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April 5, 2020 – Palm Sunday Click Here to watch Video Rev. Todd Weir Matthew 21:1-17   I love a good parade – always have.  As a child my mother loaded me in a red wagon and took me to the humongous parades at Iowa State University.  Students put all their Springtime yearnings and creativity into the floats.  It was Spring 1968, and I remember marching bands and one group of hippies, all wearing overalls and playing “This Land is Your Land” by blowing on Coke bottles.  The PRIDE March in Northampton is my favorite parade, with its rainbow of joy, and celebration that love is love.  Parades celebrate who we are.  They can also be a protest against what is unjust, and a hope for a better future.  It is heart-breaking when it rains on our parade, or worse, [...]

Click here to watch video Rev. Todd Weir Ezekiel 37:1-14                                                                       March 29, 2020   Can you still remember what you gave up for Lent?  We have given up a lot in the past few weeks – handshakes, warm embraces, shopping, haircuts and a cup of coffee with a friend.  Worse, things have been taken away from us – Sunday gatherings, security, health, 3 million jobs.  In the midst of adapting and worrying and flattening the curve, I have forgotten what I pledged to do for Lent.  Yet I feel like I am living Lent more deeply, facing the vulnerability and uncertainty of our human condition.  Lent feels unavoidable.   A pastor on a Facebook forum raised the issue if Easter could be moved back a few weeks till we gather again.  I’m sympathetic. Virtual Easter will be weird.   But something [...]

Rev. Todd Weir Exodus 17:1-7                                                                         March 15, 2019   I was taken aback when I walked into the conference room at my first church.  The faded institutional yellow paint was peeling.  A beat up wooden table was surrounded by metal folding chairs.  A decades old stretcher in the corner on battered wooden poles, and the army green canvas was brittle and frayed.  At a council meeting I asked why the stretcher was there.  “Oh, that is an important church artifact.  During the flu epidemic of 1918, the church chapel was used as a hospital.  We have kept this stretcher ever since to remember.”  That’s great.  But why is it behind the door?  If it is important, why not mount it on the wall of the chapel and put up a plaque to remember?”   This suggestion was met with awkward [...]

What Are You Looking For? John 1:29-42                                                                                       January 19, 2019   What are you looking for?  This is one of the best questions ever.  It is also hard to answer.  At a job interview you may be asked,” What are you looking for in a new job?”  Don’t say more money.  That will kill your interview.  You have to say, “I’m looking for a chance to use my skills to make a difference in a great organization.”   If you are single and you go to Match.com, you are asked what you are looking for in a romantic partner.  I’m so glad I don’t have to figure out an answer.  You can’t just say you want to meet someone who is attractive, kind and fun.  You have come up with stuff like, “I like pina coladas, getting caught in the [...]

Sermon by Rev. Todd Weir Matthew 4:12-23   I preach on this text every four or five years, and each time it gets harder.  Since I began preaching in 1989, the national demographics have moved away from us, as more people adopt “none of the above” as their faith.  I regularly hear people being dismissive of religion.  In a recent op-ed in the Gazette about New Years’ resolutions, the author said, “nobody talk to me about their religion.”  A neighbor recently posted on Facebook that it is essential to end tax exempt status for churches, and churches should never talk about politics.  I was surprised because the person was a frequent renter here are First Churches, and had invited me to speak at a political rally for health care.   One big issue our strategic team wrestles with is how [...]