SerMONS

Click on the date to see the full text of the sermon
Dec 11, 2011	CONFESSING IDENTITY JOHN 1: 6-8, 19-28 Community Church of Wilmette Eugene H. Winkler, Pastor...
Dec 4, 2011	Locusts and Wild Honey Mark 1:1-18 Eugene H. Winkler, Pastor...
Jul 17, 2011	You see, it's so easy to get ourselves all wrapped up in strategies and plans, we seek outcomes and Venn diagrams. It's one huge distraction according to this morning's parable. All that is asked of us is to sow some seeds. ...
Jul 10, 2011	What a curious spiritual heritage. For a Divine Covenant about being a people together, about belonging to one another in such a profound way, it’s very messy. I’m constantly surprised by the stories about the mess....
Jul 3, 2011	We only know about God's love as we share it with others. We only know about being loved, perhaps, by discovering ways of being more loving. ...
Jun 26, 2011	Sometimes it is as if the nightmares will not end. We struggle in the night hoping for something to give. We awaken in the morning exhausted. Even then sometimes the nightmares simply will not end. ...
Jun 19, 2011	Belief is everything. Belief may very well be the only thing. ...
Jun 12, 2011	Henri Nouwen wrote, "...the silence from which the word [of God] comes forth is not emptiness and absence, but fullness and presence, not the human silence of embarrassment, shame, or guilt, but the divine silence in which love rests secure." Where does love rest secure in your life? Maybe that’s where to begin learning to listen to God. In times of insecurity, we forget to love, or we mistake our fear for love. We try to control one another....
Jun 5, 2011	Church is not an elevator. And if you are on an elevator, I encourage you to exit at the lobby level and walk out onto the streets into the world that God loves so much. I suggest you stop listening to the muzak, the watered down version of what causes your heart to sing....
May 15, 2011	We are called to pick favorites as God picks favorites. We are called to love the whole world…to live without fear and insecurity, to share all things in common....
May 8, 2011	Storytelling, interpretation, narrative, and truth-telling. They are all so tightly wound that sometimes we cannot tell one thing from another. We are not able, it seems, to relay the specifics of an event without interpreting them in the process. All stories, it would seem, are interpretations. Truth is in the mouth of the storyteller. ...
May 1, 2011	Liz Jones Preaching A Resurrection Response to Immigration ...
Apr 3, 2011	Faith is grappling with a stranger. Faith is groping in the dark. Faith is staggering alone in a deep and nearly endless night, praying for a dawn. Faith is being seized, being squeezed, by a mystery that wrenches your hip and wrests your name. And faith is living with God....
Mar 26, 2011	“God is spirit,” Jesus tells her, and this message appears to sink deep into the well of her own soul. It prompts her to think about the messiah to come: the one she and her people are waiting for. Little does she know that she is standing before him....
Mar 13, 2011	But Jesus knows that human beings must come together to feed one another…that there is enough already. Jesus knows that faith is not magic and that gravity is gravity. He also knows that no empire ever saved anyone. No empire can substitute for God. And so he is resolved. Jesus is not beautiful. His way is not tempting. His way is steadfast and he is resolved. ...
Mar 6, 2011	Listen to one another. Set one another free. Hear what is on the hearts of your friends and neighbors. Make room for each one of us to be transfigured in the listening. God will speak if we do. I truly believe this. God will speak. ...
Feb 27, 2011	Two weeks Liz Jones spoke of Nannie Helen Burroughs and how to have a living faith. Revive us again, she said. Susan Soric shared the wisdom of Helen Barrett Montgomery and her ongoing work of justice for all people. Give what you have, she said. This morning I want to speak about two contemporary Baptist women, both who have shaped my ministry and my life a great deal: Rev Judy Bledsoe Bailey and Rev. Carol McVetty....
Feb 20, 2011	Our study of James from this morning dovetails nicely with the lectionary gospel text Tripp read, from Matthew. Both scriptures call us to go the extra mile to give of ourselves, to be disciples of Christ worthy of that name; to live out our faith with works that emerge from holy wisdom—wisdom inspired by God; to embody our faith with an extraordinary love that embraces even our enemies and resists violence and hatred. ...
