Worship

Rev. Sarah Buteux September 26, 2021 Proper year B Mark 9:39-50 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer. Amen Roughly two hundred and eighty years ago, Jonathan Edwards preached not just his most famous sermon, but perhaps the most famous sermon ever heard on American soil. Which was? “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Yes, and it’s striking that most of you know that.  I mean, can anyone recall the title of last week’s sermon? Or the sermon from two weeks ago? Or the title of any sermon you’ve heard here over the last 9 years? Me either. And I chose the title for a bunch of them. But we all know about that sermon, whether we’ve read it or not, [...]

Rev. Sarah Buteux September 12, 2021 Mark 8:27-38 Proper 19, Year B To watch today's service, click here. (the sermon begins at the 12 minute mark) Would you hire Jesus to pastor our church?  Take a moment and think about it. Like, really think about it. Would you hire Jesus to pastor our church? I know how much you all love this church. I know a little less about how much you all love Jesus, because that’s personal, and I’m not about to get up in anybody’s business. But given the fact that you’re here I’m assuming you love Jesus on some level. Right? Right? Let me see those jazz hands.Yeah. We love our church and we love Jesus.  But after what you just heard, do you love him so much that you’d put him in charge around here?  With [...]

By Rev. Sarah Buteux                                                   August 29, 2021 Mark 7:1-23 Proper 17, Year B Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile,  since it enters, not the heart but the stomach - Mark 7:18 To watch today's service click here.   Last week on Substack, Nadia Bolz-Weber came out with an essay on circuit breakers that really spoke to me, (which is saying something since I barely understand what a circuit breaker is or does or whatever). But listen in, because I think this will really speak to you too: I used to live, (she writes,) in a very old apartment building with super sketchy electrical wiring. Were I to audaciously [...]

Rev. Sarah Buteux       August 8,2021 Proper 14, Year B John 6:35, 41-51 Fan. Follower. Admirer. Reader. Sister. Subscriber. I don’t quite know how to sum it up, but when it comes to questions of faith, justice, and what it means to love and follow Jesus, one of the voices I trust most in this world right now, is that of Sarah Bessey. If you’ve tuned in for church or vespers over the last many months you’ve almost certainly heard me quote Sarah or share a prayer by her. For those of you who don’t know who I’m talking about, Sarah Bessey was a blogger who broke on to the progressive church scene around 9 years ago with her book, “Jesus Feminist,” - a title she was pretty sure would offend almost everyone. Sarah is not a seminary [...]

Rev. Sarah Buteux June 20, 2021 Mark 4:35-41 To watch this morning's service click here.   March 18, 1990. It was a dark and stormy night. Maybe not on the streets of Brookline, but certainly on the canvas as it was lifted off the wall of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Rembrandt’s “Storm on the Sea at Galilee,” along with 13 other masterpieces, was stolen 30 years ago in the largest art heist in U.S. history.   On that fateful night, security guards were duped into allowing two men disguised as police officers to enter the museum. They tied up the guards, absconded with the art, and the rest is history.   No one knows who stole it. No one knows who sold it. No one has ever been caught. No one has ever confessed. The greatest mystery in the contemporary art [...]

Rev. Sarah Buteux                             Mark 4:26-34 Proper 6, Year B (To watch this morning's sermon, click here.) The greek philosopher Heraclitus once said… anyone?…  "You cannot step into the same river twice.”  (Audience participation - that’s what I’m talking about! I love it! Yes.)  The greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, ”You cannot step into the same river twice.”  I’m sure he said other things too, but when it comes to the saying of Heraclitus, that’s about the only one any of us knows.  Right? And that’s ok, because it’s a good one.  "You cannot step into the same river twice,” because it is not the same river and you are not the same person.  The water moves on and so do we. The river is always changing [...]

by Rev. Sarah Buteux             Pentecost, Year B, Acts 2:1-21   I don’t like being lost, but it helps if there’s someone else with me.  I don’t like walking into a meeting blind, but I don’t mind it as much if I know I have an ally in the room.  I don’t particularly like job interviews or making a motion at a town hall meeting or preaching to a congregations I don’t know, but it helps if there’s a friendly face in the crowd.  When you’re not exactly sure where you stand, what to do, where you’re going, or what’s coming next, it can be hard to hold it together. I don’t like that feeling. I suppose no one does. But when times like that come, it sure helps to know that you are not alone.  [...]