Preaching In Pumps | Sermons By Rev. Sarah E. Weaver

Happy Easter, friends! I hope wherever you are you are home, safe and proclaiming the Good News of Christ's resurrection. It was bittersweet to not be able to worship in person this morning, but I really do believe that now is the time to lean into our faith as we heed the recommendations to stay home so we can flatten the curve. I love you all.  Despite the challenging times we are living through right now, I still believe in the hope of the Easter promise that Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. Enjoy ...  - Sarah

Hi friends! It's so crazy to think that, back when all this started, our plan was to be back in church by this Sunday!  My office admin actually called me not long after we moved to virtual worship and asked if she should cancel the palms and I said no, that I didn't think we would actually be back together by then, but that we would find a way to distribute them anyway.  Well - we opted not to distribute them.  Currently we are entering the worst of things in the northeast and the Deacons and I decided that it was more responsible for us to remind people to stay home than to give anyone another excuse to leave the house.  So we adorned our front doors with greens and had our kiddos cut palms out of construction paper and just worked with what we had this year!  If you get a chance, I would encourage you to at least watch the gathering music portion of the video - I included hosanna photos and videos people sent me with the music. Here is my sermon, as well as audio and visual.  Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Sta

Hi Friends, It is hard to believe, but this is week three of our virtual worship.  I actually moved my livestream home this week.  I am still preaching through the lectionary Lenten texts.  This morning was the story of the resurrection of Lazarus.  I think it is fitting right now that we are reading stories of miraculous healing and resurrection - we all need the reminder and reassurance that we will be redeemed. Enjoy ... -Sarah

Hi friends, It is hard to believe that only a week has passed since our first virtual worship service.  It feels like a lifetime has gone by, with information and and situations changing so quickly.  We have extended our suspension of in-person worship, activities and programs through Sunday, April 5th (per Governor Baker's orders) and will reassess and likely adjust as that date gets closer. We are working to get everything online at the church.  If you are interested in supporting us financially while our in-person worship in suspended and we aren't collected offerings in worship, you can do so here. Here is this morning's sermon - I hope it brings you peace and hope.

In these times of social distancing, I am grateful for the ability to connect with people through online presence.  While it does not replace in-person community (and I know there are those who do not have access that we still need to call!) it was cool to "gather" with my people this morning and to feel like we were still together, in a way. Here is my sermon. We did a livestream from our closed Facebook group so we were able to share prayer requests.  For privacy sake, I edited that part out! Love you all - stay safe. -Sarah

Hi friends! I know we are living through crazy and surreal times right now.  We, like churches all across the country (and world!), are taking extra precautions right now to protect our community against the Corona Virus.  We are following guidelines issued by the United Church of Christ and limiting our human contact, which means engaging in alternative forms of passing of the peace, not having greeting lines and not inviting people to join hands where I would have before (usually the kids hold hands for their prayer at the children's sermon and we hold hands for the benediction).  We are asking people to be mindful of their own germs and to not come to church if they are sick - I did notice our attendance was down last week, but I wonder if any of that had to do with the time change as well (zzz). Anyway - one of the ways worship can still be accessible to my community during this outbreak is through this space!  So here is my sermon from Sunday.  We are back on the lectionary for Lent and I was preaching o

We kicked off our Lenten season on Sunday in the wilderness with Jesus.  I'm back on the lectionary for the time being and we are going to preach through the Gospel thread during Lent.  I decided not to talk about temptations this year in looking at this narrative, but about being in the wilderness in general - because I think we all find ourselves there at some point in our lives! I did preach at our Ash Wednesday service - I referenced it in this sermon.  I will post at least the text at some point this week if anyone is interested. Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi friends!  Happy Shrove Tuesday! We had our big Mardi Gras celebration at the church on Sunday - it was so much fun!  Decorations, brass, food and a mocktail bar - it doesn't get better than that! Our Ash Wednesday Worship service is at 7PM tomorrow.  If you are in Rehoboth, I would love to see you there!  You do not have to get ashes imposed if you would just like to enjoy the service. Here is my sermon from Sunday - the story of the Transfiguration! Enjoy ...  -Sarah

Finishing up our glance at 1 Corinthians, we came off a wonderful evening of show tunes at RCC and then gathered for worship on Sunday morning.  It was a great weekend to finish up this sermon series, think about what local churches are capable of doing (because y'all we have done a lot over the past couple of weeks) and then settle down and start thinking about the Lenten season. Mardi Gras Sunday is this week!  I decided to jump back into the Revised Common Lectionary (I know, I know) for Lent, so I will be following the Gospel texts until Easter Sunday. Enjoy! -Sarah