Feb 13, 2011	Life or death: A Sermon for the Martha Stearns Marshall Month of Preaching James 2:14-26 Deuteronomy 30:15-20...
Jan 30, 2011	It's time for the Annual Meeting. This is the State of the Congregation Address. ...
Jan 23, 2011	The apostles were fools...and Jesus asks us to be fools, too. ...
Jan 15, 2011	As much as we should treasure our national identity, there is a greater calling upon us. We are called together across race and nationality into one People. We were reminded that we were all one Body as Christ...where there is no slave nor free, no Jew nor Greek, no male nor female, but one great Fellowship......
Jan 9, 2011	Six people were killed; one was a nine-year-old girl, one a judge, and one a Congressional staffer to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was also critically wounded. So many people were hurt. So many people are now carrying grief that is beyond measure. ...
Jan 2, 2011	Jacki Belile was the guest preacher. "You have a place you love and you seek shared directions for it. And amid the labors of love and the ties that bind, we must choose to follow the path of the magi, to have our hearts and minds broken open again and again, to know the joy of traversing the paths that make it so, and to know a landscape of God’s great handiwork that does not make OUR place into an idol."...
Dec 26, 2010	For these days, however, just for these twelve days, ponder this: Now that we’ve found love, what are we gonna do with it? Perhaps it feels fragile. Maybe you feel like you want to run off to some other country to keep it safe for a time. Perhaps it needs to be swaddled and cradled and sung to. Nurture it. Let God bless it. ...
Dec 24, 2010	A sermon for Christmas Eve....
Dec 19, 2010	It’s such a grown-up story, really. Mary and Joseph are to be married. Maybe it was an arranged marriage. It doesn’t really matter. Promises had been made and broken. Well, that’s what appears to be the case on the surface. Mary is pregnant and everyone assumes it’s not Joseph’s child. ...
Dec 5, 2010	How then can we understand peace? How can we live it? How do we remember that peace is actually a powerful presence all on it’s own, a presence that can be heralded like John the Baptist does. Make way! Here comes peace!...
Nov 28, 2010	For rather than leave a troubled and violent world to its own demise, God enters human history and casts his lot with humanity in the form of a helpless, vulnerable child: this is the love of God incarnate, calling us not to despair, but to live into hope for a better world; showing us that God has not abandoned us but rather has entered our struggles as a flesh-and-blood human being; challenging us to claim our own authenticity as individuals and as people of God and ministers of Christ’s gospel. This is the story of Christmas....
Nov 14, 2010	Isaiah reminds us to give thanks because we know that the one true force for Good is God and God is at work in the world, God had the first say and God will have the final say and that WORD is “Gratitute.” The day of God’s Judgment, the apocalypse, the revealing of God’s face to the world is always today. All we have to do is choose to follow God…and say...Thank you. ...
Nov 7, 2010	The saints of God are those who are already living eternally. The saints of God are those who, like Jesus, recognize that life is eternal and the ways that we so often grasp at life in an attempt to possess it and control it are not just fruitless, but are actually the ways of death....
Oct 31, 2010	But if we are followers of the Lamb, we can never justify violent means in the name of God, for once we start to justify violence in any form we start to feel good about our own violence. Once we feel good about our violence, we become blind to the monster that lies within....
Oct 10, 2010	Once upon a time Martin Luther (the answer to one of our questions in last week’s quiz) was asked this question: What is the nature of true worship? His answer: The tenth leper. ...
Sep 19, 2010	What does it mean to receive God's Kingdom as a gift? ...
Sep 12, 2010	Hagar’s story is not unknown to us. Perhaps some of us know that Islam claims Ishmael as its forebear. Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael. Once again we are reminded of God’s close care and watch over the Muslim people. But what I want to challenge us to do today is remember that Hagar’s story is not in the Bible only to remind us of other people, but to remind us of something essential about God and God’s relationship to all people. God seeks us when we are lost. ...
Sep 5, 2010	Following Jesus, it would seem, is costly. If we are to take aim at the Kingdom, it will cost us something and Jesus in this passage from Luke's Gospel is actually trying to speak very plainly about this fact. To follow Christ, to take up our own cross, is a costly choice and not one to be made lightly. ...
