Breathe In The Breath of Life: A Lenten Breath Prayer

God of all creation, you formed us from the dust and breathed life into us. Our breath is your breath. Your spirit moves within us and gives us life. Too often we hold our breath, we are so focused on the immediate. Too often we feel choked by the tasks crying out for our attention. […]

Celebrating The Longest Relationship

Over the trajectory of our lives, what are the longest and most enduring relationships we are likely to experience?  With our parents?  Our partner?  Our children?  For those of us who are not ‘only’ children, the longest relationships we are likely to hold are those with our sisters and brothers.  Siblings are perhaps the most […]

Hopeful Signs: An Advent Sermon on John 1:6-28

We expect some of the same things around Christmas: the same message, the same songs, the familiar traditions of it all.  We still have to work to prepare the way of the Lord.  For my family, this Christmas is different.  Advent is different.  Pregnancy has made it so, and I have come to understand that […]

Blue Christmas Service: When Christmas Hurts

Editors Note: This service was developed by Heather Hill.  She put this service together from a variety of sources and then made it her own.  It has been used it for 4-5 years now for a variety of sizes of groups and does not require clergy to lead it.  This type of service has many […]

Election Day Communion

“Election Day Communion- Tuesday,  Nov 6 at 12:15PM in the upper chapel. As our nation goes to the polls, let us gather at God’s table- not as Republicans, Democrats, or Independents, but as brothers and sisters in Christ”. “Election Day Communion- Tuesday,  Nov 6 at 12:15PM in the upper chapel- As our nation goes to […]

Emmanuel: God is (Still) With Us

Earlier this week, I ran into Jesus on Facebook. I was scrolling aimlessly through my news feed, and saw that my friend Rev. Tisha Brown, who pastors a UCC church up in Madison, had posted a video with this note: “This is incredible – not only feeding but loving the poor. I wish I was […]

New Hope: Greedy Boys and Happy Trees

Luke 19:1-10 The Story of Zacchaeus I want to tell you the story of another boy who climbed a tree:  The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.   (Read story) The message of the children’s book is profoundly true. Over and over again it is the giving tree that is happy. In the first part of the […]

Backpack Blessings

This will be the third year we do a backpack prayer at our church.  We announce for several weeks before that all children are invited to bring their backpacks with them to church on the Sunday before school starts (here that is usually the last Sunday in July!!).  During the time for children, we invite […]

Sing A New Song! A Poem and Sermon for Advent

Editor’s Note: With many clergy spending time in the summer focusing on Advent and Christmas preparations, Sunday Morning and Beyond is featuring a poem and sermon from Advent to help get those creative worship juices flowing.  Happy Planning! Sing a New Song! Mary’s song – Luke 1 & Hannah’s song – 1 Samuel 2 Isaiah’s […]

35°48′ 20″N 82°47′28″W

A Sermon based on Psalm 139 verses 1-18. In 1944 two people feel in love with each other. She was the daughter of tobacco farmers; her father tended the fields while her mother tended the children.  He was the son of a carpenter and a gardener; his father built houses while his mother fed the […]