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)

Which will it be, couch or cross? 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

In Jesus we meet someone worthy of our essential followership.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

It is in any vent a final word on the subject.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Langston Hughes got it right. Nearly a century ago, he knew America is aim and aspiration. He was right: it was then, and is still.  America dies when our aspiration to be America dies.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

To have and to hold: the church asks a lot.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Course correction: we've gotten God wrong.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

What if God really is at work in all things for good?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

As we set off into ordinary time, we've got quite a challenge to live out.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Pentecost, the event, comes after a protracted period of waiting for apostles. Sound familiar?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This is a weird Sunday for celebrating. On the other hand, it might really speak to our moment.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

With thanks to Nappy Roots' for their song, Good Day.

Pull up a chair, it's story time.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The church is a humanizing project. 

Monterey Church,  UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

When you lay down your life for your friends, you're dangerous to the status quo, but you're close to the kingdom of God.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Thanks to Nahkane's "New Brighton" for inspiring the mantra that is the title of this sermon. 

When astonishing truth claims is all you've got--that and a Resurrecting God.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Are we hoping God will turn back time, or are we good with God redeeming time?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Shout out to The Call for use of their song, "I Still Believe."

Resurrection Day! Or might we prefer Insurrection? There's a lot these days to rise up against...

Alleluia!

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Palm Sunday reminds us of the two choices we grace, and encourages us to take the way of Jesus.

Thanks to Thievery Corporation for their terrific song Forgotten People.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Considering last week's Godly Play story in the light of this week's terrible events.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

What the ancient way of sanctifying time might mean for us in the age of Zoom worship.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The rainbow signals a shift, if not in God then at least our perception of God. Jesus' coming confirms it.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This features Guster's great song Two At a Time.

Here we take a big breath before diving into the depths of Lent.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This episode features Regina Spektor's great song "Laughing With."

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Ours isn't to fight. It's to wirthstand. We're not amidst a battle. We're amidst an arrival and an occupation of good and true.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Storming the Capitol is a bad idea. Can we say that? Can we say there are bad ideas?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Words describe and create, so be let's be careful with them--careful with what you say, careful about to whom you listen.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church (UCC)

Logos became flesh and lived among us? Really? Why?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Here's the homily from Christmas Eve 2020.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

The gift of the say after Christmas is sometimes the simple blessing of getting back to ordinary life. This year, even that simple blessing was a bit much to hope for. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Do we need to worry about Mary? Or can we take her at her word?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Advent is waiting, preparing, and waiting. What gives?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Preparing for Christmas might cause us to recognize there's no getting ready for what's actually to come. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

COVID makes hospitality for all practical purposes impossible. But the guest we await in the world is coming anyway, and coming to take over. Before you know it he'll be the host. So get ready.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Where Christ is king, the rule is love.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We're nearing the end of the church year, and we're heading into a dark season dominated by the pandemic. Maybe these are labor pains...?

This one goes out to all you saints in thanks and praise.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Thanks to Alchemy for their music!

Take your time with this one--shorter than usual, but longer than it needed to be if this were simply a matter of information and not inspiration.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Thanks to Alchemy for their music!

The children's library has hidden among its shelves a great theological text on the sovereignty of God.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

These are days of longing. For this, we find ourselves in good company, if though from a social distance.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

If God is sustainer, and God is free, could it be that God would withdraw the sustaining spirit? And if that happens, then now what?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

When all falls away,

this remnant of what’s real: Church.

Seek, hold its frayed hem.

Monterey Church (UCC)         Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

It isn't often that the Bible strikes a wrong tone because it's just too silly to go with our lived difficulties. But mood-matching has never been easy among otherwise devoted partners.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Sundays haven't been the same since COVID imposed itself upon our lives. When is it time to settle on new traditions?

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church (UCC)

We're awash in kitsch--from our politics to our art to our religion to our homes and self-styling. What's a living being to do?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Congregations generally face lean times and times of plenty. Here's to the ones who withstand the lean times. Without them, those times of plenty would be lost.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Jesus preaches against slander, and then slanders someone. What gives?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The mainline church has become sidelined. This is true in most of our congregations, true even in Lenox and Monterey. So what are doing here?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

How do we understand what the gospel is worth in a place? What are we to make of tiny churches sitting on big endowments and gathering in expensive old buildings? Is this really the most efficient way to do things?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

You might have come to believe the kingdom of heaven is reserved for only a blessed few. We're sorry to have too report its something for creepier than that.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church (UCC)

Clearly, something here is wrong. So, let's figure out what that is, and eradicate it once and for all.

