by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Green Grass Reflections from the Travelers Elsa Jungkeit’s Green Grass Reflections The biggest reason I enjoy going to South Dakota is that I get to see old and new friends. It was good to see my friends Angel, Jessie, and Aspen again. We had fun beading...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Texts: Romans 12: 1-2; I Peter 2: 1-10 Everything I Do Is Gonh Be Funky (From Now On), or, Keeping Church Weird To begin, a preview of sorts. There’s a commercial that Starbucks put out a few years ago for one of its canned espresso drinks. It’s...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Texts: Genesis 7: 11-20; Matthew 14: 22-33 High Water Everywhere Today I wish to talk about baptism, about remembering our baptism. We’ll get to that important ritual in a few minutes, but first, a story about songs and waters, blues and floods, baptism writ large. ...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Texts: Psalm 23; Luke 15: 11-24 Thou Preparest a Table Before Me No audio available – sorry. The day is May 24, 1942. The morning finds a young German literature professor, named Daniel Decourdemanche in a German prison, composing a letter to his...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Texts: John 5: 1-9; I Corinthians 13: 1-13 “Take Up Your Mat and Walk” “Take up your mat and walk.” Those are the words that Jesus says to a paralyzed man that he encounters in the Gospel of John. Recall the scene. There’s a pool of water, with healing properties....
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Isaiah 11: 1-3, 6-9 Romans 12: 9-13 Matthew 19: 13-15 REFLECTIONS ON A STILL LIFE (ON FINDING THE L KEY, A LUNCH BUCKET, THE MYTH OF SYSYPHUS, A TEQUILA COMMUNION, PADDINGTON BEAR AND RUSTIC STEPS) Today’s sermon probably could fall under the “Self-Help”...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Proverbs 29:18 Ezekiel 47:7-12 Psalm 23 Revelation 21:1-5 and 22:1&2 “In Difficult Times You Should Always Carry Something Beautiful in Your Mind” (Pascal) On a recent sweltering summer day, as I hurried out of the Big Y parking, my eye spotted the...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
8Mark 4:2-20 “Listen Up!” “Listen! a sower went out to sow,” and right here Jesus begins to recite his very first parable. Jesus used these brilliant picture stories, these extended metaphors, simple images, to explain something unexplainable, the Kingdom of...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Luke 10:25-37 Go and Do Likewise It is a pleasure to be here with you all this morning. As some of you know, I began my ministry here and served as an associate pastor of the church for about five years. This community has also been a part of my ongoing journey with...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
Psalm 139: 1-12 Matthew 18:1-6, 10-14, 25:34-45 One of The Little Ones Click below to listen In my usual fashion, I will begin this morning with a story from Haiti. For those of you visiting today, my husband, Ted, and I founded a scholarship granting organization in...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
2 KINGS 4:42-44 EPHESIANS 3:14-21 JOHN 6:1-15 A HUNGER FOR MORE THAN FOOD “Nothing is so incredible as an answer to an unasked question.” Reinhold Niebuhr said that. As Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary, Niebuhr was internationally...
by Robert McCracken | Sermons
ROMANS 6:1B-11 MATTHEW 10:24-39 The Opposite of Love Garry Trudeau, creator of the Doonesbury comic strip, tells the story about a man who considered himself a moth. The man walked into a doctor’s office and said he needed help. The doctor...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Toward a Theology of Mission: The Jesus Who Knows No Boundaries Carleen R. Gerber The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Isaiah 54:1-3; Romans 12:9-21 October 8, 2006 Last week I opened up my e-mail to find a rather startling communication from a friend in...
