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Sermons by Hamilton - Entries written by Hamilton ThrockmortonSermon, August 28, 2010Jeremiah 2:4-13 Sometimes I wonder why I pick certain scriptures to focus on for a particular Sunday. This is one of those weeks. Most of us go to church, I imagine, because we’re looking for something uplifting, something to improve our lives,... MoreAudio/Video:
100829-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon August 22, 2010Scripture: LUKE 13:10-17 In the gospels, all sorts of stories are told by and about Jesus. There are healings and teachings and parables and exorcisms. And one of the categories of stories about Jesus is controversy stories: Jesus has it out,... MoreAudio/Video:
100822-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon June 27, 2010II KINGS 2:1-2, 6-14 “A number of years ago,” wrote the late theologian Robert McAfee Brown, “I preached in Buffalo, New York. It was a double-service situation: run through the liturgy at 9:30, have a quick cup of coffee, go to the bathroom, and... MoreAudio/Video:
100627-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon June 20, 2010 I KINGS 19:1-15A I met a little girl named Katie this week. She’s two going on three. She hopped out of her car, walked right up to me, looked me straight in the eye, and said, “I’m Katie. I’m a big girl.” Now by no one’s measure except her own is... MoreAudio/Video:
100620-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon June 13, 2010PSALM 5:1-8 Many years ago, before Mary and I were married, we took a day trip from Portland, Maine, to see the sights of Boston. We walked all around the city and finally arrived at historic Faneuil Hall and its adjacent Quincy Market, where we had... MoreAudio/Video:
100613-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon June 6, 2010I Kings 17:8-24 What a riveting and hopeful story is this tale of Elijah’s giving life to a dead boy. It’s a story with a happy ending, the kind of story we love to hear. At the same time, I find myself wondering how such a passage sounds to someone... MoreAudio/Video:
100606-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon May 23, 2010Romans 8:14-17 Early last month, a woman named Torry Hansen put her seven-year-old son on a plane and sent him back to Russia, from where she had adopted him. She says she was overwhelmed by the boy’s anger and her perception that he was “mentally... MoreAudio/Video:
052310-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon May 2, 2010REVELATION 21:1-6 It’s worth saying right from the start that no one really knows. No one knows what happens when we die. Yes, people have near-death experiences and those may be a kind of foretaste of death. But the fact is that even those who have... MoreAudio/Video:
100502-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon April 25, 2010Acts 9:36-43 When I was a student at seminary, I was invited to lunch one day, the only man, with five women. You won’t know their names, but for me, as a beginning seminarian, it was a power-packed lunch. Phyllis Trible, a great Old Testament... MoreAudio/Video:
100425-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon April 18, 2010ACTS 9:1-6 My guess is that you and I could have quite a conversation about conversions. Put us in a room together, and ask how we each became Christian. The experiences would run the gamut, I imagine. Some were born into the church and never left.... MoreAudio/Video:
100418-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon - April 4, 2010 EasterScripture: John 20:1-18 Now that is some story! For some, I realize, it may seem dull or irrelevant, the sheen worn off by too many hearings of it. For others, it may be deeply exciting or moving. For most of us, though, I’m guessing there’s... MoreAudio/Video:
100404-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon March 28, 2010LUKE 19:28-40 One of the recent ministries to spring up here at Federated is a flower ministry. Each Sunday after worship, some Angel Visitors deliver the altar flowers to people who could use a lift. With those flowers comes this card that says,... MoreAudio/Video:
100328-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon March 21, 2010PSALM 126 When I was a boy, and worshiped occasionally in the sanctuary in which I grew up, one of the few images I have of that time was how much I enjoyed hearing the congregation laugh. That joy was palpable and contagious, and it made me feel... MoreAudio/Video:
100321-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon March 14, 2010 LUKE 15:1-3, 11-32 It’s not fair—patently, obviously not fair. That’s as clear as can be. With what possible justification could we say that what the father does in this astounding parable is just? A party for the one who’s wasted everything? An... MoreAudio/Video:
100314-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon February 28, 2010Scripture: LUKE 13:31-35 In 1993, my family and I took a car trip across the country. It was a breath-taking tour of some of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring parts of this country. Starting in Rhode Island, we stopped in Cleveland and went to... MoreAudio/Video:
100228-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon February 21, 2010“STATE OF THE CHURCH” A church’s annual meeting marks a new beginning, of sorts. Officers and board and committee members are elected. Reports are given. A budget is passed. We take the church’s pulse, so to speak. So this morning I thought I’d give... MoreAudio/Video:
100221-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon February 14, 2010Scripture: MATTHEW 17:1-8 Valentine's Day When I was in high school—a boys’ school—there was a guy named Tom Robertson whom I’ll never forget. Actually, that’s not true. Tom I could forget. But he had a cousin named Nan who came to visit him once.... MoreAudio/Video:
100214-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon February 7, 2010LUKE 5:1-11 So I’ve just got to say it: why would anyone think it was appealing to tell a story in which the punch line is “they left everything and followed Jesus” (Lk. 5:11)? Couldn’t this have been said in a more palatable way: “they put... MoreAudio/Video:
02 07 10 Sermon.mp3 Sermon January 24, 2010NEHEMIAH 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Have you ever stopped to think about how odd it is that on Sundays you come to a building and listen, with a bunch of other people, to words read from an ancient book? Where else in your life does anything remotely like... MoreAudio/Video:
01 24 10.mp3 Sermon January 17, 2010ISAIAH 62:1-5 I would venture to say that no one here has been called by the same name for their whole life by everyone they knew. You may have had a childhood nickname that you dropped as you got older. Or a parent or spouse or grandchild has... MoreAudio/Video:
01 17 10.mp3 Sermon, January 10, 2010ISAIAH 43:1-7 What can you say? You’ve been in that predicament before, I’m sure. Your friend or relative suffers some terrible loss, and you wonder what in the world to say to comfort them. What do you say when someone’s spouse dies? When your... MoreAudio/Video:
January 10 2010.mp3 Sermon, December 20, 2009LUKE 1:39-55 “Why has this happened to me?” Certainly not an uncommon question. My guess is that most of us have asked it countless times. “Why did I have to get sick just now, as Christmas comes?” “Why did I lose my job just as my child started... MoreAudio/Video:
091220-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon December 13, 2009PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7; LUKE 3:7-18 So let’s talk Tiger for a moment. I know you’re sick of it—all Tiger, all the time, every magazine cover, every entertainment venue, every sports show. And I don’t mean to be adding to your misery. But when we’re... MoreAudio/Video:
December 13. 2009.mp3 Sermon December 6, 2009PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11 Two brief snapshots from my week. On Monday, I went to have my MP3 player repaired. The expert who helped me talked so fast, and at a level just enough above my understanding, that I really didn’t get what he was saying. Then,... MoreAudio/Video:
December 6 2009.mp3 Sermon November 29, 2009PSALM 25:1-10 “Wait a minute.” “Wait, wait, don’t tell me.” “Wait for it.” We wait in lines, wait in traffic, wait for the bathroom, wait for events to start. We wait for breakfast, for a Starbucks, for the server. We wait for a child to get home... MoreAudio/Video:
11.29.09.mp3 Sunday November 22, 2009II SAMUEL 23:1-7 You may have heard that a Cleveland Browns practice was delayed nearly two hours one day this week after one of the players reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. The coach immediately suspended... MoreAudio/Video:
11.22.09.mp3 Sunday November 15, 2009NOVEMBER 15, 2009 HAMILTON COE THROCKMORTON HEBREWS 10:11-14, 19-25 THE FEDERATED CHURCH, UCC When I was in my twenties, I ran five marathons. In the very first of those, on a hot July day in Maine, I reached the twenty-sixth mile and I finally just... MoreAudio/Video:
November 15 2009.mp3 Sermon November 8, 2009Scripture: MARK 12:38-44 How crazy is this, that the lectionary, the church’s series of Bible readings, gives us this well-known story of “the widow’s mite” on the Sunday after our Stewardship Sunday? Wouldn’t it have made a lot more sense if it had... MoreAudio/Video:
11.08.09.mp3 Sermon November 1, 2009Scripture: Ruth 1:1-18 I never thought of my father as a saint. That may seem like a strange thing to say. But I don’t mean it the way it may sound. It’s not that I thought of him as a sinner rather than a saint. It’s not that I thought of him as... MoreAudio/Video:
