Month: August 2026

August 30, 2026  Proper 17  First Congregational Church UCC, Brimfield, MA

Matthew 16:21-23  –  From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Romans 12:9-21 – Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persever in prayer. Contribute to the needs of hte saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen,.

Deut 21:15-17 When a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and they both give him sons, but the firstborn is from the hated wife, at the time he divides the inheritance with his sons he must not treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, cutting out the son of the hated wife, who is the actual firstborn. No, he must acknowledge the inheritance rights of the real firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double share of the inheritance: that son is the first proof of his virility; the rights of the firstborn belong to him.  

Once upon a time there was a family that was facing a hard decision.  The father had two sons, each of them the son of a different wife.  Now as it happened, he loved one of his wives, but he hated the other one.  No, I don’t know why he married her, but even though the story’s old, I think we all know how easy it is to end up hating someone you married in good faith and love – so skip all the whys here, and just know there was not peace in the family.  As you can imagine, he wanted to make the wife he loved happy, and so he thought to make her son his heir, to give him the best of all he had.

But the son of the hated woman was his first-born son.  That son was the one whom custom said was the heir.

This is the sort of conflict that lies behind any number of murder mysteries or beach reads… even though today we don’t have two wives at the same time, we still have those kinds of conflicts that are played out upon our children – and the children of the preferred wife maybe get better clothes, better schooling, more appreciation, even more love.

And who’s there to say that’s wrong?  In the old story, right from the book of Deuteronomy in the Bible, it’s Moses who steps in, as he’s writing the laws for the Hebrew people, and says, it just doesn’t matter that you don’t love your firstborn’s mother, what matters is that he’s your oldest son, and the right thing is to make him your heir.  Yes, it’s hard to do this, and the other wife will be upset, but you can do this hard thing, because it’s the right thing to do.

You can do this hard thing.

Jesus knew that doing the right thing was often hard, sometimes even dangerous.. when he told the disciples that he was going to go to Jerusalem, knowing that the religious and Roman authorities would see him as a blaspheming rebel, he wasn’t surprised that Peter said “don’t do that… they’ll arrest you, maybe kill you”.  And it’s so quoted that we forget how stark it was when Jesus replied, “Get out, stop tempting me like you’re the Devil… you’re focusing on the wrong end of things.”

Do you see that Jesus knew he had to do that hard thing, and just like the loved wife, Peter was asking him to avoid the conflict, take up the easy answer and retreat back to the boonies, where he’d be safe, just quietly healing the sick, instead of sticking out, trying to save the world.

Safety or the hard thing?

Comfort or the hard thing?

All of this is to say that following the Jesus Way is not always easy, not always fun.  This past week, I went to lunch on two days with clergy colleagues; we had wonderful conversations and it was just the most fun. 

The week wasn’t all fun; I also talked with a colleague who’s having to help his own family make decisions about his hospitalized father – he says his father’s clearly dying, but his mom, who is an alcoholic, won’t talk about anything, and the rest of the family is angry at the hospital for not saying things are going to improve.  Sometimes life is just filled with hard things.

It’s in those hard times that we most need the clear voice of people like Moses and Paul.  When we don’t have the strength or the wisdom to do this hard thing, there are the words to help us find the path.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.  Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord.  Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.  Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly;  do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God,  for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”  Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

You all know this; I’ve seen you living it out.  I’m just reminding you today that this is the hard path, not the path of weaklings.  It takes strength to turn our hurt, our anger, our fear to the positive side.  It takes courage to turn away from throwing hate after hate.

And it doesn’t mean pretending that the bad isn’t happening, we’re not talking about gaslighting ourselves.  Hard is hard.  But it’s also, or it can be, very powerful.  Look again at Paul’s last line – “if your enemies are hungry, feed them… heap coals of fire on their heads”.  There is enormous power in following this hard way – not just because we refuse to take the easy path, but because in our hard way, we’re standing up for, fighting for, this better way.

People say to us, oh you’re so good to be doing that, and they have no idea how hard our choices have been; if we’re doing it, they must think we have some magic power to overcome.  But Moses and Paul make it clear, doing this hard thing is never easy, sometimes backbreaking, heartbreaking.  What they offer us is no magic word to make it easy; they offer us the truth that this is a trial worth taking. 

With God’s help, you can do this hard thing.

Amen.

© 2026, Virginia H. Child

August 23, 2026  Proper 16 First Congregational Church UCC, Brimfield, MA

Music Sunday

Romans 12:1-8

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. 

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.  

