Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
December 22, 2002
Scripture:
It all seems so improbable. It just doesn’t make sense. I mean, we’re talking about God here. God!
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
December 15, 2002
Scripture:
I don’t know about you, but sometimes, indeed most of the time, I feel simply overwhelmed by all of the bad news we see, hear, and read every day.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
December 8, 2002
Scripture:
To judge by the decorations in all the stores, and by the lights that have been strung on many of our houses, we are now in the Christmas season.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
November 24, 2002
Scripture:
Ah, yes. The Judgment of the Nations from Matthew 25. I consider this story to be among the small handful of the most important passages in all of Scripture for telling us what the faith calls us to do, what the faith demands that we do, in response to the unconditional grace that God offers us in and through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
November 17, 2002
Scripture:
Why do people go to church?
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
November 10, 2002
Scripture:
We more or less liberal Christians don’t talk much about God’s judgment, God’s wrath.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
November 3, 2002
Scripture:
When I was a teenager, being incorrigibly arrogant as some teenagers are wont to be, I left the church because I became convinced that everyone in it was a hypocrite.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
October 27, 2002 (Reformation-Reconciliation Sunday)
Scripture:
Today is what we used to call Reformation Sunday, a day for remembering and celebrating the renewal of the church in the sixteenth century our of which our Protestant tradition emerged. Today, apparently, we call it Reformation-Reconciliation Sunday.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
October 20, 2002
Scripture:
Sometimes Christians like to think of Jesus as quite meek and mild, always honest and straightforward, dealing directly and honestly with everyone. The idea that he might dissemble or even mislead someone seems unacceptable. Well, as the Gershwins wrote in Porgy and Bess, "it ain’t necessarily so."
A Communion Mediation
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
October 6, 2002
Scripture:
Today we celebrate the Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion or The Lord’s Supper.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
September 29, 2002
Scripture:
What do we mean when we say God?
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
September 22, 2002
Scripture:
To be perfectly honest about it, some of Jesus’ parables leave me saying: Huh?
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
September 15, 2002
Scripture:
Last week I shared with you a vision of Monroe Congregational United Church of Christ as a small, faithful group of people that offers to this community an alternative vision, a vision of God’s realm of peace and justice. Today I want to say that as committed as I am to that vision, I believe that it is an incomplete vision of what Monroe Congregational United Church of Christ can be in this community.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
September 8, 2002
Scripture:
Our culture has a hang-up on size
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
September 1, 2002
Scripture:
Christianity isn’t easy.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
August 25, 2002
Scripture:
The other day I was out walking my dog Jake.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
August 18, 2002
Scripture:
As most of you know, I generally preach from the Revised Common Lectionary, that table of readings prescribed for each Sunday of the year by an ecumenical panel of experts that is used in many Christian churches. ... Sometimes when I look at the texts for a particular week the feeling I get is much more akin to panic than inspiration.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
August 11, 2002
Scripture:
I have been reading a lot of Harry Potter lately.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
Scripture:
The Scripture passages we heard this morning, which are all about
people being fed at God’s table, reminded me of something that
happened recently.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
Scripture:
I have told you many times recently that Romans 8:38-39 is my favorite
passage in all of the Bible.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
Scripture:
I remember when I was in high school going to a youth retreat with the
Pilgrim Fellowship, the youth program of First Congregational Church
in Eugene Oregon at a UCC church camp called Camp Adams. There I
experienced church camp songs for the first time. One of those songs
was "We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder."
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
Scripture:
Not often, but occasionally, in the Gospels there will be in the text
something that purports to explain something that has just been said.
A Communion Meditation
Scripture:
Some purveyors of a particular distortion of Christianity will sell
people a satanic lie masquerading as God’s truth. This lie is that
if you just have enough faith, bad things won’t happen to you.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
Scripture:
It seems the older I get, the less I like change.
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
Scripture:
In the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Pirates of Penzance, there is a
song in which several of the characters sing about "a paradox, a
paradox, a most intriguing paradox."
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
Scripture:
When I began to write this sermon, I quickly ran into a problem.
