Spiritual Formation: Simplification – Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard

Summary:

In this sermon, Pastor Donnell Wyche continues the church’s series on spiritual transformation by focusing on the practice of simplicity. At first glance, simplification seems straightforward—declutter, pare down, and reduce. But Pastor Donnell shows how true simplicity is one of the most difficult spiritual disciplines, because it directly confronts our fears, our desires, and our habits. Drawing from research on the modern American family and everyday examples, he highlights how our possessions weigh us down with hidden costs of time, energy, and anxiety—often leaving us more trapped than free.

Through personal stories, including his own struggle with replacing an old car, Pastor Donnell illustrates how possessions can begin to own us rather than the other way around. He challenges listeners to examine their attachments—whether to cars, homes, clothes, technology, or even comfort—and recognize how easily these attachments drift into greed. Scripture reminds us that God has provided enough for all, but not enough for our greed. At the heart of simplicity lies the question: can we trust God with our lives, our security, and our meaning, instead of clinging to things that can never fully satisfy?

Pastor Donnell also exposes how cultural forces—what he names “empire”—disciple us into consumption and dissatisfaction, teaching us that happiness comes through acquiring more. By contrast, Jesus calls us to seek first God’s kingdom and to live with contentment in God’s care. Practicing simplicity is not just about reducing possessions but cultivating an inner freedom and detachment that allows us to resist empire, make room for God, and experience the life of joy, peace, and trust that Christ offers.

Spiritual Formation: Spiritual Friendships – Pastor Hannah Witte - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard

Summary:

This week, Pastor Hannah Witte continued our series on Spiritual Transformation by exploring the gift and calling of spiritual friendships. Drawing from Scripture, she reminded us that God created us not only to walk with Him, but also to walk with each other. Over sixty times in the New Testament, believers are exhorted to “one another”—to love, encourage, confess, pray, and bear one another’s burdens. Spiritual friendships are not optional extras, but essential companions on the journey of becoming more like Jesus.

Using the image of snap peas growing together in a garden, Pastor Hannah illustrated how our lives, like those plants, are meant to intertwine—supporting one another and bearing fruit together. Spiritual friendships take time, intentionality, and vulnerability, but they are worth the investment and the risk. Even when friendships are hard, Jesus modeled intimacy and commitment by calling His disciples not servants, but friends. If Jesus valued and risked friendship, so should we.

Instead of just talking about friendship, Pastor Hannah invited the congregation to practice it. Groups gathered to read John 15:9–17 together and reflect on the good news of Jesus’ words. In a world marked by loneliness, suffering, and weariness, this was a moment to share, listen, and be reminded that the gospel offers hope, belonging, and strength for the journey.

Spiritual Formation: Sabbath - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard

Summary:

Pastor Hannah continued our Spiritual Transformation series by teaching on Sabbath as God’s generous gift of rest, joy, and worship. Framing Sabbath through Exodus 20:8–11, she emphasized that “holy” means set apart for a special purpose—and that time itself is the first thing called holy in Scripture (Genesis 2:3). Sabbath (from Shabbat) invites us to stop, rest, delight, and enjoy God, not as a legal burden but as wisdom that forms us into a people who live differently in a hurried world.

She highlighted the biblical justice woven into Sabbath: everyone is included in God’s rest—children, workers, immigrants, even animals. Using a chiastic reading of Exodus 20, Pastor Hannah showed how the command centers on extending rest beyond ourselves so no one’s Sabbath comes at another’s expense. An on-stage conversation illustrated the longing and challenge many feel for real, regular rest—and the hope of sharing it widely.

Pastor Hannah closed with practical guidance for beginning Sabbath at a humane pace: start small (a few hours or a morning), practice with others for accountability, plan lightly around the four filters (stop, rest, delight, enjoy God), and hold the practice with grace. Transformation costs more than insight, she noted, but Sabbath reorders our lives toward freedom, joy, and generosity—forming us into a community that both receives and extends God’s rest.

Spiritual Formation: Confession and the Practice of Truth - Jonathan Hurshman - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard

Summary:

In this week’s message, Jonathan Hurshman continued our series on spiritual formation by exploring the practice of self-examination and confession. Drawing from 1 John 1:5–10, he reminded us that spiritual disciplines are not ends in themselves but training that prepares us for life in God’s kingdom. Just as scales prepare a musician or physical training equips a hiker, confession opens us to the transforming work of the Spirit not as a mere transaction for forgiveness, but as a way of walking in light and truth with God and one another.

Jonathan showed how confession is about “saying the same thing” as God agreeing with the truth of who we are, both in our brokenness and in our belovedness. He contrasted cultural distortions of truth, whether ignoring, weaponizing, or redefining it with the biblical call to authenticity before God. Confession, then, becomes a practice of freedom: it strips away pretense, unmasks the false self, and creates space for healing and growth in Christ. And when shared in trusted community, confession not only releases shame but also allows us to receive God’s forgiveness through the words of another believer.

The sermon closed with practical invitations into this rhythm of truth-telling: breath prayers like “Search me, O God,” the Anglican prayer of confession, the daily examen, and courageous honesty when tempted to hide. As we practice self-examination and confession, we are trained to embrace the truth rather than fear it, to live as our real selves before God, and to become a community marked by mercy, honesty, and grace.

