Preparing for Lent: Returning to God - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch

Summary

As the church prepares for Lent, Pastor Hannah invites the congregation to see Genesis 3 not just as an ancient failure, but as a mirror for our own lives. The serpent's temptation begins with a subtle distortion of God's goodness, planting the lie that God cannot be trusted and is holding something back. Adam and Eve grasp for what they already possess—life with God—and shame fractures their intimacy. Yet even in their hiding, God comes walking toward them, asking three gentle, piercing questions: Where are you? Who told you? What have you done? These are not accusations, but invitations.

Lent, then, becomes an opportunity to step out from hiding and return to the God who still comes looking for us. What if we let God's questions lead us into honest repentance—naming the voices we've trusted, the ways we've withdrawn or blamed, the places we've taken rather than received? As we turn back toward God, we rediscover intimacy, freedom, and love that overflows into our relationships and our community. This season is not about shame—it's about coming home.

The Wilderness Between - Isaiah 43:16-21 - Pastor Donnell T. Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch

Pastor Donnell reflects on the church's journey through a six-week vision series by naming the season the congregation now inhabits: a wilderness. Rooted in Isaiah 43:16–21, the sermon draws together the threads of the series, from the Magi's attentive faith at Epiphany, through centered-set belonging, life across real difference, and freedom. Rather than rushing toward resolution, the message pauses to name the in-between, the space where the old has ended but the new has not yet fully arrived, and where God is still actively at work.

Using a three-phase framework for how real change unfolds, endings, the wilderness, and new beginnings, the sermon situates the church honestly in the middle of transition. Through Moses' long formation in the wilderness and Isaiah's word to a people in exile, Pastor Donnell emphasizes that God's presence is not delayed until clarity emerges. God is not waiting for stability before acting. "I am making a way in the wilderness" is spoken as a present reality, inviting the congregation to pay attention to what is already springing up.

As the church prepares to enter Lent, the sermon offers an invitation to deeper belonging. Membership is framed not as an institutional obligation, but as a shared commitment to walk the wilderness together. The message concludes at the communion table with an invitation to come with open hands, carrying endings, holding uncertainty, and trusting that the God who sets the table is the same God who makes a way in the wasteland.

Drawn Towards the Center: Freedom, Joy and Boundless Generosity - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch

Turning to Paul's message to the Galatians, Pastor Hannah challenges the belief that we must earn our worth or justify ourselves before God. Such striving, then and now, keeps people from living into the freedom that is their birthright in Christ. Pastor Hannah closes with a prayer designed to help us practice the honesty and surrender necessary for finding true freedom in Christ.

Drawn Toward the Center: Freedom, Joy and Boundless Generosity - Pastor Donnell Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch

Summary:

Turning to Paul's message to the Galatians, Pastor Hannah challenges the belief that we must earn our worth or justify ourselves before God. Such striving, then and now, keeps people from living into the freedom that is their birthright in Christ. Pastor Hannah closes with a prayer designed to help us practice the honesty and surrender necessary for finding true freedom in Christ.

Summary:

Drawn Towards the Center: Desire Opens the Door - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch

Pastor Hannah invites the church to rediscover a centered set vision of faith—one where belonging is defined not by meeting specific boundaries, but by the direction of one's desire toward Jesus. Drawing from the Gospel of Luke, Pastor Hannah traces how Jesus consistently welcomed people who were considered outsiders: tax collectors, political extremists, women, children, sinners, and even the criminal dying beside Him on the cross. Again and again, religious leaders asked, "Why is Jesus letting them in?" And again and again, Jesus' life answered clearly: anyone who desires to be with Him is welcome. Desire—not perfection, morality, or religious performance—is the entry point into the family of God.

The sermon then turns toward the implications for church life today. A centered set community holds Jesus at the center—trusting Him to transform people over time—while practicing grace, honor, humility, and curiosity with one another. This kind of community is beautiful, but also demanding, because it asks us to stay engaged across differences, resist policing one another's journeys, and choose compassion over control. The call is to become a Beloved Community where fear grows small and love grows deep, where we take relational risks, ask better questions, and walk together as fellow pilgrims—trusting that Jesus delights in drawing all who desire Him closer.

Drawn Towards the Center (John 12:20–33) - Pastor Donnell Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch

Summary:

In this second sermon of the 2026 series Moving Towards the Center, Pastor Donnell Wyche invites the congregation to reflect on faith in a chaotic and fear-filled world. Building on the Epiphany theme of attentiveness, he reminds listeners that the Spirit of God does not operate through fear or coercion, but through presence, desire, and attraction. Gathering together, he says, is itself an act of resistance to isolation and despair, a declaration that we are not alone as God continues to unfold a larger story of grace, belonging, and transformation.

Turning to John 12:20–33, Pastor Donnell centers the sermon on Jesus' words, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself." He highlights the significance of the Greeks—outsiders—who come simply saying, "We wish to see Jesus." Their honest desire becomes a sign that God's work is expanding beyond insiders and boundaries. Jesus does not offer them easy answers or rigid rules; instead, he orients them toward himself. Faith, Pastor Donnell explains, is not about mastering ideas or guarding lines, but about being drawn into relationship with the living Christ who awakens desire rather than enforcing compliance.

The sermon culminates in a vision of "centered faith": a life shaped not by fear of crossing boundaries, but by movement toward Jesus over time. Pastor Donnell challenges listeners to shift the core question of faith from "Am I good enough?" to "What direction is my life heading?" Growth, he reminds us, is uneven and imperfect, but faithfulness is found in leaning forward, trusting that Christ is strong enough, loving enough, and alive enough to draw us closer. The invitation is simple and hopeful: you do not have to be finished, certain, or complete—only willing to move toward the center.

Joining God's Unfolding Story ( Matthew 2:1–12) - Pastor Donnell Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch

Summary:

Christmas Eve - The Power of Our "Yes" - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch

Summary:

In this Christmas message, Pastor Hannah walks listeners through Luke 2, inviting us to slow down and step into the wonder of the first Christmas night. She highlights how God enters the world not through power or prestige, but by interrupting ordinary lives—Mary, Joseph, and later the shepherds—with an unexpected invitation to trust Him. Though none of them seek the spotlight or have the accolades the world celebrates, each responds with a simple but courageous "yes," and that trust draws them into intimate, life-changing encounters with God as Jesus, the Savior, is born.

Pastor Hannah reminds us that the good news of Christmas is first shared with the overlooked and ordinary, revealing a God who delights in meeting people right where they are. Like the shepherds, listeners are invited to move beyond hearing about Jesus and to go and see for themselves—trusting that God is as real and present as the ground beneath them. The message closes with a gentle challenge to create space for God this Christmas by choosing presence over distraction, opening our hearts to deeper intimacy with Emmanuel, God with us.