Kristin Gorton | Memorial United Church of Christ

Tearing Boundaries: HOPE (Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37)

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Kristin Gorton

O Come, O Come Emmanuel… Jesus declares to us today, “…what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake” (Mark 13:37). Emmanuel. It means God-With-Us. This year, 2017, has been marked by transitions and a general sense of unsettling in the world around us. Listening to the national news the past 72 hours, the endless list of issues, near and far, has shaken our sense of normalcy. Stability. Safety. Comfort. We must name it. We must keep awake. We must listen. Learn. We must ask the tough questions. How will what has done behind closed doors impact our children, families, the most vulnerable among...
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It’s Time: Being (Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46)

Posted on November 28, 2017November 28, 2017 by Kristin Gorton

This sermon is a throwback, with a modern twist. We, as Jesus people, follow a different calendar in the life of the church than the January-December timekeeping of our culture. This Sunday, today, is Christ the King Sunday—the end of the church’s calendar. It is our “New Year’s Eve” of sorts. A good time to reflect on what has happened in our personal, and faith community’s, journeys with Jesus the past 12 months. For our congregation, this has been a period of multiple narrations looking inward, back through time, and forward. We have remembered our stories, the stories of 100 years of being...
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It’s Time: Naming (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30)

Posted on November 20, 2017November 20, 2017 by Kristin Gorton

Last week, we were waiting. As we reflected on Jesus’ words, we heard that it was time. It was time—it is time—for heaven to break forth on earth. Yet we look around we see that heaven is not yet. Twenty-one hundred years after the birth of Jesus, we are… still… waiting. Waiting for justice to pour forth. For love to overcome fear. For those that are on the margins to be comforted. To be seen. To be heard. This week, it is still time. Time for waiting. But it is also time to name. For this week, it is hard to get away. Hard to get away from the challenging image of a punishing, overbeari...
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It’s Time: Waiting (Psalm 78:107 Matthew 25:1-13)

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Kristin Gorton

It’s time. I would ask you to hold sacred space. A space in which it is time to talk about potentially challenging topics: Earworms. Fools. And waiting. Did I capture your attention? I love the squishy disquieting idea that the word “earworm” invokes. Do you know what an earworm is? It is one of those songs that gets stuck in your mind. You might suddenly realize that you have been humming a tune that you heard earlier in the day on the radio. This week, Bryan Sirchio’s song God Says It’s Time got stuck in my head. You may, or may not, know the tune. We will sing it together at the end of w...
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Knotted Together – Part II (1 Thessalonians 2:9-13: Matthew 23:1-12)

Posted on November 7, 2017 by Kristin Gorton

We are a people of God’s story. That never ending narrative of God’s creative presence. Last week (Oct. 29), gathered in worship, we were each given a piece of rope. A section of cord that was separate, apart from, everyone else’s. We then talked about covenant. About the ways in which we are not members of this faith community, but covenanted partners. Covenanted with God. Covenanted with each other. Covenanted with the wider church. We physically responded to our covenant with one another by tying our threads together, remembering how we are connected. Today, strung before us in the sanct...
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Knotted Together (1 Thessalonians 2:1-8; Matthew 22:34-46)

Posted on October 31, 2017November 2, 2017 by Kristin Gorton

Following the scripture readings and before the sermon, the youth handed out rope to each person in the sanctuary. The rope tied into the Word and was used for visually representing our covenant together as a church community. Courage to proclaim the Gospel. The Good News of God With Us. That eternal, ever present, extravagant Divine Love that weaves throughout time. Today we pause, noting that this October 31 will be… yes, Halloween… but also the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s radical act—publicly nailing 95 theses onto the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. The United Church of ...
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THIS is Church! (1 Thessalonians 1:1-19)

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Kristin Gorton

As we officially kick-off Memorial UCC’s Stewardship Campaign today, I am going to take a risk and delve into the question: Just what is “stewardship” in the life of the church? The Merrium-Webster Dictionary defines stewardship as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care." However, I encountered one of the best responses to the question “what is stewardship” here, at church, earlier this week—and the answer came from a 3 year-old. Here is your invitation into the story. I invite you to take a moment today, and each Sunday over the next four weeks, to loo...
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Another Parable…

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Kristin Gorton

This week's reflection from Pastor Kris delves into the parable of the wedding banquet in the gospel of Matthew, which includes challenging images for our time- as it did for the early followers of Jesus. Today’s texts – Philippians 4:1-9 and Matthew 22:1-14 Prayer: God, we come before you in this sacred space to rejoice in your Word. May your Love, Grace, and Peace, which surpass all understanding, guide our hearts and our meditations this day. Amen. We as human creatures learn through repetition. So hear again the story. Remember the context in which today’s reading from ...
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