systems of domination, violence, and exploitation that harm God’s creation and God’s people. Rather than depicting divine rage, these visions reveal God’s liberating love burning away everything that cannot belong in the new creation. Judgment becomes truth-telling, purification, and the clearing that makes renewal possible. In a world that often feels like it’s on fire, we are invited to trust God’s refining work and join in tending the green shoots of new creation.

In this sermon, we explore how John’s visions of beasts, dragons, and Babylon aren’t predictions of the world’s end, but prophetic unveilings of empire’s true nature—then and now. Revelation exposes the seductive power of political and religious systems that disguise domination as righteousness and violence as peace. Drawing insight from voices like Michael J. Gorman, Walter Wink, and Willie James Jennings, we see how empire still whispers through nationalism, greed, and false religion. Yet at the center of John’s vision stands the Lamb—Jesus—whose love unmasks the powers and reveals a better way. We’re invited to follow the Lamb by unmasking deception, resisting injustice, and reweaving communities of belonging that reflect God’s kingdom of peace.

In this message, Pastor Osheta shares personally and vulnerably about her own grief and skillfully weaves together the thrown room scene from Revelation chapter 5 with a positive vision for living with ambiguous grief and loss. It’s a message of encouragement and hope amidst dark times.

In a world shaken by headlines of political violence, our fall teaching series turns to the book of Revelation—not as a codebook for predicting the end of the world, but as a vision of Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness. Revelation was written to embattled churches under Roman rule, calling them to see beyond fear and empire into the deeper reality of God’s kingdom. Today, it offers the same hope and courage for us. This sermon lays the foundation: Revelation is not about a violent new Jesus, but the same Jesus we meet in the Gospels—the healer, teacher, forgiver, and lover of the marginalized. The exalted Lamb conquers not through domination, but through self-giving love. That truth speaks powerfully in our own context, where authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism distort faith into a weapon. Revelation unmasks those lies and calls us to bear faithful witness. Together, we’ll explore what it means to follow Jesus in a time of fear and division: to resist violence with peace, exclusion with embrace, and despair with hope. This is not an escape from reality, but a Spirit-enabled vision to see beneath and beyond it. Join us as we discover how the Lamb who was slain is worthy of our allegiance and our lives.

In this message, Pastor T. C. explores the way Jesus enters Jerusalem on the first “Palm Sunday.” Rather than being a “triumphal entry,” as it is sometimes known, it was instead a carefully-planned protest, a parody of imperial power, and an embodiment of peace.

In this powerful and deeply personal sermon, we explore the true meaning of discipleship through the lens of one man’s journey from gang life to following Jesus. Using Mark’s Gospel and insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, this message challenges us to leave behind false securities, embrace intimacy with Christ, and take up our cross in a world bent on power and division. As we navigate a time of increasing polarization—even within the Church—this sermon calls us to resist the forces of Sin and Death by living out the radical, self-giving love of Jesus.

Interview with Bonhoeffer Scholar, Dr. Reggie Williams This video interview is the kick-off of our new teaching series on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic, The Cost of Discipleship. Dr. Reggie Williams is Associate Professor of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University, with research interests in: Black Theology, African American Studies, Black Arts, The Harlem Renaissance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Studies, and Christian Ethics. He is the author of Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance, which is widely considered one of the best works on Bonhoeffer’s time in America ever written.

In this sermon, Pastor T. C. Moore teaches on Matthew chapter 7 in the penultimate message in the “Center of Gravity” series. He organizes the chapter into four parts: vv.1–6 “See Clearly”; vv.7–14 “Trust Deeply”; vv.15–23: “Discern Wisely”; vv.24–29 “Build Courageously.”

