Transfiguration Sunday: Mark 9: 2-9 (and Psalm 50: 1-6) “Out of Zion, God Shines Forth” Feb. 19, 2012 I have always had an abiding interest in Scotland, and all things Celtic. Years ago I had the opportunity to visit Scotland. I loved everything about it, but was especially taken by the standing stones that appear [...]
Mark 1 40-45 Religion and Healing Series (part three): All our Grief to Bear Feb 12, 2012, Preached at Zion UCC Arendtsville PA For the last 3 weeks, our scripture passages have been about healing. In fact, we’re not even out of the first chapter of Mark yet, and we’ve been reading about one healing [...]
Mark 1 29-39 (Religion and Health series-part two) 2/5/2012 I have a friend who built a very successful business from which he is now retired. He’s written a book about his experience. One of the points he makes is that being frugal really gave him a competitive edge in business. He relates an interesting anecdote [...]
Mark 1:21-28, message preached on Jan. 29, 2012 at Zion UCC Arendtsville Jesus Speaks the Language of Health Gospel is a word we use a lot, and seldom think about. The word “gospel” can be loosely translated as good news. Wikipedia tells us that the word “Gospel” is derived from Anglo Saxon word “Gódspell” (ca [...]
John 1: 43-51 preached on Jan. 15, 2012 “A Very Short Script: Come and See” In this short and vivid narrative we are confronted with a fundamental truth. It is not enough to believe in Jesus, we must also follow him. And we are faced with another fundamental truth, namely, each disciple who follows Jesus [...]
Mark 1:4-11 Homily Preached at Zion UCC on 1/8/12 We turn the church year calendar to Epiphany. We call this season ordinary time, in the special language of the church year. Epiphany, and Pentecost, that long season of green on the altar, represent ordinary time because they do not contain the high holidays of Christmas [...]
Isaiah 40: 1-11 December 4, 2011 Preached by Pastor Kim Blocher at Zion UCC Arendtsville PA Comfort, O comfort, my people. In a world where Christmas has been in the stores since Halloween, this magnificent passage from Isaiah can seem like just more holiday background music. The words are so familiar. It’s so…well…comforting! Can it [...]
Putting our Eggs in the God Basket Matthew 22: 15-22 October 16, 2011 This past week I spent some time working on the Nov. 13th Veteran’s Day observance. In the midst of thinking about the service and program afterward, I pondered the need to balance a lot of disparate elements. First and foremost I [...]
Feet of Clay: October 2, 2011 Matthew 21:33-46 What does it mean when we say of someone, “he has feet of clay?” It typically refers to someone in the public eye; when a hidden flaw in personal character has been revealed. Jon Edwards, Elliott Spitzer, or even Michael Vick would be recent examples of such [...]
Sermon for September 3, 2011 On this particular Sunday, I began by reading the following devotional by Rev. Lillian Daniel: the devotional was from the Still Speaking Devotional series of Aug 31, 2011. I thought that this was a wonderful piece of writing and wanted to share her work, and expand upon it for a [...]