The Hampshire Association Southern New England Conference United Church of Christ Ecclesiastical Council for Julia Khan First Churches of Northampton, MA February 7, 2021 Agenda Call to Order Rev. Ton Whiteside, Moderator Roll Call of Churches Judy Stone, Scribe Welcome [...]
Rev. Sarah Buteux December 6, 2020 Back to the Beginning Advent 2, Year B Peace Mark 1:1-8 Anyone who writes - stories, poems, sermons, thank you notes - can tell you that the hardest part of writing is getting started. Beginnings are hard because there’s no one way or right way to begin. Starting a new job or a new year, settling into a new house or bringing home a new baby (as if there’s any other kind of baby), falling in love with a new person, finding our way in a new city…the newness of it all can be exhilarating, but it can also be terrifying. There is just so much possibility - possibility for good, yes, but also the possibility that we might mess it all up, lose our way, falter, or even fail. There may be no one [...]
Please join us for worship by clicking here. Here is the sermon text: Rev. Sarah Buteux All the Feels Romans 12:9-21, Proper 17, Year A Hymns “My Shepherd will supply my need” Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. I’m here to tell you this morning that it’s ok….you’re ok. Not the world. Certainly not our country. Our country is !*!&%$ing $#!* show right now. Watching the news feels like watching a horror film on a loop with different actors stepping in to play the same roles of unarmed black man or biased white police officer or angry white male with a gun. Campuses are replacing nursing homes as ideal settings for the spread Covid. California is on fire. We’ve seen that show before. But now, so is [...]
Join us for worship by clicking here. Following is the text for the sermon: The Rev. Sarah Buteux ‘Blessed Are You!’ a sermon for good people with no good answers Matthew 16:13-23, Proper 16 Year A “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Those are the words of Maya Angelou and they are timely words for us as we continue to wrestle with issues of racial justice… especially timely for white people as we learn more and more about what it is like to live as a person of color in this country. I think there are more and more of us everyday who are earnestly doing the best we can until we know better. And when we know better, we are trying to do better. But Angelou’s [...]
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To join us for worship, click here. Following, is the text for this morning's sermon: Rev. Sarah Buteux June 21, 2020 “Not Peace, but a Sword” Making Sense of the Hard Sayings of Jesus. Matthew 10:24-39 In her interview with Brene Brown this past week, Austin Channing Brown talked about how, in growing up in both the black church and the the world of white evangelicalism, she was exposed to two different kinds of Jesus. “I learned the hard way,” she said, “I learned the hard way that there is a deep difference between the Jesus that black folks worship and the Jesus that white Christians worship.” “Tell me the difference,” said Brene. “The Jesus that black folks worship,” said Austin, “doesn't ask questions like, ‘but does the gospel really have anything to do with race and justice?’ [...]
Join us for worship today. We hope to livestream the service at 10 am on Facebook. You can also view the service at anytime via youtube by clicking here. Below is the text for this morning's sermon. Rev. Sarah Buteux May 24, 2020 “Into the Great Unknown” Ascension Sunday, Year A Acts 1:6-14 It’s been 68 thousand days since the shut down began and I don’t know anyone who feels like they are just crushing it anymore, if they ever were. I know a lot of us went into this great pause thinking we’d use the time well. I think a lot of people thought they’d use this time to re-organize their closets, learn to bake bread, finally paint the spare bedroom, get in shape, or write the next [...]
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Road to Emmaus by Rev. Sarah Buteux Luke 24:13-35 Easter 3,Year A I’ve never assigned homework for a sermon before, but if you got our Friday e-mailing I’m hoping you clicked on the link I sent to a 3 minute clip by comedian Julie Nolke. Or maybe you’d already seen it on facebook. If you haven’t watched it yet, go ahead and pause the service - you can do that now - and google: “Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms7capx4Cb8 We’ll wait. I’ll be right here. Because this is where I live now…inside this little box. Ok, you done? You back? You liked it? Good. It’s funny isn’t it, trying to watch someone explain what we’re going through now, to someone way back in the year 2019… without too much detail of course, because - you know - [...]
