Community Congregational United Church of Christ

The Face of God

Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things.
Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God.
Every creature is a word of God.
—Meister Eckhart

February 9, 2020
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

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What is done in the world is transformed into a reality in heaven, and the reality in heaven passes back into the world. By reason of this reciprocal relation, the love in the world passes...Read more

Beyond Tolerance

The quickest way to lose your humanity is to tolerate the intolerable.

—William Sloane Coffin
January 26, 2020
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

Sermon text: Beyond Tolerance

Audio not available this week.Read more

Self Care for Activists

The great illusion of leadership is to think that someone can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.

― Henri J.M. Nouwen
January 19, 2020
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

Sermon text: Self...Read more

Perhaps

In the quietness of this place, surrounded by the all-pervading presence of the Holy, my heart whispers: Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in good times or in tempests, I...Read more

Stop the War

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the sity, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-but not it is hidden from your...Read more

Herod

God has put down the mighty from their thrones,

and exalted those of low degree;

God has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich God has sent empty away.

—Mary’s Song, Luke 1:52-53
December 29, 2019
Rev....Read more

Authentic Happiness

Such people ask, “How can I be happy?” This is the wrong question, because without the distinction between pleasure and gratification it leads all too easily to a total reliance on shortcuts, to a life...Read more

Beyond a Fear-Based Life

When we live in fear, we focus all our attention on the point of danger and lose our capacity to find any courage, security or peace within ourselves. We become so obsessed by what threatens...Read more

The Road to Bethlehem

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
—W. B. Yeats

December 1, 2019
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

Sermon text: The Road to Bethlehem

Audio:

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This I Believe

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
– Jean Jacques Rousseau
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
– Mother Teresa
Kindness is like snow, it...Read more

Blessing

November 17, 2019
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

Sermon text: Blessing

Audio:

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In Our Own Words

November 10, 2019
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

Sermon text: In Our Own Words

Audio:

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Original Blessing

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

—Thich Nhat Hanh
November 3, 2019
The Rev. Dr. Robin...Read more

Do Not Be Ashamed

Jesus’ insight was that it does not lie within the legitimate power of one human being to shame another, to cast that person out of the company of God and humanity.

—Stephen Patterson
October 27, 2019
Rev. Steve...Read more

The Healing Present

You become happy by contact with reality. That’s what brings happiness, a moment-by-moment contact with reality. That’s where you’ll find God; that’s where you’ll find happiness.

—Anthony De Mello
October 20, 2019
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

Sermon text: The...Read more

The 39th Roger Williams Symposium

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God Calls Us To Be Justice Advocates—Together!

October 13, 2019

Guest speaker: Paul Benz, Executive Director of Faith Action Network

No sermon text available this week.

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Attention

October 6, 2019
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

Sermon text: Attention

Audio:

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Contemplation and Action

I founded the Center for Action and Contemplation, hoping to meet a need I witnessed while working with activists. Too many people I knew were burning out and becoming disillusioned, or their activism was motivated...Read more

Learning to See

Teach people to see.
-William Ellery Channing

September 22, 2019
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

Sermon text: Learning to See

Audio:
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The Myth of Scarcity

Forget Perfection. Asset-Based Thinking liberates you from the pointless need to strive for “perfection.” You realize that pursuit of perfection is not an asset, it’s a liability. For a change in the way you feel...Read more

Legacies We Leave and Receive

You have made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when you plant shade trees under which you know full well you will never sit.

—Elton Trueblood
September 8, 2019
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken

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Labor and Justice

The 21st General Synod reaffirms the heritage of the United Church of Christ as an advocate for democratic, participatory, and inclusive economic policies in both public and private sectors including…the responsibility of workers to organize...Read more

Equal Rites: Celebrating Gay Marriage

I will no longer act on the outside in a way that contradicts the truth that I hold deeply on the inside. I will no longer act as if I were less than the whole...Read more

Being Found

When Daisetz T. Suzuki was once asked, “What is Zen?” his answer was: “Zen is that which makes you ask the question, for the answer comes from where the question arises…”
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken
August 4,...Read more

Bon Voyage!

In sacred deed, we echo God’s suppressed chant; in loving, we intone God’s unfinished song.

—Abraham Heschel
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken
July 28, 2019

Text version: Bon Voyage

Audio of sermon: Not available this week.Read more

When Your Liberation Draws Near

People will faint from fear and foreboding… Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

—Luke 21:26, 28
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken
July 21, 2019

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The Blessing of Trials

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken
July 14, 2019

Text version: The Blessing of Trials

Audio of sermon: Not available this week.Read more

Interdependence Day

Appreciation of Interbeing
by: Thich Nhat Hanh
If you are a poet,
you will see clearly that there is a cloud
floating in this sheet of paper.
Without a cloud there will be no water;
without water the trees cannot grow;
and...Read more

No War With Iran!

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

—Jesus
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken
June 30, 2019

Text version: No War With Iran!

Audio of sermon:

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We Are Sodom Now

I strongly urge us to use the term sodomy to refer to what it really is—oppressing and otherwise not giving a damn about the poor and the immigrants.
—Roger Wolsey
Rev. Steve Van Kuiken
June 23, 2019

Text version: We...Read more