<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--Generated by Squarespace Site Server v5.11.5 (http://www.squarespace.com/) on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:35:01 GMT--><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><title>Sermons from Richmond Beach UCC</title><subtitle>Sermons</subtitle><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/</id><link rel="alternate" type="application/xhtml+xml" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/"/><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/atom.xml"/><updated>2010-07-19T16:23:12Z</updated><generator uri="http://www.squarespace.com/" version="Squarespace Site Server v5.11.5 (http://www.squarespace.com/)">Squarespace</generator><entry><title>When is a Window not a Window? By John Kim</title><category term="Guest Speaker"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/7/18/when-is-a-window-not-a-window-by-john-kim.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/7/18/when-is-a-window-not-a-window-by-john-kim.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-07-18T16:21:00Z</published><updated>2010-07-18T16:21:00Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[When is a window not a window?

When it’s ajar ….

This chestnut has been kicking around for years but I was only recently reminded of it by my daughter Julia, who happens to love reading books of jokes.  While on the surface it’s a rather simple play on the word “ajar,” on a deeper level, it unlocked today’s scripture for me.

In the most basic physical sense, the window is always a window.  Use your senses – you can see and feel the glass, the frame, the window sill.  Yup, it’s a window alright!  So in the most literal sense, the answer to the question, “when is a window not a window?” is, of course, “never!  It’s always a window.”]]></summary></entry><entry><title>The Politics of Jesus. By Bill Pierron</title><category term="Guest Speaker"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/7/12/the-politics-of-jesus-by-bill-pierron.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/7/12/the-politics-of-jesus-by-bill-pierron.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-07-12T19:25:42Z</published><updated>2010-07-12T19:25:42Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[My subject this morning is “the Politics of Jesus.”   In other words, religion and politics, the two things you should never discuss in polite society -- rolled into one.

So please forgive me for that.

I was drawn to this topic because I have a longstanding interest in politics and public policy.  I’ve been following politics at the federal level since I was a teenager, and for many years I worked in our nation’s capitol, both as a congressional staffer and then as a government official dealing with political appointees.  I’m fascinated by the human stories behind the policymaking, and I’ve always found the stories of how public policy gets made to be compelling.  So those are my personal reasons for pursuing this subject.

On to the Politics.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Harvest Time</title><category term="Sarah Klaassen"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/7/6/harvest-time.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/7/6/harvest-time.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-07-06T16:06:42Z</published><updated>2010-07-06T16:06:42Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[Last week we began a journey.  The lectionary readings, which are the schedule of our scriptures for this season, follow the gospel of Luke.  Last week’s text from Luke chapter 9 was the beginning of the Lukan travel narrative, Jesus’ winding, wandering journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.  Last week we saw how resolute, how determined Jesus was when he set his face to go up to Jerusalem, and we saw how we, like Jesus, are called to have extravagant hope in the kingdom of God. 

Today we continue the journey in Luke chapter 10.  As Mary read this morning, Jesus has appointed seventy people to go ahead of him in pairs to all the towns that he will travel to in the coming weeks and months.  His commission is simple: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Our Determined Hope</title><category term="Sarah Klaassen"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/6/27/our-determined-hope.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/6/27/our-determined-hope.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-06-27T19:15:00Z</published><updated>2010-06-27T19:15:00Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[We have gathered today from many different places in our minds and our emotions.  For some of us, it has been a normal week, and for some of us, the week has been full of emotion, fear, and anxiety.  This morning all of us together make up the church.  No matter where we come from or what we bring to this sacred space, let us be one in spirit now as we enter into the preaching of the Word. 

When I worked as a chaplain at a hospital a couple of year ago, I would often carry a Bible as I made my visits.  There were some days when I wouldn’t use it at all as I walked up and down the hallways of the hospital visiting with nurses and patients and loved ones.  Then there were days when my visits simply could not include words, when the only thing I could offer was my presence as a pastor.  And there were other days when it felt like the Bible was all I had to use, when it provided the only words that were appropriate:]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Take Our Lives Lord</title><category term="Joy Haertig"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/6/6/take-our-lives-lord.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/6/6/take-our-lives-lord.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-06-06T17:52:00Z</published><updated>2010-06-06T17:52:00Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[Last week we reflected on the doctrine of the Trinity and I gave a brief overview of the flow of the Christian seasons that go round and round in the church.  Today we begin the season of Ordinary Time, which will take us through the summer and early Fall until we come once again to the season of Advent in late November.

