In Sermons: showing 91-105 of 337

Cut It Out

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 21, 2023

We are always trying to blame our sin on something else - on someone else, on society, on circumstances. But Jesus says that what makes us sin is part of ourselves.

I stopped watching TV news three or four years ago. But you have to know what's going on, somehow, so there are a few sources I've come to trust. But guess what? They're just as depressing as TV news. Because what is actually happening is worse than what you might imagine if you stayed ...read more

Scripture: Mark 9:38-50

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Stumbing Along

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 19, 2023

Unexamined assumptions can cause us to stumble over things we don't even notice.

It’s a little disconcerting, sitting down to write a sermon on a passage that you’ve already preached on twice, to find that neither time did you say what you’d planned to say. Of course, only preachers have that problem... Maybe only 60-something preachers have that problem. But more generally, ...read more

Scripture: Mark 9:35-50

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Hearing Problems

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 19, 2023

Are we afraid to ask what Jesus has in store for us, of what our future following him might look like?

This was a very difficult sermon to prepare because this passage doesn’t really apply to you, at least not the way most preachers spin it. I can just hear the disciples arguing over who’s the greatest, can’t you? like a bunch of little boys bragging in the playground at recess, or kids ...read more

Scripture: Mark 9:30-37

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Attitude Adjustment

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 18, 2023

How do you react when God seems to be unfair? Do you react with anger and impatience? Or do you persevere, with humility and trust?

“Master, help me!” she cried, bursting past the astonished householder and throwing herself before the weary traveler. “I couldn’t stop her, Rabbi,” said his host, “shall I throw her out?” Jesus motioned him to be silent. The woman knelt before him in an attitude of utter desperation. “What do you ...read more

Scripture: Mark 7:24-37

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Cleaning Services

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 18, 2023

We have been forgiven in Christ for the sins that we have committed and confessed. But the underlying condition out of which these sins arise - what’s to be done about that?

“Out, damned spot!” may be one of the most widely recognized lines Shakespeare ever wrote. I wonder why? In a more innocent age it might have been for the forbidden thrill of saying “damn.” But of course that doesn’t apply any more, does it. It’s one of the milder epithets available. If that’s the ...read more

Scripture: Mark 7:1-23

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

There’s Always More

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 15, 2023

Even when we feel drained physically and financially, we still need to offer what resources we do have - and in so doing, find that we can do more than we thought.

I have a lot of fellow feeling for the disciples in today’s story. I expect all of us who have put so much time and effort into VBS do, too. It’s done! We can put our feet up and have something to eat, talk about how everything went, see how well we did, maybe get a stroke or two for the old ego. ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:30-44

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Bait & Switch

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 11, 2023

The life of discipleship has three steps: attachment, understanding, and imitation.

God is unquestionably the world’s greatest fisherman. And he’s not at all offended by the description, either, because that is what he called us to be. And the first thing a fisherman has to know is what bait the fish will bite on. God got me good. Back in ‘83 I was Miss Corporate America, junior ...read more

Scripture: Mark 8:27-38

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Do You Get It?

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 11, 2023

There is nothing that Jesus cannot do. But we can only get the message if we don’t let ourselves be distracted by trivia, and if our relationship with God is healthy.

One of the reasons people loved to listen to Jesus was that he talked about things they knew about, scenes and events from their everyday lives. But the lives of the people Jesus talked to can seem very far away from our own, sometimes. His illustrations don’t always mean that much to us. What’s ...read more

Scripture: Mark 8:11-21

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Blame Game

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 9, 2023

Excuses and forgiveness are opposites. What can be excused does not need to be forgiven.

What do you suppose happened at the palace the next morning, when Herod woke up with a hangover the size of the Roman Empire and a public relations problem twice as big? I can hear them all spinning the story, can’t you? It’s not the way it seems! It’s not my fault! I’m not to blame! Let’s listen ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:14-29

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Good News Is News

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 7, 2023

How many people are there who reject Christianity without having the faintest notion what it is?

Jesus attended the Sabbath service at his home synagogue in Nazareth, as he always did when he was home, and stood up when the time came for the Scripture. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” said Jesus, “because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:1-6

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Calm In The Storm

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 7, 2023

It isn’t Jesus’ job to calm our storms, but to calm our hearts so that we can face the storms with confidence and courage.

I just came back from attending my first General Assembly. It is sort of a cross between a political convention and a session of Congress. Commissioners are called together every year from all over the country to do the business of the church, and their decisions are expected to embody the ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:35-41

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Free Time

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 7, 2023

Grace does not free us FROM the Sabbath, grace frees us FOR the Sabbath.

“I can be just as good a Christian without going to church,” said my friend Connie. “Besides, that’s the only day I get to sleep in. Isn’t it supposed to be a day of rest?” “That’s right,” said Walter. “Going to church just takes too big a bite out of my week. It’s just not realistic to expect ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Facial Recognition

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 5, 2023

If you have recognized yourselves in other people, then Jesus will recognize himself in you.

I was adjusting the biometric ID on my phone while I was preparing this sermon and started thinking about the things like the algorithms used to identify users’ buying habits and then about how easy it is to access untold quantities of information about you just from plugging your name into your ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Ready Or Not

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 5, 2023

To be ready for Jesus, to be ready for God, we have to be in the habit of turning Godward at every crossroads.

Procrastination. Putting things off. It’s a fault that most of us have had to wrestle with, one time or another. And you know what causes it? Do you know why people procrastinate? I’ve decided that we procrastinate when we don’t want to do what we know we ought to do. And so we wait for something ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Holy Insomnia

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 4, 2023

God wants our major priority to be his kind of people even when he’s not looking.

This is a hard week for many of us here. I think all of you must have read of the murder-suicide that took place in our town just a week ago. By itself, it is one of the most tragic incidents to occur among our midst in quite a long time - certainly since I arrived. Two young men in their prime, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed