…we need a cheerleader in our corner—that’s why we need someone like Haggai to remind us: “take courage;” “do not fear;” to remind us that God’s “spirit abides among [us]” no matter where we find ourselves— if we are in our own personal exiles; if we are rebuilding something that feels like it’s beyond repair; if we feel lost and uncertain about the future…

And Habakkuk know that these uncertain, difficult times will not last. He knows that in humankind’s time, goodness will be restored…

I wonder if this was a strange in-between time, a time when people were still trying to hold on to the ideals of old while looking forward to a new, more perfect world, where this fear and shame-based culture would no longer exist…

It’s a hard pill to swallow, for sure—that we can never determine how something will end up, that we can never predict something exactly, that we will only have probabilities to work off of. But really—what freedom there is in this! What freedom there is in realizing that the future is open to so much possibility! What freedom there is in knowing that we are not determined to fail, that we are not doomed, that we can fix what our elders, what those in power have tried to destroy!

I don’t know about you all, but I can’t just think that all will be well and be filled with hope. I can’t just take a deep breath and think that everything is gonna be okay when it sometimes feels like the world is crashing down around us. This, Church, is because hope takes work…

Yes, Jeremiah has faith in God and God’s new covenant, but he also has faith in his people, even during such a frightening and uncertain time…

There’s that old Robert Frost-penned saying, right, that the only way out is through. To quote the poem directly, “He says the best way out is always through. / And I agree to that, or in so far / As that I can see no way out but through.” I love that that saying starts with an attempt at a positive spin, that the best way out his through, as if there are other options. But church, there are no other options…

There’s something really gut-wrenching, but beautiful about living in this crude and bizarre world but seeing glimpses of what’s possible— of understanding that a better, perfect world is possible, and working for that world so that future generations will never have to know the brokenness and the evil that we know…

So yes, this is a Labor Day sermon for Labor Day weekend—but it’s more than that; because giving up our egos and freeing ourselves from selfishness is a crucial command of Jesus.

So instead of playing devil’s advocate and creating more division for the sake of hatred or drama, let’s be God’s advocate in the world. We can be God’s advocate in our everyday lives…

But we have to have faith that stability, comfort, truth, wisdom isn’t out of reach for any of us…

Two sermons from our annual Combined Fourth of July service, with Rev. Paul Sawyer and the First Universalist Church of Hartland

…when I was thinking of this really dramatic, but also respectful and humbling passing of the mantle, I started to think that this is a way to overcome death in a way we can grasp a little better. I started to think that this is a way we can make sure the messages of those we’ve loved and lost can live on.

…the expectations and priorities that this society sets for us are not the ones that God sets for us. The expectations and priorities that we set for ourselves are often not the ones God has in mind for us. So we have to listen hard for the Holy Spirit…

…I wonder if this was God’s intention—I wonder if this was God’s challenge. I wonder if this was God’s way of showing the people that to be good, to be truly good, we can’t be one homogenous society, we can’t all be the same and only love one another because we’re related or because we look and act alike; we can’t stay cloistered and closed-off. I wonder if God wanted to show us that we have to love one another unconditionally, simply because we’re all human…

…this kind of radical imagination is what Paul and Silas were using when they were singing their hymns and praises at the top of their lungs while sitting bruised and cut and broken in jail. They sang about what “miracles of God are needed to get free.”

I wonder sometimes, about the Church today. Not our church specifically, but the capital-C Church, the Church as a whole. I wonder sometimes if we’re in some kind of in-between…

Scripture readings and reflections from some of our amazing youth!

A Sermon for the fourth Sunday in Easter, on Psalm 23 & John 10:22-30; written and preached by guest-preacher and church member Kyle Arnold on May 8th, 2022.

Changing the way we view things is often scary and jarring. We want to fall into old patterns of what we thought was right and wrong, good and bad, black and white. But that leaves us blind to the things that really matter—creation, changes, the beauty of this world, and the beauty of other people…