Year: 2004

Readings: Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:38-44 I’m going to preach today on the Passion. Mostly not the movie. Mostly the story in scripture. The two things—the movie and the Biblical story—are not the same. Preaching on one does not necessarily involve preaching on the other. But I am going to preach on both…a little bit on … Read more

Scripture: John 20:1-18 When Julie Hughens’ father died earlier this week, it summoned up memories for me of other Easters I have experienced. There have been times, many times, at Easter where death has seemed to fill the air. I feel like this has happened quite often to me over my years in the ministry, … Read more

Scripture: John 20:19-31, selections from the Gospel of Thomas For many years on the Sunday after Easter I preached about the disciple named Thomas, doubting Thomas as he is often called. There were several reasons for this. For one thing the reading about Thomas and Jesus that we heard this morning was the lectionary reading … Read more

Scripture: John 21:1-18 What we heard in the scripture reading this morning were essentially Jesus’ last words. At least as John tells the story, the last things Jesus said were his words to Peter: Do you love me? Yes, Lord you know that I love you. Feed my lambs. Do you love me? Yes, Lord, … Read more

Scripture: Matthew 10:34-39; 12:46-50 There is a school of thought that says that Mothers’ Day doesn’t belong in the church. Jesus didn’t decree it. At least as far as the United States is concerned, Woodrow Wilson did that in 1912, I think it was. In fact what Jesus did have to say on the subject … Read more

Scripture: John 17:20-26 In 1957 two denominations came together to form the United Church of Christ. Each of those two denominations were themselves mergers of two denominations that had taken place about 20 years earlier, so the UCC was effectively the coming together of four denominations. The organizers took a verse from scripture, from the … Read more

Scriptures: Acts 2:1-4, 14-21, Romans 8:26-27 Reader: The festival of Pentecost celebrates the birth of the Christian church. The Holy Spirit came upon the faithful disciples of Jesus to inspire and energize them. They told the story of Jesus and shared the good news with everyone. Reader: Two American soldiers were killed in action Monday … Read more

RAINBOWS Scripture: Genesis 9:8-17 A week or so ago the Service and Missions Committee was having a meeting in the back room of the building where the church office is located and in the middle of the meeting Max got all excited, in a positive way.  Service and Missions meetings can be pretty exciting, so … Read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2 Baptism is one of those things that always seems to trigger a bunch of thoughts in me. It’s probably because I have a tendency to think too hard about some things, rather than just letting them be, enjoying them, appreciating them, but not spending too much time examining them very closely. We … Read more

Scripture: Luke 9:57-60; Luke 15:11-24 I think maybe that I have never given a Fathers’ Day sermon. Every year, it seems, whatever I might be inclined to say along the lines of parental love or appreciation or sermons somehow related to families or anything at all along those lines, I have tended to say on … Read more