Spiritual Formation: Scripture – Hebrews 4:12 - Martha Balmer - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard

Summary:

In this second sermon of our Spiritual Formation series, Martha Balmer explores how Scripture can serve as a “structure” in our lives that enables the Holy Spirit’s transforming work. Building on Pastor Hannah’s message about surrender, Martha reminds us that transformation is ultimately about union with God—moving from separation to deep intimacy with Him. This is not merely about fixing what is broken, but about responding to God’s longing for us and allowing His presence to reshape us. Scripture, she explains, is not static words on a page; by the Spirit, it becomes living and active, drawing us into God’s story and shaping us from within.

Martha weaves her own journey with Scripture into the message—from memorizing the 23rd Psalm at her grandmother’s knee, to seasons of disciplined daily reading, to times of spiritual dryness when group Bible study sustained her. She notes that simply reading builds familiarity, while deeper study provides discernment tools, but that both can lose vitality without prayerful engagement. True spiritual formation through Scripture, she says, comes when we approach it as a conversation with God, allowing Him to speak personally into our lives. She introduces two historic practices—Lectio Divina and imaginative meditation—as ways to read slowly, notice what stirs in us, respond to God, and rest in His presence.

Through practical teaching, Martha explains how Lectio Divina’s four movements (read, reflect, respond, rest) and imaginative meditation’s sensory-rich engagement with biblical narratives can open us to God’s voice in fresh ways. Both methods require slowing down, noticing our assumptions, and trusting that the Spirit will meet us in the text. She encourages us to keep reading and studying Scripture, but to also adopt these prayerful approaches as “structures” that help us say yes to the Spirit’s work—positioning us, like the caterpillar in its chrysalis, for the kind of transformation only God can bring.

Spiritual Formation: Paying Attention – Romans 12 - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard

Summary:

In her first sermon as a pastor at Ann Arbor Community Church, Pastor Hannah Witte introduced herself with warmth, humor, and a powerful testimony of God’s transformative grace in her own life. She shared her journey from a non-religious upbringing in Columbus, Ohio to a life devoted to Christ, sparked by an invitation to a youth group and a deep encounter with God’s love. Framing her heart for ministry, she emphasized a longing to see all people recognize their belovedness, to participate in renewal in Ann Arbor, and to co-create a diverse, Spirit-empowered church.

Rooted in Romans 12, Hannah invited the congregation to consider what it means to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Using vivid metaphors—a smiling God delighting in our spiritual growth and the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly—she challenged listeners to examine the rhythms shaping their lives. Transformation, she said, is not a matter of self-improvement but surrender, and the Spirit does the deep work as we create space through spiritual practices.

As the church enters a month focused on spiritual formation, Pastor Hannah laid the foundation for a series exploring four time-tested practices: self-examination, scripture meditation, Sabbath, and solitude. Rather than being conformed to the world around us, we are invited to arrange our lives—like a cocoon—for the Spirit’s renewing work, becoming the people God created us to be. With honesty and hope, Pastor Hannah encouraged the community to pay attention and open themselves to God’s loving transformation.

God at Work: When Justice Demands More – Amos 5 - Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard

Summary:

In this final sermon of the God at Work in an Unstable World series, Pastor Donnell Wyche unpacks the powerful words of the prophet Amos, challenging listeners to reimagine justice not as courtroom judgment but as the flourishing of God’s creation. Drawing from Amos 5 and other prophetic voices, Pastor Donnell explains that God rejects worship when it is divorced from justice. Instead, true devotion flows from our participation in God’s passion for the marginalized, the oppressed, and the poor. Justice, in this vision, is not a religious add-on—it is the very heart of covenant faithfulness.

Pastor Donnell urges the congregation to replace inherited notions of justice as punishment with a biblical view of justice as gardening—tending creation so that life can flourish. He reminds us that justice is about proximity, mutual care, and restoration. Whether it’s standing with someone in pain, cultivating dignity in our relationships, or transforming public systems with wisdom and love, we are called to be co-laborers in God’s garden.

The sermon closes with a practical framework: immediate justice in our families and workplaces, proximate justice with our neighbors, and civic justice in the broader world. Rather than something reserved for the heroic few, justice is shown to be a daily, Spirit-led act of tending God’s creation—an essential, life-giving calling for every follower of Jesus.

God at Work: When Hope Defies the Darkness - Daniel 1 - Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard

Summary:

In this sermon, Pastor Donnell explores the power of hope in the face of despair, drawing from the story of Daniel’s exile in Babylon. He opens by acknowledging the pressure many of us feel—externally from our world and internally from fear, anxiety, and the urge to numb ourselves. While these responses may seem natural, Pastor Donnell argues they are ultimately unsustainable. What we truly need, he says, is hope: a deep, soul-anchoring confidence that God is still at work, even in the midst of instability.

Daniel’s story is presented as a model for living with hope in an unstable world. Despite being stripped of his land, language, name, and freedom, Daniel refuses to assimilate or disappear. Instead, he chooses faithfulness, trusting that God is present even in Babylon. Pastor Donnell draws out Daniel’s quiet resistance: his refusal to eat royal food, his steadfast prayer life, and his unshaken identity. In doing so, Daniel becomes a witness to God’s power, even converting the hearts of kings through his hopeful trust in God’s presence and justice.

Pastor Donnell concludes by reminding us that hope is not weakness—it’s a spiritual superpower. Like Daniel, we are called to bear witness in dark places, to resist despair, and to persevere in love and faith. He draws a powerful parallel between Daniel and Jesus, both unjustly sentenced, both placed in sealed tombs, both emerging alive by the power of God. With this, Pastor Donnell urges listeners: if you feel overwhelmed, abandoned, or like giving up, keep hope alive. In an unstable world, hope is how we endure, resist, and remain faithful.