Resurrection South Austin
Rez is a community where Jesus welcomes, shapes, and sends disciples for the good of our neighborhood. No matter where you are in life, this is a place for you. Life Together In The Goodness Of God
You Don't Have to Wait for Perfect Weather
Rachel Ambasing | November 02, 2026
Seminarian Rachel shares how moving from San Diego's mild "nothing weather" to Austin's extremes loosened her grip on ideals and opened her eyes to unexpected beauty. On All Saints' Sunday, she turns to the Beatitudes and asks what it means to be a peacemaker and a saint. She names the temptation to turn faith into a flawless performance and offers a reminder that God equips imperfect people and doesn't ask us to wait for perfect conditions.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's love.
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Leave Something at the Edge of Your Field
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | October 25, 2026
Leviticus 19 gives us the command to love your neighbor as yourself, but it sits inside a vision of holiness that includes how we farm, pay workers, and share wealth. Through a story about his grandfather, who always ate last, Father Shawn invites us to leave something at the edge of our own fields. Generosity becomes a way to find God, find our neighbor, and begin to look like Jesus.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's love.
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Generosity as Good News for Others
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | October 18, 2026
Teenagers often ask whether the 10 percent tithe comes before or after taxes, and it turns out to be a question with no easy answer. Father Shawn explores the trap the Pharisees and Herodians set for Jesus over paying taxes to Caesar, and how Jesus answers with brilliant wisdom about what belongs to God. The sermon invites us into God's gift economy, where generosity moves from the heart into the hands and becomes good news for others.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's...
The Bible Verse You Run To When Life Falls Apart
Father Scott Madison | October 11, 2026
Father Scott Madison asks a simple question: what is your heart text, the Scripture you return to in joy or in loss? Through his own Galatians 3, his father's John 3:16, and his grandmother's fire-and-brimstone reading of Psalm 23, he shows the Good Shepherd as a God of abundance, not scarcity. Paired with Jesus' wedding banquet parable, the sermon says everyone is invited to the table and everyone's dignity matters.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's love.
Join us at https://www.rezaustin.com
What Does God Want From the Vineyard?
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | October 04, 2026
Drawing on Isaiah's song of the vineyard and Jesus' parable of the tenants, Father Shawn asks what God truly wants from a people entrusted with so much. Rather than pressure or guilt, he offers an invitation to ask God what to do with our money, and to become a church known for justice, mercy, and generosity in a broken world.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's love.
Join us at https://www.rezaustin.com
When Saying Yes Isn't Enough
Father Scott Madison | September 27, 2026
A powerful reflection on the gap between our words and actions, sparked by a personal failure to stop and help when debris scattered across a highway. Through Jesus's parable of two sons, this sermon confronts our tendency to say yes while meaning no—and challenges us to respond to injustice in our own neighborhoods. The shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez by ICE agents just three miles away becomes a urgent call to honor our baptismal covenant and stand up for the vulnerable, even when it's uncomfortable.
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We are a community of...
Why Your Brother's Blessing Makes You Bitter
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | September 20, 2026
Father Shawn shares a confession about resenting his brothers' free college tuition after his own grueling hustle through school—and uses this honest moment to unpack Jesus's parable of the vineyard workers. This sermon confronts our tendency to keep score with God and others, revealing how envy poisons our ability to celebrate our neighbor's blessings. Discover how choosing a "good eye" over an "evil eye" can transform bitterness into praise and scarcity into freedom.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's love.
Jo...
Stop Keeping Score, There is Freedom in Forgiveness
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | September 13, 2026
We all keep mental ledgers of who owes us apologies, who disappointed us, who hurt us. When Peter asks Jesus how many times to forgive, Jesus doesn't just offer a bigger number—he refuses the entire framework of counting. Through the parable of the unforgiving servant, Father Shawn explores how forgiveness isn't just about releasing others from debt, but about breaking the cycles of shame and vengeance that cage us all. Discover the power that comes when we stop counting and start trusting in a God who is desperate to forgive us and set us...
