Rev. Liz Goodman, Lenox & Monterey UCC (general)

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

But which is which? 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

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

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

Real time.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

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

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

Don't hold back. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

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

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

God is still speaking. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

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

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

...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 EST

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 EST

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

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

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

Tabitha--she who was raised.

Montery Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

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

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

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 EST

Remember to hope.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Ready_or_Not.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 2:51pm EST

The coming of the son of man coincides with a lot of trouble. So, is it good news that we've got a lot of trouble these days?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Good_Trouble.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 8:11am EST

The last Sunday of the church year is a good time to wonder whether we're up for another trip around the calendar.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: A_Few_Options.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 1:26pm EST

Numbers are down in congregations across the county, maybe across the country. Endurance is the name of the game for the faithful. So, who's with me?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: The_Skin_of_Our_Teeth.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 8:10am EST

The widow might have been happy to give her last penny to the Temple. Jesus wasn't happy for her.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Tide_Up.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 7:53am EST

Jesus urges us to be as children. So what's stopping us from doing that?

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

Direct download: Hey_Kiddo.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 7:37am EST

Revolution? Resignation? Some mysterious third way?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: You_Say_You_Want_a_Revolution.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 8:39am EST

Hell is other people--or maybe that's the kingdom of heaven. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Enter_At_Your_Own_Risk.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 8:08am EST

Pay attention to the things that make your stumble on your way to God, and the things that help you get close.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

Direct download: Hot_and_Cold.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 7:30am EST

The church isn't designed for efficiency. That said, there's no better time for manifesting the reign of God than now.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Asking_for_Trouble.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 7:37am EST

Power is meant to serve the good.

Beware when power is put to serving power.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Power.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 7:33am EST

Repentance, which is a change of mind, comes with repetition. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: To_Change_Your_Mind.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 7:58am EST

The moment when Jesus learned he was Christ for the world is an ugly one. Brace yourself for a moment when Jesus was't "the good guy."

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

Direct download: Far_Away.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EST

Empires rise and fall, but the word of the Lord speaks as ever.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Bare_Necessities.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 8:18am EST

Jesus invites us to bring our worst--and our worst is pretty bad.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Sorry_About_This.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 8:01am EST

Remember that old summer camp song, "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love (by our Love)"? Turns out that was pretty good stuff.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: What_Do_We_Do_Now.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 2:59pm EST

In this age of kitsch, where can we can find what's true, authentic, bearing an aura as almost halo?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Direct download: Mechanical_Reproduction.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 7:57am EST