December 31, service

Our world and our culture is sending us messages about how to measure success. How do we react to those messages and how do we live our lives?

December 24, Christmas Eve service

We celebrate the birth of Jesus in this Christmas Eve service with readings and carols. The message today is entitled "The Art of the Deal."

December 17, Commemoration Sunday service

In today's service we commemorate the history and life of First Congregational UCC Church of Zumbrota, Minnesota.

December 10, service

"Make a way for the Lord!" Who is to do that? How are we to do that?

November 26, service

In today's sermon we talk about the relationship between "The Marvel Universe", modern culture, and Christianity.

.

November 19, Thanksgiving service

Do you live with an abundance mindset or a scarcity mindset?

.

November 12, service

In this service we celebrate a baptism and the presence in our church of the United Redeemer Lutheran Church handbell choir.

.

November 5, service

We celebrate the saints that helped us and lived among us. How did the saints make you the person that you are?

.

October 29, 2023 service

When I was younger I felt that the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament was harsh and violent and the New Testament was kind and peaceful. We explore that feeling in a sermon entitled "Face to Face."

.

October 22, 2023 service

We discuss a way forward for us as we live our lives in an uncertain future.

.

October 15, 2023 service

This sermon explores the story in Acts of Ananias and Sapphira. There are many layers to the story and we explore them in today's sermon entitled "Why Communism Doesn't Work."

.

July 23, 2023 service

In this sermon series, we looked at the changing view of Satan, then we looked at the changing view of Hell, and in today's sermon we look at changing views of Heaven and Hell.

July 16, 2023 service

What are your priorities? Where is God in your priorities. We explore that question through stories about Jacob and Esau and the story of "The Sower" in the Gospels.

July 2, 2023 service

"Out on Highway 61" is Bob Dylan's version of the story of Abraham and Isaac. We use his interpretation as a starting point.

June 25, 2023 service

"Hell's Bells!" is the title of today's sermon. We start the sermon with a little AC-DC! How has our idea of Hell changed over time? Where did we get our ideas?

June 18, 2023 service

Remember Flip Wilson's character Geraldine? "The Devil Made Me Do It!" she would say. Who is the devil and how did the devil change over time? How has the devil been used over time?

June 11, 2023 service

What does God want from us? A simple question and a simple answer in In today's sermon.

June 4, 2023 service

In today's service we go back to creation. What does "subdue" the earth and "have dominion over it" really mean? Can we do whatever we want? Is that what God wants?

May 28, 2023 Memorial Day service

In today's service we share photographs and memories of loved ones who have died. We shared those things that they taught us and how they made us who we are.

May 21, 2023 service

Sallie McFague is one of my favorite theologians. We talk about some of her ideas in today's sermon entitled: "Rocks all the way down."

May 14, 2023 service

On Mother's Day 2023 we look at the power of kindness.

May 7, 2023 service

One of the great things about stories is that they have many meanings. In today's sermon we look at a story about Jesus and God

.

April 30, 2023 service

The sermon today talks about John's Gospel and the story of the good shepherd. The story can be read with more than one meaning.

April 23, 2023 service

The sermon today talks about Luke's story about the walk to Emmaus.

April 16, 2023 service

Why did the Christian church grow so dramatically? Our sermon today looks at that growth and the reasons behind it.

April 9, 2023 Easter service

Jesus provides hope to us for resurrection and hope and a guide as a way to live a meaningful life.

April 2, 2023 Palm Sunday service

Jesus was "the cornerstone." What does that mean for us?

March 19, 2023 service

Willie Dixon, the "poet laureate" of the Blues, wrote a song entitled: "You can't judge a book by looking at the cover." We use that as a starting point for a talk about snap judgments.

March 12, 2023 service

The sermon today talks about empathy and the struggle to create it in ourselves.

March 5, 2023 service

Who is saved? How are we saved? Is salvation a "litmus test" to determine legitimacy of a religion?

February 26, 2023 service

Today's sermon takes its title from the R.E.M. song "Losing My Religion" from 1991. What does society lose when it ignores spirituality and religion?

February 19, 2023 service

We look at the Transfiguration through the eyes of the witnesses. What did they see? How did they react? Did seeing the Transfiguration change them? Are we witnesses to transfigurations and holy times in our lives? Will we change?

February 12, 2023 service

How do we reconcile seemingly contradictory bible passages? How do we reconcile different views of Jesus and of God? Today's sermon is about those questions in the sermon entitled "Is this the same guy?"

