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First Churches of Northampton
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SER-MONS
Recent Sermons
Our Sunday services are live-streamed!
Please join us on YouTube or FaceBook each Sunday at 10:00am.
The Power of Humility
The Rev. Sarah Buteux
Mark 10:35-45
A few weeks ago, in an attempt to reach more voters, Kamala Harris appeared on every talk show, radio program, and podcast in America. She spoke with everyone from Charlemagne tha God to Stephen Colbert, Howard Stern to the ladies on The View, Bill Whitaker on 60 Minutes to Alex Cooper on the podcast, “Call Her Daddy.”
I think my grandmother, who died back in 2003, is the only one who still watches 60 Minutes. (Am I Right?) And I’d never even heard of “Call Her Daddy,” which is apparently the most popular podcast for young women in America… meaning I am no longer a young woman in America. I will be processing that on my own time.
For our purposes today, I simply want to highlight the fact that Kamala is doing everything in her power to expand her demographic.
But something she said on that podcast I’ve never heard of gained a tremendous amount of media attention. And it really stuck out to me because even though it gave me a little thrill to hear her say it...
October 27, 2024
"What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?"
Rev. Sarah Buteux
Mark 10:17-31
This past Tuesday, I was sitting in my office just trying to stay on top of e-mail when Elliott popped their head in the door and asked if I had time to go to the bank with our treasurer, Kathy. Turns out that everything was lined up to finally pay off our mortgage and Kathy just needed to sign the paper work.
Huh, I probably should be there for that, I thought. Maybe even take a picture or two for posterity. But honestly, it wasn’t until we started walking over that the significance of the moment really started to hit me.
Kathy and I were both filled with nervous excitement as we walked, you know, the way you feel when things are going so well you’re afraid you might do something to jinx it. And yet, as we walked and talked ...
October 20, 2024
“Are You There God? It’s Me, Your Child”
Emily Carle
Psalm 22: 1-15, Hebrews 4: 12-16
In this Sunday’s sermon, guest preacher Emily Carle acknowledges how unbearably hard life feels right now. If you’re wondering where God is in the mess or if you even believe in God at all because of the mess, your uncertainty and doubt may be a more faithful response than you realize. The sermon begins at the 23 minute mark or you can read it below.
A common perception of the pastor is that we are to be beacons of hope, unrelenting optimism, at all times. And I will say, that is part of our higher calling as spiritual leaders for a community. We are called to tap into the truths that Christianity provides and root ourselves to the Good News of Jesus. But often, this perception that pastors need to always inspire, always preach the happy go lucky message even when the world is on fire can at its best, feel inauthentic, and at its worst, do damage.
There is a concept called spiritual bypassing which is when we ...
October 13, 2024
There is No Way to Peace...
Rev. Sarah Buteux
Psalm 127 & Isaiah 25
More than anything, Vivian Silver believed in peace. In 2000 she helped create the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment, and Cooperation and in 2014 she founded a movement co- led by Israeli and Palestinian women called “Women Wage Peace.”
Vivian had faith that a two state solution was possible and wanted peace and prosperity for her Palestinian neighbors as much as for her Israeli ones. She believed that, “[I]f more Jews could understand the distress of their Arab neighbors, the next generation would be more willing to exchange land for peace.”
Vivian is remembered as a woman who built bridges with people on the other side. She crossed the border regularly to work with friends and activists, wept openly at the destruction of Arab homes by the Israeli government, and drove sick Gazan children to the hospital herself so they could receive medical care. She was so committed to the cause that she was still arguing for a peace deal in an interview with a local public broadcaster from the safe room in her home, where she took shelter on October 7. According to the New York Times:
she was frustrated (after the interview). On the phone with her son, Yonatan, she recounted how the interviewer had dismissed her (vision for peace, even while) in the background, (Yonantan) could hear gunfire and militants shouting. It sounded like his petite, 74-year-old mother was standing on a battlefield….“Do you want to continue speaking, or should we say goodbye?” he asked her.