This season of Ordinary Time is when our Old and New Testament readings invite us to reflect on how God is at work in our daily, ordinary lives – and how God challenges us to keep growing in our own faith as compassionate people in the world.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Creator, Wisdom, and Spirit: Our Dynamic God</title><category term="Joy Haertig"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/6/1/creator-wisdom-and-spirit-our-dynamic-god.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/6/1/creator-wisdom-and-spirit-our-dynamic-god.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-06-01T19:47:25Z</published><updated>2010-06-01T19:47:25Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[The Christian year and its “seasons”, begins with Advent – a season of waiting, expectation and hope.

This is followed by Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent and Easter – which are all about the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The weeks following Easter are known as Easter-tide which carries us to Pentecost Sunday, which is what we celebrated last week. 

On Pentecost we mark the beginning of the disciples coming out of hiding and being filled with the Spirit of courage and speech which empowers them (and US) to go forth as the living Body of Christ, active in the world.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Losing Control</title><category term="Sarah Klaassen"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/5/23/losing-control.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/5/23/losing-control.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-05-23T21:00:00Z</published><updated>2010-05-23T21:00:00Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[Let us pause to remember once again the words we just prayed.  Glorious God, you blow into our lives without warning. You blow into our lives without warning.  Oh God, You blow into our lives without warning. Come into this place now and touch us with your unsettling love and indefinable mystery.  
Imagine it was you.  Set aside your modern, rational, logical tendency toward disbelief.  Set aside your skepticism.  Set aside your uncertainty about the Bible’s factuality, and just imagine it was you, gathered with the other disciples of Jesus fifty days after Passover.  You’re a Jew, remember, to be historically accurate.  You, like the early Christians, were a devout Jew who followed Jesus.  Today, you all are gathered to make a plan.  Jesus has died, risen, and ascended into heaven, and you are gathered to decide what you should do next as a community of believers.]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans</title><category term="Joy Haertig"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/5/16/life-is-what-happens-when-we-are-busy-making-other-plans.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/5/16/life-is-what-happens-when-we-are-busy-making-other-plans.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-05-16T21:00:00Z</published><updated>2010-05-16T21:00:00Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[How does one even begin to unpack the reading from Acts today? 

In this brief story we could be drawn to the rather strange encounter between Paul and the pagan girl who is a slave and eventually annoys Paul enough that he called the “spirit” out of her.  Maybe you wonder what happened to her as she disappears from the story.

Or what about the men who had enslaved the girl and out of revenge have Paul and Silas brutally beaten and thrown into prison, or the earthquake that caused the walls of the prison to fall down. 

What about the prison guard who almost took his own life and was baptized by Paul along with his whole family?]]></summary></entry><entry><title>Heroes For God</title><category term="Joy Haertig"/><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/5/9/heroes-for-god.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/5/9/heroes-for-god.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-05-09T17:10:00Z</published><updated>2010-05-09T17:10:00Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[This year’s camping theme in the UCC is “Be a Hero, Be a Friend”.  Superheroes have been a large part of our American culture through comics, video games and movies.  Spiderman, Batman, Catwoman; even those on the “dark side” are held up for their power, even if it is “evil” – Darth Vader, and the Joker come to mind.

Remember how firefighters and police officers became like superheroes after 9-11?  Comic strip and movie superheroes took the back seat that Halloween as firefighter and police officer costumes took center stage!]]></summary></entry><entry><title>God is Love</title><id>http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/5/2/god-is-love.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://rbccucc.org/sermons/2010/5/2/god-is-love.html"/><author><name>Office</name></author><published>2010-05-02T17:17:00Z</published><updated>2010-05-02T17:17:00Z</updated><summary type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[We all know how impossible it is to capture a description or definition of God.  Since I was a teenager, I have always felt that God is a verb rather than a proper noun.  (Which in turn meant that being a Christian was a way of life.)

One of my favorite “descriptions” of God comes from the poet EE Cummings when he wrote these words:

“Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness; the truth more first than the sun, more last than the stars.”

As overused as it might seem – God IS Love – (and Love is indeed a verb)]]></summary></entry></feed>