Can These Bones Live?
February 1, 2015 – Rev. Jan Hryniewicz Text: Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14 & Mark 1: 21 – 28 While preparing for a Sunday such as this, I debated what to offer as a message. It’s Super Bowl Sunday, the super semi-annual church meeting and mid winter in snowy Maine which often means an epidemic […]
Beyond Belief
January 25, 2015 – Rev. Jan Hryniewicz Text: Genesis 28: 10 – 22 ( Silf paraphrase), John 14: 15 – 21 Father O’Malley was driving down to Boston when he got stopped for speeding in Medford. The highway patrol officer smelled alcohol on the priest’s breath and then saw an empty wine bottle on the […]
Feeling the Spirit
January 18, 2015 Text: Micah 6: 6 – 8 & Luke 4: 14 – 19 – Rev. Jan Hryniewicz It seems that our nation is alive with the football spirit…as people on both coasts get more and more psyched for the final play-off games later today. Screaming fans, decked out in outrageous team garb flock […]
Moments of Radical Amazement
January 11, 2015 – Rev. Jan Hryniewicz Text: Isaiah 6: 1 – 8 & Psalm 139: 7 – 10 A smart-alec seminarian thought he had pulled a good one. On the final exam, which asked students to delve into the complexities of theology, he simply wrote: “Only God knows the answers to these questions!” Grading […]
Christmas Eve – 2014
Reflection by Rev. Jan Hryniewicz Text: Luke 2: 1 – 20 Emmanuel means “God with us”. Here, where myth and history intersect, God stands in our midst and we are none of us too poor, too broken, too sinful, too rejected by the world to know God’s glory. In the very depth of our humanity […]
Feeling the Glow
December 21, 2014 – Rev. Jan Hryniewicz Text: Isaiah 9: 2 – 7 & John 1: 1 – 5 & 14 Snoopy of Charlie Brown comic strip fame is typing a novel. He begins his story, “It was a dark and stormy night …” Snoopy always starts his stories in this manner. Lucy looks at […]
Being Grateful
November 23, 2014 – Rev. Jan Hryniewicz Psalm 100 & Philippians 1: 3 – 11 Because I was born on Thanksgiving a few years ago, there has been a turkey at my birthday party almost every year. ( more than one many times!!!!!) It’s not that I resent sharing my special day with the tasty […]
Things that Go Bump in the Night
October 26, 2014 Text: Isaiah 41: 10 & Matthew 14: 22 – 32 Remember back a few years to your childhood. I know , for some of us that is ancient history! I remember the game “truth, dare, consequence, promise or repeat.” Remember that!? We used to dare each other to do scary things. Run […]
The Questions that Matter
Text: Matthew 7: 1 – 5 & John 8: 1 – 11 Did you know that according to biblical scholars, Jesus is asked 183 questions in the gospel narratives and directly answered only 3!? Interesting! His plan, I conclude was to provoke the thinking of his disciples, to encourage contemplation and inner conviction. Our […]
What you see is what you get!
October 12, 2014 Text: Exodus 3: 1 – 12 & Matthew 13: 15 – 17 There is an ancient story about a botanist who was studying the heather bell found in the highlands of Scotland. While looking through his microscope at this beautiful flower, he was approached by a shepherd who asked what he […]