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 

For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 

We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Today’s reading, from the Letter to the Romans, is one of the most familiar, packed full of the kinds of lines that end up as quotes on samplers, or on the sides of mugs.  I don’t know if any of us here today used to listen to Garrison Keillor’s old show, Prairie Home Companion, but he often recited verses 1 and 2 … present your bodies as a living sacrifice… do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind… reminding us that he’d memorized those verses as a child in Sunday school.  

But, since Keillor’s show ended some ten years ago, today’s reading probably isn’t at the top of any of our minds, and that’s a shame, because it tells us something really important, something that can add enormous satisfaction to our lives.

Actually, it’s not some thing – just one thing – but a number of things… the letter to the Romans, as we’ve been discovering all summer, is packed full of hopeful insights and good advice, helping us dive with more confidence into our faith in Jesus Christ.

So, what does this lesson say to us?  How does it help us live good lives?  

First of all, it affirms that we are acceptable to God, now, as we are.  God is not standing off, waiting until we are good enough, or until we’re wealthy enough, or successful enough.  Paul tells us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Next, Paul tells us that when we do that, when we present ourselves to God, we will grow, become better, be transformed into God’s full vision of human life.  In other words, God loves us as we are, and love us so much that God offers us an even better way.

Being acceptable to God doesn’t make us better than others; after all, one of the basic truths of our faith is that God accepts everyone, where we are, as we are. At the same time, we’re supposed to know ourselves well enough that we know what we’re good at and what needs more work.   

And then there’s the final piece of Good News – we are not going to be good at everything.  And that’s ok, too.  

What you are, is good enough.

You have your gifts, others here have other gifts, together we become more than the sum of our parts.

Knowing what enough means is important these days, when our world is filled with the idea that no one is good enough, or perfection is the only acceptable goal, or even that you can never have enough; you always need to be more, to have more, to do more.

That’s just not true.

Just the other day, I was leading a meeting (I’m now the Moderator of my Association) and we were talking about putting on a 2027 version of the training event we did this past spring – some of you came to it.  

One of our Board members, thinking over what it’d mean for him to be a part of the planning committee, said he just wasn’t going to be able to join the committee.  He’s recently married; he and his new wife have a combined eight children to visit (they’re both retired); and they want to do traveling together.  “I just don’t want to do that.”  To his astonishment, we turned to him and said, “that’s fine.  Everyone can’t do everything, and you need to spend time with your family.”  We do not all need to do everything.  Together, we can be enough.  

We can be enough.

This is especially important when we live in a world where we no longer have unlimited resources, hordes of people lining up to volunteer, gobs of money to buy what ever we want.

Because ENOUGH  is not just about God loving us; it is also about our daily lives.  ENOUGH is a way of life.

Enough is about big things – no one needs a 5000 square foot house for themselves alone.  Enough is about small things – no one needs 2 bags of Oreos to watch a movie.  

Sometimes, what’s enough is clear and easy to see.  But sometimes, it’s hard to know when you have enough.  Enough for me, might not be enough for you.  You might have a washing machine right there in the home and I have to take all my laundry down the street.  Enough clothes?  Different for each of us, I bet.

So we’re all called to have enough, to be enough, and to pay attention so we know when we have that enough.  Because, you know, Christian faith is never just about us; it’s also always about our community.  

Feeding folks at Dismas House isn’t an optional extra for us – it’s one of the ways we live out our call to help make sure folks have enough.  The school supplies we are collecting right now will not only provide enough physical stuff, but in the giving, we are offering support enough to our teachers.  Enough isn’t always food or pencils, or even knit hats in the winter – all of which we provide.  Sometimes enough is a smile to harried parents in the grocery store.  Sometimes enough is a phone call to a housebound friend.  Sometimes enough is a lot of something, and sometimes it’s the smallest thing around.  

Building on our firm knowledge that God loves us as we are, that in God’s eyes we are enough, we are called to work so that everyone in our world has enough – enough food, enough clothing, enough support, enough acceptance.

Everything we do as a church is about helping people have enough.  That’s our purpose.  That’s our life.  That’s our world.

We are enough, in God’s eyes, we are enough.

Amen.

© 2026, Virginia H. Child

August 9, 2026  Proper 14  First Congregational Church of Brimfield UCC

Matthew 14:22-33:  Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Now, once again, Jesus tries for some alone time, after the crowds are dismissed…he’d sent the disciples on ahead, crossing the Sea of Galilee by boat.  Just for comparison, at just under 65 square miles, the Sea of Galilee is just a little larger than Sebago Lake in Maine which is about 50 square miles.  

