Worship

Sundays at 10:00 a.m.

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Northfield, MN 55057
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Photo album

Fighting Apostles Open Softball Season

You’ll want to be at Babcock Park at 5:00 pm on Sunday May 4 for the big season opener between our own Fighting Apostles and St. Dominic’s Blue Team.

Fighting Apostles spokesman Scott Richardson says St. Dominic’s is a tough opponent.  “They actually practice!” he said.

Families of team members were delighted that [...]

If You Love Me — April 27, 2008

bible If you are going to be Christian, you have to talk about Jesus.  I have learned that lots of people in our congregation are somewhat self-conscious (or even embarrassed) to talk much about him.  So in this sermon from April 27, 2008, I explored what it might mean to talk about loving Jesus ..

If You Love Me

Acts 17:22-31  John 14:15-21 

Most of the time I object to scripture study and sermons that treat individual verses from the Bible as though they were “sound bytes.” With a few notable exceptions (like the book of Proverbs and some of the Psalms), every verse has a context – it is part of a story or a letter, for example. Understanding the verse requires that we study that context as well as the specific words. Well, today I am going to make an exception and look at just nine words from the Gospel of John.

Continue reading If You Love Me — April 27, 2008

3rd Annual Blessing of the Bikes

First UCC will hold it’s 3rd Annual Blessing of the Bikes on Sunday,  May 4 right after worship.  Bring your bike, trike, wagon, moped or motorcycle to be included in Sandy’s Blessing.   We’ll meet in the church parking lot.  Bring your friends and neighbors.  It’s a fun event and we always have [...]

Easter Blessings to our Orthodox Brothers and Sisters

Even though we are many weeks past our celebration of Easter, our brothers and sisters in the Orthodox traditions will be celebrating this Sunday, April 27!

The Orthodox tradition is rich in piety and liturgy.  I had the pleasure of worshipping at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in San Anselmo, California (pictured here), during [...]

Kathy Baughman’s Ordination in Topeka

KB Ord 1.bmp I had the pleasure of preaching at Kathy’s ordination on April 19, and of presenting her the gifts from our congregation — a beautiful red stole that Mary Wood brought home from Bethlehem, and a quilt filled with signatures and good wishes of members and friends.

She chose First Corinthians 13 as the text for the sermon — the famous words about love that are often read at weddings.  Here’s what I had to say about that …

Love and Work

This is not a wedding. I know it seems like it could be: we received beautiful invitations, many of us have traveled to get here, the church is decorated with flowers, the people are dressed in special clothing, promises will be made, there will be a reception afterwards, and – of course – we just heard a reading of First Corinthians 13.

Continue reading Kathy Baughman’s Ordination in Topeka

A Quilt-ful of Good Wishes

Our good friend and former Pastoral Care Coordinator, Kathy Baughman, is being ordained on April 19 as a minister in the Unitarian Universalist Association.

I’ll be preaching the sermon for the ordination service, and Sue Mieska and I will be presenting this beautiful quilt that Tanya is holding in the picture.  There are [...]

Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble at First UCC

Last week it was African drums, this week it is the Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble from St. Olaf College.

I’m delighted to welcome this talented group of musicians to our worship service on April 20.  Led by St. Olaf faculty member Paul Niemisto, this group is unique in the upper Midwest — offering a special [...]

Drumming to a New Beat

Our April 13th service was energized by the Confirmation Class African Drum Choir.  Bob Gregory-Bjorklund and Kathy Kanazawa taught the group some basic rhythms, and they played to accompany our opening and closing hymns.

We also enjoyed our Spirit Voices Choir.  Along with leading the opening and closing hymns (with the drums), they sang [...]

Confirmation Sunday

We had a great morning on April 13, celebrating our 2008 Confirmation group.

These bright and curious youth, mostly 9th graders, have been meeting with their adult leaders on Sunday evenings since October. 

But it hasn’t just been meetings — they have been on retreat (to Camp Omega, near Waterville), visited other churches [...]

Awesome — A sermon for April 13, 2008

clock Reading the Bible can be like going into a time machine — we go back to another age when life was quite different than what we experience today.  In this sermon for April 13, 2008 — which was Confirmation Sunday in our congregation — I reflect a little about the particular kind of time machine that the Bible can be …

 Awesome

Psalm 23 (sung)  Acts 2:42-47

Even though it has probably been overused in recent years, the word “awe” is a wonderful word – wonderful because it conveys not just one single emotion, but a whole set of emotions that seem like they ought to be incompatible: dread, veneration, and wonder. It is the feeling we get when we are overwhelmed by an experience: not just surprised or impressed, but moved to a sense of the holy, and suddenly aware of our own small place in the universe.

Continue reading Awesome — A sermon for April 13, 2008

Preaching on the Internet

Whatever else we have learned from the kerfuffle about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his impassioned sermons at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, it is clear that once a video is on the Internet, it is entirely out of the control of the person who is pictured.

We’ve been talking about podcasting [...]

April Chronicle

April Chronicle