Rev. Liz Goodman, Lenox & Monterey UCC

The day is surely coming, but until it's here this will do.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Practice_til_Perfect.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:11am EDT

The church gathers for what may be, and by this we give occasion for it to be. Impossible love! Imperitive love.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Gather_for_May_Be.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:18am EDT

Time offers a different sort of temple in which the church can gather. It requires a lot less maintanance.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: We_Would_Be_a_Building.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:18am EDT

Who requires the suffering of Christ? We've often gotten that important quesiton wrong.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Must-ness.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:29am EDT

Maybe it's time to changeg our minds about God, that God isn't about ruin but about repair.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Ruin_or_Repair.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:23am EDT

Sometimes what's shiny objects to our refusal to allow it to be more than that.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Shiny_Objects.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

We all want to change the world. The question is what end we'd hope such change will bring about.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Power_to_Serve.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:15am EDT

We're not usually this sick, but sometimes we do really need strong mediine.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Strong_Medicine.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:22am EDT

Your attention is your most precious resource. Pay it to something worthy.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Pay_Attention.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:07am EDT

The call is coming from inside the house--or not.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Ding-a-Ling.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:07am EDT

This is a special edition of the podcast, a talk I will give at a concert in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. near his birthday..

 

Direct download: MLK_Day_Concert_Talk.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:50pm EDT

The Magi should frighten us--for how do they know what they know, and how do we know what this new revelation makes known and how do we know we can trust it? When orthodoxy falls by the wayside, how do you find a new--and true--way?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Knowing_What_We_Know.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:04am EDT

Here's a homily to follow the gospel readings of the nativity.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Christmas_Eve_2023.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:32pm EDT

The Virgin Birth: maybe the queston shouldn't be whether it's true but should be, "If it's true, what does it mean?"

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Hard_to_Believe.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:39am EDT

Advent is so short; Advent is so long!

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Not_Long_Now.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:54am EDT

Repentance might sound scary. It's so much more than that.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Its_Not_What_You_Think.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:18am EDT

Advent begins adventure. And there's no going back.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Next_Years_Troubles.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:11am EDT

The end of the church year brings us to what endures: love.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Love_Is_King.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:19am EDT

The question is whether we're going for with the mission or burying it for safe keeping.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: The_Mission_Is_Mercy.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:28am EDT

We're but in the mdidle of it.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: The_Whole_Story.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

Would you take a course in the art of following.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: The_Art_of_Following.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

God's sovereinty is one more scanalandous claim of the Christian faith. History provides so many reasons to think otherwise.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Tacking_Into_the_Wind.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:59am EDT

Here's a sermon about true signs as opposed to graven images.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Know_Justice_Know_Peace.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:18am EDT

Church as sanctuary. Is this purpose enough to save us?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Come_In_from_the_Storm.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:31am EDT

Will you do what you say you won't, or will you refuse but come around eventually?

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

Direct download: Yes_but_No._No_but_Yes..mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

Fairness or grace: which do you want? Becasue you can't have both.,

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: This_Had_Better_Be_Good.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:01am EDT

The forgiven must forgive.

It could have been a much shorter sermon that it is.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

 

Direct download: The_Forgiven_Must_Forgive.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:28am EDT

How to be community with out butting in. That's a tough one.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

 

Direct download: A_Keeper.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

God begs us to pay our attention to what's worthy of it. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Attention_Pleas.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:36am EDT

When religious people are short on faith.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Shocked_Shocked.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:01am EDT

What are you doing here? 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Being_in_Love.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:36am EDT

God plays in the world as sufficiency. Enough can be a blessing.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Enough.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:23am EDT

The kingdom of heaven is as...

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Hiding_in_Plain_Sight.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:51am EDT

But which is which? 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Evil_Twin.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:41am EDT

Following Jesus won't necessarily make your life easier or your relationships better. Some social structures would rather you compromise the truth than live into it. 

You've been warned.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Behave_Yourself.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:34am EDT

Sarah laughed, gave birth to Laughter, making us sons and daughters of laughter. So laugh it up, Fuzzball. Let your lung be filled with God.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Laught_It_Up_Fuzzball.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:44am EDT

As we embark into Ordinary Time, we'll be spending it together, which is itself the point.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Wandering_Sermon.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:43am EDT

Authority is the power to name what's real.

 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Word__Deed.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:16am EDT

Prepared for surprise: the church is full of contradictions. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Surprise_Right_on_Schedule.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:27am EDT

The ten-day wait between Jesus ascending and the Holy Spirit: we endure it once again. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

 

Direct download: Word__Silence.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:45am EDT

The church isn't abut heroics, it's about creating communities where heroics are less in demand.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Ties_that_Gently_Bind.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:29am EDT

Jesus is going, but he is also staying.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Object_Permanence.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:45am EDT

The gospel has embodied imperitives. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Get_Real_Close.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:38am EDT

Hope comes calling, so get ready to move.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Resurrection_Day_2023.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:39am EDT

Real time.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Palm_Sunday_2023.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:22am EDT

Is it possible Jesus got attached to this life?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Attachment_Theory.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:44am EDT

Jesus has come to complete the creation as it is not yet finished. It's going well, of course. But it could be better.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Not_Finished.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:34am EDT

God can be not a lot to go on it, but enough.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Barely.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:21am EDT

God's people are always called out of the familair. And God's people are also always out there.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Come_Out_Come_Out_Wheverever_You_Are.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:53am EDT

Lent is a good time to put it all back together, these shards of knowledge and suspicion, into a whole renewed wisdom.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Divided_Knowledge.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:14am EDT

It's Transfiguration Sunday, and maybe we're ready.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Trans_Figure.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:19am EDT

The church: we're supposed to be doing something, right?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Do_to_Be.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:11am EDT

Don't hold back. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Critical_Thinking.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:09am EDT

You get what you get, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get upset.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Get_Upset.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:21am EDT

When you don't know what you think you should know, it's hard to learn what you need to know. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Wheel_In_a_Wheel.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:31am EDT

You can't always get what you want. But with Jesus as beloved, we get what we need.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Dashed_Expectations.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:35am EDT

Christmas has become a monster of a season, but what it comes down to is almost embarrasingly basic. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Back_to_Basics.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:35am EDT

Jesus is painfully, disappointingly local in his saving work. And the woirld's need is massive, endless. How will this possibly do?

