(231)-889-4081 | Worship every Sunday @ 10 a.m
(231)-889-4081 | Worship every Sunday @ 10 a.m
Engage with our most recent sermons.
“Hearts to Heaven” A sermon based on Luke 24:44, John 17:20-26 and Acts 1:1-11 preached on Ascension Sunday, May 17, 2026 by the Rev. Alison Dutton Jacobs at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan.
We know from John’s Gospel that the resurrected Jesus, who appeared in some kind of eventually recognizable bodily form, usually after naming names or breaking bread, plans to ascend into the realm of God soon. On Easter morning, when Mary Magdalene finally recognizes him as Jesus and not the gardener, he asks her not to try to hold on to him because he has not yet ascended to the Father” and then asks her to go to the disciples and to tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17) From this, we gain a picture of a process” of ascension beginning with the Resurrection, for Jesus says “I have not yet ascended,” but “I am ascending.”
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“Stabat Mater” A sermon based on Psalm 66:8-20, Acts 17:22-31 and John 14:15-
21 delivered on Mother’s Day, May 14, 2026 by the Rev. Alison Dutton Jacobs at
the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan.
We do not know what Antonin Dvorak’s relationship with his mother was
like, but we suspect that he had a special feeling for mothers and their role in the
world as two of his most famous works honor mothers. What we do know is that
he was the oldest of eight children and that oldest sons often hold a pivotal place in
the family in relationship to their mothers.. . .
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“The Cornerstone” A sermon based on Acts 4:5-12; Habakkuk 2:9-11 and 1 Peter
2:2-10. Delivered on May 5, 2026 by Rev. Alison Dutton Jacobs at the First
Congregational UCC of Onekama, MI.
Alas for you who get evil gain for your houses, setting your nest on high to
be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for your house by
cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. The very stones will
cry out from the wall and the plaster will respond from the woodwork. (Hab.
2:9-11)
In this extremely graphic architectural allusion to the plundering of an oppressor
nation which uses poignantly descriptive terms, the prophet Habakkuk indicts all
human tyranny—all human inhumanity and greed which abuses other human
beings. The prophet, writing during the height of Babylonian power, around 600
B.C. writes this descriptive metaphor as a part of a series of five “woe” sayings
directed against a nation that plunders peoples and obtains gain by violence, It is a
series of indictments against the oppressor nation of Babylon which was wreaking
havoc on the nation and peoples of Israel at that time. . . .
“Who is Blind?” A sermon based on John 9:1-41 and 1 Samuel 16:1-13 delivered on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 15, 2026, by the Rev. Alison Dutton Jacobs at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan.
Today is the infamous “Ides of March.” A wise Seer is said to have warned Julius Caesar to beware of this date in 44 B.C.E. Caesar seemed “blind” to this warning and was assassinated by 60 Senators who stabbed him 23 times so that he collapsed at the feet of a statue of his rival Pompey. This happened a little less than a half century before the birth of Christ. . . .
“The Wilderness” A Sermon based on Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Matthew 4:1-11; and Romans 5:12-19 delivered by Rev. Alison Dutton Jacobs at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan on Lent One, February 22, 2026
Jesus “full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” The traditional forty days of fasting which were observed by the early church in the season before Easter, a season which we now call Lent, were meant to remember these forty days of Jesus in the wilderness. . . .
“Pointing Fingers” A sermon based on Isaiah 58:1-12, 1 Corinthians 2:1-16 and Matthew 5:13-20 delivered on February 8, 2023 at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young.
Take a good look at the picture in your bulletins this morning. Hold it out at arm’s length and look right at it unblinkingly. How does that pointed index finger make you feel? Are you squirming in your pew? Does it feel like you are being shamed and/or blamed for something? Do you feel like swatting it away and pointing your own index figure in a completely different direction altogether?!. . .
“Foolishly Blessed” A sermon based on Micah 6:1-8; Matthew 5:1-12 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 delivered by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young on Sunday, February 1, 2026 at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan.
This sermon could just as easily have been named “Blessed Foolishness,” for what I want to bring across to you today speaks of both being what the Apostle Paul calls a “fool for Christ” and what the gospel of Matthew records in what has traditionally been called “The Beatitudes” (lat. The blessed) as being “blessed.” For many of us in this modern world, the Beatitudes appear to be foolish statements. How can it be a blessing to be poor in spirit, or persecuted, or hungry, or be in mourning, or be reviled? How, in short, can it be a blessing to appear to be a fool? . . .
“All the Light We Cannot See” A sermon based on Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1; 4-9 and Matthew 4:12-23 delivered by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young on Epiphany 3 Sunday, January 25, 2026 at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan.
As we moved through Advent, Christmastide and now Epiphany we are seeking one thing—Light. The trajectory of our worship services and spiritual practices reaches out into the darkness of our broken world and seeks to find the giver of the divine light of that iconic star of Bethlehem. Candles are lit, strings of colored lights decorate the rafters of our houses, sparkling icicle-like lights shimmer on our porch railings. We want and crave light in our lives . . .
”An Advance Man” A Sermon based on Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11 and John 1:29-42, delivered by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young on Sunday, January 18, 2026 at The First Congregational UCC of Onekama, MI
We are all aware, I think, that whenever a VIP, a Celebrity or a famous entertainer are about to come to town there are various people that come ahead of them to promote their imminent arrival and pave the way for them. The divine wisdom of God was well aware of this need in the art of catching the attention of humankind. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, it was just a short six months after John, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah, was born in the hill country near Nazareth. The lives of these two cousins were basically sealed together . . .
“Pregnant Pauses” An Advent Reflection based on a paraphrase of Luke 1:26-56 delivered on the Third Sunday in Advent, December 14, 2025, by the Rev. Alison Andrea Young at the First Congregational UCC of Onekama, Michigan.
Advent, among other things, is both figuratively and literally, a pregnant pause. Not just a time of shopping, making wreaths, attending craft fairs, walking in Sleighbell Parades and attending concerts, as well as lighting the candles on the Advent wreath each Sunday in church. Advent is a time in which Mary “great with child” struggled, haltingly to accompany Joseph on a trip of about 90 miles back to his hometown in order to be counted in a governmentally mandated census—probably having to take frequent rest stops and worrying and wondering if she would make it to their destination before the baby she was carrying demanded to be born.. . .
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