February 5, 2023 service

Today's sermon talked about my dog, Scout. We can learn alot from dogs.

January 29, 2023 service

Today's sermon talked about Mahatma Gandhi and the influence that the Beatitudes had on him and his life. We also looked at Gandhi's criticism of Christianity.

January 22, 2023 service

We continue to talk about Jesus in today's sermon. In Matthew, we focus on what Jesus is doing in addition to what Jesus is saying.

January 15, 2023 service

In today's sermon we explore some different views of Jesus.

January 8, 2023 service

"Where Did We Go Wrong?" is the title to today's sermon. We end up in a place you might not expect.

Christmas Eve service 2022

Christmas is a time for birth and renewal. Are there some changes that you could make? The sermon today is entitled "Another chance."

Worship December 18, 2022 Fourth Sunday in Advent service

In today's sermon we talk about 3 people to whom God spoke. We talk about what they were asked to do and how they responded to God. Is God asking you for something? How will you respond?

Worship December 11, 2022 Third Sunday in Advent service

"Great Expectations" is the title of today's sermon. We start with the Charles Dickens novel as a starting point and end with John the Baptist's question to Jesus about who Jesus really is.

Worship December 4, 2022 Second Sunday in Advent service

We talk about repentance and sin. How do we sin in today's world? What does repentance look like?

Worship November 27, 2022 First Sunday in Advent service

This weeks sermon is entitled "Peace be within you." How do we get that peace and how do we live after finding it?

Worship November 20, 2022 Thanksgiving Sunday service

How do we live our lives?. Do we envy other people, or do we have enough?

Worship November 6, 2022 Communion Sunday service

Do Christian religions, other religions, and spiritual practices have anything to give to the modern person? Can they help restore community in our modern world?

Worship October 30, 2022 All Saints service

Life after death is one of the unique characteristics of Christianity. We explore that in our All Saints Day service.

Worship October 16, 2022 service

Jerry Locula was our guest preacher today and he talked about the church in Liberia and the differences between the Liberian church and churches in the US.

Worship October 2, 2022 service

In today's service we talk about the history of Judah and Israel and the conflict that arose between them. Jesus says that God's love is for all.

Worship September 25, 2022 service

Ben D. Anderson gave a memorable and powerful talk this morning. His talk was entitled, "How wide is your welcome?".

Worship September 18, 2022 service

We celebrated a blessing of the animals service today. The first half of the service was inside and filmed, the second half was outside and not filmed.

Worship September 11, 2022 service

We celebrated a hymn sing service today. Also known as "Stump the Band!"

Worship September 4, 2022 service

What is the cost of discipleship? What will we receive? What will we pay?

Worship August 28, 2022 service

Are we called to be prophets? Are we called to stand up when we know something is wrong in our world? Today's sermon is entitled, "So, you want to be a prophet."

Worship August 21, 2022 service

"Repairer of the breach" is the title of today's sermon. How do we, as people, repair breaches in our relationships with others, with God, and with our neighbors in this polarized world?

Worship August 14, 2022 service

Conflict is a necessary part of life, and maybe a welcome part of life. In today's sermon we talk about conflict and whether conflict is necessary for change.

Worship August 7, 2022 service

How do we keep faith in an uncertain world? We talk about that in today's sermon.

Worship July 31, 2022 service

How do we measure success? Does "The person who dies with the most toys wins"? Wins what, I wonder? The Hebrew scriptures and the Gospel of Matthew provide some ideas as to success.

Worship July 24, 2022 service

God's love and the power of prayer are the themes of today's sermon. We talk about a quote from Mother Teresa, "I used to pray for answers but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changed things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things."

Worship July 17, 2022 service

We talk about a number of stories today: God with Abraham and Sarah and Mary and Martha with Jesus and the story of the Prodigal Son from the view of the brother. These stories have many levels and we explore some of them. I feel we have to be in the world and do what's right, and make time for God.

Worship July 10, 2022 service

This week's sermon is entitled "It's simple, but not easy." A healthy and holy way of living one's life is possible and the scriptures provide some guidelines.

Worship July 3, 2022 service

Why are we on the earth? Is it to "bear one another's burdens?"

Worship June 26, 2022 service

The theologian Rudolf Bultmann wrote about demythologization of the bible. What does that mean, and how does it affect us in our lives today? We talk about that in the sermon entitled "Making sense of things."

