by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Practicing Hope Rebecca Crosby The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Jeremiah 32: 9-15; Ephesians 1:17-18; Romans 8:22-25 May 8, 2022 Today we are going to contemplate the nature of Hope. Hope has been fleeting these last few years with the Covid pandemic...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Resisting the Logic of Violence Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Matthew 6: 7-13 May 1, 2022 My offering this morning comes in the form of fragments, shards and remains strewn about as if by an explosion....
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
To Ourselves We Seemed Like Grasshoppers: Why the Stories We Tell Matter Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Text: Numbers 13 (selected verses) April 24, 2022 Theology matters. Which is to say, the deep stories we tell ourselves about the world...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
The Many Resurrections of Easter Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: John 11: 17-24; Luke 23: 32-34; Luke 24: 1-12; Romans 12: 3-5 April 17, 2022 Easter Sunday One of the great challenges of Easter Sunday is the array of beliefs and...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Here Comes Life: Stories of Resilience, Risk and Rejoicing Laura Fitzpatrick-Nager The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Micah 6:8, Matthew 20:29-34, Matthew 21:1-10 It is Holy Week. The minute we started singing All Glory Laud and Honor and the children...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Every Rung Goes Higher and Higher: Reflections on Palestine, Israel, and the Middle East Steve Jungkeit Ghoufran Allababidi (President, Tree of Life), Alex Pinkowish, and Rev. Susan Callahan Switzer, with music by Rodney Brown The First Congregational Church of Old...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Twelve Gates to the City: Reflections on New Orleans Steve Jungkeit Beth Hamilton, and Martha Gibson with music by Rodney Brown The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Psalm 30; John 14: 1-4; Revelation 21: 9-14 March 27, 2022 We begin with a song made...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
The Glory of God is the Human Being Fully Alive The spotlight glowed on the shining faces of the five actors entering the small stage from the wings. They were shining like the sun. Each person moved individually and yet as one, twirling arms, making noises, twisting...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Overcoming the Spider’s Sting: Original Sin and its Discontents Some years ago, I had an uncomfortable realization as I was reading a book called The Black Dahlia, by the great noir crime writer James Ellroy. Now, I want you to know that I love noir as a genre – it’s...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
I Have Called You Friends Here’s a story I recently heard about someone who needed a basic form of human contact, but who couldn’t find it. The story is about a man named Kevin Hines. He was suffering from feelings of isolation and loneliness, as well as other, more...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
A World on the Brink: Lessons from a Minor Prophet Midway through Tolstoy’s War and Peace, we find this haunting description of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia: “On the 12th of June the forces of Western Europe crossed the frontier and the war began, that is, an event...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Here Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Genesis 11: 1-9; I Corinthians 12: 7-14 February 6, 2022 One of the people from whom I’ve drawn inspiration over the past few years is the musician David Byrne. He was the lead singer for the...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
A Faithfully Hidden Life: Snowy Reflections upon Middlemarch Steve JungkeitThe First Congregational Church of Old LymeTexts: Genesis 11: 1-9; I Corinthians 12: 7-14January 30, 2022 I had us read that familiar parable that Jesus told about the sower and the seed that...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
All This Sainted Difference is What God Wants: The Spiritual Legacy of Robert Farris Thompson Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: John 3: 1-8; Acts 2: 1-13 January 23, 2022 “Keith’s death is incomprehensible. I refuse to believe that...
by FCCofOldLyme | Sermons
Remember Your Baptism Steve Jungkeit The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Texts: Mark 1: 4-11; Acts 19:1-7 January 16, 2022 I want to begin by acknowledging the circumstances in which we find ourselves today. Winter has found us, which means that for the last...
