Shared during Sunday Worship on January 25, 2025. Gracious and loving God, we come before you, trusting you to open our hearts and prepare our lives to receive Christ anew.  Prepare us to recognize your presence among us. Teach us patience when waiting is difficult, courage when hope feels fragile, and faithfulness in all the ways you call us to serve. Help us set aside the distractions and fears that keep us from trusting your promises, and draw us deeper into your peace.  

Shared during Sunday Worship on January 25, 2025. Holy Creator, whose warmth sustains us through the deepest cold: we thank You and praise You for the gifts of creation, redemption, and daily provision. We acknowledge Your presence here and everywhere—Your constant generosity, Your enduring love, and Your sovereignty over the source and purpose of all things.   We rejoice in the joy found in Your presence, for it is a joy that becomes our strength. We are grateful for the lig

Isaiah 6:1-8 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.  Psalm 8:3-5 “ If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy. ” — St. John Vianney (the Curé of Ars)   “ And though all that remains of the Temple is one wall, still to stand and pray

Psalm 8:1-9  When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour.  Psalm 8:3-5   “What are human beings?”  A deceptively powerful question from Psalm 8. The answer, of course, depends upon who you ask.  Ask a biologist:  Humans are classified under the gen

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6:8b Why at Brick Church are we looking at the 250th anniversary of our country?    Birthdays and anniversaries are times to reflect on what our life has been and what we hope it will be going forward. This year marks the 250th birthday of our country and its founding. And rather than focusing on a comprehensive history we will especially focus on the founding va

Ephesians 1:3-14 Every morning in Africa, a gazelle awakens. It knows it must run faster than the lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion awakens. It knows it must run faster than the gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle  —  when the sun comes up, you'd better be running. This parable has become the theme song for modern American life. We wake up on the run; we leap out of bed, take our showers, wolf down breakfas

Shared during Sunday Worship on December 28, 2025. Incarnate God, with the angels we glorify your name, and with your servant Mary we treasure the good news of your coming in our hearts. We thank you for all that you have given us. For times of rest and relaxation; for friends and family to cherish; for warm shelter on cold days; for communities that nurture us. We are especially thankful for your presence with us. You have spoken to us through your prophets and lived among u

Shared during Sunday Worship on December 21, 2025. Lord, Your joyful radiance shall be born into our world sooner than we can imagine. It is good news of a great joy for all people.  Good news that came first to a young girl named Mary, who shouted with joy at Your love and justice for all people.  It came to Peter and Paul when You called them by name and forgave them for their weakness and sin. This joy could not be contained into one time and place and so it spilled over t

Dearest God who promises peace, love, joy, and hope- We reflect upon the unknown and how you come to your people in the midst of disorientation and uncertainty.  Though we may not be able to make sense of it all, the best we can hope for is to be like Mary, grounding ourselves in our identities as your servants. We lift up prayers to you that emanate from what we have experienced in the world.  For all peoples who experience war, we pray for peace.  For those who experience i

Luke 1:26-38 “ If they would rather die ,” said Scrooge, “ they had better do it and decrease the surplus population. ” Dickens wrote these words in 1843 during the height of the Industrial Revolution. London was a world-class city with dazzling shops… dark alleyways. The rapid urbanization made cities like London, Manchester, and Birmingham vastly overcrowded, with unsafe working conditions—hunger was rampant. People of means rode in fine carriages, while the poor slept unde

Isaiah 9:1-7   One of my absolute favorite things every December was to watch  A Christmas Carol.  I was absolutely enthralled by the three ghosts. And the character Ebenezer Scrooge, that miserly, skin-flinted sort, was on the one hand pathetic and sad, and yet somehow endearing. When he finally transformed, he represented something joyful—triumphant even. This year, during Advent, we’re going to look at Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future. For the people

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. - Luke 2:10-11 This year during Advent, we will look together at  Christmas past, Christmas present, and Christmas future . Many of you will remember the beloved tale by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, in which the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, is a miserly and bitter

The music we are about to hear is an oratorio from Rome in the 1640s. The word “oratorio” really means a sacred opera. There may not be costumes or stage machinery, but the music and emotions are genuinely operatic, and they are uniquely suited to express the operatic qualities of this story from the Old Testament. The story comes from the Book of Judges, Chapter 11. Jephte, or Jephthah, was a judge: a leader of Israel in the years before Saul became Israel’s first king. Now 

Shared during Sunday Worship on November 16, 2025. Almighty and all vulnerable God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer We come to you in prayer today, turning towards you to learn how we might become stewards of your mysteries.  In this stewardship season, we have reflected upon your calling upon all of our lives, to commit not just a portion of our wealth, but instead our entire lives to you.   As we contemplate how we may recommit ourselves to you, we pray for this church’s m

1 Corinthians 4:1   This is Stewardship Sunday, you are deciding what your financial gift to the Church is for the next year. And clearly, this is a part of what Stewardship Sunday is about. But this morning, I hope we will all discover that it's something much more profound, important to your faith, to Brick's mission, and the call of Jesus. Stewardship obviously comes from the word steward. For a moment, let's erase the word stewardship from our minds. And imagine that we h

John 13:34–35 ​Near the end of the Last Supper, after Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, he tells them, “ Love one another as I have loved you .” The Greek word here,  allelon , means “one-anothering.” This word appears over a hundred times in the New Testament. Jesus tells us to: Wash one another’s feet. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Do not judge one another. Be at peace with one another. Build up one another. Be devoted to one another. All this is to be done in the

John 13:1-9 ​Jesus is facing the most difficult time of His life. The religious authorities have not only rejected His interpretation of the Scriptures but have viewed Him as a fundamental threat to their power. The people have seen His miracles, but John tells us they did not believe Him, and even the ones that did refused to profess it openly for fear of retribution.  He knows not only will one of His disciples betray Him, but the others will scatter, and His most trusted d

I Peter 2:1-10 ​We are a holy priesthood, Peter tells us. An extremely lofty honorific which we are sure does not fit us. In fact, I imagine we simply dismiss this statement out of hand. Peter is wrong. There is nothing especially holy about any of us compared to anyone else in this world, and certainly you and I are not performing priestly, cultic duties.  Mesopotamian ancient priests would sacrifice a sheep and take a close look at its liver to reveal God’s will. The oracle

Revelation 4:1-11 ​During seminary, Wendy and I spent one summer in Tupper Lake, New York, where I served as an intern at a country...

“Worship the Lord with gladness” - Psalm 100:2a The  Book of Order  tells us that Christian worship joyfully ascribes all praise, honor,...