Worship June 19, 2022 service for Father's Day

In the late 1700s and early 1800s in the US there were waves of new forms of Christianity. One wave was a conservative Christianity that focused on salvation and hell, and the other was a more progressive Christianity that focused on helping people become better humans. The sermon talks about that in the sermon entitled "A Fork in the River."

Worship June 12, 2022 service

We celebrate the graduation of one of our members in this service. The sermon is entitled "Wisdom is from a woman" and the scripture reading is from Proverbs.

Worship June 5, 2022 service

In this service we talk about the division and separation of God's people through the "Tower of Babel" story and the unification of people in Pentecost.

Worship May 29, 2022 Memorial Day service

This Memorial Day service we looked at the sacrifices veterans made for us. The sermon examined gun violence in the US and how we should respond to that violence.

Worship May 15, 2022 Confirmation Sunday

We celebrate confirmation Sunday today. What does it mean to be confirmed into a church? What do the confirmands and the church do?

Worship May 8, 2022 Mother's Day

The great 20th century theologian Paul Tillich preached a sermon entitled "You are accepted.' That sermon had a great influence on 20th century Christianity. We talk about that sermon and what it means for us today.

Worship May 1, 2022

Today's service contains communion, 2 baptisms, and welcoming of new members to the church.

Worship Easter, April 17, 2022

If we believe that Jesus was resurrected, how does that change our lives? Are we different people because of that belief? This Easter sermon is entitled, "What do we do with this knowledge?"

Worship Good Friday, April 15, 2022

Jesus led a complex life. Those aspects of his life that we take for our life depends upon our view of him. One way to view Jesus is to look at his actions and his relationships and his words in order to find meaning for his and for our lives.

Worship Palm Sunday, April 10, 2022

In today's Palm Sunday service the sermon is about the changes in Jesus' life from Palm Sunday to Easter. It is remarkable the changes that can happen in a life in an instant. Because of those changes, it is vital that we know what things are fleeting and what things are essential.

Worship Sunday, March 27, 2022

Today's service contains some "cowboy hymns" and a sermon that quotes Willa Cather and the story of the Prodigal Son in the sermon entitled "Like a Prairie Wild Fire."

Worship Sunday, March 13, 2022

In addition to singing some fine hymns this morning, the sermon is entitled "Our group."

We talk about groups and differences and how God's love is not for this group or for that group--God's love is for everyone. .

Worship Sunday, March 6, 2022

We sing many good old hymns today. The sermon is a discussion of faith according to Paul and James.

Worship Ash Wednesday service March 2, 2022

Our meditative Ash Wednesday service.

Worship Sunday, February 27, 2022 service

The "Transfiguration" is a fascinating story from the Gospel of Luke. We explore change, transformation, and transfiguration in today's sermon.

Worship Sunday, February 13, 2022 service

"Judging people is fun!" is the title of today's sermon. I chose that title because it is funny, it is true, and it feeds the stereotype of religious people being overly judgmental. From this intriguing title, we end at a surprising place.

Worship Sunday, February 6, 2022 service

The sermon today focused on structural racism in the US. We talked about governmental action regarding segregation, mortgage insurance, and GI benefits to white and black soldiers after WWII.

Worship Sunday, January 30, 2022 service

Today's sermon was inspired from and quoted from Timothy Keller. Keller wrote about God loving our real selves--not the people that we present in the world--the real us. God knows us and loves us.

Worship Sunday, January 23, 2022 service

The first time Jesus preached in the synagogue he quoted the book of Isaiah. Jesus said what those verses meant to him and what they called him to do and to be in this world. What if those verses are calling us to do those same things?

Worship Sunday, January 16, 2022 service

In today's sermon we discuss the different gifts that we have within us. Do we recognize those gifts? What do we do with those gifts? Do we share them?

Worship Sunday, January 9, 2022 service

In today's sermon, entitled "Immanuel", we talk about God being with us in our lives. 

Christmas Eve service December 24, 2021

In the short meditation today we talk about the role that churches and congregations play in our world. The meditation is entitled "What will replace the church?" Happy holidays!

Worship Sunday, December 19, 2021

Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent. Our service focused on being open to receiving blessings even if the blessings are not the blessings we expected.

Worship Sunday, December 12, 2021

Today is the third Sunday in Advent. Our service focused on being changed by God and using important events in our lives to ignite change

.

Worship Sunday, December 5, 2021

Today is the second Sunday in Advent. Our service focused on being changed by God and what that will take from us.

