Year: 2008

Scripture: 1Corinthians 12: 1, 4-13, 27-31 In a few minutes we will be coming forward to sign our names—each of us signing our name to one of the nine proposed social justice/outreach groups that are being proposed as a way to organize our efforts in this area. Every time I have said or written a … Read more

Scripture: Micah 6:6-8 and others I decided that this morning would be a good time to say some words about mercy. I came to that thought because there is this scripture that has been in my head for as long as I have been a Christian, and before that actually since the minister in the … Read more

Scripture: John 21:9-19 It’s communion Sunday today, and I’m thinking about feeding, particularly spiritual feeding and what that means to me. As a sidelight, the scripture for this morning fits in well with the time of the liturgical year we are in. In the broad sweep of the Christian story, we are currently in the … Read more

Scripture: Acts 2:1-6 In a few moments we’ll have the opportunity to share in the confirmation of Amber Lyon. I’ll get to Amber in a moment. Let me start though with some comments about Pentecost, which today is. Pentecost is a Jewish holiday, celebrated for centuries already by the time of Jesus and still celebrated … Read more

Scripture: Isaiah 59:9-15, 58:5-9 I have been asked by the leadership of my denomination to preach today on race. Not just me. Everyone preaching in a UCC church this morning has been asked to preach on race. This is a result, as many of you know, of the recent public attacks on Jeremiah Wright and … Read more

Scripture: Psalm 131; Matthew 6:24-34 This is one of those Sundays when I turn to the lectionary scriptures, two of them. Although the Matthew scripture about the lilies of the field is one of my favorites, as I know it is for many others, I want to begin by reflecting on the Psalm, Psalm 131, … Read more

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9 The scripture from Genesis is one of the lectionary scriptures for this Sunday. As many of you know, I don’t often preach on the lectionary scriptures. I often have something else in mind or choose to look elsewhere for ideas. But I almost always read the lectionary scriptures for the week, just … Read more

Scripture: Acts 17:22-31 First of all, I want to thank all those helped make worship happen last week here at Sojourners while six of us were attending the Central Atlantic Conference annual meeting in Newark, Delaware. I knew what Shelli was going to say in her sermon before you did because she had her sermon … Read more

Scripture: 2Corinthians 6:1-10 Several things conspired to bring about the sermon for this morning. For one thing there was the memorial service yesterday for Tom Meyer. As we said yesterday, it was not meant to be a gloomy time. Tom would not have wanted that. Neither did Marion or the rest of the family for … Read more

Scripture: Psalm 139; Matthew 18:1-5 It may have been because it was two generations ago, or it may have been where I was living or the church I was serving at the time, but when I was beginning my ministry, I would fairly often encounter people who were in a hurry to have their child … Read more