“Let’s say goodbye,” Vivian told him.
She then texted a little while later to tell him that men were inside the house.
“I’m afraid to breathe,” she wrote.
“I’m with you,” texted Yonatan.
“I feel you,” Vivian replied.
“Are you safe now?” he texted. “Mom?”
There was no response...
October 6, 2024
Making Peace with One Another
Mark 9:38-50
Two weeks ago, a handful of us here at the church attended a justice summit run by the U.C.C.. After a keynote address on, “The Politics of Jesus,” Craig and I went to a Braver Angels session on depolarization.
And I have to confess to you that in spite of the fact that the title for the workshop was literally, “Depolarizing Ourselves," I went to that workshop thinking I was going to learn some techniques for depolarizing others. I did.
I went in the hopes of getting people on the other side to act more reasonably, listen more openly, and maybe even vote more - dare I say - rationally. I did not sign up with any intention of doing my own work because I didn’t think I was part of the problem. I mean I’m already reasonable, open minded, and rational…right? At least I thought I was.
But unfortunately, the first thing they did was give us a quiz to determine how polarized we actually are, and friends, let’s just say I did not pass with flying colors. It’s short, so I’m going to walk you through it and you can see if you do any better. Ok? Question #1...
September 29, 2024
Dare We Dream in These Times
The Rev. Dr. Diane Johnson
Wisdom of Solomon 1:1-11
Todays' worship featured beautiful music from our choir and a dynamic sermon by the Rev. Dr. Diane Johnson. Diane is one of our newer members and a powerhouse. She is a nationally recognized change management consultant, innovative leader, U.C.C. pastor, spiritual director, executive coach, author, and speaker with passion and expertise in social transformation. She is the CEO/Founder of her national firm, Mmapeu Consulting which specializes is innovative solutions to intractable problems… and boy are we grappling here and around the world right now with intractable problems, so we hope you are inspired by what she had to say to us this morning. It was an honor and a blessing to have her with us.
September 22, 2024
Taming The Tongue: why the truth matter now more than ever
Rev. Sarah Buteux
James 3:1-12
I didn’t watch the Presidential debate. I was otherwise engaged that evening, which was just as well, because the truth is that I didn’t want to watch the debate. Given that the stakes are so high, I knew that I would have been incredibly stressed the entire time. So for my own mental and spiritual wellbeing, I had already resolved to just read about it in the morning.
But when I arrived home this past Tuesday, I popped on Facebook - you know, just to see how people were doing - and the first post I saw was from the Rev. Laura Everett who is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches. She had written: “My Haitian kin, I am so profoundly sorry. You should not have to endure this. You are beloved by God and me.”
Friends, my first thought was that there had been another earthquake, so I went straight to the New York Times to see what had happened in Haiti and found myself, within seconds…
September 15, 2024
The Art of Apology
Rev. Sarah Buteux
Mark 7:24-37
I recently picked up a copy of Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s book, “On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World,” and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Like most books nowadays it begins with a trigger warning, but given the subject matter, it’s clear from the outset that the whole book is a trigger.
She cautions her readers to take care of themselves accordingly, and I would extend the same invitation to you right now. Not because I’m going to get into any gory details about the horrible things people do to each other. I won’t.
But because when it comes to the work of repentance and repair - whether we are talking about the intimate ways we hurt one another or the institutional ways we hurt one another - we are all effected and we are all implicated.
We all have something to apologize for and we could all use an apology. We have all suffered harm, we all have a responsibility to make amends for the harm we have caused, and neither end of that process is comfortable for anyone. So in the interest of full disclosure, you need to know that today’s sermon might make you uncomfortable.
September 8, 2024
Keeping The Faith Together
Rev. Sarah Buteux & Rev. Anna Woofenden
Mark 7:1-23
Today's worship featured a dialogue sermon between Pastor Sarah Buteux of First Churches and Pastor Anna Woofenden of St. Johns.
Sarah
The church of my youth is gone. Not just closed, but demolished. Former congregants have been posting videos over the last few weeks of excavators literally tearing down the walls of Grace Conservative Baptist Church in Nanuet, N.Y..
