| Becoming One in Christ - Part 1 - www.UCCB.org 04-27-08 - 497 sec
The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
April 27, 2008
One in Christ Jesus
Acts 17:15-28
Galatians 3:23-29
John 14:18-20
Becoming one in Christ Jesus is one of those Holy Bible phrases that sounds inviting and looks pretty good on paper, but holds some very real challenges when we try to live it out in actual practice. In Pauls letter to the Galatians, he says the statement of faith that we make at our baptism makes us all children of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in one family of Christ. According to Paul, at that sacramental moment, we are clothed with Christ. From that time on, he says, we are no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, but one in Christ Jesus. That may sound good for a moment, but lets stop and think some more about it. Its one thing to see those beautiful 5 Vonk children at their baptism all red hair and freckles and rejoice at the unity of their family. But what does it mean for us to be unified in our church family, where we bloom in a rainbow of colors red, yellow, black, and white? Do we gain something in that mix? We Americans are proud of our independence. Do we gain something when we unite in Christ, or do we risk the sacrifice of our individuality?...
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 | | Righteous Reality - Part 1 - www.UCCB.org Rev. Jen Whipple - 534 sec
Rev. Jennifer Whipple
Righteous Reality
April 13, 2008
Ephesians 4:22-5:2
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our minds and hearts gathered here this day be acceptable in Your sight, Oh Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
Id like to begin my sermon this morning with a little bit of congregational participation. So by a show of hands I would love it if you would play along and answer the following questions for me. (1) How many of you have ever been sad? (2) How many of you have ever been happy? (3) How many of you have ever participated in gossip or said something that hurt someone else? (4) How many of you have ever been overjoyed by something in your life? (5) How many of you have ever been angry? Yupjust what I thought. I am happy to report that by our show of hands we have proven that we are all human. You see, the reality of our humanness is that there are times when no matter how hard we try we cannot seem to control those feelings and emotions that come bubbling up from inside. There are times when we are not even sure where they are coming from. And the challenge becomes what we do with them...
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| | The Danger of Fire - Part 1 - www.UCCB.org Smallwood-Garcia - 584 sec
The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
May 11, 2008
Pentecost Sunday
The Danger of Fire
Acts 2:1-21
Scripture text: Acts 2:1-21 is read in English, with interruptions in 5 other languages (German, Spanish, Greek, French, and Polish) first all together and overlapping, in chaos, and then gradually understanding each other.
Prayer: Holy One, we ask that you come with power into our gathering: send your Spirit among us and renew our faith and strength; rekindle in each soul the great fire of love that burns in your passionate and compassionate heart. Help us to hear your voice speaking to us today, and give us the courage to respond with lives of joyful and faithful service, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thank you, readers, for making that first Pentecost come alive for us today. It was amazing, wasnt it, how even if we couldnt understand most (or maybe any) of the foreign words they were speaking, we could catch the gist of what they were trying to say the spirit of meaning shines through any language, somehow. It doesnt always work though, right? Mike Anastas was teasing me last week when I was asking for readers who spoke foreign languages and he said, Doesnt Charlene McNiff speak Southern? I wanted to say [in a Southern accent], There are several of us, Mike, who speak Southern, but it needs no translation! But then I remembered one time when my dear, sweet little Southern mother nearly started a fist-fight at a New York deli because people were so irritated by how long it was taking her to understand the Brooklyn accent of the man behind the counter. Poor guy was just trying to get her to pick her condiments...
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| | God's Gift of Freedom - Part 2 www.UCCB.org - 486 sec
The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
www.UCCB.org
November 9, 2008
Amos 5:21-24
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
The Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-20.
A lot has been said about freedom and choice over the past year leading up to this Tuesdays presidential election, so it seemed timely to me that one of our lectionary scriptures for today was Joshuas speech where he urges the people to choose wisely the God they will serve. As for me and my household, Joshua says, we will serve the Lord. (Josh. 24:15) Its a humbling thought, you know, that the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, continues to trust us with this freedom of choice even after we messed up so bad that first time there in Eden....
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| | Davida Crabtree - Romatso De Paz www.UCCB.org - 606 sec
Part one of a Sermon.
See the sermon in it's entirety at
http://www.uccb.org/sermons/video/indexmp4.htm
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| | "The Gift of Dance" www.UCCB.org - 288 sec
Glory Ringers, Sarah Dykes, Paula Finch
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| | Gods Reckless Mercy - Part 1 - www.UCCB.org Rev. Bryn - 406 sec
www.UCCB.org
Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
September 21, 2008
Counting Our Blessings: Gods Reckless Mercy
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Matthew 20:116
Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Its only fair to warn you that today begins another sermon series that Jen and I have put together for this season. In church time, its officially still that long green season of Pentecost, but as Sandy told the children last week, in New England theres a new season starting school is back in session and fall is in the air. Were well down the road to the Yankee Fair (how many days left, Walt? 27?) and just beyond that, Thanksgiving, and the beginning of Advent. So Jen and I are celebrating with you sort of a Season of Thanksgiving, with this new theme: Counting our Blessings....
