Sermons from 2021 (Page 2)
No Vacancy That God Can’t Fill
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 One of the ways that I fulfill my ordination vows in the setting of the wider Church outside of our Westminster congregation, is by serving on the Central Mass. Association, Committee on Authorized Ministry. Also known as CoAM. The main function of any CoAM of any Association in the United Church of Christ, is to provide support and accountability to women and men who feel they are called to Ordained ministry. And to ultimately discern whether they…
Platinum Grade
John 15:9-17 Today, in case you needed to be reminded, is Mother’s Day. And if you did need reminding…you’d better act quickly because the clock is ticking; and the florists and card shops inventories are going fast. Did you know that Mother’s Day runs neck and neck with Valentine’s Day as the biggest generators of sales for flowers and greeting cards? Which shouldn’t be too surprising. Not everyone has a sweetheart, but everyone has a mother. And, in virtually all…
Fruit of the Vine
Fruit of the Vine John 15:1-8 and 1 John 4:7-21 Years ago, Sue and I spent a week in Napa Valley, California, along with another couple. One day we all visited a winery, even though only the husbands had any interest in wine. Because, who goes to Napa Valley and doesn’t experience at least one winery, right? On the last night that Jesus would have to spend with his disciples before his arrest and execution Jesus made use of winemaking…
No ‘Other”
Psalm 23 and John 10:11-18 Few images have captured the religious imagination of both Jews and Christians in their conception of God, as that of a shepherd. Exhibit A in supporting that claim would be Psalm 23—the Shepherd Psalm—which opens with the claim that “The Lord is my shepherd” and goes on to name the attributes associated with shepherding as a way of praising the provision and protection discovered by those who entrust themselves to God’s care. Rulers and religious…
The Greatest Miracle Never Seen
John 20:1-18 Order of Worship For a story that we think we know so well, there is a lot we don’t know about Easter. What we believe about the resurrection of our Lord ultimately comes down to a matter of faith. There is no dossier of facts that would stand up to scientific scrutiny or legal standards of evidentiary procedure. Easter is literally, the “Greatest Miracle Never Seen.” After all, there was not a single eyewitness to the blessed event…
If Stones Could Shout
If Stones Could Shout Luke 19:28-40 Palm Sunday is one of those Holy Days where worship tends to find its most memorable expression not so much in the liturgy of the day, but in the optimistic atmosphere of the moment. In other years than this, it meant children, herded by their church school leaders, streaming along the sanctuary aisles, clutching armfuls of palm fronds to share with the congregation. It is the Church’s version of a Super Bowl victory parade…
Before And After
Before and After Ephesians 2:1-10 Few things manage to pull off being brutally honest and powerfully motivational at the same time, the way before and after pictures can. Which is something the advertising industry has recognized for a long time. Nothing sells gym memberships faster than pictures of love handles spilling over the waistband of a bikini, split screened to a shot of the same person with tight abs and slender hips frolicking on a beach before an audience of…
Double Negative
Hebrews 13: 1-3, 5-8, 15-16 Every week, a printed manuscript of the sermon I preached on Sunday, gets emailed to the forty or so people on our Sermons to Go email list. A copy is also printed on our church website, where perhaps more people read them. I wonder how many of those readers wonder if I flunked English in school? When I write a sermon my go-to mode of expression is not precise grammatical correctness so much as…
Fool’s Gold
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Christians who believe in and try to live by the gospel are considered by many people to be gullible or naive. Like kids who never outgrew their belief in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. I remember the day when I told my former employer that I would be leaving my job to finish my seminary education on a full-time schedule and then pursue a call to ministry. “You’ll never make any money doing that”, he told…
Promises, Promises
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 In one of their songs, the rock band U2 describes someone who is unreliable as being like “a promise in the year of election.” There are promises, and there are promises. Election year promises tend to not be the kind you put much stock in. Our faith is built upon promises. Not the kind that are made and then not kept, but the kind that stand the test of time. Abraham stands as one of the great…
Anatomy of a Temptation
Mark 1:9-15 In the Netflix series “Lucifer” the Devil takes a vacation form his job of overseeing Hell to assume human form and have some fun on earth as a glitzy playboy. In the opening scene of the pilot episode, Lucifer is breezing around the brightly lit streets of LA in a flashy sports car–until he is pulled over for speeding by a Highway Patrol Officer. As the officer approaches the car, Lucifer pulls out a wad of cash and…
Group Portraits
Mark 9:2-10 and 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Precisely one year ago to this day, just shy of a couple of dozen Holy Land pilgrims from this church and a couple of Connecticut congregations, were setting foot on American soil again. Nearly every one of us carried the same souvenir carefully packed away in our luggage. It was a group picture of us all taken in the city of Jerusalem. The panoramic view of Jerusalem in the background lent an unmistakable context…
Have You Heard?
Text Isaiah 40:21-31 The first time that Sue and I travelled to Arizona, a chain reaction of delays, missed connections, and further delays led to an 11:30 PM arrival in Phoenix, instead of our original 2:00 in the afternoon ETA. From there it was another two hours of night-time driving up I-17 North to reach Sedona. Let me tell you, once outside the bright lights of Phoenix, there is no such thing as light pollution on I-17. The headlights of…
Mic Drop
Mark 1:21-28 The breaking news coming from the city of Capernaum was that the Jesus train was gathering steam and picking up passengers. In the short space of just the first half of the first chapter of his Gospel, Mark traces Jesus’ meteoric rise from obscurity to celebrity; bbeginning with a ringing endorsement at the Jordan River by his opening act, John the Baptist, to his gathering of followers from among the fisherfolk in Galilee. Even his fiercest critics —…
Schadenfreude
Jonah (selected verses) and Mark 1:14-20 Very few Christians would dispute Jesus’ reputation as a miracle worker; what with a resume of healing sick people, calming storms, and turning water into wine to his credit. I would argue though, that two of his most remarkable miracles are the ones he performed in this morning’s Gospel reading. You might scratch your head and wonder—what miracles? There’s nothing miraculous in this passage, you might say. No blind receiving their sight. No multiplication…
Come and See! Pass it on.
Psalm 139: 1-6, 13-18 and John 1:43-51 One night I was passing through the living room while Sue was on the couch watching television. “Do you want to sit and watch this show with me?” she asked. “It’s really good.” I glanced at the TV screen. The period costumes and British accents told me right away that it was Downton Abbey she was watching. Which struck me as being about as interesting as a watching a documentary on collecting backscratchers.…
Oath of Office
Genesis 1:1-5 and Mark 1:4-11 Certain positions of public trust carry such solemn responsibility, coupled with such potential for the abuse of authority, that they may only be assumed after first taking of an oath of office. There is an oath of enlistment for members of the Armed Forces, an oath taken by Judges and police, a Hippocratic Oath for doctors, vows taken by ordained clergy, and an oath that comes with the office of President. Most of these oaths…
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