In this sermon, Pastor T. C. Moore explores the contrasting motivations of fear-based obedience and love-based obedience, using the Sermon on the Mount as a lens to understand Jesus’s teachings. The message begins with a reflection on old Fundamentalist political cartoons, which often used fear to enforce rigid moral behaviors. This serves as an entry point to a broader conversation about how fear-based frameworks of faith distort the message of Jesus. He shares a personal story about growing up with a schizophrenic single mother and fundamentalist extended family members. Despite experiencing poverty and abuse, the family’s focus was not on providing support but on blaming societal issues—like crime and family breakdown—on belief in evolution rather than creationism. This upbringing revealed the harm caused by fear-mongering and rigid doctrine, a lesson he revisits in light of Jesus’s teachings. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), described as the cornerstone of Jesus’s teachings, challenges fear-based obedience. In particular, Pastor T. C. focuses on passages dealing with adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, and loving one’s enemies (Matthew 5:27–48). Rather than presenting a list of impossible moral standards, Jesus invites his followers into a developmental journey toward wholeness and maturity—obedience motivated by love. The Greek word plēroō, often translated as “fulfill,” is reexamined. It conveys the idea of a process of filling to the full, which reframes Jesus’s declaration in Matthew 5:17 that he came to “fulfill” the Law and Prophets. This interpretation connects to Jesus’s call to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The word “perfect,” derived from the Greek teleios, does not mean flawlessness but spiritual maturity, wholeness, and integration. Pastor T. C. critiques interpretations that view Jesus’s teachings as stricter than the Pharisees’ legalism or as a “fence around the Torah.” These views reduce faith to sin management and fear of punishment. Instead, Jesus’s call to integrity flows from love. For example: Honoring marital commitments is rooted in loving one’s spouse as oneself. Telling the truth reflects love for one’s neighbor. Turning the other cheek demands love that humanizes even one’s oppressors. Loving enemies demonstrates love for God, who created all people. This emphasis on love is central to the life of faith. Pastor T. C. reflects on the church’s affirming stance toward LGBTQ+ inclusion, challenging the slippery-slope fear tactics often used to police behavior. Instead of rigid rules, the church models love and maturity as the foundation of faith. The sermon concludes by inviting listeners to embrace the freedom of living out love-based obedience. Faith is not about avoiding sin to escape punishment but about growing in love, integrity, and spiritual maturity with the guidance of the Spirit. Jesus’s teachings call us into a journey of becoming—becoming whole, loving as God loves, and living in grace.

This week’s Advent message wrestles with the theme of peace—not as an escape from reality but as a profound and embodied hope amid life’s struggles. The sermon critiques “spiritual bypassing,” a harmful practice where spiritual truths are used to suppress or dismiss valid emotions like grief, anger, or fear. This bypassing denies the real pain of injustice and suffering, fostering toxic positivity instead of genuine peace. Drawing from personal experiences and scriptural insights, the sermon highlights how Advent invites us to face the world’s brokenness. The birth of Jesus doesn’t deny the harsh realities of his time—poverty, oppression, and violence—but enters into them. Jesus, born as a member of the disinherited, embodies God’s solidarity with the vulnerable. Stories like Pastor Munther Isaac’s rubble-filled nativity in Bethlehem remind us that Advent exists wherever there is longing for consolation, from Gaza to Ukraine. True peace, the sermon emphasizes, doesn’t come from avoiding emotions but from God’s presence in the midst of them. Spiritual practices like prayer, creative reflection, and communal care can help heal trauma and reconnect us to God’s promise. As Isaiah’s prophecy and St. Simeon’s hope affirm, God’s peace speaks into our cries for justice and comfort. Advent teaches us that peace is not escapism but God’s active presence, embodied in Jesus—the Prince of Peace—who offers a promise we can hold onto even in a world on fire.

This week’s sermon continued our exploration of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, focusing on the metaphor of being the “light of the world” and a “city on a hill” (Matthew 5:14). Pastor highlighted the historical appropriation of this metaphor by figures like John Winthrop and U.S. presidents, including Reagan and JFK, to frame America as a moral beacon. However, the sermon challenged this narrative, redirecting us to Jesus’s original intent: a vision for his disciples as a new and alternative social order, embodying God’s kingdom amidst the world’s brokenness. The sermon outlined three roles Jesus’s followers are called to play in the political and social sphere: • Pioneer: We are to live as a foretaste of God’s coming kingdom, embodying the ethics of justice, love, and inclusion even before the kingdom is fully realized. • Prophet: As a community, we hold a mirror to society, critiquing injustice and calling for peace and righteousness, as seen during the Civil Rights Movement. • Priest: We mediate between God and the world, offering prayers of intercession, lament, and blessing, especially for the marginalized and oppressed. The sermon concluded by urging us to remain allegiant to Jesus’s kingdom during this politically charged season, living as a light that reflects God’s justice and love. Pastor invited everyone to participate in an Election Night event as an embodied expression of these roles. Through prayer and action, we are called to be a faithful “city on a hill,” shining brightly for all to see.

In this message, Pastor T. C. introduces the teaching series, ICON: Portals into the Heart of Jesus by exploring how contemplation of Jesus through contemplative practices like Visio Divina restore the image of God in us. As II Corinthians 3:17–18 says, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” In this series, we will be contemplating six values exemplified by Jesus through six icons written by Kelly Latimore.

In this message, Pastor T. C. homes in on the theme of humility in the Magnificat using Mary as an example and draws upon insights from Dr. Dennis Edwards’ new book Humility Illuminated.

Pastor Osheta kicks off the “Making Room in Advent” series with a message entitled “Making Room for Silence.”