Speaking Truth From a Place of Brokenness
Don Smith | September 06, 2026
A former church planter returns to the pulpit after 15 years to explore what it means to speak truth in love—not as heavenly hall monitors, but as fellow broken travelers on the road home. Drawing from Ezekiel's call to be sentinels, Matthew's teaching on confrontation, and Paul's wisdom on humility, this message weaves together personal stories of addiction and recovery with ancient wisdom about accountability. The result is a compelling vision of Christian community where we address harm from a place of right-sized humility, recognizing we're all wounded people finding our way together.
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When Jesus Crosses the Lines We Draw
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | August 23, 2026
Father Shawn McCain Tirres reflects on the challenging story of the Canaanite woman and what it reveals about God's expanding circle of mercy. Drawing from Resurrection South Austin's own costly journey of crossing denominational boundaries for the sake of radical hospitality, he explores how Jesus continually breaks down the lines we draw around who belongs. This sermon challenges us to stop waiting for permission and follow Christ across the boundaries that exclude God's beloved children—whether in matters of immigration, LGBTQ+ inclusion, racial justice, or economic inequality.
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We are a co...
Loving God Without Loving People Doesn't Work
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | August 16, 2026
Have you ever been part of a church with amazing worship but overlooked injustice within its own walls? Or known someone passionate about justice but disconnected from prayer? Father Shawn explores Jesus's brilliant response to a trap question that reveals the inseparable nature of loving God and loving neighbor. This Rally Day sermon challenges us to move beyond the exhausting false choice of spirituality versus service, showing how both loves form the foundation of authentic Christian life and transform us into the body of Christ.
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We are a community of...
Faith Isn't About Not Sinking, It's About Reaching Out
Rev. Canon Leyla King | August 09, 2026
When Jesus walks on water and calls Peter to come, Peter's sinking isn't a failure—it's faith in action. In a world filled with violence, division, and overwhelming chaos, we're invited not to conquer our fears but to step out into the storm anyway, knowing we'll need to reach for Jesus when we start to sink. Drawing on her experience as a Palestinian American priest, Mother Leyla explores how faith isn't something we achieve once and for all, but an ongoing process of risk, reaching out, and trusting the great I AM in the mi...
Which Table Are You Eating From?
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | August 02, 2026
In a world full of tables promising satisfaction but leaving us empty, there's one table that operates on a completely different economy. Father Shawn explores the contrast between Herod's table of scarcity and exploitation versus Jesus' table of abundance and grace. Drawing from the feeding of the 5,000, he challenges us to examine which economy we're orienting our lives around—one of hoarding and fear, or one of generous trust in God's provision. This sermon speaks to anyone struggling with scarcity mindset, burnout from striving, or hunger for something deeper than what the world offers.
...Finding the Hidden Kingdom All Around You
Father Scott Madison | July 26, 2026
In this exploration of five parables from Matthew 13, we discover that God's kingdom is both hidden and near, expansive yet built on tiny acts of faith. Through images of mustard seeds, yeast, treasures, pearls, and fish, Jesus reveals that we are the beloved treasures God seeks, filled with love, grace, and mercy. The kingdom bursts forth when we tend to our faith through small acts of kindness, love for neighbors, and standing up to injustice. It's our faithfulness—not our perfection—that keeps us in God's kingdom and bears fruit for it.
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Stop Trying to Fix Yourself (And Others)
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | July 19, 2026
Using Jesus' parable of the wheat and weeds, Father Shawn challenges our compulsion to fix ourselves and others. Drawing from memories of his grandfather's farm, he explores why God tells us to stop sorting, stop controlling, and instead entrust ourselves to the divine Gardener who alone knows how to tend our souls without causing damage. This sermon offers liberating wisdom for perfectionists, controllers, and anyone exhausted from trying to pull themselves together.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's love.
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When Small Acts Feel Like They Don't Matter
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | July 12, 2026
Ever wonder if the small things you do actually make a difference? In a world that feels overwhelmingly broken, it's easy to believe our quiet acts of service, kindness, and faithfulness are too insignificant to matter. Through Jesus' parable of the sower, Father Shawn reveals how God works with reckless abandon and extravagant generosity—sowing seeds everywhere, even on rocky ground. This sermon is an invitation to trust that the same resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in your smallest acts of love, transforming lives in ways you may ne...
