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“Prodigal Kingdom” A sermon based on Psalm 32, Corinthians 5:16-21, and Luke 15:1-32 at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 30, 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young.
The “Prodigal Son” is a story many of us learned about in Sunday School. Like Aesop’s Fables it was meant to leave us with a moral teaching. The prodigal son was a bad person. He took the money his father gave him and wasted it, then came crawling back home when he was homeless and starving—literally surviving on the pea pods left for the pigs to eat. At least that’s what I remember from what I was taught. The word “prodigal” has a thoroughly negative connotation for most of us.. . .
To read the full sermon, click the Download Full Sermon button below.
© Copyright 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
“Just Visitors” A Lenten Weekday Meditation delivered on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at the Church of the Brethren in Onekama, Michigan by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young.
We can’t really understand the letter of Paul to the Philippians adequately unless we go back to the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 16 verses 12-40 where the story of the founding of the church in Philippi is told. It was a prayer group predominantly made up of women meeting by the river. Most prominent of the women was the merchant Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, in whose house the church would eventually have its meetings. After Lydia and her whole household were baptized there by the river because “the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message“ (v. 14c), Paul and Silas followed Lydia from the prayer meeting back to her house.. . .To read the full meditation, click the Download Full Meditation button below.
© Copyright 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
There is an old joke that you may have heard. In Sunday School one day the teacher was trying to teach students about God, and how the Jewish people would not say God’s name when reading scriptures. In fact, she said, God really didn’t have a name, just a title “Yahweh” which means in Hebrew, “I AM.” A young girl held up her hand. She was perplexed. She said, “I thought God had two names—maybe one is just a nickname, but God has two names.” The teacher now looked perplexed. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Well,” the little girl explained, “Don’t we say, Our Father who art in Heaven, Harold be thy name?” And his nickname must be “Andy” because in the hymn we sang last week it says “Andy walked with me, Andy talked with me!”
That word hallowed can trip us up every time! . . .To read the full sermon, click the Download Full Sermon button below.
© Copyright 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
“Heavenly Citizens” A sermon based on Psalm 27, Luke 13:31-35, and Philippians 3:17-4:1 delivered on the Second Sunday in Lent, March 16, 2025 at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young.
(Our Theme throughout Lent will be the Lord’s Prayer. Today we explore the words: “Who art in heaven . . .”)
When we hear the title of this message, I am sure we picture angels–the multitude of the Heavenly Host– Cherubim and Seraphim and all those ethereal beings that we heard about in various scriptural readings, both in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. They are the citizens of heaven. We, on the other hand, are citizens of the earth.. . .To read the full sermon, click the Download Full Sermon button below.
© Copyright 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
“Our One and Only” A sermon based on Psalm 91:1-2;9-16 Romans 10:8b-13 and Luke 4:1-13 delivered by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young on the First Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2025 at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan.
(Our Theme throughout Lent will be the Lord’s Prayer. Today we explore the opening words: “Our Father . . .”)
If you have ever questioned the importance of the Hebrew scriptures as a foundation for the Christian witness, look no further than this morning’s lectionary readings. Everybody is quoting from them! And I mean, everybody, including and most significantly and chilling of all, the devil. I guess the devil really is in the details! Quotes from the prophets Isaiah and Joel, the Psalms and especially from the last book in the Torah, Deuteronomy, are peppered throughout these readings. . . .To read the full sermon, click the Download Full Sermon button below.
© Copyright 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
“Re-veil-ation” A Sermon based on Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; and Luke 9:28-36 delivered on Transfiguration Sunday, March 2, 2025 at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, “the skin of his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him,” (Exodus 34:30) . . . “Jesus . . . went up onto the mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.” (Luke 9:29) What is going on here, we ask? What is the common denominator in these experiences of Moses and Jesus? The late Rev. Walter Wangerin Jr. sheds some light on the answer to this question. In an address to newly graduating Seminary students he relates the following experience:
My face burned when I was ordained. This is historical truth, no
image, no metaphor. My face became bright red and burned.
I suppose the people might have said, “Walt’s excited. Look at him blush.” . . . But I knew even then that the excitement of the ceremony was not cause enough for the fire in my face. This was more than mere blush. . . Rather, the burning came of this: for once in my long and vigorous struggle with the Lord Jesus Christ, the struggle itself had ceased. For the moment, the relationship had reached a certain purity. . . My faith, you see, was the flame in my face. (from Ragman and Other Cries of Faith pp. 56-57)To read the full sermon, click the Download Full Sermon button below.
© Copyright 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
“Variety—The Spice of Life” A sermon based on Isaiah 62:1-5, 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 and John 2:1-11 delivered on January 19, 2025 at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young.
The proverbial saying, “variety is the spice of life,” comes to mind as we read our passage from Corinthians this morning. In the New Revised Standard version, the word used is “variety” for the different kinds of gifts. The fact is that we need variety. I was reminded of this fact as we changed the paraments from white to gold this week. The liturgical calendar says that they can stay white for a few more weeks, with the option of changing to green, so I chose gold—which is what we use in place of green during parts of the year. The green or gold signifies “ordinary” time in the church year. I felt it was time to go back to the “ordinary” as a relief from the “extraordinary” time that we have just experienced through Advent and Christmas.
To read the full sermon, click the Download Full Sermon button below.
© Copyright 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
“Naming and Claiming” A Sermon based on Isaiah 43:1-7, Psalm 29 and Luke 3:15-17; 21-22 delivered on Sunday, January 12, 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan.
Names are powerful things. In our Isaiah passage this morning we are reminded of this. As the people of Israel are about to be released from captivity in Babylon, the author of Second Isaiah comforts them by quoting God as saying, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1c) Because God names and claims the people of Israel as his, the people will be saved. In the same way, when Jesus is baptized (Luke 3:21-22) the Holy Spirit descends upon him and God’s voice from heaven names and claims him in these powerful words, “You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Later in Luke, in Chapter Four, we hear of the power this has given Jesus, when the scriptures tell us: “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.” (Luke 4:14) Being named and claimed by God through the Holy Spirit gave Jesus the power and authority to do his work in this world.
To read the full sermon, click the Download Full Sermon button below.
© Copyright 2025 by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young
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