DATE: September 21, 2014
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 16: 2–15 Full text follows the sermon.
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
“Francis By Chance” by ‘John’ on Flickr. Copyright Creative Commons.
They didn’t know what it was. How could they? Like everything around them, it was entirely alien, this stuff that appeared on the ground when the morning dew lifted. Continue reading →
DATE: September 14, 2014
High School Youth Group
DATE: September 7, 2014
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 3:1-15 – Full text included after the sermon
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
Trouble viewing this video? You can also find it here.
Do you remember Moses? Baby Moses put in a basket and floated down the river, to hide him from Pharaoh? See, the Egyptian Pharaoh was afraid that the Hebrew people, his slaves, might multiply and take over his land, so he had ordered the midwives to kill every Hebrew boy. Continue reading →
DATE: June 29, 2014
SCRIPTURE: Genesis 2:1–4
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
Photo credit: Justine Sanderson on Flickr.
Copyright Creative Commons.
Genesis 2:1–4
The heavens and the earth and all who live in them were completed. 2 On the sixth day God completed all the work that he had done, and on the seventh day God rested from all the work that she had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work of creation. 4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
DATE: June 22, 2014
SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 21:1-21 – Text printed after sermon
©Rev. Alison J. B. Patton
Guercino’s “Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael” (1657)
To whom do you relate in this family drama? With which character, or characters? Sarah: who yearned to have a child; the woman who suffered years of infertility, of feeling somehow incomplete and second rate. She eventually found a surrogate, let another woman bear a child for her, thinking that she could live with that. Continue reading →
DATE: June 1, 2014
SCRIPTURE: Acts 1:6-14 – Scripture texts printed after sermon.
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
“Look Up!” – Photo by Sagie and posted on Flickr. Copyright Creative Commons.
Are we there yet? It’s the refrain every parent has heard and every child has uttered. 30 minutes into a three hour drive; and again at 40 minutes and at 45: Are we there yet? How about now? … We laugh about it, or we tear our hair out, but really: we all recognize it: that antsy, restless feeling that leaves us at loose ends, Continue reading →
DATE: May 25, 2014
SCRIPTURE:
Acts 17:22-34 and Psalm 66:8-20
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
Photo by Loco Steve and posted on Flikr, Copyright Creative Commons
In 1990, I spent the glorious month of May in Italy, including one unforgettable weekend in the village of Assisi. The views sprung fully-formed from the pages of a fairy tale book: cobalt blue skies and Crayola green grass; red-roofed Etruscan houses clinging to the hillside, and those breath-taking stone cathedrals, ancient and holy. Continue reading →
DATE: May 11, 2014
SCRIPTURE:
Acts 2:42-47
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
Saugatuck Front Lawn
How do you know when a church is a church? How do you recognize it? Is it the architecture: The majestic steeple, visible from across town, commanding columns or stained glass windows? Perhaps, but there are plenty of churches that don’t have any of those features: churches run out of storefronts or stadiums or someone’s back yard. Continue reading →
DATE: May 4th, 2014
SCRIPTURE:
Luke 24:13-35
© Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
Seabury Center
What did they fail to see? What had they missed? Two followers of Jesus walked along the road to Emmaus, away from Jerusalem, and sifted through the events of the past week – not just talked, but grappled, ‘pitched words back and forth between them,’ in the literal Greek. Continue reading →
DATE: April 27, 2014
SCRIPTURE:
John 20:19-31
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
As we pick up the story this morning, it is important to note that for the disciples, Easter hasn’t happened yet. It’s a bit disorienting, I know. Just last week, we left church with “Christ is risen!” on our lips and a swing in our step– but for the followers of Jesus, gathered behind locked doors on the evening of the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion, Easter hasn’t happened, yet. Continue reading →