Sermons

Our Foreign Land

A sermon by Associate Minister Elsa A. Peters, November 25, 2007 Psalms 137 Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. Elizabeth Kubler Ross chartered unfamiliar territory when she named these five stages of grief. And with these five words, Kubler Ross gave me a vocabulary for what I already knew. When I was seven years old, I […]

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The Feast

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, November 18, 2007 Deuteronomy 8:11-20 Luke 14:15-24 I love Thanksgiving for a whole lot of reasons. But mostly because it’s relatively simple, straight-forward and unambiguous. It’s an easy holiday to appreciate – especially if you’re not in charge of the cooking. You don’t have to endure the

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Three Loves

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, November 11, 2007 Luke 10:25-28 We all ask questions every day: • What’s going to happen next in the stock market? • How much higher can heating oil prices go? • Are there really 62 grams of fat in that thing? • Who needs 113 different kinds

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For All the Saints

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, November 4, 2007 Luke 6:20-31 This time of year is rich with meaning. Harvest season is rapidly giving way to early signs of winter, and Thanksgiving is three weeks away. Nestled in these days is a rich and ancient holy-day that’s unfamiliar to many of us. All

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Patient and Persistent Prayer

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, October 28, 2007 Luke 18:1-8 We all need strength for the journey. No matter how grounded you are, or how well you handle life’s challenge, you can’t do it on your own. I think that’s the main shortcoming of any theory of humanism. We can mess it

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The Simple Truth

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, October 21, 2007 Luke 18:9-14 Today is Consecration Sunday when we prayerfully consider our ministries for next year and commit to support them. Consecration is the act of making something sacred or holy. Money is neither sacred nor profane, at least when seen through the eyes of

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The Things We Take for Granted

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, October 14, 2007 Luke 17:11-19 You may be familiar with today’s parable from Luke. Still, I’d like to point out a few specifics. Ten people with leprosy approached Jesus and pleaded for mercy. They didn’t mention physical healing but I can imagine that had anything else on

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Increase Our Faith

A sermon by Associate Minister Elsa A. Peters, October 7, 2007 Luke 17:5-10 “The people increased until they were numerous.” This is what it means to increase. To acquire. To hoard. To multiply stuff. Or in this story from the Penobscot Nation, to multiply people. And yet, this story is not about the number of

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Has Anyone Seen Lazarus?

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, September 30, 2007 Luke 16:19-31 Have you seen Lazarus? He looks like he slept on the street, probably because he did. He pushes a shopping cart filled with all his worldly possessions. She’s the one who speaks Arabic. He’s the one with that far-away stare in his

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Infinite Shades of Gray

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, September 23, 2007 Luke 16:1-13 Remember when you settled down to watch the Lone Ranger or Gene Autry or Bonanza on TV? And remember how easy it was to tell the heroes from the villains, ’cause the good guys always wore white hats and the bad guys

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