No, not the Celine Dion song, although you better believe I listened to it while I was writing my sermon this week! This scripture was actually the catalyst for this sermon series looking at 1 Corinthians in the first place.  I wanted to explore some of the "love" passages in the Bible that we know so well to help us, as a congregation, as we continue to figure out how to best love God, love one another and then love others.  Though not at all planned, the timing was perfect in light of Valentine's Day this week! We only have one more week left in this sermon series and then it's Mardi Gras, Lent (I think I'm going to follow the RCL for Lent) and then I'm having a baby!  I cannot believe that at the end of Lent, I will (hopefully) be preaching Easter and then will be off on maternity leave for 10 weeks.  This pregnancy flew by! Enjoy ...  -Sarah

The deacon leading worship on Sunday came into my office before church and was commenting on how much he loves this scripture.  Honestly, it's always been one of my favorites!  It's wonderful as it stands alone, but then, when you think about the fact that it leads into Paul's words on love, is even more powerful. There are so many different directions you can go with this text!  I talked about the distribution of work within the Body mostly because I thought it was timely with where we are, as a church, but really the possibilities are endless when you preach this.  There's so much good stuff in it! Enjoy! -Sarah

We continued our five-week journey through 1 Corinthians this week by looking at the fourth chapter in its entirety.  One of the things I love about doing scripture-based sermon series (as opposed to theme-based, which is what we did in Advent and over the summer) is that I really don't know, from week to week, where my sermon is going to go.  Sometimes it is dictated by what is going on throughout the week and, in the case of this sermon, that was what happened. Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi friends! We started a sermon series on Sunday looking at pieces of 1 Corinthians.  It's not my ideal - I really love looking at scripture in a linear and continual way - but we have five weeks before the Transfiguration and beginning of Lent and I figured it would be too choppy to get through the whole thing with breaks for Mardi Gras, Palm Sunday, Easter, etc.  So hopefully this will give everyone a flavor!  I say this in my sermon, but I would encourage you to fill in the gaps that we miss so you can read the letter in its entirety over the next five weeks! Enjoy ... -Sarag

Last year I had some major FOMO when all my friends were preaching Baptism of Christ and doing amazing remembrance of baptism liturgies and I was on the Year of Mark and didn't get to join in on the fun.  It didn't work out this year that I was able to do a big baptism remembrance (which honestly, I'm not sure how you do logistically that with 160 people in church anyway!) but we did do a liturgy in between concerns and celebrations where I offered a blessing from the font and then that led into the pastoral prayer.  It was lovely!  And, after receiving a lot of positive feedback, it reminded me that sometimes less is more and simple things really can make a difference in people's lives. Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi friends and Happy New Year! Like so many other churches, we have adopted the "star word" tradition at RCC to coincide with Epiphany.  This is the 4th year we have done it, so my sermon is brief, as we invite people from the congregation to stand up and share their "star stories" from the year before.  Last year my word was affirmation, so I talked a little bit about that and also about star words in general.  If you didn't get a star word and would like one, please let me know!  I'm happy to draw and send you one. Enjoy ... -Sarah

Hi friends!  I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  Here is my sermon from our 9PM service on Christmas Eve. Happy New Year! Enjoy ...  -Sarah

Hi Friends!  We finished up our Advent sermon series on spiritual practices this week by looking at evangelism through the story of the shepherds and the angels.  This is my last Advent sermon - our Christmas pageant is this Sunday.  I will be back a few days after Christmas to post my Christmas sermon.  Merry Christmas everyone!  Our cries for Emmanuel have been heard! Enjoy ... -Sarah

Hi friends! I cannot believe that Christmas Eve is TWO weeks away.  This season is flying by and I am trying to soak it up and enjoy time with my family, while also enjoying all of the wonderful things we do at church, as well! Sunday was our second week into our three-week Advent sermon series looking at some of the spiritual practices the Christmas story teaches us.  Ironic that I was preaching my sermon on hospitality the same week as our annual meeting where I gave my report and also talked about hospitality!  We had a double baptism on Sunday, so I tried to keep things on the brief side ("tried" - ha!). Enjoy ...  -Sarah  

Hi friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We capped off our Thanksgiving weekend with a wonderful Hanging of the Greens service in worship on Sunday and then a hugely successful Giving Tuesday two days later. (If you are interested in donating to that campaign, our page is still live!) On Sunday we kicked off a three-week Advent sermon series looking at some of the spiritual practices we learn about in the Christmas story.  We started with service - and the stories of Mary and Joseph.  The sermon is shorter, because - between Hanging of the Greens and Communion - we had a lot going on in worship! Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi friends!  We finished up our sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount this week with a beautiful Thanksgiving worship service, which included a baptism and a beautiful cornucopia on the altar.  I used my sermon not only as an opportunity to talk about this text, but also to wrap-up what we talked about this fall. Preacher friends, this was a great series!  There are one or two things I would tweak in terms of the schedule, but I thought 12 weeks was a good amount of time to get through it.  Did we touch on everything?  No - but you never will!  But if we had broken it down into a longer amount of time, I think it would have been too long.  Feel free to reach out by email or social media if you'd like me to send you our schedule and any more information. Enjoy!