Preached FCCW, November 17, 2019 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 and Luke 21:5-19 A Boston born and raised comedian named Steve Sweeney is known for his jokes about the pessimistic way New Englanders look at life. Like, if one New Englander says “Isn’t it a beautiful day?” you can count on another one coming back with a remark like, “Well, don’t get too used to it, there won’t be many more like this for a while.” We usually think of Jesus as…
Preached FCCW, November 10, 2019 Haggai 2:1-9 In 1929, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Randolph MA embarked upon an ambitious building project. The wood-frame church was torn down to its foundation in order to make room for a larger, granite structure. Something else happened in 1929 though. The stock market crashed. Then came the Great Depression. The money to rebuild the church evaporated. People were too preoccupied with trying to get by themselves, to have the resources or energy to…
Preached UCB All Saints Day November 3, 2019 Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31 Several Sundays ago, the Roman Catholic Church canonized five new saints. Which is news that might have easily slipped under the radar for many Protestants. Except that, in his eagerness to celebrate the event, Pope Francis tweeted out the message: Today we give thanks to the Lord for our new #Saints. The Pope might be considered infallible in some things, but Francis was obviously ill informed about one…
Thanksgiving falls on November 28th this year, which is the latest it can possibly be, since it is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month. This might seem like a bit of useless trivia, but the truth is that it has important repercussions. For one thing, it means that the Advent Workshop, which usually takes place on the night of the first Sunday after Thanksgiving and prior to Advent, had to be moved to a Saturday night. That’s…
The people who generally make for effective stewards are those who have a vision. Some long-term goal of great meaning provides the best incentive for short-term decisions about how to manage our resources. Whether it is saving for a home, college education for our children or a comfortable retirement, a compelling vision for life which identifies what is of most value to us enables us to invest in that goal instead of sowing in places that will bear little fruit.…
Every two years, General Synod brings together thousands of faithful members of the United Church of Christ from across the nation for formal church witness, inspirational worship, and fellowship. The theme for the General Synod 2019 in Milwaukee was based on the scripture Matthew 5:16 In the same way let your light shine before others . . . One of the most important activities at General Synod are the consideration of various resolutions that recommend how the Church might respond to…
