See below for sermons delivered at RUCC. If you’d like to see videos please join our Facebook group “RUCC Members and Friends”, where we stream the service live each Sunday and have the videos available subsequently.
1 Kings 19: 3 – 13; Psalm 46:10 (Silence for one minute) That was one minute of silence. Did it feel a bit uncomfortable? We call it an “awkward silence.” It was a bit awkward for me. I was wondering, “What are you thinking?” And maybe you were wondering, “What is she doing? Did she forget that she’s up next in the…
Luke 15: 11 – 32 For thirty years, the Gillette company had a tagline: The best a man can get. For over a century, Gillette has championed the alpha man. A new ad, however, released a couple months ago, cuts the other way, channeling the #MeToo movement and undercutting toxic masculinity. Have you seen this new ad? (Play commercial.) https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=gillette+advertisement+youtube&view=detail&mid=D2EE3C9B7A0104C3FA1BD2EE3C9B7A0104C3FA1B&FORM=VIRE I…
Psalm 139: 17 – 18 Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN Daniella and I just returned from a trip. A trip to the moon! Not exactly. But we did visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where this picture was taken a few months ago. The Kennedy Space Center is called the Greatest Space Adventure on Earth! It is the only place on…
Deuteronomy 32: 11 – 12 Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN Happy St. Patrick’s Day! On this day, we eat corned beef and hash, wear funny hats, attend parades, search for leprechauns under four leaf clovers, follow the end of the rainbow to a pot of gold, pretend to be Irish and drink too much green beer. Today is a day of celebrating…
Exodus 33: 1 – 14 Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN Today we begin our Lenten sermon series entitled, “Naming the Unnameable.” It is based on a book by Mathew Fox with the same title. Matthew Fox asks, “How many names for Divinity are there? Do the names for God change? Do we have permission – and may be a serious responsibility –…
Isaiah 55:12 Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN Last year at this time, our Lenten devotional was entitled, “The Poetry of Lent: A Lenten Companion to Mary Oliver’s Devotions.” It was then that many of us immersed ourselves deeply into Mary Oliver’s writings, opening our hearts to wonder and mystery. Little did we know that between last Lent and this Lent, Mary Oliver…
Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN Exodus 15: 20 -21 February 24, 2019 February is Black History month. This morning I would like for us to transcend the ages and begin our celebration in Africa, two thousand years before the birth of Jesus. Two thousand years before the birth of Jesus, Moses traveled to Midian, in the southern part of the fertile crescent.…
Ephesians 2:10 Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN January 27, 2019 How many of you attended the Beyoncé Mass last Monday night at the University of Redlands? About 600 people turned out for the Beyoncé Mass and the reviews are in. Karen Rose called it “Powerful! Evocative! Thought-provoking!” Loring Fiske-Phillips said, “It was like the best concert and church service you ever went…
Luke 4: 14 – 21 Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN January 20, 2019 A few years back, a friend said to me, “I don’t understand how you can still be a Christian.” I replied by saying, “I am a follower of Jesus. Jesus teaches about God’s radically inclusive love. And I believe in radically inclusive love.” She said, “Well, I don’t have…
Members of the Border Immersion Team January 13, 2018 In 2018, the Board of RUCC voted to become an “Immigrant Welcoming Congregation.” After adopting that resolution, we wondered what are the next steps for us as a congregation? When Jules Rattray came to Wider Ministries and shared that Good Shepherd UCC in Sahuarita, Arizona leaders Border Immersion experiences, we knew that was…