091101-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon October 25, 2009Scripture: JOB 42:1-6, 10-17 Such an uplifting text from the book of Job for today, isn’t it: “therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (42:6). Months ago, as I was planning our fall worship, I lit on that phrase as key to today’s... MoreAudio/Video:
091025-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon October 18, 2009Scripture: JOB 38:1-7 I’m picturing Leno or Letterman, Oprah or Ellen. Or maybe Dr. Phil’s the best bet. It’s the season opener, and it’s been heavily plugged by the network. Of all people, out onto the stage walks Job, who then recounts, in some... MoreAudio/Video:
091018-Sermon-HCT2.mp3 Sermon October 11, 2009Scripture: JOB 23:1-9, 16-17; PSALM 22 When Terry was a child, she had an instinctive connection to God. Prayers flowed easily from her: “Thanks for our cat Tabby. Take care of Grandma now that she’s sick. Please let me do well on the math test... MoreAudio/Video:
02 Track 02 1.mp3 Sermon October 4, 2009WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY Scripture: JOB 1:1; 2:1-10 Indonesia, as you know, suffered a massive earthquake this week. The government there says over 700 people have died, thousands more are missing, and countless others were lifted from their homes and... MoreAudio/Video:
091004-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon September 27, 2009Scripture: JAMES 5:13-20 Friday’s comic says it all. As Dagwood gets into bed, Blondie says, “I can’t believe you said a prayer to win your round of golf tomorrow. You should ask for more important things than a round of golf, you know.” “That’s a... MoreAudio/Video:
090927-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon September 20, 2009Scripture: Mark 9:30-37 A number of years ago, someone said to me, “You are really competitive!” I remember taking fierce exception to the remark. “No, I’m not!” I said adamantly. And while I insisted I wasn’t competitive, in the silent recesses of... MoreAudio/Video:
090920-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon September 13, 2009 Rally DayScripture: MARK 8:27-38 Dear Jesus, I have a bone to pick with you. I can’t tell you how bummed I am that the scripture reading for today is that passage from the story that Mark wrote about you—you know, the passage where you talk about your... MoreAudio/Video:
090913-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon August 30, 2009Scripture: SONG OF SOLOMON 2:8-13 “My early experiences with dance,” says a man named Ronald Kotzsch, “were less than satisfactory. When I was nine years old my mother sent me to Dolly Ellen’s Dance Studio. There I sacrificed six sunny Thursday... MoreAudio/Video:
090830-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon August 23, 2009Scripture: John 6:56-69 So what is it with those disciples, anyway? Here comes Jesus, handing them an incredible gift, and a number of them just run in the other direction. He offers them something precious, and they say, ‘No thanks. I’ll pass.’... MoreAudio/Video:
090823-Sermon_HCT.mp3 Sermon June 21, 2009Scripture: II CORINTHIANS 6:1-13; MARK 4:35-41 Last Sunday afternoon, a large contingent of Federated people joined the Rev. Judy Bagley-Bonner for her installation as pastor and teacher of Bainbridge Community United Church of Christ. It was a... MoreAudio/Video:
090621-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon June 14, 2009Scripture: MARK 4:26-34 OK, here’s where I get hung up: it’s on the words “of itself.” You don’t even notice that phrase the first time you hear it or see it. It’s so innocuous. Now, though, when I look at the passage we heard a moment ago from... MoreAudio/Video:
090614-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon June 7, 2009Scripture: ISAIAH 6:1-8 Today, as much as preaching, I want to do some teaching. I want to lay out some things about the Trinity and about the passage from Isaiah that we read earlier. It may not be everyone’s need, but I have a sense that among a... MoreAudio/Video:
090607-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon May 31, 2009Scripture: ACTS 2:1-21; ROMANS 8:22-27 I sometimes wonder what it is that brings you here on Sunday morning. What is it that makes you get up on a morning you could sleep in, and gather the children together, and, including travel, spend an hour and... MoreAudio/Video:
090531-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon May 24, 2009Scripture: JOHN 17:6-19 Here’s the scene: you’re sitting in a meeting at work, and one of your co-workers suggests a direction for the next several months. You think the plan is nuts, and you feel a need to say so. But you also take the scriptures... MoreAudio/Video:
