July 1st – Steve Jungkeit – with audio

Texts: Matthew 25: 1-13; John 21: 1-14 “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning”             You may or may not see it.  You may not notice it Sunday by Sunday.  But every time we gather in this space, a small flame burns just below the pulpit for the duration of our...

June 17th – Mazin Qumsiyeh – audio

This morning we welcomed Mazin Qumsiyeh, former Yale Professor, now a distinguished professor at Bethlehem University and founder of the Palestine Museum of Natural History. Mazin has been a mentor to Tree of Life from its inception and is an honored member of our...

June 10th – Steve Jungkeit – with audio

Texts: Isaiah 58: 9b-12; Psalm 55:8; I Corinthians 13: 1-13 “Gimme Shelter”             I begin this morning with two extra-canonical pieces of Scripture.  The first is a gorgeous speech from Shakespeare’s King Lear.  Lear has lost nearly everything – his throne, his...

June 3rd – Steve Jungkeit – with audio

Texts: Genesis 1: 26-31; Romans 14: 1-12 Death and Dignity: On Life’s Great Decisions             Several weeks ago, a story in the New York Times caught my attention.  It had to do with an Australian scientist named David Goodall, who had flown to Switzerland in...

May 20th – Steve Jungkeit – with audio

Text: Acts 2: 1-21 The Gifts and Challenges of Pentecost             In addition to being Children’s Sunday, in addition to being New Members Sunday, today is also, for those of you who pay attention to such things, Pentecost Sunday.  My comments this morning will be...

May 13th – Steve Jungkeit – with audio

Texts: Matthew 3: 13-17; Matthew 13: 44-45; 2 Corinthians 4: 5-7 Becoming the Beloved A passage from the New Testament that we need to return to often is found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.  We have this treasure, Paul writes, and indeed, I can think of...

April 29th – Steve Jungkeit & Rick Strickhart

Texts: I Corinthians 12: 12-26; Romans 8: 31-39 Becoming a Family For One Another: Some Words of Appreciation for Jeff Miller Steve Jungkeit             I’d like to divide this time of reflection into three sections.  I’ll open with a brief word, and I’ll close as...

April 15th – Steve Jungkeit – with audio

Text: Luke 24: 36b-48 “By the Mark” Introductory remarks by Steve prior to the sermon.             “I will know my savior when I come to him, by the mark where the nails have been.”  That’s a line from a song by Gillian Welch, a song I’ll play for you in just a few...

April 8th – McDermott & Piazza

It is a pleasure to welcome Tom McDermott and Tom Piazza to our worship service this morning. This marks the second visit to FCCOL for McDermott, who also traveled on our most recent Tree of Life journey to Israel and Palestine. When he’s not in Old Lyme or...