Category: SERMONS, WORSHIP, MEDITATIONS

Liz spoke about her 10 trips to Haiti.  She most often went as a translator for doctors, interpreting for them what the Haitian patient needed.  She was there last year and hopes to go next, but this year medical and construction workers are what are most needed. One of the great losses from the earthquake…

from the book Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons: With an Eye to the New Elizabeth Achtemeier There are times in the life of the world or of a nation when one individual changes the whole course of history. Perhaps we might say that such a change occurred when the Emperor Constantine declared Christianity…

miah 33:14-16 Commentary on First Reading by Kathryn Schifferdecker On this first Sunday of Advent, one cannot read the prophecy of a “righteous Branch” springing up for David in anything but a messianic light. And that is a theologically sound way of reading this passage from Jeremiah. It is worth noting, however, the circumstances in…

By Rev. Woody Bowman 11/15/09 Psalm 106: 1 – 5 2 Corinthians 9:6 – 15 John 2: 1 – 11; John 6:11; Acts 27:35 Jesus Comes to Thanksgiving Dinner Jesus has nothing to do with the origins of our Thanksgiving holiday. But I can assure you he would enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, Thanksgiving is…

1 Theological Reflection: Day of Remembrance, Nov. 1, 2009 Janet Holladay, MTS, ALM Chilmark Community Church, United Methodist Good morning! First I would like to say that I am not standing here in front of you as an ordained minister. Although it is true that I have been lucky in my life to have had…

God is Unfair Job 1:1 to 2:10 More than 3,000 years ago, the writer of the Book of Job wrestled with a question which is still just as troublesome today as it was then. It is this: If God is all-powerful, good, and just (and sometimes merciful), why do innocent people, sometimes very good people,…

When I saw that the Song of Solomon was appointed as one of today’s lectionary texts, I jumped at the chance to preach on it. Not because I immediately knew what I was going to say, but because I have never really known quite what to do with this book. In my elementary school days,…

ON A MISSION REV. KWAME OSEI REED THE STORY IS TOLD OF A LITTLE BOY WHO LOVED GOING TO CHURCH WITH HIS GRANDFATHER. AFTER LEAVING SERVICE ONE SUNDAY, THE BOY LOOKED INTENTLY AT HIS GRANDFATHER AND SAID, “GRANDPA, ARE YOU AFRAID OF DYING?” SURPRISED, BUT PATIENT, THE OLD MAN SAID, “WHY WOULD YOU ASK ME…

Chilmark Community Church August 9, 2009 “Slipping the Bonds of Earth and Heaven” John 6:35, 41-51 Susan E. Thomas It seems to me that in light of this morning’s lectionary reading from John that the first great task of a Messiah is to bring to an end the search for a Messiah. So what if…