Aug 29, 2010	We are called to be nomads and infidels. We are not here to preserve this world order, but to bring about the Kingdom. My challenge for you is just that – whatever it may look like, whatever it may demand of us, may our next steps be Kingdom steps. No matter what the form. No matter what the cost. May we be nomads and infidels for God....
Aug 22, 2010	Seminary Intern, Susan Soric, preached this Sunday. Despite my not so pleasant experiences with the Church, I know there is a power in the Body of Christ to bring health, life, and wholeness to the Church. An incredible power that today seems so stifled at times, so under-utilized. A power and a love that the world so desperately needs, if only we would stop what we are doing and turn, and notice the people around us who need this love, as Jesus showed us....
Aug 15, 2010	Reconciliation is not easy. It’s not pretty. It hurts. The only way through the flames is to go through the flames. Jesus isn’t trying to drive us apart. He just knows us well enough to know that we will often choose to walk away from one another rather than stay and work it out. He knows that some of us simply will not choose reconciliation and forgiveness even though that’s the call he’s placed upon the Church....
Aug 8, 2010	This Sunday we are worshiping in the style of the Taizé community in France. There is space for silence and a great deal of meditative music. The sermon this Sunday is a simple meditation to suit the nature of the service. I simply want to give people something to chew on. Following the sermon is a brief song and then The Great Silence....
Aug 1, 2010	“Much violence,” says Henri Nouwen, “is based on the illusion that life is a property to defended and not to be shared.” ...
Jul 25, 2010	Let it go, says Jesus. Pray it up. Give it up. Love it up. Stand with me and be the anointed ones in the congregation that will proclaim and pray the Kingdom. The rivalries are over. The pettiness is done. What you think you have to lose is really just holding you back. ...
Jul 11, 2010	This is neighborliness. It’s more than a cup of sugar; it’s taking responsibility for one another…it’s having the kind of courage that never walks on the other side of the street for fear that our imagined sense of purity and self-importance may be sullied somehow. Neighborliness is mercy and it is the heart of Jesus’ gospel....
Jul 4, 2010	Today is Independence Day and we will thank God for our political independence. It’s a good thing to do…but Paul is asking us to embrace something greater. He’s asking us to embrace interdependence, connections, connectivity, community, relationship, the good of all people everywhere. Our Christian identity must come before any other identity we have. There is no longer slave or free, if you recall. The good of Americans. The Good of Argentinians. The Good of Russians. The good of the homeless, the loveless, the lonely, the wealthy and the poor. The good of all is to be our purpose. Interdependence. ...
Jun 20, 2010	The world will challenge us. Our resources will increase or diminish. Our demographic make up will shift. Our identity does not. We are bound together in Christ. ...
Jun 13, 2010	Paul says, we aren’t flying blind even when we feel like we are. We do have something to hold on to and we should hold on to it. Paul says we must hold on to our faith. Evelyn Underhill calls it “a hold on the eternal.”...
Jun 6, 2010	“Do this. Do that. This is what God wants for and from you.” Everyone is speaking at once. It’s difficult and painful for the communities and for Paul. How do you know? How do you choose?...
May 30, 2010	Take, O take me as I am; summon out what I shall be; set your seal upon my heart and live in me....
May 11, 2010	Why is it that people get so angry when God breaks into the world and someone is healed? When someone encounters love, compassion, community, and grace in an unexpected place? Why is it that people would rather wait in line for thirty-eight years? Or keep someone waiting....or would rather punish the ones who stepped out of line......
Apr 18, 2010	What is Jesus telling us about friendship? Or love? ...
Apr 4, 2010	It is the Kingdom of God, the end of death, the life of Love that overcomes cruelty and greed, that overcomes all things that bring about death to our hearts, our common lives, our souls. ...
Mar 28, 2010	The Palm Sunday sermon is a poem this year. ...
Mar 21, 2010	So, we moved the Feast of St. Patrick to today. The sermon is a meditation on Rabbi Heschel and St. Patrick. ...
Mar 7, 2010	This is the third in our series on covenants. We will look to the Taize community in France for a little guidance. God is steadfast and promises much to us. God may ask us to do challenging things, difficult things, things that may even put us in harms way... But in the end, God is simply asking us to be ready to move when asked. God is tending us, waiting for us to seize the opportunities set before us. All we must do is choose, for God is faithful....
