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The Life That Is Really Life
Take a moment and look around. Do you see someone in the building or on the screen you did not know a year ago? If you do, please raise your hand. (Everyone raises hands.) Since the pandemic began, our church has changed. Our church is growing. (Thank God! Thank you!) At a time when many churches are closing - including, sadly, the Methodist church down the street in Gloucester and the Methodist church in Rockport - we are blessed to be growing. Even though we’ve not been able to gather face...
Previous Sermons
What Matters Most
What’s really important in life? With all that is competing for our time and attention - in a very complex world - how do we stay focused on what matters most? How do we live in such a way that we value what and who God values? Today’s confusing parable (Luke 16.1-14)...
The Christian Elevator Speech
“Here is a saying that can be trusted and is worthy of your complete acceptance: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’” How do you understand that sentence? How does it make you feel? Depending upon how you were raised, that one saying may land...
Ever Present
Today’s reading from Psalm 139 conveys this remarkable spiritual truth - even before you were born, our God initiated a relationship with you. Our God formed you, designed you, and sent you into the world. You are forever in relationship with God. From before your...
“Unity in Diversity” – A Reflection in Honor the 129th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Visits to Annisquam & The World’s Parliament of Religions
Swami Yogatmananda and friends, today we celebrate a breakthrough in the consciousness of Western people; we celebrate a bridge to spiritual understanding and awareness, and we celebrate connection between people of different cultures and religious traditions. The...
“The Greatest Delight”
Friends, the practice of Sabbath has the potential to give you back more of the life God wants you to have. It can re-order your priorities, re-establish your most important relationships, and offer you and your family something to look forward to each and every week – an experience of deep peace and joy that can even contribute to the healing of our earth.
“Always With Us”
God has a purpose for your life. You are here on this earth for a reason. Today’s scripture suggests that God knows you, forms you, consecrates and appoints you for a unique mission that you, sent by God, can accomplish. It’s true for baby Matthew and for each and...
The Key to Happiness
Do you want to be happy? Do you want your children, grandchildren and friends to be happy? These probably seem like silly questions with an obvious answer: Yes! Next question: Do you know how to be happy? Looking at our culture, it seems that not enough people...
Your One Wild and Precious Life
No matter what our situation in this one life we have been given, we all face choice points. Where to work or when to retire? If we are fortunate, where to give an inheritance; and or what to do with an inheritance we’ve received; Some of us may receive a financial windfall and need to decide what to do with it; and all of us must figure out where to invest our most precious resource – our time, our lives.
Will we merely look out for our own interests and enjoyments, or will we remember those who are in need? What legacy will you leave behind?
A Future With Hope
We are so blessed this morning to experience the joy of a baptism. It’s a joy that comes from celebrating a new life in our midst and it’s a joy that we can tap into each and every time we gather as a community for worship. The Christian life, at heart, is a life of...
A View From The Ditch
Can we trust that our God is bigger than the labels and judgments we so quickly assign? Can we trust that if we take action in the face of need, our God comes alongside to help us? Can we trust that if we allow that stranger to help us, we might just see the face of God?
Called to Freedom
Paul’s treatise on freedom was intended to clarify for the Galatians the whole purpose of Christ’s coming: to show them and us a way that builds up community, a community where we look out for the good of the other, a community that fosters unity rooted in Christ’s example and ongoing gift of love. Freedom, from Paul’s point of view, isn’t merely what today’s libertarians or individualists would have us believe – to do what I want when I want. From Paul’s point of view, Christ freedom offers a life that’s not just about “me” but about “we” – including those with whom we disagree.
“Instruments of Peace”
In last Sunday’s scripture reading, we overheard some of Jesus’ last words as he prayed to God: “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one… As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the...