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| | Gods Reckless Mercy - Part 2 - www.UCCB.org Rev. Bryn - 644 sec
www.UCCB.org
Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
September 21, 2008
Counting Our Blessings: Gods Reckless Mercy
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Matthew 20:116
Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Its only fair to warn you that today begins another sermon series that Jen and I have put together for this season. In church time, its officially still that long green season of Pentecost, but as Sandy told the children last week, in New England theres a new season starting school is back in session and fall is in the air. Were well down the road to the Yankee Fair (how many days left, Walt? 27?) and just beyond that, Thanksgiving, and the beginning of Advent. So Jen and I are celebrating with you sort of a Season of Thanksgiving, with this new theme: Counting our Blessings....
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Tags: communications humanities social science random wisdom grassroots outreach
| | "Getting It Together" Part 2, www.UCCB.org - 579 sec
The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
May 18, 2008
Race Relations Sunday
Getting It Together
Matthew 28:16-20, [Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a]
Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
This powerful vision statement of Jesus, for many of us, sums up why we do the things we do as Christians. God is still speaking, and we are still listening to the call of this Great Commission of Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations. We in the United Church of Christ, especially, see ourselves as a church that is united and uniting. Our denomination was formed in the 1950s from two other denominations one that was originally made up of primarily German-Americans, and the other one was mostly Anglo. That was a bold thing to try to do only a few years after the end of World War II. Today, our church is known for extending extravagant welcome to outcasts and strangers...
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| | Swimming or Lacrosse 06-22-08 A www.UCCB.org Smallwood-Garc - 575 sec
Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
June 22, 2008
Swimming, or Lacrosse?"
Psalm 69:1-3,12--18, 33-34
Today's sermon title is the fourth in my summer series suggested by this year's Confirmands. Geoffrey Bradley's friends encouraged him to pick this one, I assume because he so loves sports -- in fact, he couldn't be here today because he's playing lacrosse. And it was another challenge, because there was no tradition of either sport (swimming or lacrosse) in ancient Israel. In the Bible, sports were all about preparing for war, and any body of water deep enough for swimming is nearly always mentioned as a hazard, because the Jewish people were not particularly known as great swimmers -- at least not before Mark Spitz. Even the waters of baptism were to symbolize death, and rising again out of them into new life...
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| | "Witness"Part 2 Easter, Rev. Jennifer Whipple, uccb.org - 291 sec
"A singing group called "The Resurrection" was scheduled to sing at a church. When a big snowstorm made it impossible to go through with the performance as planned on the calendar, the pastor trudged out into the snow and fixed the outside sign to read. 'The Resurrection is postponed.'"
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| | Lion Taming Part 1, Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia, www.uccb.org - 592 sec
Second Sunday of Advent
Lion Taming
Isaiah 11:1-2, 6-10
Romans 15:5-6
Our text from Isaiah today is so beautiful that it has inspired many artists to create their own images of this "Peaceable Kingdom." Maybe you've seen, or sent, Christmas cards with all of these different animals lying down together in blissful rest, maybe even with the little child leading them. But if the card had only two animals on it, I'd be willing to bet you didn't have a wolf lying down with a lamb, or a lion lying down with a calf. I know you didn't have a leopard lying down with a baby goat, or a cow and a bear sharing dinner! No, it's always the lion lying down with the lamb, isn't it? What a classic dream of peace! I'm sure it's even more meaningful to us than to Isaiah's people, since the lamb has become a symbol for the resurrected Christ, the lamb of God whose blood was shed for us. And for early Christians, when some were actually being thrown to the lions at the Roman coliseum, it must have been especially powerful -- as a word of hope, as a promise of peace.
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| | Davida Crabtree - Silver Lake www.UCCB.org - 511 sec
Part 2 of a Sermon.
Listen to the sermon in its entirety at http://www.uccb.org/sermons/video/indexmp4.htm
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| | "Morning Dance" Jubilate Ringers, uccb.org - 298 sec
http://www.uccb.org/music/index.htm
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| | Seek and Celebrate Part 1 - Rev Jennifer L Whipple, uccb.org - 431 sec
"A few weeks ago my husband Ryan was here painting one of the church school rooms next to the Fellowship Hall Kitchen."