Feb 28, 2010	This is the second in our series of sermons about our covenant with God. The pastor wants to know if it is an uneasy covenant and why....
Feb 21, 2010	The Pastor shares some thoughts about Lent. This Sunday our seminary intern, Liz Jones preached about change and covenant. It was an extemporaneous sermon and there's no manuscript available. So, enjoy the video instead. ...
Feb 14, 2010	Sermon and video for Transfiguration Sunday: The Figure of Love. But at some point you have to let go. At some point God needs us to let it go…whatever it is. You see; we too must change. We must be Transfigured. ...
Feb 7, 2010	Here is a quick video of the pastor musing on his sermon a couple of days before he preached it. Scout Sunday went well! Perhaps we'll see you next year when we do it again....
Jan 24, 2010	Tell us, how do you understand the word "proclamation"?...
Jan 17, 2010	Rev Stephanie Perdew VanSlyke and Rev Tripp Hudgins shared the pulpit....
Jan 10, 2010	Adam Ericksen preached this Sunday. He is an associate pastor at the First Congregational Church of Wilmette which joined us in worship this day and on January 17. The gods are dead; now we may live....
Jan 3, 2010	Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old shall be merry. I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow… …and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the Lord....
Dec 27, 2009	Thomas Merton said, "The simplest and most effective way to sanctity [holiness] is to disappear into the background of ordinary everyday routine." ...
Dec 24, 2009	This is the meditation for our Lessons and Carols service on Christmas Eve: Light....
Dec 6, 2009	Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas. We could use a few more like him....
Nov 21, 2009	This is the third sermon in the series "The World Needs A Church". Now the people of the congregation speak on what they think....
Nov 15, 2009	This is the second in the sermon series "The World Needs A Church". What does it mean to be stuck in the middle?...
Nov 8, 2009	This is the first of three sermons attempting to answer the question: Does the world need a church?...
Nov 1, 2009	This is the sermon for the Feast of All Saints. Inspired by his trip to New Orleans, the pastor wants to speak up about zombies. This is what happened....
Oct 18, 2009	This sermon is a little about New Orleans, Barack Obama, and Melchizedek. ...
Sep 27, 2009	Justin Thornburgh was our guest preacher. God Sustains the environment and calls us to do the same. ...
Sep 20, 2009	God Sustains: Sustaining Justice...
Sep 13, 2009	It's Rally Day! God Sustains!...
Aug 23, 2009	This is the third and final sermon on the "Bread Narrative" from the sixth chapter of John's gospel. What does it mean to be offended by Jesus?...
Aug 16, 2009	This is another sermon in the series on John 6. This time we explore Christmas in the summer months. Title: A Midsummer's Christmas Dream...
Aug 9, 2009	This is an exploration of what it means to stand in Christ's light, to take in Christ as sustenance. "I am the bread of life," says Christ....
Aug 2, 2009	We're back on the lectionary now. This Sunday we encounter David, Nathan, and Jesus discussing bread....
Jul 18, 2009	This is the third of three sermons in a series: Christ's Hands, Christ's Feet, Christ's Heart. They are meditations on the Ascension of Christ and St. Teresa of Avila's prayer: Christ has no body now but yours. No hands no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which she looks salvation on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.... ...
Jul 5, 2009	This is the first of three sermons in a series: Christ's Hands, Christ's Feet, Christ's Heart. They are meditations on the Ascension of Christ and St. Teresa of Avila's prayer: Christ has no body now but yours. No hands no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which she looks salvation on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours....
Apr 19, 2009	Resurrection changes things. It moves people. It transforms communities. It proclaims life and not death. It proclaims justice and mercy. It seeks the redemption of all people, their reconciliation and healing. It does not shy away from the difficult questions of life. It is invitational. It is challenging....
Mar 29, 2009	Grace is Judgment. God's Judgment is Grace...John 21:1-17 and Psalm 62....
Mar 15, 2009	A video of the sermon based on Mark 2:10-17 and Psalm 42....
Mar 1, 2009	A Feast of Grace Luke 11:32-42 Psalm 46 This is a video post from the pastor's home study....
Feb 1, 2009	This is the video and manuscript of the pastor's annual meeting sermon. The video was recorded in his study at home....