 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Direct download: A_Feature_Not_a_Bug.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:34am EDT

John helps us anticipate Jesus. But he didn't get everything about the one for whom we wait quite right.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: A_Divine_Comedy.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:38am EDT

Advent present us with the challenge of hope--a full recogntion of what's dreadful about the world while also fully assured that God is coming, while also here, to restore, renew, and reign in love. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Free_Cow.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:38am EDT

We've reached the end of the church year, Christ the King Sunday, a tricky feast day.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Round_to_the_End.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:04am EDT

Jesus warns that the world won't go easy on us. Isaiah envisions a new reality that will have worked all that out. Ours is to persevere toward this point.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC) 

Direct download: Reality_Will_Save_Us.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:19am EDT

God is still speaking. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Comma.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:19am EDT

Prayer is a moemnt alone with your God, and sometimes that's as hard a things as there is.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Being_with_Being.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:33am EDT

Jacob made progress, leaving Esau behind. Are we okay with that?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Progress.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:29am EDT

God's presence shows up in places least expected and places where we perhaps we least want to be. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: No_Thanks_but_Thanks.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:31am EDT

Where there is, turns out, either nothing or everything.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Liminal_Spaces.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:02am EDT

Look for hopeless causes for the right of redemption might be yours.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Right_of_Redemption.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:11am EDT

The church has squandered our wealth. What now to do?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Mismanagement.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:24am EDT

Freedom is a terrible bruned. No wonder so many seek a cage.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Captive_Minds.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

The old ship of Zion moves slowly, but there's room for everyone.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Unassorted_Jib_Jabs.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:37am EDT

Keeping the sabbath is as much about liberation as it is about rest.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: And_Twice_on_Sundays.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:55am EDT

Jesus is tough to match moods with in August. Let's see if we can try,.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

 

Direct download: Lit_of_Fire.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:32am EDT

A moment arrives, and all your readying must be done. Now you just receive.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: You_Might_Miss_This.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:18pm EDT

Teach us to pray, the disciples said. Not how, or why, what to pray. Instead simply, Teach us to pray.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Unashamed.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:03pm EDT

Be the Good Samaritan. Be the man who set out. There will come opporutnities for you be one or the other, and both make for good.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Most_People.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:25am EDT

...and the what is the why. Sharing Jesus' love isn't a means to an end, it's the manifestation of the end. You don't get a rpize for doing it, it is itself the prize. Love. Love in action.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: The_How_Is_the_What.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:15am EDT

The end is decided but how you get there is another question.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Where_You_Going.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:27pm EDT

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Juneteenth.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:41am EDT

The church is more weed than wheat, as if right.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Clean_Up_This_Mess.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:19am EDT

Not all who wander are lost. But some are. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Wandering_But_Not_Lost.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:25am EDT

Peter is pulling a thread that could unravel the whole garment...

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Thanks_for_Nothing_Peter.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:04am EDT

Tabitha--she who was raised.

Montery Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Hysterics.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:39am EDT

You aren't that. So listen in peace and reassurance.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: The_Worst_Thing_Youve_Ever_Done.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:52am EDT

If nothing else, respond: words to live by.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Call_and_Response.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:28am EDT

Remember your way back into hope.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Resurrection_2022.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:58am EDT

Palm Sunday is supposed to be a plesant celebration. I'm sorry to say, however...

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Sorry_to_Say.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:23am EDT

Embarrassing, intimate, smelling is indiscrimate--but also exclusive. With its insistence on the body, smelling demands, "You had to be there."

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: You_Smell.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:02am EDT

I wonder where you are in this familiar story.

Montery Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Fool_for_Love.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:18am EDT

Time to get serious. No more Airbnb for us. Time to plant roots and bear fruit.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Nows_the_Time.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:48am EDT

What do you want? 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Left_Wanting_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:16am EDT

Bread and circus, please! But we don't live by bread alone.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Here_We_Are_Now_Entertain_Us.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:31am EDT

Jesus and the twelve were hardly the gods they were enacting to be--and this is very much the point.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Extra_Ordinary.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

A close encounter with the holy can really leave us feeling ugly. Best to avoid it  then?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Ashamed_of_Ourselves.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:20am EDT

It would come to be called the "fullness of time." More coloquially, it's the 1st century AD. So, why now for God to act so radically in Christ? What made it the right time?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Why_Now.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:57am EDT

It might be a tough thing to manage these days, but moments of joy will find us, enlighten us. Look for these moments and treasure them in your hearts.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Joy.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:14am EDT

The magi were expecting probably something quite different...?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: This_Is_All.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:47pm EDT

The 2nd Sunday after Christmas is maybe the worst Sunday to find ourselves back online for worship. But here we are...

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Excarnation.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 9:12am EDT

Christmas isn't a holiday for nostalgia, it's a holiday to press us more deeply into today and the future that how live now will bring.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Its_Coming.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:25am EDT

John was great at being a herald. He fell short of being the messiah.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Unquenchable_Fire.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:31am EDT