FIRST UNITED CHURCH of CHRIST

  A Sermon from First United Church of Christ

Northfield, Minnesota September 26, 2010

Clyde Steckel, Guest Preacher.

The Rev. Dr. Clyde J. Steckel is Emeritus Professor of Theology with United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and has also served as Interim Conference Minister of the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ. In the New Year he will again take a turn in servant leadership with the Minnesota UCC during the sabbatical leave of the current Conference Minister, Rev. Karen Smith Sellers. Dr. Steckel’s thinking, scholarship and leadership is widely respected and in 2009 Pilgrim Press published his latest book, “New Ecclesiology and Polity – The United Church of Christ”, available via

www.ucc.org/the-pilgrim-press

Lessons : Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 Luke 16:19-31

“WHAT IS A CHURCH FOR?”

What is a church for? That’s bad grammar, poor style, ending with a preposition. But I put it that way in order to emphasize that word, for. I am asking you today to think with me about what the church is for in two ways: What is the use-value, the functional or utilitarian value of a church, this church? And, secondly, what does the church, this church, advocate? What does it believe? What does it try to accomplish?

Continue reading What is a Church For?

Last Sunday in our morning worship Shawn Nuebel offered a heartfelt personal reflection on his sense of giving to the local ministry of First UCC.  We thank Shawn for that witness and offer an additional thought piece to our member testimonies as we approach our 10-10-10 Stewardship Sunday. ____________________________________________________________

I am First UCC member [...]

I am Sarah Entenmann and I have been a member of First UCC for thirteen years. Soon it will be time for me to decide how much I want to give to the local ministry of First UCC. Because UCC’s needs are great this year, due in part to a nasty flood and a [...]

   I am First UCC member Carol Rutz, and in my work with college students I find that some of them are confused about the political spectrum: what are the characteristics of “right” vs. “left” points of view? One quick (and necessarily incomplete) definition goes like this. Those on the right think of government [...]