Worship Sunday, November 28, 2021

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. Our service focused on "home". What "home" means to people and the best aspects of "home."

Worship Sunday, November 21, 2021

Thanksgiving service. The sermon talks about gratitude and sacrifice.

Worship Sunday, November 14, 2021

The sermon this week focuses on the important lessons

that we can learn from Hannah.

Worship Sunday, November 7, 2021

In this communion Sunday service the sermon was entitled "Three Women." The three women discussed were Naomi, Ruth, and the widow from Mark. It is fascinating how these three women model love, care for others, and sacrifice in the male-dominated bible.

Worship Sunday, October 31, 2021 All Saints Day celebrated

We talked about the saints in our lives and the way that these saints changed us.

Worship Sunday, October 24, 2021

The centerpiece of today's service was a hand meditation. It was a powerful event.

Worship Sunday, October 17, 2021

The Book of Job is believed to be one of the oldest books of the bible, if not the oldest. We look at the unique view of God in the Book of Job this week.

Worship Sunday, October 10, 2021

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." What does that mean about God's power in our lives?

Worship Sunday, September 26, 2021

The story of Esther contains many life lessons--bravery, cooperation, and love for others. An important message in Esther is to be open to the possibility that you have an important purpose in life.

Worship Sunday, September 12, 2021

Today's service contained Commitment Sunday and a Blessing of the Animals service! 5 dogs were blessed!

Worship Sunday, September 5, 2021

We talk about Pelagius, salvation, and faith v. works in today's sermon entitled "Good works."

Worship Sunday, August 29, 2021

"Pretty words" is the title of this week's sermon. The title of the sermon is taken from a song by the Amazing Rhythm Aces. The song and the sermon are about the power that words have and the powerlessness that words have.

Worship Sunday, August 22, 2021

What is "Manna from Heaven?" What food do we need to live?

Worship Sunday, August 15, 2021

What a blessing a community is! Today's sermon revolves around Solomon and his wisdom. Regardless of his wisdom, he made some puzzling and unfortunate decisions.

Worship Sunday, August 8, 2021

Our service today was a hymn song service. Members of the congregation gave us the songs that we sang in today's service. Our organist Linda could not practice before the service because she did not know the hymns that the congregation would select. It was a lot of fun! The sermon today talked about the similarities between Jesus' way of living and the "rules for living" that Paul gave to the church at Ephesus.

Worship Sunday, August 1, 2021

The focus in this week's communion Sunday service is to look at  the tools that we have when bad things happen to us. Regardless of your beliefs, faith, spirituality, or religion--those things have to help you be a better person and make the world a better place--or what is it's value?

Worship Sunday, July 25, 2021

When does God send us angels or messengers? I wonder if God tries to communicate with us but we are not open to the message or the messenger?

Worship Sunday, July 18, 2021

In today's service we explore two views of Jesus. The first view is from the author of the Gospel of Mark. The second view is from Paul. The sermon title today is "Flesh and Blood."

Worship Sunday, July 11, 2021

"A Plumb Line" is the title of today's sermon. Taken from the 7th Chapter of Amos, we talk about the plumb line and what it meant in those days and what it means today. We also discuss Bayard Rustin and ponder whether he used a plumb line to guage racial equity in the US.

Worship Sunday, July 4, 2021 Independence Day

What makes a true prophet? What makes a false prophet? What will it take to be a prophet? What will it cost?

Worship Sunday, June 27, 2021

"Making use of your materials" is the title of today's sermon. People in the Hebrew scriptures did not have problem-free lives (like us). How did they handle their problems and do their responses give us any guidance for our lives?

Worship Sunday, June 20, 2021 Father's Day

The story of David and Goliath is one of the most well-known stories in the bible. We explore one of the reasons for the popularity of the story in the sermon entitled, "A way of life."

Worship Sunday, June 13, 2021

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God make the choices God makes? Today's sermon is entitled: "God only knows" and it talks about those issues using examples from the Hebrew scriptures.

Worship Sunday, June 6, 2021

"Why Come to Church?" is the title of today's sermon. In this sermon we discuss the reasons why people worship at First Congregational UCC Church of Zumbrota.

Worship Sunday, May 30, 2021 Memorial Day

In today's Memorial Day service we talk about memory and resurrection.

Worship Sunday, May 16, 2021

Today's sermon is entitled "Sing a new song." We talk about different themes in Judaism at the time of Jesus and some reasons for the explosive growth in the number of followers of the Rabbi Jesus.