But what if that's what about here is wrong?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

COVID continues to keep us at a distance from one another, and gathering outdoors or online. Cast out of our sanctuaries which have long sustained us, what we're left with might not adequately sustain us. What are we to do?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

What are we to make of the slow (but sure) work of salvation and redemption in our midst? How about this: come as we are, receive as we need, serve as we can, and most of all rejoice in the Lord.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Thanks to Alchemy for music! Buy the album for yourself. 

That God is still speaking shouldn't be a radical notion. It requires us still to listen. But maybe that's more than some people would want...?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

It's often said fear is the opposite of faith. I suspect grievance is the opposite of faith. The aggrieved are resentful, not faithful. So, which is it for you?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This is a sermon for the start of ordinary time, this long season ahead about the only ordinary thing we can hope for in coming months.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

A week of unrest gives us a chance at new creation. 

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

It's been a terrible week. The anxiety of the pandemic and spectacular acts of police violence against Black Americas, all under the watch of national leadership that is useless at best and cruel at worst, combined to make rage and fear the norm. Oh, and it's Pentecost, so maybe there's hope...?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Ascension day remembers when Jesus left the world apparently the last time, a separation that feels especially severing in the age of COVID19.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Staying at home during COVID19 might have us awash in time. That's more stressful than it might at first seem.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

Jesus felt God as abiding in him and him as abiding in God. How might sheltering in place feel different if we turned to the possibility that we might also abide in God and God might also abide in us?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Good Shepherd Sunday shows up the time every year. Is there anything new to say about it? Actually, is there anything new at all?

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The Son of God became man so man might become God. So said Athanasius of Alexandria in the 4th century. Maybe this time fo suspended time might renew our so becoming. 

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Resurrection living suggests we're to be present in body as well as spirit with one another. The coronavirus insists upon something else. What to do then?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Crisis is opportunity because Christ is always one of our options.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church (UCC)

Palm Sunday is supposed to be a festival day. We're supposed to gather and to wave palm fronds and shout, "Hosanna" to the one who saves us from that from which actually--and pressingly--need to be saved.

Not so this year. This year, we shelter in place, prisoners of a virus, which casts into yet fuller relief our state also of being prisoners of hope.

Save us, Lord, as we bless the work also of those who would save us from this sickness that is on the loose.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Our faith demands that we work in the world to ease suffering no matter at what cost to ourselves. It also invites to see that death comes to nothing in the life of God into which all are enveloped and embraced. As we face a world newly vulnerable to death with the coronavirus spreading so fast, we join in the struggle to limit the spread of suffering and death even when this puts us at risk. For those doing this most pressingly--those in healthcare and in other "essential services"--we pray and stand in astonishment at their labors.

Monterey Church (UCC)

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The is the second partial worship service we're posting on-line. This, because of Coronavirus having us stay at home. Social distancing is a particular challenge for the church, but internet-based worship might have us all the more aware of the blessing of one another. 

The first portion of this is the Call to Worship and the Prayer of Invocation. (To join in on this, click here.) At 4:45 the scripture readings begin. The sermon begins at 13:00. 

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Coronavirus is having us exercise caution about gathering in groups. For the small congregations of Lenox and Monterey, we do plan to hold worship though we know many of our members will stay home on Sunday. Here's a way to participate via podcast. To follow along with the Call to Worship and Prayer of Invocation, click here.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church 

What happens when there's no more frontier, no more unmapped territory to strike out into in search of the next thing, that "something new"? Is decadence our only option?

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church (UCC)

Here's a Sunday for the 1st Sunday of Lent, an attempt to hear the stories of Adam & Eve, and Jesus and the devil, as if for the first time. Sometimes familiar stories are the hardest ones to hear.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

On the irrepressibility of the human spirit--or is it the pervasive, penetrative Holy Spirit? Or some combination of the two?

And sorry about the cough at then end of this episode!! I thought to mic was off, and I'm too lazy to go back an correct it. (That and I have Ash Wednesday services tomorrow, a wedding this weekend, and Sunday is always coming!)

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We're still with Jesus has he preaches his Sermon on the Mount, and what started out as promising abounding blessing now seems like quite a heavy lift.

Can you manage it?

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox UCC

Christianity has been thought as a dangerously lawless enterprise. After all, if everything comes of God's grace, then what does it matter how we live? 

