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.
Psalm 23 Last year I finally graduated from my Masters in Outdoor Environment and Sustainability Education, and although the title sounds pretty scientific and formal, My research focused mostly on Psychology, more specifically Ecopsychology, Ecotherapy, and non-formal self guided outdoor education. In January this year, I made the mistake of talking about this to Jill, Karen and John Walsh who all quickly…
Luke 24: 1 -12 – Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN – I went to bed on Monday night devastated. The Cathedral of Notre Dame was on fire. It had been burning for twelve hours. It “had” (how horrible to say) “had” one of the oldest surviving wood frames in Paris’ history, comprising 52 acres of trees. Workers cut down those trees in…
Luke 19: 28 – 40 and John 15:5 – Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN – There are many people who find God in books, buildings, and even other people. I have found God in those places too, but the most reliable meeting for me has always been nature. I do not see any separation between Spirit and nature. In fact, seeing Spirit…
1 Kings 19: 3 – 13; Psalm 46:10 – Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN – (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…
Luke 15: 11 – 32 – Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN – 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…
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…
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…
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 Matthew 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…
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…
Exodus 15: 20 – 21 – Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN 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. There,…