Worship Sunday, May 9, 2021 Mother's Day Service

Those of us who have been blessed with loving mothers, what can we learn from them, and what can we take from them and spread it into the world?

Worship Sunday, May 2, 2021

Why did Christianity spread from 10-15 people to 2.4 billion people? What was it about Jesus' message that resonated with people?

Worship Sunday, April 25, 2021

Worship Sunday, April 18, 2021

Karl Rist led this Sunday's service.

Worship Sunday, April 11, 2021

This sermon is about the woman at the well in the Gospel of John. How do we get "living waters" in our lives? Who gives this living water to us?

Worship Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021

On a beautiful Easter Sunday, our sermon is entitled, "Love Conquers All." The sermon is about the Poet Virgil's quote about love and whether love does indeed conquer all.

Worship Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021

On a beautiful Palm Sunday, our sermon is entitled, "Disappearing, like the spring snow." The sermon is about God's love, and how God's love is with us even when everything else and everyone else seems to disappear.

Worship March 21, 2021

On a gorgeous day in Zumbrota Minnesota, Karl Rist preaches this week's sermon.

Worship March 14, 2021

"Our way of life" is the title of this week's sermon. We talk about whether we follow what everyone else does or do we decide to have a different way of life? Do we focus on God or on things the world thinks are important?

Worship March 7, 2021

On a gorgeous day in Minnesota, this sermon is about Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians and his advice about accepting difference. I also quote from the book "The Big Sort" by Bill Bishop about the importance of diversity in society.

Worship February 28, 2021

How do you view faith? Do you have faith in things you can see and hear and touch or do you have faith in things unseen? In this week's sermon we discuss Abraham, Paul, and Jesus' views of faith.

Worship February 21, 2021

Karl Rist preached on the first Sunday of Lent on Jesus in the wilderness.

Worship February 14, 2021 Valentine's Day

Who is valuable in our society? Who is praiseworthy? What are the goals that we should have and the benchmarks in order to determine the good and the popular? We look at certain powerful people and how they treat others and we look at the example of Jesus in the sermon entitled: "Who are those guys?"

Worship February 7, 2021

How do you think about God? How do you talk about God? How do you understand God? We explore the ways in which people understand God and talk about God in their lives.

Worship January 31, 2021

This sermon is about the stock "Gamestop." What does the stock Gamestop have to do with us? What does it show us about our power?

Worship January 24, 2021

Why does a living God allow evil? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Is God really in control of our lives? We talk about these questions in this week's sermon.

Worship January 17, 2021

Worship January 10, 2021

The four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water are used in different ways in the Bible. We explore the use of water and wind in Genesis, The Gospel of Mark, and Acts of the Apostles.

Worship January 3, 2021

In this sermon we discuss Wisdom and Wisdom's place with God in Proverbs and how later Christian writers changed that story. We need to get everyone's input in our world.

Worship December 27, 2020

In this post-Christmas service, we talked about what it means to be the "heirs of God." Will we live our lives differently?

Christmas Eve service December 24, 2020

Welcome to our Christmas Eve service on 12-24-20. The sermon is entitled "The opportunities that are presented to us." This sermon is about Jesus' opportunities given his humble birth and the opportunities available to us today.

Worship December 20, 2020

This is the fourth Advent Sunday. In our sermon today we talk about the eternal kingdom promised in 2 Samuel. What is that kingdom like given that Jesus was not politically powerful during his life?

Worship December 13, 2020

This is the third Advent Sunday. In our sermon today we talk about the joy that Mary sang about in her Magnificat. As we live our lives, we must be sure that we do not limit our emotions. The title of the sermon is "Show Some Emotion" and it is taken from a 1977 song by Joan Armatrading.

Worship December 6, 2020

This is the second Advent Sunday. In our sermon today we talk about the road that our lives take and I compare our lives to driving west on Interstate 90 in South Dakota.

Worship November 29, 2020

This is the first Advent Sunday. The sermon today explores the changes that we make in our lives, particularly in a time of change such as the current Covid 19 pandemic.

Worship November 22, 2020

In this Sunday before Thanksgiving, we talked about our congregation "Punching above its weight." That means that we accomplish things greater than one would expect given our size.

Worship November 15, 2020

The title of this week's sermon, "Like a dream, like grass," was taken from one of the readings from Psalm 90. One of Buddha's realizations was that our lives are impermanent. The author of Psalm 90 had a similar realization, but the author of Psalm 90 discussed the presence of God being everlasting.