You see, I had this great idea. Well, at least I thought it was
great. You’re free to disagree, of course.
Pastor Tom Sorenson
Scripture:
Let me tell you a story: "There was a man who was considered a success
in the eyes of the world, for he was a lawyer.
A Communion Meditation
Scripture:
The Christian life is characterized by a most peculiar practice.
Once a week we gather in a place set apart for that purpose.
Pastor Tom Sorenson
Scripture:
On our secular calendars, today is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
In the church
calendar, today is Trinity Sunday. You know. That peculiar Christian
conception of God that is one of the things that distinguishes from
the other great monotheistic faiths.
Pastor Tom Sorenson
Scripture:
Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the first
disciples. Scripture tells us that before he died Jesus promised
the coming of the Spirit.
Pastor Tom Sorenson
Scripture:
I need to ask you a question. Do any of you know how folks expressed
themselves in the days before people had things with bumpers that you
could put a bumper sticker on?
Pastor Tom Sorenson
Scripture:
As Christians we have a hope. We have a hope that the world cannot give us. Indeed,
we have a hope that the world cannot understand....
Pastor Tom Sorenson
Scripture:
A while ago I heard some Christian faith
healer being interviewed by Larry King.
Pastor Tom Sorenson
Scripture:
The other day I saw this ad on the television.
(A sermon on new chances, new beginnings)
Tom Sorenson, Pastor, Monroe Congregational Church, UCC
Scripture:
We've all heard it: Repent! Repent, for the end is near! Repent, for
the Kingdom of God is at hand!
Scripture:
Once when I was a young adolescent, my father described me to someone,
I don't remember who, as a "doubting Thomas."
An Easter Sermon
On the street in Russia on this day, at least in Russia as it was 100 years
ago and maybe in some places in Russia now again, people greet each other,
even total strangers with the joyous cry: "Khristos voskres! Christ is risen!"
"Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." That's what
he said. What did he mean?
This is a true story. There was a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Scripture:
Candidate sermon at Monroe Congregational UCC,
Imagine the scene. Bethany--a quiet and dusty little town a couple of
miles outside the walls of the great city of Jerusalem. Two sisters--Mary
and Martha. Their brother Lazarus has died.
Sermon, Monroe UCC, March 3, 2002
Jesus performs a miracle. He heals a blind man. He spits on the ground
(SPIT), mixes up some mud, and puts it on the man's eyes.
Sermon, Monroe UCC, 2/24/02
Perhaps Nicodemus is worried about what his powerful friends would say
if they saw him talking to the radical preacher. Or maybe he wants a chance
to be alone with Jesus, so they can have a private conversation, which would
be impossible during the day, with the crowds of followers pressing in.
In any case, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night.
Sermon, Monroe UCC, 2/17/02
In the Northwest we are proud of our wilderness.
Monroe Congregational Church, UCC
Christmas is a wonderful time of year! But I must say that every year
August 4, 2002
July 28, 2002
July 21, 2002
July 14, 2002
Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
July 7, 2002
June 30, 2002
June 23, 2002
June 16, 2002
June 9, 2002
Pastor Tom Sorenson
June 2, 2002
Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2002
May 19, 2002
May 12, 2002
May 5, 2002
April 28, 2002
April 21, 2002
Preached at Monroe Congregational Church, UCC
April 14, 2002
Tom Sorenson, Pastor
Monroe Congregational UCC, April 7, 2002
Pastor Tom Sorenson
Monroe Congregational UCC
March 31, 2002
Scripture:
A Maundy Thursday Meditation
Pastor Tom Sorenson
March 28, 2002
Text:
Scripture:
Preached at Monroe Congregational UCC
March 24, 2002
Pastor Tom Sorenson
March 17, 2002
Tom Sorenson
John Stoppels
( John 3:1-17 , Nicodemus; Rom. 12:1-13 )
John Stoppels
(
Matt. 4:1-11
; The Temptation of Jesus)
John Stoppels
January 6, 2002
Rev Maria Hoaglund
Scripture:
Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12