Scrolling through the pictures is heartbreaking. I was never a fan of the postmodern architecture, but what our church lacked in aesthetics it well then made up for in enthusiasm. From what I can tell, the education wing, with classrooms that once accommodated up to 300 children, was the first to go. In later pictures, I can still see the giant map that graced the inner wall of the sanctuary. That map used to twinkle with dozens of lights that represented the missionaries we were supporting all over the world.
Through the jagged edges of broken stained glass, I can see what’s left of the balcony where I used to sit with my mother and my sisters, sucking on Werther’s Originals to keep our stomachs from growling when the sermon went long.
If I close my eyes I can still remember the ...
September 1, 2024
“Do You Also Wish To Go Away?”
Rev. Justin Cox
John 6:56-69
In the summer of 1965, there was a call put out by Civil Rights leaders, leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., to any and all who wished to join the work/the movement that was taking place in the deep South. Most that would answer this call were college students and clergy from other parts of the United States. In one particular case, the issue of protest and presence was sought to help with voter suppression taking place in the state of Alabama. In 1965 a planned march was coming together, a march that would see those seeking justice and equality to move in unison/to move as one from Selma, Alabama 50 miles east to the capital of Montgomery. One such person who answered that call was a young man named Jonathan Daniels.
Daniels had grown up in ...
August 25, 2024
In The Flesh
The Rev. Sarah Buteux
John 6:51-58
If you had a friend who went to a retreat, a revival, maybe even to a house of worship, and then came back and told you that the speaker had said:
“I am the living bread come down from heaven…
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life…
whoever eats me will live because of me.
would you let your friend go back to that place?
Would you go with them?
Would you stay for coffee hour?
No! Because gross, right? And yet it was Jesus himself who said:
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you…
for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.
Friends, I’ve been taking communion for the better part of my life. I’ve broken the bread and said, “This is my body.”
I’ve poured out the cup and said, “This is my blood.”
But hearing Jesus talk like this in John chapter 6, hearing him hammer home over and over again the idea that we need to eat his flesh and drink his blood is a bit much, even for me.
Jesus sounds like a cross between a cult leader and...
August 18, 2024
Bread of Life
Rev. Sarah Buteux
John 6:24-35
I ran a 5K a few weeks ago, almost by accident. I’m more of a walker then a runner, but my daughter, Genevieve, loves to run and she is always looking for a race. So when we drove through Lisbon up in Maine and she saw signs for the annual Moxie Festival that kicks off with a 5K, she knew she had to be there. And, since she’s only 14, I knew I’d have to drive.
I haven’t raced in any serious way since the Hot Chocolate Run, but I figured that if I was going to get up early and drive her there, I might as well register and at least get a free t-shirt for 30 bucks - right? - so I did.
Well, we left our cabin in the woods at 6:15… in the a. m…. giving us plenty of time to make it over to Lisbon. But when we got within about a mile of the festival we were diverted by a detour and then another detour, such that we arrived at the race with very little time to spare. “Don’t worry,” I said to Genevieve, who was already bouncing up and down in anticipation and anxiety, “these things never start on time and we’re still on time.”
But by the time we parked, got our bibs, and walked across the street to where the runners were massing, I could hear the National Anthem being sung.
I sent GV up ahead to where the serious runners were and heard the master of ceremonies take the mic.. I figured he’d at least thank the sponsors and I’d have a minute to get my head in the game, but all he said was, “Well, it’s 7:29. so runners: on your mark, get set…” and before I even had a chance to regret my life choices, I found myself running and realized that gosh darn it, I had a good three miles to go before this ordeal would be over.
I came in 256th overall, and 8th in my age group, which wasn’t too bad. But Genevieve came in 48th and placed second in her age group, which meant she got a prize and we’d need to stick around for the awards ceremony.
And now, my friends, we come to the point of my story. This being Lisbon, first prize in every age group came with a case of Moxie.
August 4, 2024