Jan 25, 2009	Justin Thornburgh was our guest preacher....
Jan 18, 2009	Jorge Sanchez was our guest preacher....
Jan 4, 2009	Sermon for the second Sunday after Christmas, it's more about J.R.R. Tolkien....
Dec 28, 2008	The First Sunday after Christmas......
Dec 14, 2008	Sermon: The Third Sunday of Advent The Community Church of Wilmette The Prophet's Light...
Dec 7, 2008	Sermon: The Second Sunday of Advent The Community Church of Wilmette "The Prophet's Comfort"...
Nov 23, 2008	"Today, many of our contemporaries say yes. Many say that we have mistaken our own wealth, political clout, and influence for the message of God. We have substituted our own voices for that of Christ's in the world. We have attempted to silence the subversive message of a carpenter from Galilee who asked us to care for the poor, to teach peace, to put ourselves last, and to make room for all of God's children. "...
Nov 16, 2008	"Enter into the joy of your master..."...
Nov 9, 2008	Sermon: the 26th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A The Community Church of Wilmette November 9, 2008 "Trimmed and Burning"...
Sep 21, 2008	This is the sermon that Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell preached to our congregation....
Sep 5, 2008	This is the sermon that Rev. Dr. Larry Greenfield delivered to our congregation at the first evening of our Revive-All....
Aug 10, 2008	This is the fourth and final installment in the Gospel According to John Hughes series. Enjoy the video summary of The Breakfast Club....
Aug 3, 2008	This is the third of the Gospel According to John Hughes sermons. Again, this was preached without a manuscript. Enjoy the video summary....
Jul 27, 2008	This is the second in a series on John Hughes films. This is "Sixteen Candles." Each of the four John Hughes sermons are preached without a manuscript. What you will read here is a summary of the sermon....
Jul 20, 2008	Cate Wallace was our guest preacher. "If I'm morally obligated to be successful, and I can't define "success" in some clear and stable way, then where am I? Who am I?"...
Jul 13, 2008	This is the first of four sermons on The Gospel According to John Hughes. The sermon is delivered without the aid of a manuscript. What you have here is Pastor Hudgins' summary and reflections....
May 4, 2008	So much of life is about escaping…finding ways to escape pain, uncertainty, and struggle. We surround ourselves with comforts and successes, to do lists and achievements…always looking to that next distant goal. We try to Escape. What Jesus is asking of us, and what Luke understands to be the identity of the Church is the opposite....
Apr 27, 2008	What does it mean to be judged by God? We are judged when we fail to Love. We are all God’s children. To live otherwise is to be under the Judgment of God....
Apr 20, 2008	Rev. Al Sharp, Executive Director of Protestants for the Common Good delivered this sermon....
Apr 6, 2008	The Gospel of the Lord according to Anthony Bourdain and Rusted Root? Really?...
Mar 23, 2008	Easter is upon us! The Lord is Risen and he brings liberation to all. Resurrection does not exist outside of time. It's not some far off reality, some pie in the sky vision. Resurrection is much more than Jesus simply getting up on the third day, some medical marvel or a historical puzzle to be solved. Resurrection is liberation. ...
Mar 9, 2008	How can we bring light into one another’s lives? How can we bring life out of what brings death here in Wilmette? We are called to give voice to what brings life here in Wilmette. We are called to give voice to God. We are called to uphold Wilmette and all our communities with compassion....
Mar 2, 2008	It occurs to me that I must be afraid. I must be afraid of what I will see. And what I will see is my own culpability, my own sordid and sad Acquiescence. I will see that I have sold out. I sold out a long, long time ago....
Feb 24, 2008	There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too. But often stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath. Then God must be dug out again. – Etty Hillesum...
Feb 17, 2008	The movement of the Spirit brings understanding. And that same Spirit moves understanding from the head to the heart. This is the art of personal transformation...God desires the heart....
Jan 27, 2008	"I believe you can look at solitude, community, and ministry as three disciplines by which we create space for God. If we create space in which God can act and speak, something surprising will happen. You and I are called to these disciplines if we want to be disciples." - Henri Nouwen...
Jan 20, 2008	On this day we honored the memory and faith of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ...
