How many of you have come to stay with relatives this evening or will be staying with relatives in the next few days?  How many of you are hosting guests or family this week? In our humble home, we are hosting my parents.  Their “guest room” is on the lower level (i.e. basement) where there… [Read More]

A Service of Lessons/Readings and Carols.  No sermon on this date.

The Children of BUCC presented the service.  No sermon on this date.

The poet, Wislawa Szymborska once said, “Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.”  As we begin a new church year with the start of Advent, we are beginning the new liturgical year with the gospel of Mark.  Mark is the earliest gospel and you… [Read More]

  Greetings and congratulations! It’s an honor to be here on this first Sunday in Advent, on this your 60th year of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Your work and ministry, in and on behalf if the United Church of Christ matters. Your light is a beacon of love and hope to and… [Read More]

                When Rev. Dee asked me several weeks ago to preach on this particular Sunday, I went home and looked up the lectionary scriptures, and I groaned.  Christ the King Sunday, and the suggested scripture from Matthew’s Gospel are far from favorites of mine.  Usually in my experience of preaching,… [Read More]

  In her book by the same name, Phyllis Trible calls today’s text one of the biblical “texts of terror.”  And for good reason.  This passage from the book of Judges describes the brutal rape and dismemberment of a nameless woman.  What starts as a domestic dispute will eventually become civil war in Israel with… [Read More]

Our choices can either make or break us…so the saying goes.  If we choose well, we tend to believe that our lives will move swimmingly along.  Choose poorly and life can become difficult, if not burdensome.  I find the thought simplistic, as much of life is trying to figure out what do to with those… [Read More]

Despite its communal emphasis on sharing this past week, Halloween became fodder for Trump Jr. to comment on socialism.  Reportedly, in a tweet combined with a photo of his daughter, Trump Jr. tweeted, “I’m going to take half of Chloe’s candy tonight & give it to some kid who sat at home. It’s never to[sic]… [Read More]

You’ve seen the sign, or some variation of it.  You step into an establishment, and a placard greets you, “We aim to please.”  It is customer service at its best; a way to retain and build upon a customer base.  At a fast-food restaurant where I once worked, we were taught to say as a… [Read More]