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Tags: Church religion spirituality faith ucc protestant
| | See - Part 2 - www.UCCB.org Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia - 426 sec
The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
March 02, 2008
Fourth Sunday in Lent
See
1 Corinthians 11:17-29, 33
John 9:1-7
Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
This is a great story, this healing of the man born blind. It goes on for ALL of chapter 9 in Johns Gospel. I encourage you to read it on your own sometime. The Pharisees really go on the attack. The point is, the story is about more than the simple healing of a blind man. To John, its a sign from God that Jesus was the Messiah. But above all, for us today, it is a story to help us see Jesus in the light of Johns Gospel...
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| | Becoming One in Christ - Part 2 - www.UCCB.org 04-27-08 - 484 sec
The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
April 27, 2008
One in Christ Jesus
Acts 17:15-28
Galatians 3:23-29
John 14:18-20
Becoming one in Christ Jesus is one of those Holy Bible phrases that sounds inviting and looks pretty good on paper, but holds some very real challenges when we try to live it out in actual practice. In Pauls letter to the Galatians, he says the statement of faith that we make at our baptism makes us all children of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in one family of Christ. According to Paul, at that sacramental moment, we are clothed with Christ. From that time on, he says, we are no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, but one in Christ Jesus. That may sound good for a moment, but lets stop and think some more about it. Its one thing to see those beautiful 5 Vonk children at their baptism all red hair and freckles and rejoice at the unity of their family. But what does it mean for us to be unified in our church family, where we bloom in a rainbow of colors red, yellow, black, and white? Do we gain something in that mix? We Americans are proud of our independence. Do we gain something when we unite in Christ, or do we risk the sacrifice of our individuality?...
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Tags: social science humanities communications language commentary analysis grassroots outreach random wisdom
| | The Danger of Fire - Part 2 - www.UCCB.org Smallwood-Garcia - 592 sec
The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
May 11, 2008
Pentecost Sunday
The Danger of Fire
Acts 2:1-21
Scripture text: Acts 2:1-21 is read in English, with interruptions in 5 other languages (German, Spanish, Greek, French, and Polish) first all together and overlapping, in chaos, and then gradually understanding each other.
Prayer: Holy One, we ask that you come with power into our gathering: send your Spirit among us and renew our faith and strength; rekindle in each soul the great fire of love that burns in your passionate and compassionate heart. Help us to hear your voice speaking to us today, and give us the courage to respond with lives of joyful and faithful service, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thank you, readers, for making that first Pentecost come alive for us today. It was amazing, wasnt it, how even if we couldnt understand most (or maybe any) of the foreign words they were speaking, we could catch the gist of what they were trying to say the spirit of meaning shines through any language, somehow. It doesnt always work though, right? Mike Anastas was teasing me last week when I was asking for readers who spoke foreign languages and he said, Doesnt Charlene McNiff speak Southern? I wanted to say [in a Southern accent], There are several of us, Mike, who speak Southern, but it needs no translation! But then I remembered one time when my dear, sweet little Southern mother nearly started a fist-fight at a New York deli because people were so irritated by how long it was taking her to understand the Brooklyn accent of the man behind the counter. Poor guy was just trying to get her to pick her condiments!...
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Tags: communications language humanities social science performing arts commentary analysis grassroots outreach random wisdom
| | Lion Taming Part 2 Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia www.uccb.org - 534 sec
Isaiah 11:1-2, 6-10
Romans 15:5-6
Our text from Isaiah today is so beautiful that it has inspired many artists to create their own images of this "Peaceable Kingdom." Maybe you've seen, or sent, Christmas cards with all of these different animals lying down together in blissful rest, maybe even with the little child leading them. But if the card had only two animals on it, I'd be willing to bet you didn't have a wolf lying down with a lamb, or a lion lying down with a calf. I know you didn't have a leopard lying down with a baby goat, or a cow and a bear sharing dinner! No, it's always the lion lying down with the lamb, isn't it? What a classic dream of peace! I'm sure it's even more meaningful to us than to Isaiah's people, since the lamb has become a symbol for the resurrected Christ, the lamb of God whose blood was shed for us. And for early Christians, when some were actually being thrown to the lions at the Roman coliseum, it must have been especially powerful -- as a word of hope, as a promise of peace.
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Tags: commentary analysis grassroots outreach community adventure communications humanities social science performing arts religious
| | Gods Gift of Freedom - Part 1 www.UCCB.org - 485 sec
November 9, 2008
www.UCCB.org
Amos 5:21-24
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
The Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-20.
Prayer:May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
A lot has been said about freedom and choice over the past year leading up to this Tuesdays presidential election, so it seemed timely to me that one of our lectionary scriptures for today was Joshuas speech where he urges the people to choose wisely the God they will serve. As for me and my household, Joshua says, we will serve the Lord. (Josh. 24:15) Its a humbling thought, you know, that the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, continues to trust us with this freedom of choice even after we messed up so bad that first time there in Eden...
Auteur : uccbvideo
Tags: communications social science commentary analysis grassroots outreach random wisdom
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