Jesus Still Offers Rest After Our Rejection
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | July 05, 2026
Father Shawn explores how we often size people up before knowing them—and how we do the same with God. Through Jesus' lament over a generation that rejected both John the Baptist's austerity and Jesus' celebration, we see a pattern: we prejudge God's messengers and miss what we desperately need. Yet even after our rejection, Jesus still offers rest to the weary and burdened. His yoke isn't about religious compliance but flows from love, fitting who God made us to be. This sermon reminds us that we don't need to have it all together be...
Where Is God in All This Trouble?
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | June 28, 2026
We want God to show up spectacularly—in neon signs and dramatic reversals. But what if God is already at work in the quiet, humble acts of love we overlook? Father Shawn explores how the kingdom of God doesn't arrive in flashy ways, but through ordinary faithfulness: planting gardens in exile, bringing water to the thirsty, showing up when the work is hard. Drawing from Jeremiah's message to exiled Israel, this sermon challenges us to see that God's presence isn't separate from our acts of service—it's revealed through them. You might be holding a cu...
When Faith Feels Lost in a Foreign Land
Rev. Janna Osborne | June 21, 2026
In a world that often feels foreign and strange, how do we recognize God's presence? Drawing from personal stories of grandfathers who modeled care, action, and hospitality, this sermon explores what it means to be shaped by faith across generations. When life challenges us in ways we don't like, we're called not just to do good works, but to boldly proclaim that Christ makes them possible—especially in these perilous times when God's love and justice are hidden behind human power.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in fa...
Wearing the Mask God Gives Us
Father Scott Madison | June 14, 2026
Father Scott explores the connection between Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem 'We Wear the Mask' and Jesus' commissioning of the disciples in Matthew 9-10. Drawing from his own experience as a Black man in America, Scott unpacks how Jesus calls us to do the difficult work of showing radical love that defies social norms—even when we face persecution. This sermon challenges us to wear the mask God gives us: one of compassion, faith, and unwavering commitment to making God's kingdom come near through loving our neighbors as ourselves.
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We are a co...
Is Your Picture of God Too Small?
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | June 07, 2026
Father Shawn challenges us to examine whether our picture of God is too small, and how that limited view creates tables with too few chairs. Through Jesus' radical meal with tax collectors and sinners, we discover that our theology flows from our imagination of who God is. When we allow our understanding of God to expand beyond comfortable boundaries, we find a table already set with chairs for everyone, including us.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's love.
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The Trinity: A Mystery to Live Into
Rev. Janna Osborne | May 31, 2026
Rev. Janna Osborne tackles one of Christianity's most profound mysteries: the Holy Trinity. Rather than trying to solve the theological puzzle that consumed centuries of church debate, she invites us to see the Trinity as a divine dance—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit joined in an eternal circle of love, with all creation invited inside. This Trinity Sunday sermon explores how we live, move, and have our being within God's infinite circle, where the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere.
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We are a community of believers committed to...
Who's Driving? When God Moves Beyond Our Control
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | May 24, 2026
What happens when God shows up in ways we didn't plan for, speaking to people we didn't expect, through channels we didn't approve? Using the image of a driverless car and the story of Pentecost, Father Shawn explores our deep need to control outcomes and manage the Spirit—and why the miracle of Pentecost wasn't uniformity, but God speaking to every person in the language they already have. This is an invitation to stop gatekeeping and start listening for the wild, undomesticated Spirit moving in unexpected places.
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We ar...
You Are Not Alone
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | May 17, 2026
Have you ever stood in the place where something good used to be, staring at the sky, not quite ready to turn around and face what comes next? Father Shawn explores the disciples' fear of abandonment after Christ's ascension and the powerful truth that we are never alone. Through the stories of three beloved leaders being sent out from Resurrection South Austin, he challenges us to ask: How is the Spirit moving in your life? This sermon addresses the universal fear of being left behind and invites us to open ourselves to...
