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Sermons

Unanticipated Shifts (2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 Luke 1:26-38)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
This is a day of movement. Flow. Good news erupting in a dream. A shift. The shift from unborn to born. From anticipation to alleluia. From fetal kicks to contractions, warm birth waters, and that first gasp of life. We think we know the birth Story—that narrative wrapped in swaddling clothes. In our homes, in our yards, here… in our sanctuary… we place replicas of the images etched in our minds. A stable. Worried parents. Smells. Noises. Moos. Baas. Street noises. That far away small town, Bethlehem, come to life with people who were forced to respond to the decree proclaimed by Emperor Augus...
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Word. Light. Witness. (Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; John 1:6-8, 19-28)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
Word. Light. Witness. THIS is something new. Something different. Something… actually… joyful. The past two weeks of Advent we found ourselves desperately seeking hope. Wondering whether or not there can be peace. As the days grow shorter in the northern hemisphere and long evenings envelop our lives, the prophet cries out: “I am the voice.” I am the voice of building. Of rising. Of repairing. Of proclaiming. I am the voice of comfort. Of good news. Of gladness. I am the voice clothed in liberation. Justice. Healing. A new creation. External. The voice of a new narrative. A new narrative, of r...
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Who Is…? (Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
Today we encounter a question infused with earth shattering changes. Land masses shifting. Mountains laid flat. Lives withering. Ground scorched. There is dismay in the wastelands. Desert wastelands. Urban wastelands. Refugee camps. ICE detention centers. Drug rehabilitation centers. Prisons. Nursing homes. People seeking hope along wilderness edges. Here we find ourselves on the shores of something new. People gathering to immerse themselves in the waters of hope. Forgiveness. Turning around. People of God, can we hear and name the voices crying out in the wilderness today? I know, I know…...
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Tearing Boundaries: HOPE (Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
O Come, O Come Emmanuel… Jesus declares to us today, “…what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake” (Mark 13:37). Emmanuel. It means God-With-Us. This year, 2017, has been marked by transitions and a general sense of unsettling in the world around us. Listening to the national news the past 72 hours, the endless list of issues, near and far, has shaken our sense of normalcy. Stability. Safety. Comfort. We must name it. We must keep awake. We must listen. Learn. We must ask the tough questions. How will what has done behind closed doors impact our children, families, the most vulnerable among...
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It’s Time: Being (Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
This sermon is a throwback, with a modern twist. We, as Jesus people, follow a different calendar in the life of the church than the January-December timekeeping of our culture. This Sunday, today, is Christ the King Sunday—the end of the church’s calendar. It is our “New Year’s Eve” of sorts. A good time to reflect on what has happened in our personal, and faith community’s, journeys with Jesus the past 12 months. For our congregation, this has been a period of multiple narrations looking inward, back through time, and forward. We have remembered our stories, the stories of 100 years of being...
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It’s Time: Naming (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
Last week, we were waiting. As we reflected on Jesus’ words, we heard that it was time. It was time—it is time—for heaven to break forth on earth. Yet we look around we see that heaven is not yet. Twenty-one hundred years after the birth of Jesus, we are… still… waiting. Waiting for justice to pour forth. For love to overcome fear. For those that are on the margins to be comforted. To be seen. To be heard. This week, it is still time. Time for waiting. But it is also time to name. For this week, it is hard to get away. Hard to get away from the challenging image of a punishing, overbeari...
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It’s Time: Waiting (Psalm 78:107 Matthew 25:1-13)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
It’s time. I would ask you to hold sacred space. A space in which it is time to talk about potentially challenging topics: Earworms. Fools. And waiting. Did I capture your attention? I love the squishy disquieting idea that the word “earworm” invokes. Do you know what an earworm is? It is one of those songs that gets stuck in your mind. You might suddenly realize that you have been humming a tune that you heard earlier in the day on the radio. This week, Bryan Sirchio’s song God Says It’s Time got stuck in my head. You may, or may not, know the tune. We will sing it together at the end of w...
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Knotted Together – Part II (1 Thessalonians 2:9-13: Matthew 23:1-12)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
We are a people of God’s story. That never ending narrative of God’s creative presence. Last week (Oct. 29), gathered in worship, we were each given a piece of rope. A section of cord that was separate, apart from, everyone else’s. We then talked about covenant. About the ways in which we are not members of this faith community, but covenanted partners. Covenanted with God. Covenanted with each other. Covenanted with the wider church. We physically responded to our covenant with one another by tying our threads together, remembering how we are connected. Today, strung before us in the sanct...
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Knotted Together (1 Thessalonians 2:1-8; Matthew 22:34-46)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
Following the scripture readings and before the sermon, the youth handed out rope to each person in the sanctuary. The rope tied into the Word and was used for visually representing our covenant together as a church community. Courage to proclaim the Gospel. The Good News of God With Us. That eternal, ever present, extravagant Divine Love that weaves throughout time. Today we pause, noting that this October 31 will be… yes, Halloween… but also the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s radical act—publicly nailing 95 theses onto the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. The United Church of ...
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THIS is Church! (1 Thessalonians 1:1-19)

Posted on by Kristin Gorton
As we officially kick-off Memorial UCC’s Stewardship Campaign today, I am going to take a risk and delve into the question: Just what is “stewardship” in the life of the church? The Merrium-Webster Dictionary defines stewardship as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care." However, I encountered one of the best responses to the question “what is stewardship” here, at church, earlier this week—and the answer came from a 3 year-old. Here is your invitation into the story. I invite you to take a moment today, and each Sunday over the next four weeks, to loo...
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