Sermons
March 19, 2023 Seeing from the Heart by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, our God. Why would Jesus say that those who have sight will become blind? It could mean that those of us who have sight are actually blind to the things that those who are blind can see. A few …Read more
March 12, 2023 Boundary Crashing by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to our God. Jesus’ in-depth conversation with the Samaritan woman is full of complexities, contradictions and boundary-crossing violations. Boundary-crasher #1: Jesus engaged a Samaritan in conversation and requested of her a drink of water. Samaritans were descendants of the twelve tribes …Read more
March 5, 2023 Born of the Spirit by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to our God. Rev. John Buchanan had just finished baptizing a two-year-old, saying, “You are a child of God, sealed by the Spirit in your baptism, and you belong to Jesus Christ forever.” The two-year-old responded, “Uh-oh.” I wonder how many …Read more
February 26, 2023 Aging With Grace by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to our God. Medical incidents are humbling. Each one of us is only one incident away from a life-changing situation. Most of our incidents are only temporary, but—for me at least—they do serve as a wake-up call to our next stage …Read more
January 29, 2023 Guiding Beacons of Light by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to our God. Those of you who attended the Buddhist-Christian study last fall will have heard Sensei Tanis Moore talk about her struggle with current interfaith social actions directed against a particular bank because of its support of fossil fuels and …Read more
January 15, 2023 Don’t Be a Messiah By Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to our God. Some years ago, bracelets with the initials WWJD were quite popular. Anyone know what these initials stood for? (What Would Jesus Do). They were intended to make people pause whenever they had to make an ethical decision and …Read more
January 8, 2023 Beloved to Love by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to our God. There is an old story about an emperor who was converted to Christianity and required his soldiers to also be converted and to be baptized. Some versions of the story cite Constantine as the emperor while others cite …Read more
December 18, 2022 What Really Matters by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
The pressure’s on to prepare for the best celebrations possible of family and friends as we gather together to feast, share gifts and enjoy this season of light and love. Nancy & I have company arriving this Friday to stay with us for a couple of weeks. We’re preparing for all kinds of meals and …Read more
December 11, 2022 Courageous Mary by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to God. If you have ever held the impression that Mary, mother of Jesus, was meek and mild, I hope that today’s sermon will dispel that notion. Christmas pageants and stained-glass windows usually portray Mary with head bowed and …Read more
December 4, 2022 Peaceable Kin-Dom by Loraine MacKenzie Sheperd
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to God. In the 8th c BCE, what we now know as Israel and Palestine was divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Although both kingdoms spoke the same language of Hebrew and …Read more
