Sermons for February 2017


Glitter and Ashes

Sun, February 26, 2017; Transfiguration Sunday • Exodus 24:12-18 • Matthew 17:1-9
A sermon preached by Rev. Sandy Johnson
First Congregational Church of MN, UCC

I have to confess that one of the reasons I accepted Jane’s invitation to preach this morning is because I love anointing people with glitter. Yes, glitter. I first anointed people with glitter as part of a children’s message about the strange story that Jean just read for us. As you heard, Jesus climbed a… Read More

Making Space

Sun, February 19, 2017; Seventh Sunday after Epiphany • Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; Matthew 5:38-48
A sermon preached by Rev. Jane McBride
First Congregational Church of MN, UCC

Ted was my one of my grade school enemies. I was shy, awkward, and serious. I didn’t know how to stick up for myself. Ted, along with several other boys, enjoyed tormenting me. One day, our teacher was distracted, fiddling with a faulty projector. Ted saw his opportunity. “Who farted?” he blurted out in a… Read More

Get Closer

Sun, February 12, 2017;
A sermon preached by Daniel Romero
First Congregational Church of MN, UCC

There is much in the sacred texts that Milo read to us today that resonates deeply within me, each of which are deserving of sermons unto themselves: choice; seeing; fire; life; death; infants; path; growth… With limited time, any guesses as to which one we will be talking about the most this morning? I will… Read More

Give Light to All the House

Sun, February 5, 2017; Fifth Sunday after Epiphany • Isaiah 58:1-12 Matthew 5:13-20
A sermon preached by Rev. Jane McBride
First Congregational Church of MN, UCC

I love to walk in the dark without a flashlight. I took up this practice while working at Wilderness Canoe Base, at the edge of the Boundary Waters. For the community there, it’s part of the culture, a point of pride, to learn to navigate the rocky, steep paths by instinct as much as by… Read More