In Sermons:

Balancing Act

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Feb 3, 2026

God's justice system provides a way to bring balance back into a community or relationship scarred and broken by violenve.

One Monday in April, Carl Hailey took the M16 automatic rifle he had gotten hold of from an old Marine Corps buddy, sneaked into the Ford county courthouse, and hid in a closet. Two hours later, as Billy Cobb and Pete Williams were being escorted from the jail to the courthouse for their bond ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 20:1-6, Numbers 35:9-28

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Ignorance Kills

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Feb 3, 2026

Obedience to God is good, but obedience must be informed by knowledge of who God is, and what he requires of us.

A news item recently caught my attention. "A 10 year old Nicaraguan girl, Hazel Borge, could soon die because her parents devout Jehovah’s Witnesses are refusing to allow doctors to give her a blood transfusion." [January 20, 2000 MANAGUA, Nicaragua (Reuters)] “The committee in ...read more

Scripture: Micah 6:6-8

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

A Place For God

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Feb 3, 2026

The real temple is the one God builds out of us acting in community.

When I was in Pittsburgh working on my Doctor of Ministry program I noticed dozens of huge, impressive, mostly brick churches - which are if not exactly empty, certainly not filled to bursting. It’s worse in Europe, of course. How many of you have been to places like Notre Dame in Paris or ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 7:1-16, Jeremiah 7:9-11, Ephesians 2:19-21

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Ready To Serve

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Feb 1, 2026

Seeing the world through eyes of faith, and living in devotion to God, doesn’t just happen by accident. It emerges from intentional nurture from one day to the next, and from one generation to the next. It is nurtured in the retelling of the stories, and in the remaking of the vows.

There’s a story I rather like about the college freshman biology class which kept a rattlesnake in a cage in the laboratory. The students enjoyed the monthly feeding almost as much as the snake did. The entire class would gather around the cage and watch in completely absorbed and attentive ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Border Crossing

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Feb 1, 2026

In the Israelites' crossing through the Jordan and into the land of promise there are details which transfer quite remarkably clearly into instructions for our own entry into the land - the state of being - that God has promised to us in Christ Jesus.

What kind of images do the words “Promised Land” mean to you? I didn’t see the TV show by that name very often, but it seemed to me, with my limited exposure, that this was a traveling family, always ready to pick up and move somewhere new, always optimistic about what was around the next corner, ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 3:7-17, Matthew 23:4-7

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Building The City Of God Series

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jan 30, 2026

In the city of God there is identity and there is purpose. Each one of God’s people matters, and each one of God’s people belongs. And the city of God is ours to build, if we commit ourselves to the task.

In preaching class they taught us to know our congregations, so speak to their concerns. So as I was preparing this sermon, I asked myself “What do I know about the inner city? Well, when I lived on Eliot just south of Lake St I was mugged walking from my car to my front door. When my brother lived ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-29

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Wiscdom 101

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jan 30, 2026

The book of Proverbs does not guarantee a stress-free life. But If you listen to God's Word, and do your best to make God-honoring choices at every step of the way, you will get out on the other side without having lost your sanity, your self-respect, or your soul.

How many of you know how to play basketball? Not how many are good at it, but know more or less how it works: one ball, five players on a team, two nets, one at either end of the field. When you go out there to play, you have a rough idea of what’s going on, right? How would you feel if you went ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

What Is A Miracle?

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Dec 29, 2025

The greatest miracle of all is knowing that things will come out right in the end because of God’s love for us.

My brother Jeremy picked me up at the airport a couple of weeks ago when I flew to Pittsburgh. He isn’t from Pittsburgh, though, he’s from Alaska. So we relied on Mapquest to get from the airport to the seminary. Pittsburgh is the hardest city to drive in I know. Well, they tell me Boston is worse, ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 17:8-16, Matthew 6:31-34

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

When Rights Are Wrong

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Dec 29, 2025

Just because you have a right to do something doesn't mean that it is right for you to do it.

Just because our Scripture reading for this week was 1 Kings doesn't mean that it was easy to decide what to preach on. It's so full of illustrations of the use and misuse of power that I could probably spend the whole month before moving on to 2 Kings, which is just as rich with examples ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 11:42-43, 1 Kings 12:1-19, Philippians 2:5-8

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Last Mourning

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Dec 25, 2025

We cannot imagine what Mary Magdalene must have felt that long ago Easter morning. But maybe we should try.

They have taken him away. They have taken my Lord away. Why did they have to do it? Wasn't it enough to kill him? Why did they have to steal his body? He isn't any threat to them any more, if he ever was, and neither are we. Why couldn't they just leave us alone to tend his grave? ...read more

Scripture: John 20:11-18

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Mary Remembers

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Dec 25, 2025

We can't imagine what Mary thought or felt. But maybe we should try.

How could anyone believe? How could anyone understand? It was hard enough for us, who were there. Words are so small. How can I explain to anyone that God came to us - to me - in a way that not even Moses knew? Moses had to turn his head aside when God went by, so as not to be blinded. And ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:19, Luke 2:6-7

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

On The Cutting Edge

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 28, 2025

The Holy Spirit, wielding the Word like a scalpel, cuts away our games and pretensions and rationalizations and shows us what we are really like. Jesus is the reason why the knowledge of our sinfulness does not lead us to despair.

My Dad was in the foreign service when I was a kid and my family was stationed in Argentina for a couple of years. We lived in a city called Rosario, about 4 hours north of Buenos Aires. The weather was fabulous, the schools were good, the streets were safe, and there was a club with an Olympic ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 4:12-15

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Re-Centralization

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 28, 2025

It is only in Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to God, to each other, to creation, and to truth itself.

Paul wrote this letter to the church at Colossae because they were in danger of being turned into Gnostics. Now, we aren’t in danger of turning into Gnostics, are we? I mean, how many of you woke up this morning and said to yourself, “you know, this Gnosticism stuff - I think I’d really better look ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:15-23

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Vision Thing

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 28, 2025

Living for Jesus means seeing him as clearly as possible and longing to be as much like him as possible.

Peter was not big on writing letters. He certainly couldn’t hold a candle to Paul, whose pen never seemed to stop, sending letters all over Asia, explaining, encouraging, correcting. But of course being under house arrest made letter writing the best way to keep in touch with all the churches Paul ...read more

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:16-21

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Rocky Road

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 28, 2025

The first step in our becoming ambassadors for Christ is to accept that the road of Christian discipleship is often a rocky one.

Ambassadors get VIP treatment: first class seats and free champagne, red carpets and limos, valet parking and 24-hour room service. Ambassadors get interviews with world leaders and press mavens. An ambassadorship is a class act, the apex of the diplomat’s career, the privileged crown on a lifetime ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed