March 10, 2024 Sermon

Turning Our Faces Toward Jerusalem Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Luke 9: 51-62; Matthew 26: 36-39 There are two sacred legacies toward which the architecture of this Meetinghouse gestures: that of Athens and that of Jerusalem. ...

March 3, 2024 Sermon

Smooth Stones, Gathered from the Road:  A Report on the Pilgrimage for Peace Steve Jungkeit and Susan Switzer The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: I Samuel 17 (Selections); Luke 24: 32             A book that I return to frequently, and that I have often...

February 25, 2024 Sermon

Have Mercy upon Me Peter S. Hawkins Read by Steve Jungkeit and Laura Fitzpatrick-NagerII Samuel 11 and 12,  Psalm 51  February 25, 2024  The story begins on Good Friday morning with a man who is utterly lost. The night before was a waking nightmare, or was he actually...

February 18, 2024 Sermon

Souls Growing Deeper Still: The Legacy of the Black Social Gospel in the 21st Century Steve Jungkeit Texts: Matthew 22: 34-40; Revelation 7: 9, 13-17             “I sit with Shakespeare, and he winces not.  Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and...

February 11, 2024 Sermon

Up and Down the Mountain: On Praying with Our Feet Laura Fitzpatrick-Nager Texts: Isaiah 40: 28-31; Mark 9: 2-11 Mildred Norman changed her name to “Peace Pilgrim”. The year was 1953, and as an ordinary person looked at the world around her and felt driven...

February 4, 2024 Sermon

The Thick Darkness…Where God Was Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Exodus 20: 18-21; John 1: 1-9             A very strange thing happens in the transition between the Old Testament and the New.  We just witnessed it in our two...

January 28, 2024 Sermon

Finding Our Way Home Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Text: Genesis 49: 29-33, 50:4-8, 12-14             There is a great deal that I wish to share with you about Africa, stories and insights that can’t be covered in the space of a single...

January 21, 2024 Sermon

African Eyes: What We Saw and How We’re Seeing Differently Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Text: John 9: 1-9 January 21, 2024              A little more than a week ago, a small group from FCCOL stood in a circle on a beach in Western...

January 14, 2024 Sermon

Holy Troublemakers and Tingling Ears Rev. Laura Fitzpatrick-Nager First Congregational Church of Old Lyme 1 Samuel 3:1-11 January 14th, 2024   “We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers.” -Bayard Rustin   Then God said to Samuel, “See, I am...

January 7, 2024 Sermon

Another Way Home: A Season of Epiphanies Laura Fitzpatrick-NagerThe First Congregational Church of Old LymeTexts: Matthew 2: 1-12January 7th, 2024 Among the holiday movies we watched at our house over Christmas break was  ET, that beloved  1982 American science...

December 10, 2023 Sermon

These Weeping Eyes, Those Seeing Tears Steve JungkeitThe First Congregational Church of Old LymeTexts: Matthew 23: 38; Philippians 2: 5-7; John 4: 7-9December 10, 2023 I must be going soft. Maybe it’s all the bad news happening around the world, but lately, I find...

December 3, 2023 Sermon

Notes on the End of the World Steve JungkeitThe First Congregational Church of Old LymeTexts: Isaiah 64: 1-4; Mark 13: 24-26, 32-37December 3, 2023 Preamble What I offer today will take the form of a series of notes, fragments that I hope will form something of a...

November 12, 2023 Sermon

A Threefold Cord Is Not Quickly Broken Steve JungkeitThe First Congregational Church of Old LymeTexts: Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12; Luke 4: 17-21; The Quran 5: 8November 12, 2023 Several years ago, Reza, Shelly, and I had the opportunity to travel with one another to Israel...

November 5, 2023 Sermon

“We Will Send No One Away” Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: I Corinthians 12: 14-20, 26; Mark 10: 2-4; Mark 8: 1-3 November 5, 2023 Most every single week, I stand before you at the end of each service and offer words found in the Book...

October 22, 2023 Sermon

“The Darkness Around Us Is Deep” [1] Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Luke 22: 39-46; “A Ritual to Read to Each Other,” by William Stafford October 22, 2023 I speak to those who feel, this morning, as though they are groping about in...