That’s a whole different kind of lake than the ones around here.  Webster Lake for instance, is only about 2 ½ square miles, and you’re pretty much never out of sight of the shore on both sides of the lake. I used to live on the shore of Sebago, and I can tell you that it’s common to not be able to see the far side of the lake, even in good weather. 

All of this is to say that the Sea of Galilee was indeed an inland sea, as is Sebago, as are the Great Lakes.  So, don’t imagine something small and reasonably tame like Webster Lake.  (by the way, in Luke, this body of water is called the Lake of Gennesaret – that’s its Greek name.  But it’s still the same lake, still the same size, still a pretty good sized body of water.)

Of course, the purpose of the story is not to get us all up to speed on the names of “greatest lakes of Palestine”.  That’s background info and it’s here just to help us picture what’s going on.  

Jesus was undoubtedly tired, and needed some time to himself, so he’d sent the disciples ahead on what turned out to be a turbulent boat ride, like going to the Vineyard when the sea is up, and the waves crash over the bow of the ferryboat.  Matthew tells us that after a whole night of turmoil, the disciples looked out and saw what they thought was a ghost, an apparition – because it couldn’t be anything else – they saw Jesus walking over the water to their boat.  As the story goes, once he called out to them, and they realized he was really real, they calmed down.

This is one of the sure signs that the disciples lived in a different world than we do… because I suspect that most folks these days would be less disturbed by a vision of their brother walking on the water, that the actual reality.  There is something really unreal about the whole idea of walking on the water for us… but in their time, it made sense.  It even made sense to them when Peter, trusting in Jesus’ call, stepped out of the boat and was able to walk on the water himself…. Until he began to doubt the reality of his experience, and then he began to sink beneath the waves.

Again, we’re not intended to get lost in the bizarreness of the story, because the walking is not the point; it’s the illustration.  Christians aren’t known for their ability to walk on water and this story isn’t a lesson in how to literally do that.  It’s a lesson, though, about trust.  That’s where it’s importance lays.

Trust is what this is about.  The disciples trust that their teacher was really walking towards them.  Peter’s trust in Jesus’ call.  And most especially, Jesus’ response when Peter began to sink.  Because then, Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.  

Trust is thin on the ground these days.  People don’t trust their physicians, or better, the staff at the doctor’s office, to be on their side.  We assume that people with whom we disagree are out to get us.  I’ve spoken before about the profound distrust I see in online comments about the government of my home city, East Providence… when it appears that the only thing our mayor has done wrong is to be a member of the wrong party.  It’s not just East Providence, Rhode Island.  

We’ve lost our trust in others, worse than that, we’ve lost our ability to believe in trust.  Ross Douthat (DEW-thut) of the New York Times, wrote this weekend:  

“I find that I’ve lost my sense of which contemporary worldview is most in need of criticism or opposition, where the good guys and bad guys are. Each major faction seems potentially dangerous, tempted toward the dark side in some unique way, contested or cross-pressured to a degree that makes me uncertain where the side of the angels really lies.”

Here’s the comforting news:  in a world where even the experts struggle to know who and how to trust, we have one abiding truth in which we can trust:

When we are floundering, when we are about to be overwhelmed by the stormy seas of life, Jesus will immediately reach out to us.  The storm may continue, the winds may howl, but we will not be alone; we can trust in Jesus to be our companion.

And it doesn’t stop there.  We can not only count on Jesus to stand by our side when we know we are in need, we can count on Jesus to help us discern who and what to trust in our world.  We can count on Jesus to not leave us alone in the mess of misunderstandings, misreadings, deceptions and outright lies that constitute our larger world.  

Now, don’t think I’m just talking about one side or another of any of the fights before us.  Everyone exaggerates, people on every side misrepresent themselves.  Saturday’s NY Times ran an article fact-checking senatorial campaigns in Maine, Michigan and Ohio – and proved that candidates on every side can misrepresent truth.

But listening to Jesus, we are pointed back to the eternal truths that build strong community, build a healthy world:  be just, practice kindness, live mercy.

Tim Cotton, a retired Bangor, Maine, policeman puts it this way:  Keep your hands to yourself, leave other people’s things alone, and be kind to one another.

In other words, be the kind of trustworthy person we know Jesus to be; reflect to the world, the goodness we have experienced in his life.  

We live in a world where trust is hard to find; our call is to be those trustworthy people who bring trust back to our communities.  Just as Jesus has been trust for you, be trust for your world.

Amen.

© 2026, Virginia H. Child