Sunday, September 29th, 2019 What a difference a week makes. Last Sunday, we explored one of the most challenging parables, challenging because it seemed so obscure and unclear. This week we have an equally challenging parable, but this time the challenge is that it is all too clear. It very clearly seems to suggest that if we hoard wealth in this life,…
First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, a Member Church of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and More Light Presbyterians
First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, a Member Church of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and More Light Presbyterians
Sermons from 2019 (Page 2)
On Sunday, July 7th, 2019 The waxing and waning of the household of faith is something that you can see beginning even in the Gospels. As John tells it, first there was Andrew and another follower of John the Baptist who followed Jesus. Andrew then goes to tell his brother, Peter, and Peter becomes the third disciple. Next comes Phillip and then…
On Sunday, June 23rd, 2019 There he is, the mighty prophet Elijah; the one who made it stop raining for 3 ½ years, who then prayed, making the rains return; the one who raised the widow’s dead son back to life; the one who challenged the priests of Baal to a duel before a pile of wood on a mountaintop, and demonstrated…
Delivered at the First Presbyterian Church, Urbana And the Korean Church of Champaign Urbana on Sunday, June 9th, 2019 Is there a word from the Lord? God’s people through the ages have longed to know that God speaks to us, that God remains engaged with us, giving us counsel, offering us wisdom, showing us love. And in those times when it has…
On Sunday, June 2nd, 2019 No good deed goes unpunished. Who said it first, no one is quite sure, but the aphorism sure seems too true sometimes. We might think of Charles Ramsey. He’s the gentlemen who rescued kidnapped girls in Ohio a few years ago. His interview after the rescue went viral, and he was much praised. But then a website…
May 26, 2019 We Welcome to the Pulpit Today the Rev. Cindy Shepherd. The Rev. Shepherd is the Director of Outreach for the Central Illinois Office of Faith in Place. Faith in Place partners, such as the First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, consistently inspire her with their diverse and creative Earth Care initiatives. Cindy grew up in…
Sunday, May 19th, 2019 How do you prepare for the unexpected, the unpredictable, the unanticipated, the serendipitous? How can anyone prepare for such? Maybe a better question is how do we remain alert day by day so that when the unexpected assaults us we can receive it as the gift that it is? Rare is…
Delivered on Sunday, May 12th, 2019 Out in the world, in every day, work-a-day life, you don’t hear them at all anymore. Works songs have passed from practice and into collections of folk songs by someone like Pete Seeger, or one of the collections of the Smithsonian Folk Ways. You no doubt know more than…
On Sunday, May 5th, 2019 One scholar of preaching has written that on any given Sunday, some of those gathered for worship almost didn’t go, not because they had another option, nor because family or friends were in town, and it can just be so hard to get everyone corralled for church. The scholar has…