Audio & Video Sermons

Counting Our Blessings:
God’s Gift of Freedom

Amos 5:21-24
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
The Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-20

"A lot has been said about freedom and choice over the past year leading up to this Tuesday’s presidential election, so it seemed timely to me that one of our lectionary scriptures for today was Joshua’s speech where he urges the people to choose wisely the God they will serve..." 

Righteous Reality

Ephesians 4:22-5:2

"I’d like to begin my sermon this morning with a little bit of congregational participation.  So by a show of hands I would love it if you would play along and answer the following questions for me.  (1) How many of you have ever been sad? ...."

See

1 Corinthians 11:17-29, 33
John 9:1-7

"This is a great story, this healing of the man born blind.  It goes on for ALL of chapter 9 in John’s Gospel. I encourage you to read it on your own sometime. The Pharisees really go on the attack....."

Becoming "One in Christ Jesus"

Acts 17:15-28
Galatians 3:23-29
John 14:18-20

"Becoming “one in Christ Jesus” is one of those Holy Bible phrases that sounds inviting and looks pretty good on paper, but holds some very real challenges when we try to live it out in actual practice...."

Flat Tires

Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21

"John, thank you for that reading, and for your sermon title: “Flat Tires.”  There’s nothing about flat tires in the Bible, I’m pretty sure, but it still gives us a lot to work with – since today’s Gospel text is about going out on the road as disciples of Jesus.  Have you ever had a flat tire?..."

The Danger of Fire

Pentecost Sunday
Acts 2:1-21

"Thank you, readers, for making that first Pentecost come alive for us today.  It was amazing, wasn’t it, how even if we couldn’t understand most (or maybe any) of the foreign words they were speaking, we could catch the gist of what they were trying to say – the spirit of meaning shines through any language, somehow..."

Getting It Together

Race Relations Sunday
Matthew 28:16-20, [Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a]

"This powerful vision statement of Jesus, for many of us, sums up why we do the things we do as Christians.  God is still speaking, and we are still listening to the call of this “Great Commission” of Jesus – to “go and make disciples of all nations.”..."

Romatso De Paz & Silver Lake

Davida Crabtree, Guest Preacher

Witness

Easter Sunday 
Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20  Matthew 9:1-13

A singing group called “The Resurrection” was scheduled to sing at a church.  When a big snowstorm made it impossible to go through with the performance as planned on the calendar, the pastor trudged out into the snow and fixed the outside sign to read. “The Resurrection is postponed.” 

Forgiveness

Matthew 9:1-13

"Thank you, Jane, for the sermon title, and for that reading. As you may remember from last week, this summer I am preaching on the sermon titles the Confirmands suggested. I’m matching them to the best lectionary text I can find, and Jane’s sermon here on forgiveness was next. So what does Jesus have to say today about forgiveness?...." 

Never Forgotten

[Psalms 8 & 131]
Isaiah 49:8-10, 14-16a
Matthew 6:24-34

"Words of remembrance are at the very heart of our Christian faith.  In our sacraments we remember Jesus’s baptism and his Last Supper, and we study ancient history each week as we read scripture and hear sermons...." 

Live

Ezekiel 37:1-10
John 11:1-6, 17, 20-28, 32-45

"We know that faith in the resurrection of the dead is at the heart of Christian faith, and yet stories like these from the Bible are astonishing:  Lazarus staggers blinking into the light of day, gasping for breath..." 

Share

Exodus 17:1-7
John 4

“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done.  He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 

A House on a Hill

Isaiah 2:1-5
Romans 13:11-14

"Like the Temple Mount that Isaiah lifts up in our text today, our meeting house,  The Congregational Church of Brookfield, literally is a 'house on a hill.'..." 

Two Steps Forward...Two Steps Back

Luke 17:11-19
"There are a few different ways to characterize this morning’s scripture passage from the gospel of Luke..."

Forgiveness, Inc.

Luke 16:1-14
"The rabbis used to say that they enjoyed studying the Bible as much as a dog enjoyed gnawing the last bit of marrow out of a bone. ...."

Seek and Celebrate

Luke 15:1-10
"A few weeks ago my husband Ryan was here painting one of the church school rooms next to the Fellowship Hall Kitchen...."

Standing Tall

Jeremiah 1:4-10, Luke 13:10-17
"The tricky thing about reading these ancient texts from the Bible, as we do each week, is that we can so easily distance ourselves from them...."

The Great Cloud

Hebrews 11:29 - 12:2
"The writer of Hebrews lists some weighty heroes of the Old Testament as he preaches here in today's text....."

Faith Is...

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-12
"The scripture passage for this morning is one of my favorites.  Yet each time I read it I have a different thought about what it says to us...." 

True North

Psalm 107:1-9, Colossians 3:1-11
"When I envisioned this sermon three weeks ago I had planned on sharing with you a bit about the fact that I am by no means a directional genius...."