Jan 13, 2008	This is the second of a series of sermons on the Christian Journey. What place does our Baptism play in our Christian journey? This allowed for a conversation between the pastor and the congregation, thus the outline format....
Jan 6, 2008	The life of faith is a Journey. It is mythical and personal all at the same time. The journey of the Magi exemplify this for us. How that stand before the tyrant, Herod, and how they kneel before the child, Jesus, are the paradigm for our journey. ...
Dec 30, 2007	The First Sunday of Christmas - AnnMarie Kneebone was our guest preacher. ...
Dec 24, 2007	Christmas is like bringing two things together that at first seem an impossible match. But in the end, they prove to be the presence of God. This Christmas Eve meditation is about that....
Dec 23, 2007	The Fourth Sunday of Advent is a Sunday of peace...And to find peace may mean to follow our dreams. The story of Joseph reminds us of that....
Dec 16, 2007	This is the sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of Joy. Mary is bearing to all the world a son. And that child is the salvation of all. Mary is his prophet....
Dec 2, 2007	On the first Sunday of Advent, we must remind ourselves what it means to prepare for the coming of God....
Nov 25, 2007	Bret Chandler preached for Christ the King Sunday: "We are called to be Christ-like, and this is something that neither our modern society understands nor that the Romans ever understood. A messiah does not save himself. A messiah turns to others, and not simply because others need a messiah, but also because the messiah needs others." Take a moment to read this....
Nov 18, 2007	This Sunday is our "Walk of Faith" Sunday. This is where we make our financial and spiritual pledges to the church. This sermon is about that faith journey, commitment and the promise of the "Peaceable Kingdom."...
Nov 11, 2007	There is so much happening at Community Church! We are on the verge of something tremendous. But we have to remember that all we do is based on a promise....
Nov 4, 2007	The Feast of All Saints: In the midst of the ghoulies and goblins of Halloween, Christians also celebrate the dead, the saints who have gone before us and who still uphold us in prayer and song with God. This sermon speaks to our struggles around death and honoring the dead....
Oct 28, 2007	This week two lay members of our congregation preached. Marti Pechnyo preached about the reforming work of God. It is a wild fire. Kathleen Brennan gave a wondrous testimony about the race God sets before us. ...
Oct 21, 2007	What is "sound doctrine?" Paul is instructing his friend Timothy on doctrine and how a church might function. There's also just a little about Ann Coulter in this....
Oct 14, 2007	Bret Chandler, our interim Minister for Outreach and Growth, preached about the centrality of praise and worship in the Christian life. It's a powerful message of hope and healing....
Oct 7, 2007	Obedience is not something we come by easily. It is a notion not often accepted in our culture. Dogs are obedient. People are not...well, are we? Slavery. Obedience. The Bible talks a lot about this and today's scriptures are no exception. To be obedient is to be faithful. Oh boy...?!...
Sep 30, 2007	The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell was the guest preacher for our final sermon on Simplicity. ...
Sep 23, 2007	Simplicity: Don't Forget to Share..."Simplicity" says Richard Foster "is an inward and outward discipline." This is the third sermon in a series on Simplicity. This Sunday, we focus on the outward nature of the discipline....
Sep 16, 2007	Readings: Ecclesiastes 2:24-3:15 and Matthew 25:31-46 Simplicity: God Cares "Simplicity" says Richard Foster "is an inward an outward discipline." This truth is pretty self-evident to me. Our...
Sep 9, 2007	Deuteronomy 8:7-18, Matthew 6:25-34 Simplicity: A Gift from God Welcome to the Community Church of Wilmette. For those of you who have not heard, today is Rally Day. Our church program year...
Sep 2, 2007	The Ladies Who Lunch How many of you find yourselves being lumped into a stereotype from time to time? Are you a jock? A punk? A suburbanite? A femi-nazi? Are you too rich? Are you too poor? Old? Young? Is there a certain ethnic...
Aug 19, 2007	readings Burning Down the House How often do we pass the peace of Christ? At least once a month on Communion Sunday in this congregation. Our Lutheran brothers and sisters across the way...
Aug 12, 2007	Sermon: Proper 14 (19) Worship at the Beach – Gillson Park Community Church of Wilmette and Wilmette Lutheran Church August 12, 2007 "...That There is Need of...