Finding Joy When Life Feels Heavy
Father Scott Madison | May 10, 2026
In a week marked by rising costs, eroding rights, and collective heaviness, Father Scott reminds us of a profound truth: we can count it all joy because God is intimately near. Drawing from her own season of loss and struggle in seminary, she explores how Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as our constant companion, how Paul declares we live and move in God, and how our baptism seals us in unshakeable love. This Mother's Day sermon offers a healing balm for weary souls, calling us to find joy not by ignoring our pain...
Finding Light When Darkness Creeps In
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | May 03, 2026
Life doesn't pause for Easter—diagnoses still come, bills still overwhelm, relationships still fracture, and institutions still fail us. Father Shawn explores how Stephen's stoning reveals a stunning truth: in our worst moments, when darkness creeps in like a Tuesday afternoon, God makes a way forward we can't yet see. This sermon confronts the real weight of despair while calling us into the diaconal work of serving the vulnerable and speaking up for justice, not as good deeds to earn God's favor, but as evidence that the Father's house has already been bu...
Learning to Hear the Shepherd's Voice in a Noisy World
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | April 26, 2026
In a world full of competing voices—family systems, money, politics, social media—how do we learn to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd? Father Shawn explores John 10's image of sheep knowing their shepherd's voice, comparing it to a family whistle that cuts through any crowd. He challenges us to examine what voices we've confused with Jesus' voice and asks provocative questions: When's the last time you quieted your own anxiety about money long enough to ask God what He wants you to do with it? What would happen if you...
Inviting Jesus Into Your Darkness
Rev. Janne Osborne | April 19, 2026
The Road to Emmaus story isn't just about Jesus revealing himself—it's about our invitation. Two devastated followers walked away from Jerusalem, their hopes buried with their rabbi. A stranger joined them, taught them, but they didn't recognize him until they did something radical: they invited him into their darkness. This Easter sermon challenges us to stop waiting for Jesus to show up and start inviting him into the scariest, most hopeless places of our lives—the dark doorways we're afraid to walk through alone.
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We are a community of b...
When Grief Meets the Resurrection
Father Scott Madison | April 12, 2026
Thomas wasn't doubting Jesus—he was drowning in grief. This Easter sermon challenges the traditional "Doubting Thomas" narrative and offers a profound truth: the joy of resurrection doesn't erase the pain of loss, it transforms it. If you're struggling to reconcile faith with grief, or wondering why Easter joy feels distant when you're hurting, this message meets you exactly where you are with the assurance that God breathes hope into our deepest pain.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in faith and sharing God's love.
Jo...
Easter Finds You in the Dark
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | Easter Sunday 2026
What if Easter doesn't ask you to pretend you're okay? Father Shawn meets us where we actually are — carrying grief, fear, and a world that feels like it's falling apart — and delivers the honest, defiant hope of the resurrection. Rooted in Matthew 28, this Easter message centers on the angel's repeated command to the women at the tomb: "Do not be afraid."
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Why This Night Is Different
Rev Janna Osborne | April 03, 2026
On Good Friday, we ask the ancient question: why is this night different from all others? This sermon explores how Jesus's passion—both his suffering and his intense devotion to wholeness, community, and love—led to the cross. Even as we witness the worst humanity can do, God holds it all together, transforming death into new life. Discover how God's passionate love meets us in our brokenness and makes us part of the new creation, right where we are, right now.
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We are a community of believers committed to grow...
Three Commands That Define a Christian
Father Scott Madison | April 02, 2026
On Maundy Thursday, Father Scott Madison unpacks the three essential commands Jesus gives us during the Last Supper: to serve one another, to love radically, and to worship through communion. In a world that feels chaotic and overwhelming, these ancient commands become our roadmap for living as Christ's disciples. When we pour out love, service, and worship into the world around us, people will recognize that we belong to Jesus—not by our words, but by how we live.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in fa...
