by Stacey Hilliard | Oct 31, 2021 | Sermons
On Thursday night I heard the hooo-hooo of an owl outside the window at the parsonage. I don’t remember hearing an owl here before, and it got me to thinking about them. Since owls are nocturnal, some see the owl’s yellow eyes as a sign that the sun lives through the owl at night, even as it descends in a quick and precise silence to scoop up unsuspecting prey. In that way, owls bring both day and night, life and death, as they call out hooo-hooo into the unseen. The mythology of the owl includes guiding the dead to the afterlife. Life and death, sun and dark, together. That is the owl.
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by Stacey Hilliard | Oct 17, 2021 | Sermons
Back when I thought we would be in the building by now, I had a bunch of different plans for this week. God laughed at my plans, and so now our anniversary is being spread out across a number of Sundays and in a variety of forms, from retired pastors returning to preach, to our October 31 service in Wildwood Cemetery, to a celebration dinner that will happen before the end of the year where we can formally recognize our 50-year members and more.
This Sunday, we will recognize our 150th anniversary in worship by considering how God may be calling us to take the sacred parts of Crawford’s past into a future that is still unfolding. We will hear from three Crawford members about their own sense of call to their work. We’ll hear from the choir. Toward the end of the service there will be an opportunity to go into the sanctuary for a time of prayer and discernment, and at coffee hour we’ll have a fabulous anniversary cake with ice cream sundaes.
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by Anne Robertson | Oct 10, 2021 | Sermons
Those of us in religious professions are always asked about our “sense of call.” How did we come to know and experience God calling us into our various forms of ministry? But the focus on religious vocations has often led people to assume that God doesn’t call people to other types of service or professions. I believe God is calling each and every person as well as the churches, organizations, and corporate entities of which they are a part.
So in this sermon we’re going to begin a conversation about calling and vocation both inside and outside the church. How can we know it’s God’s voice on the phone? Is there some kind of purpose for my life; and, if so, how do I figure that out? What might God be calling Crawford to be and do as we bring our individual callings together for the greater good?
Your phone is ringing. There’s a notification for you on the God app. Join us to explore the ways God might be trying to help you find fulfillment and purpose.
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by Anne Robertson | Sep 12, 2021 | Sermons
This week, the nation is focused on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack, which remains the deadliest terror attack in world history. Across the two towers, the Pentagon, and the Pennsylvania field, 2977 people were killed and more than 6,000 others were injured. We have only just now ended the war that attack began.
But while 9/11 was a single day of terror, we are still in the grips of something infinitely worse. Over 650,000 Americans have died from Covid since the start of the pandemic. Over 32,000 have died in the US just in the past 28 days. And the war on science, truth, and compassion that has ensued is merely in its infancy.
This Sunday we are going to talk about the ways that grief and traumatic events dismember us and how we can heal through re-membering instead of merely recalling those wounds. When done with love, we can re-member the past in a way that creates a strong foundation for moving into the future, whether we have been dismembered by events in our world or in our individual lives. It takes us all, together. Will you join me?
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by Anne Robertson | Aug 29, 2021 | Sermons
People ask questions related to heaven and/or hell, so I try address them with the only time Jesus gives us any detailed picture of how such judgments are made. The Bible passage is probably familiar to many of you; it’s Matthew 25: 31-46.
While we’ll focus on those verses, passages of the Bible should always be read in context. Jesus has not been in a good mood since his triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Matthew 21; and between there and the end of chapter 25, there is a lot of anger and parables that end with a good bit of woe-unto-you and gnashing of teeth. So, if you want to prep for this sermon, read from Matthew 21 through Matthew 26:4 to get a sense of the broader context.
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by Anne Robertson | Aug 22, 2021 | Sermons
On this particular Sunday we welcomed two people into membership at Crawford and had the enormous privilege of baptizing their daughter. This provides not only a wonderful time of celebration (cake at coffee hour!) but also an opportunity to consider what we believe is happening at the time of a baptism.
As you watch you can think more deeply about this foundational sacrament of the church.
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