BETWEEN 5(ish)-Minute Sermons

Would Jesus be judging everyone from the pool deck—or making new friends in the hot tub?Aboard the Carnival Conquest, surrounded by 3,000 strangers sharing meals, space, and a few days at sea, Matt Mattson discovers something unexpectedly sacred: trust.In this playful BETWEEN 5(ish)-Minute Sermon, imagine Jesus wearing a straw hat, listening to a crew member’s story, and asking a familiar question when things get stormy: Why are you so afraid?What allows strangers to live together so joyfully at sea? And what could we bring home with us?FOUR QUESTIONS FOR CONTEMPLATION AND DISCUSSIONWhere have you experienced unexpected sacred connection?What happens when you picture Jesus enjoying himself among strangers?What helps you move from fear toward trust?What could you bring into everyday life from a time when connection felt easy?Scripture: Mark 4:35–41Also referenced: John 2:1–11BETWEEN is a community of sacred human connection.The space between us is sacred.

A tarantula. A sword. A severed ear.And one uncomfortable question:What happens when fear gets control of our power?A few years ago, I killed a tarantula because I was afraid of it. I had all the power. The spider had almost none.I won.It was a cold and empty victory.In the Gospels, one of Jesus’ companions does something similar. Faced with an angry crowd, he draws a sword and strikes. John tells us the disciple was Peter. He has the weapon. He lands the blow.And Jesus stops him.In Luke’s telling, Jesus goes even further: he heals the person who has just come to arrest him.Maybe having the power to win doesn’t make winning holy.Maybe fear is a dangerous thing to put in charge of power.This Halloween 5(ish)-Minute Sermon is about tarantulas, swords, monsters, fear, power—and the strange way of Jesus.Sacred Texts: Matthew 26:47–56 · Luke 22:47–53 · John 18:1–11QUESTIONS FOR CONTEMPLATION & DISCUSSION1. Where do fear and power intersect in your own life?When you feel threatened, anxious, angry, or afraid, what kinds of power are you most tempted to use?2. What does your faith or spiritual tradition teach about the responsible use of power?Are there stories, teachings, or practices that challenge the assumption that having power gives us permission to use it?3. Where do you see fear directing power in our society right now?What happens when governments, institutions, communities, religious groups, or individuals make decisions primarily from fear?4. What would it look like to use your power to create sacred human connection instead of domination?Where could you choose listening over winning, healing over harming, curiosity over control, or restraint over retaliation?BETWEEN is an inclusive spiritual community rooted in the belief that the space between us is sacred.

Sometimes we zoom in so tightly on one thing—a mistake, an opinion, an angry moment, a label—that we stop seeing the whole person.In Luke's Gospel, Jesus asks Simon the Pharisee a deceptively simple question:“Do you see this woman?”Of course Simon sees her. He's looking right at her. But maybe looking at someone and really seeing them are two different things.What changes when we loosen our glare, unclench our jaw, and zoom out?This 5(ish)-Minute Sermon is about seeing whole people living whole, complicated, sacred lives—and what happens to our capacity to love when we do.Sacred Texts: Luke 7:36–50 · 1 Corinthians 13:12QUESTIONS FOR CONTEMPLATION & DISCUSSION1. Where do you find yourself “zooming in” on people?Is there someone you’ve begun to define by one behavior, belief, mistake, or part of their story?2. What does your faith or spiritual tradition teach about seeing people more fully?Are there stories, teachings, practices, or beliefs that invite you to look beyond labels and recognize something sacred in another person?3. Where do you see our society “zooming in” on people?How might our communities, politics, media, religious institutions, or relationships change if we became more curious about the whole lives behind our categories?4. Who could you practice “zooming out” with this week?What could you do—ask a question, listen longer, learn part of their story, release an assumption—to create one more moment of sacred human connection?BETWEEN is an inclusive spiritual community built around a simple belief: The space between us is sacred.

What if salvation isn’t about escaping a God who threatens to crush us?What if salvation is about discovering that God is already down here in the rubble with us?In Romans 8, Paul describes all creation groaning together in the pains of labor. Maybe that’s an image for salvation worth exploring: not an individual escape from punishment, but a collective struggle toward life, hope, wholeness, and one another.The rocks are heavy. Some were here before us. Some we’ve added to the pile. Some have buried other people while protecting us.But we aren’t alone beneath them.God is down here with us.And as we dig toward the light, perhaps salvation looks like turning around, reaching back into the rubble, grabbing hold of another trembling hand—and pulling.Scripture: Romans 8:22–255(ish)-Minute Sermons are short spiritual reflections from BETWEEN, an inclusive Christian community exploring the sacred space within us, between us, and all around us.QUESTIONS FOR CONTEMPLATION & DISCUSSION1. What were you taught that you needed to be “saved” from? How has your understanding of salvation changed?2. What rubble are you carrying that you didn’t create—and what rubble might you be contributing to?3. Whose hand might you be able to reach for in the rubble right now? Who might be reaching for yours?

Why do we keep telling the stories of the moments that changed us?I was reading Ezekiel recently—one of the strangest, most intense, sometimes deeply uncomfortable books in the Bible—and started wondering about the stories generations tell to help the next generation understand what they experienced.That led me to memories of September 11, 2001, and the stories so many of us still tell about that day 25 years later.Maybe our biggest stories do more than preserve history.Maybe they carry something forward.Our lived experiences become little stories of humanity—threads woven into a much larger story that began before us and will continue after us.When we share our stories, we pass along bits of eternity.📖 Sacred Text: EzekielQUESTIONS FOR CONTEMPLATION & DISCUSSION1. What story do you tell about a moment that profoundly shaped you?2. What do you hope someone younger might understand because you told it?3. Which stories from generations before you have become part of your own story?4. What enduring truth might be hiding inside one of your most dramatic memories?

Twice this month, I’ve been invited into people’s homes to talk about Cathedrals of Connection with their book clubs.There was homemade food. Wine and coffee. Laughter. Disagreement. Stories. Big questions about faith, grief, politics, heaven, church, loneliness, and life.And it reminded me of something wonderfully ordinary about the earliest Christian communities:They gathered.They broke bread.They ate together.They gave thanks.They let people in.Maybe one of the holiest things we can do in a lonely and divided world is also one of the simplest: open our lives to one another.📖 Sacred Text: Acts 2:46–47Cathedrals of Connection is an invitation to discover the sacred in the space between you and every person in your life.Learn more about Cathedrals of Connection: https://www.cathedralsofconnection.com/Explore BETWEEN: https://between.church/Questions for Contemplation & Discussion:1. Who has let you into their life in a way that mattered?2. What makes a space feel safe enough for honest conversation?3. Who might be waiting for an invitation into your home, your table, or your life?4. What would “letting people in” look like for you this week?