Where the Story Finds Us
Where the Story Finds Us is a weekly sermon podcast from Rev. Anthony Spearhart, a gay ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ. Rooted in Sunday worship, these messages are shaped by scripture, story, Spirit, and everyday life — offering a sacred word of hope, grace, justice, and belonging. No matter who you are, who you love, how you identify, what you carry, or where you find yourself on life’s journey, this is a place to listen, wonder, and find our way together.
Episodes
19 episodes
10/11/26 - "Learning to Live Free" - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
Learning to Live Free | Rev. Anthony Spearhart | October 11, 2026Egypt is behind them. But its habits can still travel with them.The Israelites have crossed the sea, yet leaving Pharaoh’s world does not automatically teach them ho...
10/4/2026 - "The Story Fear Tries To Tell" - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
Fear can make the familiar look safer than it ever was—even when the familiar has wounded us.With Pharaoh’s army approaching, the Israelites begin to remember captivity as security. Their story raises a deeply personal question: what hap...
9/27/2026 - INSTALLATION SERVICE - “Sharing the Hum of Love” - Rev. Dr. Dave Long-Higgins
Sharing the Hum of Love | Rev. Dr. Dave Long-Higgins | September 27, 2026What if the church is not called to have all the answers—but to listen for the hum of love already moving through the world?At the Installation of Rev...
9/27/2026 - “Into the Story Ahead” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
Into the Story Ahead | Rev. Anthony Spearhart | September 27, 2026God’s call rarely comes with a complete map.In Genesis 12, Abram is invited to leave what is familiar and step toward a future he cannot yet fully see. Jesus...
9/20/2026 - “Blessed Anyway” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
Joseph does what is faithful—and still ends up in prison.His story challenges one of faith’s most persistent misunderstandings: that doing the right thing will protect us from hardship, rejection, or injustice. Sometimes faithfulness cos...
9/13/2026 - “Where the Story Finds Us” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
Stories do more than entertain us. They help us make sense of the world, restore order when life feels chaotic, and sometimes reveal truths we were not ready to hear any other way.From the stories of scripture to the stories carried thro...
8/23/2026 - “The Voices We Carry” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
We are shaped by more than the moments we can see. We carry voices, stories, wisdom, wounds, faith, and hope from those who came before us—and if we pay attention, we may discover that our ancestors are still present with us in powerful ways. T...
8/16/2026 - “Woven Together” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
What does it mean to be truly present with one another when grief arrives and there are no perfect words to say? Beginning in a tender place of loss, this episode reflects on the quiet ways we carry one another—through presence, compassion, sha...
8/9/2026 - “Too Bright for These Walls” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
Church buildings matter. They hold baptisms and funerals, Christmas Eves and ordinary Sundays, generations of laughter, tears, prayers, and stories. But what happens when the light inside them refuses to stay contained? Through Micah’s ancient ...
8/2/2026 - “Greater Things at the Table” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
A grandmother’s macaroni and cheese. Vegetables pulled from the garden. Exhausted disciples discovering breakfast waiting beside the sea. Few places carry memory, nourishment, joy, grief, and belonging quite like a table. Drawing upon the heart...
7/26/26 - "Keep Plussing" - Rev Anthony Spearhart
Walt Disney called it “plussing”—the belief that something alive should never be treated as though it has nothing more to become. With a kaleidoscope sitting in the pastor’s office as guide, this episode turns that idea toward something surpris...
7/19/2026 - “Still Uniting” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
The United Church of Christ was born when different streams dared to flow together—but some of those streams were ignored, marginalized, or asked to disappear along the way. From the forgotten Afro-Christian roots of the UCC to the experiences ...
7/12/2026 - “Play It!” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
Every Friday afternoon, Walt Disney would summon the Sherman Brothers into his office and ask for one particular song: “Feed the Birds.” Why that song? Standing inside Walt’s actual office decades later opens a doorway into a bigger question ab...
7/5/2026 - “The Table Comes with Extensions” - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
There is something almost magical about what happens when a dining table is pulled apart, another leaf is added, and extra chairs appear. Suddenly there are more voices, more laughter, more stories—and sometimes more healing than anyone expecte...
6/28/26 - "We Shall Not Be Moved! Rooted in Love, Justice, and Affirmation" - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
What does “welcome” actually mean when someone has spent years wondering whether the church could ever truly want them? On Open and Affirming Sunday, the image of a tree planted beside living water becomes a fierce vision of faith: roots growin...
6/21/2026 - "Prophets, Pauses, and Possibility" - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
A rainbow banner at a Pride parade. Peter praying on a rooftop. An ancient prophet declaring that God is doing a new thing. And, unexpectedly, The Lion King. This episode asks what may be one of the most important questions a faith com...
6/14/2026 - "The Work We Were Made For" - Rev. Anthony Spearhart
Every great story needs a beginning, and this one marks the first Sunday of a new pastor and congregation learning to write theirs together. Around the communion table, amidst Great Danes, roller coasters, baseball, beaches, Disney, and a glimp...
4/19/2026 - "Look Again" - Pastor Anthony Spearhart
Sometimes what we thought was gone is simply waiting to be recognized differently. Through a deeply personal story, a familiar song, and the disciples’ encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, this episode explores resurrection as something ...
5/3/2026 - "Held in Awe, Sent in Love" - Pastor Anthony Spearhart
On a final Sunday at St. Paul UCC, this message stands in the tender space between holding on and letting go. Beginning with the mystery of awe and the ways our bodies seem wired to recognize the sacred, the story travels through prairie roots,...