Aug 5, 2007	POVERTY AND WEALTH, WEALTH AND POVERTY Luke 12:13-21; Psalm 107: 1-9 Rev. Dr. Larry Greenfield Executive Minister, ABC Metro-Chicago “Them.” Who’s “them” in this passage from the Gospel of Luke? It might help, in answering that question, to...
Jul 15, 2007	Meditation: The Good Samaritan Our culture professionalizes everything...childcare, justice, healthcare, farming, faith and even friendship. It's possible that western culture has exhibited this preference for centuries. Perfection...
Jul 1, 2007	Of Shepherds and Hired Hands Rev. Dr. David Hogue John 10:11-18 1 John 3:16-24 It’s a story I’ve told here before, but it’s just too good to pass over in light of the Scripture passages we are considering today. A mother was preparing...
Jun 23, 2007	1 Kings 19:1-15 Luke 8:26-39 The truth of God is always cast in history. It is manifested in the shared life of humanity and all of God’s creation. Faith, religious life, is inescapably human. It is thus...
Jun 17, 2007	Grace Upon Grace: God’s Own Polyphony When in our music God is glorified, And adoration leaves no room for pride, It is as though the whole creation cried, Alleluia! I know this will come as no surprise to anyone, but I love...
Jun 10, 2007	The Unexpected Guest Hear now a story from long ago…a story of prophets and gods, kings, queens, and a poor widow. The widow and her son are hungry. They have not eaten. There has been no food. The drought has been lingering for...
Jun 3, 2007	Trinity Sunday Well, we made it. Today we celebrate one year of ministry together. And, for me at least, it has been a great pleasure and honor to be here with you. I just have one question…whose bright idea was it to start his tenure at...
May 20, 2007	Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to...
May 13, 2007	Working on it… I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen, indeed, Alleluia! In 313 AD, the emperor of Rome, Constantine, issued...
May 6, 2007	Revelation 21:1-6 John 13:31-35 Citified Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen, indeed. Alleluia! Here are some song lyrics for you…ready? Sing out if you are so inspired. Somewhere out there on that horizon Out beyond...
Apr 29, 2007	Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen, indeed! Alleluia! There is an icon of Jesus that I keep beside me when I prepare sermons. In the icon, he stands there with...
Apr 22, 2007	Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen, indeed! Alleluia! I have stood in this particular pulpit for almost a year now. And there was never a more helpful congregation when it comes to suggesting new ideas, giving pointers, or offering helpful...
Apr 15, 2007	Authority or Authorship Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen, indeed! Alleluia. It may be hard to believe, but it is still Easter. This is the second Sunday of the Easter Season…so be ready, everyone, for who might walk...
Apr 8, 2007	The Eighth Day Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen, indeed. Alleluia! You have heard it said that on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. On the third day he appeared to his friends and his family. On the third day,...
Apr 1, 2007	Story Time When I was a little boy, my grandfather, Pappy, would read to me. He read from a series call “Old Mother West Wind Tales.” I loved those stories…tales of animals who had human personalities, sly, witty, brave, silly, hedgehogs and...
Mar 25, 2007	What Fast Will You Make? During our Tuesday Bible study, we focused on the...
Mar 11, 2007	Stand Fast This sermon is the third in our series on Christian practices and virtues. On the first Sunday of Lent we prayed together, if you recall Augustine’s words: “Those who sing well, pray twice.” And last week we waited for the Lord. She...
Feb 18, 2007	Have you ever had one of those experiences where time seems to stand still? Do you know what I mean? Maybe for you it was when you were lying under the stars one summer night. You were completely relaxed. And then you felt it, the turn of the planets, the will...
Feb 11, 2007	Plain Speaking The Beatitudes…The Beatitudes, or the Sermon on the Mount, is one of the better-known passages of scripture, one of the most beloved. But, at least in my experience, when I encounter them, I think of Matthew’s recollection and not...
Jan 28, 2007	Sermon: Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany Community Church of Wilmette January 28, 2007 What Did You Say? 1:9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. 1:10...
Jan 21, 2007	Sermon: The Third Sunday after the Epiphany Nehemiah 8:1-10 Luke 4:14-21 Stand in the Place Where You Live Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus the Christ… Hear the words of an Orthodox monk, Father Lev. He speaks of the...
