by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
[A recording of the Hallelujah Chorus by the Senior Choir follows the sermon] Texts: Luke 24: 1-12; I Corinthians 1: 18-21, 26-31 The Parable of the Resurrection “I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart).” Those are the words of e.e. cummings, words that...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
AFTER CLICKING BELOW TO LISTEN, YOU MAY SCROLL DOWN TO FOLLOW THE LATIN AND ENGLISH TEXTS [Steve Jungkeit’s opening remarks precede the performance on the recording] This evening’s presentation of Mozart’s Requiem coincides with the night we call Maundy...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Luke 19:29-41 The Things that Make for Peace This has been the holiest of Holy Weeks. As you know, On Monday at 5 pm a group of us welcomed our beloved new friends, Zahida and Malik. We met as they began their sanctuary stay with us. We formed a small procession as we...
by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
Texts: Romans 9:13; Luke 15: 11-32 Slanted and Enchanted V: The Parable of the Prodigal Son Throughout the season of Lent we’ve been focused on the parables of Jesus, reasoning that the words of Jesus are as important to consider as his actions. Jesus...
by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
Text: Luke 16: 19-31 Slanted and Enchanted IV: The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus During the season of Lent, we’ve been focusing on the parables of Jesus, the slanted and enchanted stories that he tells throughout his ministry. We need...
by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
Text: Luke 19: 11-27 Slanted and Enchanted III: The Parable of the Talents The final lines of Shakespeare’s King Lear may well sum up the whole of the Christian Gospel. After all the misrecognitions, all the betrayals, all the bloodshed and heartache,...
by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
Text: Luke 10: 25-37 Slanted and Enchanted II: The Parable of the Good Samaritan “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant,” is how Emily Dickinson begins one of her poems, a line that was shared with me after the sermon last Sunday. It’s a fitting way to...
by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
Texts: Matthew 13: 34-35; Luke 8: 4-15 Slanted and Enchanted: The Parable of the Sower When I was in sixth grade, I got baptized on a Sunday evening, and afterwards my grandparents gave me a Bible – this Bible. It was one of those red letter editions of the...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
This morning we welcomed the Rev. Laura Fitzpatrick-Nager to the pulpit. Laura will start as our new Senior Associate Minister on March 20th. Following the service a special congregational meeting unanimously affirmed Laura in this new position. Mark 2:1-12...
by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
Texts: Luke 2: 25-38; Philippians 1: 3-11 Integrity Blues I began reading George Eliot’s classic novel Middlemarch this week. It’s set in an English village that’s undergoing convulsions as a result of the industrial revolution, and it tracks the...
by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
Texts: Matthew 14: 22-27; I John 4: 16b-21 Faith Against Fear I’d like to begin this morning with a famous story about Jesus. It’s a story about fear, a story that I’ve been reflecting on over the past several weeks, as 2017 came to a close, as I thought about...
by Mario Baldessari | Sermons
Texts: Luke 19: 41-42; Revelation 22: 1-5 We were pleased to welcome Shelly Altman to the pulpit this morning. Shelly is the co-chair of Jewish Voice for Peace, New Haven, and he traveled on our Tree of Life journey this year. It is a pleasure to have both Shelly and...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Isaiah 49:8-13 Matthew 25:31-40 John 17:15-19 “…And the End of All Our Exploring will be to Arrive Where We Started and to Know the Place for the First Time.” (T.S. Eliot) As our sermon opens, I’d like to take you back in time to the year 1900. And I’d...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
This morning we welcomed The Rev. Paul Verryn to our pulpit. Our church has been in partnership with Paul and the Methodist churches he serves in South Africa for nearly thirty years. As always, it is wonderful to have Paul visiting with us. Paul did not use a written...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
This morning we welcomed The Rev. Paul Verryn to our pulpit. Our church has been in partnership with Paul and the Methodist churches he serves in South Africa for nearly thirty years. As always, it is wonderful to have Paul visiting with us. Paul did not use a written...
