Sermon recordings from the Old South Church in Boston, an open and affirming UCC congregation (www.oldsouth.org). http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons en-us ℗ & © 2009 Old South Church The Old South Church in Boston The Old South Church in Boston brings you its weekly dynamic and inspirational sermons, straight from the pulpit of the most historic United Church of Christ (UCC) church in the United States, gathered in 1669. For more details on our program, mission, and history, please see our webpage at www.oldsouth.org Old South Church communications@oldsouth.org Sun, 7 Mar 2010 16:30:00 -0500 Sun, 7 Mar 2010 16:30:00 -0500 "Ho! Ho!" The bright cry rises above the commotion of the Market. "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Sun, 7 Mar 2010 16:30:00 -0500 "Of all the images he could of used. Of all the Biblical animals out there, he could have used the Eagle of Exodus; he could have used the Lion of Judah; he could have used the leopard that runs so fast and gets his prey in Josiah. All these animals, he could have used. But he chose the Mother Hen of Isaiah." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Elizabeth Myer Boulton) Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:00:00 -0500 "The First Sunday of Lent always puts me in a good mood. . . The word Lent comes from the old English word, "Lengthen". . . . Have you noticed the days lengthening?. . . . Spring Cleaning, that's best two word definition of Lent I know: getting your affairs in order, letting go of what you need to let go of, getting your priorities straight, embracing what you need to embrace. . . . Now, Evangelism, there's a word. . . . Evangelism is the bearing of good news. That's what the word means." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Matthew Myer Boulton) Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:40:00 -0500 "Headline: Otter mistaken for drowning snowmobiler. True story. It came over the wires yesterday. . . . Headline: The disciple whom Jesus loved reclined next to him. True story. Gospel truth! It's in John's Gospel." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:30:00 -0500 "...there is no other church so responsible for the establishment and the shaping of this nation in its earliest days than Old South Church in Boston. There is no church more responsible for this nation's quest for freedom and democracy than Old South Church -- no other church whose members and ministers played such key roles in the crucial conversations, deliberations, actions and founding documents that birthed a new nation." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 8 Feb 2010 12:30:00 -0500 "Among the obscurer branches of late antique and medieval theological speculation is the quote-unquote "science" of angelology. Christian tradition, plus a fair amount of oral tradition and imaginative speculation . . . has it that the angelic population of heaven is organized into nine groupings, or choirs, of angels. Each choir has its own rank, purpose, physical (or at least visual) attributes, and dignity." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Quinn G. Caldwell) Mon, 1 Feb 2010 13:30:00 -0500 "Alone... alone, in his television studio, he can say almost anything he wants . . . He can spew venom and he can make up facts. If I were to say the sort of things he says, you would walk out or stand up and turn your backs. And so you should." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:30:00 -0500 "The Christenson Cross is one of the compelling features of this sanctuary. It was dedicated in 1990 to the memory of a beloved minister of this church: Bob Christenson. . . The artist who was commissioned to design the Cross, John McConnell, first wanted to get the size right. He built a cardboard model. . . when the model was hoisted up to hang from the rafters, it looked puny, laughable. . . dwarfed by the space around it." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0500 "Have you seen this website: People of Walmart.com? It was one of the biggest Internet phenomena of 2009." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Quinn G. Caldwell) Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:00:00 -0500 "If our eyes are windows into our souls, then what do you make of John's soul? What do you make of the soul of John of Patmos . . . John the Revelator . . . John the Divine . . . John the Seer . . . author of the Book of Revelation? What do you make of the soul of the one who sees this vision of a new heaven and a new earth?" http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:30:00 -0500 A reflection on Luke 2:22-40 and on Howard Thurman's Christmas poem, "The Work of Christmas." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Rev. June Cooper, City Mission Society) Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:30:00 -0500 "It is the single most painted story . . . ever. It has depleted more tubes of oil paint, exhausted more pastels, taken up more square feet of canvas, worn out more paint brushes, inspired and perplexed and challenged and engaged more artists, than any other scene . . . ever." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:00:00 -0500 "How did it come to this? How did it happen that Mary, mother of Jesus got tamed, domesticated? What have we done to her?" http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:00:00 -0500 "They removed the contents very carefully. . . . As they hung each ornament on the tree, they told its story." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Quinn G. Caldwell) Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:00:00 -0500 We just wanted to say, "Grandpa, Wake Up! Lift up your head, be alert, wake up!" But he didn't. http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Elizabeth Myer Boulton) Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:30:00 -0500 "Oh, it was a painful and difficult decision. Meeting after meeting they discussed it, hour after hour, year after year. They deliberated and debated, they calculated and cogitated, they opined and orated, they harangued and harrumphed. They prayed about it and their ministers preached about it. Should they or shouldn't they? Oh, it was a difficult, painful and fraught decision." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500 "In this poem from an ancient prophet we have our oldest, clearest vision of eternal life." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm gmobley@ants.edu (Gregory Mobley) Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500 "He is people-watching. Jesus is people-watching in one of the great people-watching capitals of the world: Jerusalem. . . Something catches his attention. He does a double-take. He stares. You know how it is when you see something surprising, some eye-popping curiosity: you want to share it. It is too good, or too weird, or too wonderful to keep to yourself." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 9 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0500 "There are TWO preachers at every funeral. . . Death loves to preach and never misses a funeral." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 2 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0500 "My friends, you hold your hands this morning the result of a series of visionary and principled stands . . . taken over decades by the United Church of Christ. Your hymnal reflects the high vocation of interpreting, singing, praying, proclaiming, meditating on, and acting on the fullness of the gospel. You should know our hymnals represent something special and wonderful." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (James W. Crawford) Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:30:00 -0400 "When you are first introduced to Job, you cannot help but like him. He knows himself to be blessed." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:30:00 -0400 The midwife said, "No, not 'ouch' . . . say 'OUT!' . . . I took the midwife by the shirt and said, "I can't do this anymore." . . . She said, "Look, you're DOING IT!" http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Elizabeth Myer Boulton) Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:30:00 -0400 "Have you ever wondered why churches like this are so large, with so much space, and why the ceilings are so high?"" http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:00:00 -0400 "God is good! All the time! . . . All the time! God is good! . . . I know and you know that it is often easier to say those words than to believe them in our hearts. Honestly compels us to admit that these are words of faith, not certainty. They are also, however, words of defiance, not defeat. You might say that these are fighting words, the words of one's who dare to stand with God, side with God, trust in God, even when God is illusive." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:30:00 -0400 "A rant: I am tired of earnest people telling me what I should do to save the world." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Quinn G. Caldwell) Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:30:00 -0400 "It begins in a garden, but it culminates in a city. The Bible opens in a garden. Eden is beautiful and bountiful: enormous banana leaves, great yellow trumpet flowers, Chinese hibiscus blossoms as large as dinner plates, passion flowers in electric purple." http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:30:00 -0400 "What does U.S. President John Quincy Adams have in common with the following people: the sixteenth president of Harvard, the eleventh minister of Old South, the inventor of the steam tug boat, and the composer of the hymn tune, Coronation?" http://www.oldsouth.org/sermons/sermons.htm postmaster@oldsouth.org (Nancy S. Taylor) Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:30:00 -0400