Jan 14, 2007	The Hour has Come One of the things I like about being a pastor is performing weddings. It is a gift to be involved in such a celebration. Yes, I said celebration. Now, those of you who have been integral in the planning of such a...
Dec 31, 2006	Sermon: Jesus Stayed Behind The First Sunday of Christmas, 2006 Community Church of Wilmette Colossians 3:12-17 Luke 2:41-52 O God, by the leading of a...
Dec 24, 2006	Sermon: The Fourth Sunday of Advent, 2006 Community Church of Wilmette Knowing Mary Welcome to the Fourth Sunday of Advent… I need to ask you all to do a favor for me if you can. I need you to hold on tight. Because, believe it or not, it is...
Dec 24, 2006	Sermon: Christmas Eve Candle Light Service Any Ideas? When you walk into the house you can smell the cookies. The aroma of chocolate and vanilla, sugar and spice (I like ginger best of all.) waft through the air. Someone I love scurries around the...
Dec 17, 2006	There was no sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent this year. In its stead, the choir sang the Saint-Saens Christmas...
Dec 10, 2006	Sermon: Preparing the Way Second Sunday of Advent, 2006 Community Church of Wilmette Philippians 1:3-11 Luke 3:1-6 I want to know what preparing the way looks...
Dec 3, 2006	Sermon: First Advent, 2006 Community Church of Wilmette Peace on Earth - U2 Heaven on Earth, we need it now I'm sick of all of this hanging around Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain I'm sick of hearing again and again That there's gonna be...
Nov 5, 2006	Revelation 21:1-6a John 11:32-44 Building a Mystery I try to record my dreams. It's an interesting discipline...one that I have cultivated for a while...
Oct 29, 2006	Continuing the Reformation It was on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg. Many of us may know a little of the history. The church in the West (This is an important distinction, for...
Oct 15, 2006	Job 23:1-9, 16-17 Psalm 22:1-15 Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31 God Doesn't Want Our Money One of the well-known interpretations of today’s scripture passage usually relies upon the notion that the Needle’s Eye was a passageway into...
Oct 8, 2006	Villanelle Love, Love was incarnate there In childhood's glow and mystery, Christ was around me everywhere. On my knees I learned a bedside prayer, Mother and father leading me. Love, Love was incarnate there. In his rough hug, in her girlish...
Oct 1, 2006	Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Mark 9... I had the great fortune last night to preside over...
Sep 17, 2006	Gethsemane's Fruit: Disillusionment and Faith Text: Matthew 26:36-46 Good morning and welcome to the second of three sermons in a series. Brothers and sisters, the work of tending a garden is never...
Sep 10, 2006	One of my favorite stories is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnette. It is the tale of Mary Lennox and her adventures at Misselthwaite, the home of her uncle Archibald Craven. The characters in this story are rich and full of life. There is Mary, an...
Sep 10, 2006	"Stir What Ya Got!" 2 Corinthians 4:1-12 September 10, 2006 Service of Installation for George V. Hudgins, III and Community Church of Wilmette Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I bring you greetings...
Sep 3, 2006	As some of you know, I went on a retreat a couple of weeks ago. I am trying to create a regular discipline in my life of prayer and silence. As you would imagine, I have experienced varying levels of success. But that's just how this process is for me. My retreat...
Aug 28, 2006	I know that it's not Christmas. But every now and again a story comes to mind that won't leave me alone. Today's scripture passages speak about courage. We...
Aug 13, 2006	lectionary Last night Trish and I had dinner with some old friends. For me there is little better than dinner with old friends. We went out to a local Indian joint that we all...
Jul 31, 2006	The Kingdom of Heaven is like a Bike Ride. One of the things I did for a living before taking the big plunge and returning to seminary was to work for the AIDSRide. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the AIDSRide, but most simply it was a large...
Jul 16, 2006	David is celebrating. He is celebrating a great military victory and the success of his political aspirations. All the house of Israel dances with him. He had set out to unify the nation under his leadership. Until his reign, Israel was a collection of tribes, a...
Jul 9, 2006	I have been thinking a lot lately about the idea of the "separation of church and state." Primarily, this is due to a speech that Barak Obama gave at the "Call to Renewal" conference in Washington D.C. I don't know how many of you took the time to read that speech, but...