Sermon Series
The Judges: Challenging Leadership in Chaotic Times
May 31 — August 30
Israel lives in a season of communal transition. No more are they nomads wandering in the wilderness. They have entered the Promised Land, but Judges tells us this new life is far from peaceful. We are still many years from the later stability created by David and his kingship. Judges is the in-between times, the season of transition from one generation to another and from a tenuous desert life to a settled generational existence. This summer, we will journey with the Judges through this season of intrigue, turmoil, acts of heroism, decisions of great hubris, and see how these stories speak to our lives in times of uncertainty, instability, and transition.
May 31
Chapter 1 – Revisionist History
June 7 – Ehud
Judges 3:12-30 – Southpaw
June 14 – Deborah
Judges 4:1-24 – A Woman’s Touch
June 21 – Gideon
Judges 6:1-27 – Demolition Man
June 28 – Gideon
Judges 6:26-40 – Morning Dew
July 5 – Gideon
Judges 8:22-28; 33-35 – Tyranny & Idolatry
July 12 – Abimelech
Judges 9:1-6 – Playing Dress Up
July 19 – Samson
Judges 13:1-14; 24-25 – What to Expect When You’re Expecting
July 26 – Samson
Judges 14:1-20 – Petulant
August 2 – Samson
Judges 15:1-8 – Turning Tail
August 9 – Samson
Judges 16:4-22 – Pillow Talk
August 16 – Samson
Judges 16:23-31 – Ego’s End
August 23 – Micah
Judges 17:1-13 – Shelia-ism
August 30 – Ending
Judges 21:25 – In Our Own Eyes
Logo created by Maddie Sackett
Maddie Sackett is a Roanoke native, daughter of Leigh Sackett, and member of RCPC. Maddie graduated from Patrick Henry High School and then went on to attend and graduate with a B.F.A. in Comics from School of Visual Arts in NYC. Maddie now lives in Brooklyn NY and works as a cartoonist and painter who has a passion for vivid colors, mixed media, and stories about grief, growth, and grace. Maddie worked as a Colorist for the graphic novel "Reel Life" published by Scholastic Graphix. Maddie is currently working as a Colorist for a graphic novel being published by First Second Books. Maddie is the Co-Founder of Cart Press, a small press company that caters to independent artists and publishers. Maddie has self-published over 15 titles, ranging from fantasy to memoir. Her work can be found online at Junimadii.com
Guest Preachers and Lecturers for the Summer Sermon Series
The Rev. Dr. Isabelle Hamley
Wednesday, June 3 | “The God of Justice and Mercy” | 1:00 PM
The Rev. Dr. Isabelle Hamley of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom is the head of religious life for the university, serves as a counselor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, has served as an ecumenical partner to Pope Francis, and is the author of the recent theological commentary God of Justice and Mercy.
Dr. Amy Merrill Willis
Wednesday, June 17 | “Deborah, Jael, and Women in Judges” | 7:00 PM
Dr. Willis is the Director of General Education at the University of Lynchburg. She holds a MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and a PhD in the Hebrew Bible from Emory University.
Rabbi Howard Stein
Wednesday, July 1 | “Judges in the Jewish Canon" | 6:00 PM
Rabbi Stein is the current rabbi at Temple Emmanuel in Roanoke. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Cornell University and studied at Hebrew Union College before being ordained in 2009. He has served congregations in South Dakota, Colorado, Tennessee, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and now Roanoke. Although a product of the Reform movement, Rabbi Stein’s career has spanned the breadth of the Jewish community.
Dr. Elna K. Solvang
Wednesday, August 12 | “Reckoning with Violence and Trauma in Judges” | 7:00 PM
Dr. Solvang is a professor in the Religion Department at Concordia College, Moorhead, MN. She is the author of A Woman’s Place Is in the House: Royal Women of Judah and Their Involvement in the House of David (Sheffield Academic Press, 2003) and of essays examining women’s agency in ancient royal households and in the Hebrew Bible.
The Rev. Dr. Jacq Lapsley
Sunday, August 30 | Sermon: “In Our Own Eyes” & After Worship Gathering | 10:00 AM
Jacqueline E. Lapsley, first female president of Union Presbyterian Seminary, is a leading scholar of the Old Testament. Previously, she was the dean and vice president of academic affairs, and a longtime professor at Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary.