Tag: joy

Grace

Grace (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Ephesians 2:4-10
April 8, 2018

Craig Driver, Jo Tefft, Leah Reisinger, Steve Peters.  This is who we are, the people gathered in this particular room at this particular hour, each of us bringing our own stories: stories of finding our way, some of us having an easier time of it, some of us a harder time; stories of making a living and making a life, of falling down and rising up, of gaining and of losing; stories of leaving our mark and of being marked by the people who come into our lives.… Continue reading ...

A carol of joy

A carol of joy (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Luke 1:46-55
December 24, 2017

You just heard “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” arranged and played by Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy.  I heard Natalie and Donnell in concert last Sunday afternoon at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.  They were joined by four other amazing musicians from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Cuba, and Ireland, and by five of their six children: Mary Frances, Michael, Clare, Julia, and Alec. … Continue reading ...

Chasing the wind

Chasing the wind (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Ecclesiastes 2:4-17, 24-26
September 17, 2017

So here we are, you and me, a hundred and some of us, gathered in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning, here together for one hour of the twenty-four hours of this day, for one day of the seven days of this week, for one week of the fifty-two weeks of this year, for one year of the however many years each of us have lived already and however many years each of us have left to live. … Continue reading ...

My own dear son

My own dear son (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Matthew 3:13-17
January 12, 2014

This is my own dear son …

God loved the world so much that he gave …

that he gave the world his own dear son.

This is my own dear son …

That’s what we remember, that’s what we proclaim, during these seasons of Christmas and now Epiphany, that God gave to us his own dear son. … Continue reading ...

Open the doors!

Open the doors! (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Isaiah 49:1-6, John 1:29-42
January 19, 2014

Here we are.  It’s a Sunday morning and we’re in church.  I have chosen to come here this morning and you have chosen to come here this morning.

Do you come here because you want to feel safe?  Because you want to come to a place where you can be yourself without fear of being judged or laughed at or belittled? … Continue reading ...

Have you ever been in love?

Have you ever been in love? (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Matthew 17:1-8
March 2, 2014

Have you ever been in love?

Maybe it was puppy love, a childhood crush, like Charlie Brown and the little red-haired girl.

Maybe it was a first, serious, high-school romance, awakening in you a new desire to share everything — thoughts and feelings and dreams and touch — with another person.… Continue reading ...

Go and tell

Go and tell (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Matthew 28:1-10
April 20, 2014

The last lie is no lie at all.  Jesus is alive.  But if Jesus is alive, then none of the rest are lies either.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is near,” and it is.  It is near in time, coming soon.  Now God’s sense of “soon” and our sense of “soon” may be two different things, but the kingdom of God is coming, God is coming, soon. … Continue reading ...

On watch

On watch (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Matthew 27:62-66
April 20, 2014

On the Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees met with Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, ‘I will be raised to life three days later.’  Give orders, then, for his tomb to be carefully guarded until the third day, so that his disciples will not be able to go and steal the body, and then tell the people that he was raised from death. … Continue reading ...

What’s next?

What’s next? (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
1 Peter 1:1-9
April 27, 2014

But what comes next?

It was an exhilarating, exhausting, excruciating, and euphoric week.  Not this week, but the preceding week, the week that began on Palm Sunday and ended on Easter Sunday.  If you paid close attention, if you followed Jesus every step of the way, if you opened your eyes and your ears to the horrors of what was done to him and the wonders of what was done by him, you were surely left limp, physically spent, emotionally drained. … Continue reading ...

Getting there

Getting there (Click on the sermon title for a .pdf copy)
Romans 12:1-6
August 24, 2014

Katahdin is an impressive mountain.  It is actually a massif, a massive, horseshoe-shaped ridge comprised of six distinct summits rising abruptly from the forests and lakes and streams of the northern Maine woods.  The six summits are North Howe, South Howe, Hamlin, Baxter Peak, South Peak and Pamola. … Continue reading ...