Worship: Sermons

For Protestant Christians, the sermon has historically been of central importance to worship. A sermon is not simply a speech, or even a religious speech. Rather, the sermon bears witness to the word that God is speaking through the Biblical readings to this particular congregation at this particular moment in time. In some sense, the sermon opens up the texts so that the whole gathered congregation can see in them and through them the realities of life and the reality of God and God's grace.

Here at Second Congregational United Church of Christ, each week's sermon is based upon one or more of the Biblical readings suggested for that week by a schedule called "the lectionary." For more information on this, see the Bible Readings section of our site.

Previous Sermons at Second Congregational United Church of Christ:

• February 14, 2010 - "Humanity Is Pretty Cool " by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• February 7, 2010 - "Leaving It All Behind" by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• January 17, 2010 - "Hungering and Thirsting for More" by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• January 10, 2010 - "Grace, Baptism, and the Holy Spirit " by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• December 13, 2009 - "Right Where We Are " by The Rev. Matthew Emery

• December 6, 2009 - "Dear Santa... " by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• November 22 , 2009 - "The Genesis Machine" by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• November 15 , 2009 - "We Are the Church:  Sharing Enough " by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• November 8 , 2009 - "Faith in the Future" by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• June 21, 2009 - "Building a Community of Reconciliation " by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• May 31, 2009 - "The Holy Spirit Explained:  Sort Of " by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• May 24, 2009 - "Blessing" by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• March 15 , 2009 - "Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God? " by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• February 1 , 2009 - "A Message for Christians in Difficult Economic Times" by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• January 25, 2009 - "Islam" by The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• January 18 , 2009 - "This Is the Call that Never Ends " by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
• September 14, 2008 - "Can't We All Just Get Along?" by the Rev. Matthew Emery
  24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr A - Genesis 50:15-21; Matthew 18:21-35
• July 13, 2008 - "Something a little 'Seed-y'" by the Rev. Matthew Emery
  15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr A - Matthew 13:1-9
• July 6, 2008 - "Come to Me" by the Rev. Matthew Emery
  14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr A - Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
• June 29, 2008 - "Fearing God" by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
  13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr A - Genesis 33:1-14
• June 15, 2008 - "We Are the Ones the World’s Been Waiting For" by the Rev. Matthew Emery
  11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr A - Exodus 19:2-8a; Matthew 9:35–10:8
• May 18, 2008 - "Sacred Conversation" by the Rev. Matthew Emery
  Trinity Sunday, Yr A - Genesis 1:1--2:4a and Matthew 28:16-20
• May 11, 2008 - "Firestorm" by the Rev. Matthew Emery
  Pentecost, Yr A- Acts 2:1-21 and 1 Corinthians 12:3-13
• April 27, 2008 - "I Will Not Leave You Orphaned" by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
  6th Sunday of Easter, Yr A - 1 Peter 3:13-22 and John 14:15-21
• April 20, 2008 - "Not Just a House, But a Home" by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
  5th Sunday of Easter, Yr A - Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 and John 14:1-14
• April 13, 2008 - "Gatekeeping" by the Rev. Matthew Emery
  4th Sunday of Easter, Yr A - Acts 2:42-47 and John 10:1-11
• April 6, 2008 - "Real Presence" by the Rev. Dr. J. Micael Solberg
  3rd Sunday of Easter, Yr A - Luke 24:13-35
• March 30, 2008 - "It Was Impossible" by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
  2nd Sunday of Easter, Yr A - Acts 2:14a, 22-32 and 1 Peter 1:3-9
• March 23, 2008 - "Well, This Is Different" by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
  Easter Day, Yr A - Matthew 28:1-20
• March 20, 2008 - Sermon for Maundy Thursday by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg & the Rev. Matthew Emery
  Maundy Thursday - John 13:1-17, 31b-35
• March 9, 2008 - "So, You Really Do Love Me?" by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
  5th Sunday in Lent, Yr A - John 11:1-53
• March 2, 2008 - "Surely We Are Not Blind, Are We?" by the Rev. Matthew Emery
  4th Sunday in Lent, Yr A - John 9:1-41
• February 24, 2008 - "Come and Get It" by the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg
  3rd Sunday in Lent, Yr A - Romans 5:1-11 and John 4:5-42
• February 17, 2008 - "The Place Between the Lines" by the Rev. Matthew C. Emery
  (This sermon was occassioned by the February 14th fatal shootings at Northern Illinois University.)
  2nd Sunday in Lent, Yr A - Psalm 121