Year: 2005

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 30:11-20; John 10:1-10 I wasn’t quite ready to preach this sermon last week, or I would have done it. I may still not be ready to preach it this week, but I’m going to do it anyway. During the time I was away from church, there were, as you know, several things going … Read more

Scripture: 1Corinthians 2:1-13 I have just a few things I want to say today occasioned partly by some of what John Thomas, the president of the United Church of Christ, said during his visit to the area last Sunday and Monday, partly by our forum after church today, partly by a sentence in a magazine … Read more

Scriptures: 1John 3:1-3; John 21:15-19 It has occurred to me that this is a morning when I really don’t need to say very much, or rather when I need not to say very much. It’s a full morning already, in more ways than one, and in a certain sense I feel like any words of … Read more

Scriptures: Acts 1:6-14; John 13:31-38 There are a couple of occasions that are associated with this day and that might suggest some directions to go with my preaching. To be honest, neither of them is a very comfortable direction to go, but I’ve decided to try to draw on both occasions, even though it isn’t … Read more

Scripture: Romans 8:1-6, 14-16, 22-27 The title of sermon this morning is misleading. I thought I might do the list thing—top ten reasons to be spiritual—and maybe a few reasons not to be. Instead what this turned out to be is more like “preliminary, very preliminary, thoughts on spirituality. In any case, I probably ought … Read more

Scripture: Luke 4:16-21 A couple of weeks ago in the sermon I was speaking about “spirituality”, taking as my starting point a discussion in the worship committee about ways in which spirituality is, should be, or could be present in our worship service, that then turned into a discussion of what we mean by spirituality … Read more

Scripture: John 11:38-44 I want to reflect this morning both on the scripture and on the short poem that was presented to us both orally and visually. Let me begin though with just a word about this Sunday that we’ve been referring to as Pride Sunday. Dian has already given a little background on where … Read more

Psalm 78:1-20 This is not going to be a patriotic sermon in honor of our nation and the Fourth of July holiday. However…I have to tell you that ever since we decided to buy this building and started making plans to move in, I have been aware that our location here puts us in a … Read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 17 I decided, with the encouragement of the worship committee, to do what I’ve done several other years, which is to spend some weeks during the summer focusing on stories and characters from the Hebrew Scriptures. One year it was the stories from Genesis—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Another year it was the … Read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 18 I decided not to do any kidding around with the scripture this morning the way we did last week. This is not a kidding around sort of scripture. Some people who interpret this passage point out that there is humor in the story, but somehow the more I read this story, … Read more