Worship November 8, 2020

After this bruising election, I felt that entitling a sermon "A house divided" might be appropriate. Lincoln used the phrase "a house divided" to describe the US. Are we divided as a people, and is our division necessarily bad, or can good come from it?

Worship November 1, 2020 All Saints Sunday

For All Saints Sunday we talked about the Beatitudes. In our world, it is hard to see "the meek inheriting the kingdom of God." It doesn't seem like that is happening. Can it be happening, can the kingdom of God be here, and our vision is too limited to see it?

Worship October 18, 2020

We look at "Two views of power" in today's sermon. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us that God used Cyrus to restore Israel. That was an easily understandable view of power. Did Jesus have a different view of power when he said to "render unto Caesar?"

Worship October 11, 2020

"A change of mind" from Exodus 32:14 was the title of this sermon. What does it mean for us to worship a God who can be wrong and who can be convinced to change God's mind?

Worship October 4, 2020

This week was world-wide communion Sunday. We joined with peope all over the world in celebrating communion as a community of believers in the possibility of God's guidance in our lives. This sermon discussed forgiveness and the power that forgiveness unleashes in them and in us.

Worship September 27, 2020

"Go and work today in the vineyard" taken from the Gospel of Matthew 21:28 was the title of this week's sermon. Which is more important: a person's words or a person's actions? Is obedience to God's word found in telling our neighbor that we follow God's word or is it found in acting in the world?

Worship September 13, 2020

The theme of this week's sermon was the parting of the Red Sea found in Exodus 14:9-31. This powerful story has inspired people all over the world--Christians and non-Christians. I wonder what stories our lives tell and what stories are inspirational for us?

Worship September 6, 2020

This week's sermon was entitled: "Let us then lay aside the works of darkness" taken from Paul's Letter to the Romans 13:12. It is easier to put aside works of darkness that we would never consider than it is to put aside our works that hurt others out of our indifference or unconcern.

Worship August 30, 2020

What are your priorities? What are the most important things for you? Where is God and spirituality in your hierarchy? We talk about those things in this week's sermon entitled: "Setting your mind on divine things" taken from Matthew 16:23.

Worship August 23, 2020

In the sermon entitled "What will we do with them?" we talked about the Egyptian government's tense relationship with Jewish workers in the book of Exodus. Are there parallels between that tense relationship and the relationships between groups in the present-day United States?

Worship August 16, 2020

The sermon this week focused on the concept of "foreigners" in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament. Jesus had a pivotal interaction with a Canaanite woman in Mattew 15:21-28. What did he learn from his interaction and how did he change?

Worship August 2, 2020

The sermon this week discusses Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32:24. Don’t some of us wrestle with God in our lives? Why is there evil in the world? Why does God allow bad things to happen to me and to those whom I love?

Worship July 26, 2020

This sermon explores Paul’s Letter to the Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” In our troubled world, the emphasis appears to be on the gathering of material goals rather than spiritual goals, or “doing the right thing.” Where do we place God in our lives? That question is the focus of the sermon.

Worship July 19, 2020

This sermon explores Paul’s words in the Letter to the Romans 8:18: “[T]he glory that will be revealed in us.” What does that mean when Paul writes that “our present sufferings” do not compare with that glory? Will our actions in the world reveal God’s glory to the world? Are we really co-creators?

Worship July 12, 2020

This sermon explores the Hebrew Scriptures for words to help us in our lives today. With protests about inequality in our world, we talked about the “Destructive forces [that] are at work in the city” (Psalm 55:11) and God’s words that are a “light for our path” (Psalm 119:105).

Worship July 5, 2020

"Passing by on the other side" from the story of the Good Samaritan was the title of the sermon this week. I started with the Good Samaritan story and wondered whether I was "passing by on the other side" in this world and ignoring some of the problems that we need to face.

Worship June 28, 2020

The sermon comes from Psalm 89:1 and was entitled "Faithfulness to all generations." God's faithfulness is available to us, today, regardless of our actions, our lives, or our situations.

Worship June 21, 2020

This sermon was entitled "My first Father's Day sermon" because that is what it was. The scriptures describe our blessings and the life that we can expect when we live with righteousness.

Worship June 14, 2020

This sermon was entitled "So Sarah laughed to herself." Sarah's laughter came from a place of disappointment and not joy. What happened after that?

Worship June 7, 2020

What did Jesus mean when he said that the kingdom of God was within us?