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church

We could exhaust ourselves trying to grow the church or even to "save"the church. How much more delightful would it be, though, if we were simply to be the church. That would be its own appeal.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Jesus gathered disciples who in turn were to gather other. What does that mean for us? Evangelism is no easy prospect, especially for those of us in the mainline church, and especially in a world where there's no shortage of people "selling" something. How then to do it, and why?

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Church on the Hill is one of the most photographed meetinghouses in New England. So goes the legend. But what does it mean that it's not necessarily conducive to the on-going life of the church?

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Little churches might seem an ineffectual way to make a change in the world--to improve things or influence things for the better. Consider, though, the gentle servant of Isaiah's imagining, or the gentle Christ who comes though expected to be harsh and decisive. Maybe little churches are just the vessel God needs to plant the kingdom in our midst.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Why would the transcendent choose to submit to immanence?

Church on the Hill, Lenox 

Anti-Semitism is like a virus in the brain that humanity just can't kick. The Church bears some responsibility for its perennially infecting us. Here's a sermon that makes a case against it as a habit of mind and a violation of our faith and our humanity.

Monterey Church

Christmas Eve comes with a lot of expectations. People bring to the service of lessons and carols a desire to feel a certain way, to be made to believe in magic and unadulterated happiness. This sermon won't necessarily enchant you into the Christmas spirit you might have felt as a child. You won't mistake your life as a existing within a snow globe. But you might learn how to live out Christmas hope even when all hope seems lost. The world isn't an easy place these days. Of course, the world Jesus was born into wasn't easy either. 

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Serious faith isn't about "believing" in what seems impossible. It's about allowing the story of our faith work in our lives, bearing forth all its implications for how and why to live.

This sermon wanders through kitsch and art, sin and salvation, history and that which is beyond history.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Sheela Clary joins Liz once again, this time to talk about living in a Meritocracy, and how to resist its appeals.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

John was expecting a Messiah who would eradicate all that's (so obviously) wrong with the world. What he got was a Messiah who would redeem. The question is whether there's joy to be found in that.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

It's not clear how things will change with the advent of the one for whom we wait. What we do know is that, in order for us to truly perceive the kingdom come near, we'll need to repent, which is to expand our imagining of what is possible and even dare to consider what seems impossible. 

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Here's to beginning the new church year off right.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

A stuffy poet writes of the elegance of not being overstuffed. 

Church on the Hill, UCC

Monterey Church

This one wanders from social imaginary to social imaginary, considers the soothing nature of even distressing truth, touches base with Baudrillard and B.B. King, and ends up amidst the generation war though in a spirit of an honest account of what it's like to be alive right now. 

Oh, and Peter Pomerantsev makes another showing.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Place-based names; trying to make something great again; energized instead to build something new, though in honor of what's passed; not falling for trolls; and engaging the world most immediately around you in the faith that this is the way to build up the reign of God in our midst: this sermon meanders, but might get you to where you need to go.

Sharing in sacrifice is a great way to build relationship. But there are lots of people who are after other things in life--like money. That's why money makes for a good gauge as to where peoples' priorities lie and why Jesus according to Luke won't stop talking about.

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Monterey Church

The apostle Paul said to the Romans, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritualworship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect." 

This sermon says something sort of like that, but it goes on a little longer. 

Peter Pomerantsev's This Is Not Propaganda. 

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill, Lenox  

Jacob likes to claim to be Esau. When he finally admits, "I am Jacob," he's finally free of all that name implies. 

Church on the Hill, Lenox UCC

Church on the Hill

Monterey Church

This is a conversation between Liz and Rev. Jen Bloesch, the director of Gideon's Garden, a farm and food ministry of Grace Church, Episcopal in Great Barrington. 

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill

`This isn't a "feel good" sermon, unless you like being taken seriously and to be met with high expectations.

Monterey UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Social Inequality, Then and Now: the Rich Man and Poor Lazarus present us with an easy parable to understand but a tricky one to live out. And yet the challenge remains as imperative.

Monterey Church

Church on the Hill

Lots of people have apparently believe our society should be left to destroy itself, even that they should help it along. It'd be nice if Jesus weren't one of them.

Monterey UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Notice what is demanding your attention, and then wonder why it is demanding it. Perhaps it's worth more than you think?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox UCC

When you're thinking about taking on a big commitment, you need to do a little discerning before hand. 

www.montereychurch.org 

www.lenoxucc.org

When the driving question is whether or not you like something, you miss a lot of what makes life beautiful and surprising and delightful.