Sermons

Easter! Tell Your Own Resurrection Story

Christ has risen, indeed! Pastor Elisabeth describes how each gospel writer tells a different resurrection story as if their experiences were too big and too mysterious for one account. The Gospel of Mark ends his resurrection story rather abruptly, almost as if he was saying ‘this is my story, now go tell you resurrection story.’ She asserts God takes the smallest of openings in difficult and hopeless situations and breathes new life into them. The world needs to hear our resurrection stories of seeing the opening and finding love and new beginnings again and again. (Mark 16:1-8)

“The One We Follow”

Palm Sunday represents Jesus’ challenge to us to “reconstitute the world” to use Adrienne Rich’s phrase. Pastor Elisabeth describes the “humble” entrance to Jerusalem as a fierce challenge to the dominate religious and imperial power structure by siding with the poor and using love to lift up the outcast. This love can heal the deepest…

“You have been since your birth, the bread given and the wine lifted”

Rev. Elisabeth Middleberg, March 3, 2024 Rev Elisabeth Middelberg discusses finding strength in these difficult times. She starts by quoting Wendell Berry’s poem “When despair for the world grows in me…” and affirms the Irish poet David White’s “It is still possible to fully understand, that you have always been the place where the miracle…

Mary Dowling Memorial Video

On January 13 our little church was filled to overflowing (literally!) with friends and family to honor the life of long-time member Mary Dowling. At the reception, guests enjoyed the above 10-minute video of family pictures from Mary’s life.    

August 1, 2023 “Making Things Right”

Our guest preacher, Rev. Barry Cammer, addressed the moral dilemma surrounding race in America. Thoughtful whites of our generation are well aware of the racism that is woven throughout our history, and we sincerely hope for a day when it’s behind us. Yet, every day, in dozens of ways large and small, we continue to…