Sermons
Why Would They Do It? (The Rev. Dr. John Judson, July 4, 2010) Why would he have done it? Why would he have risked everything for a very uncertain future? Born in 1733 Joseph Pheland was forty six years old when the Colonies declared independence from England. He was a farmer with a wife and five sons and five daughters. He was not well educated or a politician. He was not driven by youthful enthusiasm to do something brave. Yet soon after the war began Joseph enlisted in the Hampshire County, Massachusetts militia to fight against the British. The paper on the cover is the commission he received just before the end of the war because of his service for the cause of the Colonies. I have often wondered what would have caused my great, great, great, great, great grandfather to risk his life, his land and his family to fight against the most powerful nation and army in the world. It was a crazy notion…that a bunch of farmers and sometime soldiers could defeat the most powerful army on the face of the earth. Yet he and thousands of others risked everything in the fight. So why would they do it? Click to continue reading ….
What World Would You Choose? (The Rev. Dr. John Judson, June 27, 2010) They could taste it. They could taste vengeance and it tasted good. They had been oppressed and excluded from virtually everything that their country could offer them. The color of their skin had made them outsiders and virtual slaves in the land their ancestors had inhabited for centuries. Apartheid, the legal segregation and subjugation, of blacks and mixed race members of south African Society had crushed their lives but not their spirits. But now it was their time. Apartheid was over. Black South Africans had been given the right to vote and they had elected Nelson Mandela, their iconic leader as the first black president of South Africa. Mandela, having been kept in a tiny cell on Robbins Island for 27 years, was to be their agent of vengeance. It was time for the majority in South Africa to take back what had been taken from them and make the whites pay. They could taste it. Click to continue reading ….
The Three R’s (The Rev. Dr. John , June 6, 2010) Prostitution or begging…those were her choices. Chances are that she never imagined that her life would come down to those two choices. When her husband had died at least she had her son to provide and care for her. But now that her son was dead there was no one to turn to. Her family had no responsibility and neither did that of her deceased husband. We might imagine how such a weight of decision was compounding the grief she was already feeling as the funeral procession was leaving the city limits. With her mind so preoccupied, odds were that she did not even notice the happy throng which was headed in the opposite direction. It only came to her attention when one of the men in the passing crowd stepped out and stop her procession in its tracks. She had no idea who this person was or why he was stopping her and her friends. Click to continue reading ….
How Are We Doing? (The Rev. Dr. John Judson, May 30, 2010) Gary had the perfect life. That is the way he described it. He was a proud graduate of Texas A&M University. He had a great job with one of the fastest growing and most profitable companies in the world. He was married to, and these are his words, a beautiful, long legged blond who was the best wife anyone could have. He had three beautiful and healthy daughters. He had a great retirement composed of company stock which would allow him to retire early. Every day he would get up and go to work in the building on the cover of your bulletin, being grateful for all that he had. Then one day at work a rumor began to spread. Click to continue reading ….
Strong Faith on Shaky Ground (The Rev. Amy Morgan, Confirmation Sunday, May 16, 2010) How many of you have ever locked yourself out of your house? When I graduated from college, my whole family made the trip out to New York, and we were coming back to my apartment in Queens late at night after all the graduation celebrations. We were all wearing our best duds, and we were exhausted from the excitement of the day and the mile-long hike from the subway station to my apartment. When we walked up to my apartment building, I suddenly realized with dismay that I wasn’t carrying my purse. Click to continue reading ….
The Church of the Living Dead (The Reverend John Judson, May 9, 2010) It was supposed to be an easy walk. I was 13 and my family was taking their very first vacation to Colorado. We had been there a couple of days when my father asked the Park ranger what would be an easy hike. After a few moments the Ranger said, “Flattop.” It was only about four and half miles and only about a 3,000 foot elevation rise. Great my father said, and he packed up my older brother, my mom, me and himself for the hike. When we arrived at the trail head I said, “This is great,” because we were surrounded by lakes, aspen trees and animals of every kind. What only dawned on me later was that … Click to continue reading ….
Truth and Consequences (The Rev. Dr. John Judson, May 2, 2010 )They really did not know what to do. Everything they had tried failed. Their son was out of control. At first he had just been defiant. Then it was sneaking out of the house. That was followed by his drinking with friends and staggering home. Then it was shoplifting, stealing money from his parents’ wallets, taking their credit cards and charging what he wanted. Then there were the drugs; pot, cocaine and more. The older he got the more difficult it became. They gave him consequences. They sent him to counseling and even a boot camp program. Nothing worked. Finally the day after his seventeenth birthday the phone call came. Click to continue reading ….
Everybody’s Got to Serve Somebody (Reverend John Judson, April 25, 2010) – He had had it. The guy was getting on his nerves. My friend J.D. had been a draftsman and designer in the petrochemical industry since the early fifties. He was one of the most respected men in the business. So it bugged him that one of the new engineers in the firm was questioning almost every one of his decisions. And it really bugged him because … Click to Continue Reading ….
Prior Sermons (including the first few lines)
SermonsTitles
- A Love Letter
- Are You Being Served
- Company’s Coming, Let’s Get Ready
- Company’s Coming, Let’s Rejoice
- Don’t Be a Chimp
- Everybody’s Got to Serve Somebody
- Expanding the Vision
- Friends of God
- Getting Ready for Company
- Hope Gone Wild
- How Are We Doing?
- It’s the End of the World, and I Feel Fine
- Jesus Freakonomics
- KEEP THE FAITH
- Let’s Talk About Money
- Love Amidst Certainty
- On the Road Again…and Again
- Pressing On
- Releasing, Renewing, Restoring God’s World
- Someone’s Looking for You
- Staying on Message
- Staying the Course
- Strong Faith on Shaky Ground
- The Best of Both Worlds
- The Church of the Living Dead
- The Never Ending Journey
- The Three R’s
- This Stinks
- Truth and Consequences
- Under New Management
- Waste or Worship
- We Can Get It!
- What World Would You Choose?
- Whose Friend Are You?
- Why Would They Do It?
- You Can Do It