Who Is This? Following Jesus Through the Trouble
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | March 29, 2026
Holy Week always seems to sneak up on us, especially when the world feels full of trouble. But Father Shawn reminds us that Holy Week isn't an escape from our struggles—it's the most honest engagement with them. As Jesus enters Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey, the crowd asks the essential question: "Who is this?" This Palm Sunday sermon explores how Jesus refuses the power of empire and violence, choosing instead the humble, self-giving love that truly overcomes the world. It's an invitation to follow closely enough and long enough to discover wh...
Finding Hope When the World Falls Apart
Father Scott Madison | March 22, 2026
In a world filled with war, violence, and despair, where do we find hope? Father Scott Madison explores the powerful connection between Ezekiel's valley of dry bones and Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, revealing how God meets us at our absolute lowest points. This honest sermon acknowledges the pain of our current moment while pointing to the divine source of hope that can restore even the most desolate situations—and how we become that hope for one another.
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We are a community of believers committed to growing in fa...
Where Are You Spiritually Blind?
Rev Scott Madison | March 15, 2026
Through the dramatic story of Jesus healing a blind man in John 9, this sermon explores the difference between physical and spiritual sight. The formerly blind man not only gains his vision but becomes a bold witness who challenges religious authorities, revealing how God works through those society deems unworthy. The message confronts us with an uncomfortable question: where do we have spiritual blind spots that prevent us from seeing God's grace and mercy in people who believe or act differently than us? It's a call to examine who we've written off as undeserving...
The Woman Who Talked Back to Jesus
Rev Janna Osborne | March 08, 2026
Through the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, Mother Janna invites us to reconsider what it means to encounter Jesus. This woman—an outsider who shouldn't have even spoken to Jesus—engaged him honestly, questioned him boldly, and became an evangelist without having all the answers. Her story reminds us that our messy, incomplete encounters with Jesus are enough to share with others. We don't need perfect understanding or polished testimonies; we just need the courage to tell what we've experienced.
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What Are You Afraid to Leave Behind?
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | March 01, 2026
Growing up as a military kid taught Father Shawn what it means to constantly leave behind not just places, but versions of yourself. In this Lenten sermon, he explores how God calls us—like Abraham and Nicodemus—to release the identities and belonging we've worked so hard to secure. What reputation, self-sufficiency, or protective distance are you clinging to? This message challenges us to stop looking away from what's killing us and to find Jesus waiting there, ready to heal and set us free.
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We are a community of b...
When Your Heart Won't Stop Running
Father Shawn McCain Tirres | February 22, 2026
In a world of endless corners to turn and constant exhaustion, we medicate our soul's deepest hunger with busyness and self-sufficiency. Father Shawn explores how Lent invites us to stop running long enough to notice our restlessness—and discover that Jesus doesn't wait for us to get it together before meeting us in the wilderness. Drawing from Augustine's famous confession and Jesus' temptation in the desert, this sermon offers hope for the cynical, strength for the weary, and an invitation to receive what we cannot provide for ourselves.
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When Hunger Becomes a Prayer for Justice
Rev. Janna Osborne | February 18, 2026
Rev. Janna Osborne reframes the traditional Lenten practices of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer as radical acts of justice. Rather than simply giving up chocolate or scrolling, what if our hunger awakened us to the deeper hungers around us—for righteousness, dignity, and belonging? This Ash Wednesday sermon challenges us to fast in ways that make us hungry for justice, give in ways that redistribute wealth, and pray with the courage to change what's wrong. It's a call to move beyond personal piety into communal transformation.
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We are a community of...
Finding Light in Dark Times: The Transfiguration Story
Bishop Kai Ryan | February 15, 2026
In a time when compassion seems absent from our institutions and darkness threatens to overwhelm us, the story of Jesus's transfiguration offers a lamp shining in a dark place. Through the legacy of Absalom Jones—the first Black Episcopal priest who bought his own freedom—and the revelation on the mountain where Jesus was transfigured, we discover that light eventually reveals the weakness of darkness. This sermon challenges us to remember the story, tell it in our darkest days, and let the morning star rise in our hearts until we find the courage to b...