090524-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon May 10, 2009Scripture: I JOHN 4:7-21 The most commonly used word in the English language—can you guess it?—is the word “the.” I’ve used it four times already. It’s followed in close order by “of,” “to,” “and,” and “a.” “The” is unavoidable enough that it... MoreAudio/Video:
090510-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon May 3, 2009Scripture: Psalm 23, John 10:11-18 Sheep, of course, have the reputation of being inordinately stupid. This is not a good thing for congregations stuck with this popular and enduring image of being “the flock” following the shepherd. Sheep, we... MoreAudio/Video:
090503-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon April 26, 2009Scripture: LUKE 24:36B-48 There are all kinds of words and images that Jesus either used, or that we can imagine Jesus using, to tell us what he expected of us: servants, ministers, friends, lovers, caregivers. I’m sure you can add your own. So it’s... MoreAudio/Video:
090426-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon April 12, 2009 EasterScripture: MARK 16:1-8 I have an alarmingly clear memory of the only time I ever went to Disney World. During college, several friends and I went to Florida for spring break. While we were there, they all wanted to ride Space Mountain. I was saner... MoreAudio/Video:
090412-Sermon-HCT Easter.mp3 Sermon March 29, 2009Scripture: John 12:20-33 “We wish to see Jesus,” say these strangers from another land. That, in a sense, is the whole endeavor of faith. It’s not just ancient Greeks, in this morning’s gospel reading, searching for the holy one; it’s also people... MoreAudio/Video:
090329-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon March 22, 2009Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice—not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is... MoreAudio/Video:
090322-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon March 15, 2009I Corinthians 1:18-25 “Why didn’t God cure my mother’s cancer?” asks the questioner. Or “Why doesn’t God straighten out this rotten economy?” Or “How could God let something like the Holocaust happen?” Questions that regularly rise to the surface,... MoreAudio/Video:
0903150-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon March 8, 2009Scripture: Mark 8:31-38 When I was just out of college, I was working a rather menial job, and I thought I needed to do something more worthwhile with some of my time. So I went to the Boston chapter of Amnesty International and asked them what I... MoreAudio/Video:
090308-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon February 22, 2009Scripture: MARK 9:2-9 You know something about my life in the last couple of months so I won’t belabor it. Just before Christmas, my father came close to dying, only to last for a while longer. Finally, on January 3, he died. Then, a couple of weeks... MoreAudio/Video:
090222-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon January 25, 2009Scripture: MARK 1:14-20 Here’s the scene: a man sat at a metro station in Washington, D.C. one day and started to play the violin. It was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush... MoreAudio/Video:
090125-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon January 18, 2009Scripture: I SAMUEL 3:1-10; JOHN 1:43-51 One day a man sets out to go ice fishing. He decides to cut a hole in the ice when a booming voice from above says, “There are no fish there.” So he moves to another area, and begins to cut another hole in... MoreAudio/Video:
090118-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon January 11, 2009Scripture: GENESIS 1:1-5; MARK 1:4-11 I know it won’t surprise you if I tell you that the only thing that’s really on my mind this morning is my father’s death. So my intent is to tell you something of what these last three weeks have been like for... More Sermon November 30, 2008Scripture: ISAIAH 64:1-9; I CORINTHIANS 1:3-9 As Advent sounds its first bell this morning, I’m reminded of that Southwest Airlines ad on TV, in which the customer is greeted by the friendly attendant at the terminal, and then, as soon as he asks... MoreAudio/Video:
113008-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon November 23, 2008Scripture: PSALM 100; MATTHEW 25:31-46 Our dear friend Judy Bagley-Bonner forwarded to me an e-mail this week. The message contains a series of photos of what appear to be dueling signs outside two churches in some unnamed town. The first sign,... MoreAudio/Video:
081123-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon November 16, 2008Scripture: MATTHEW 25:14-30 Maybe you’ve heard the story of the farmer who called the office of the minister one day asking to see “the Head Hog at the trough.” The receptionist said, “Sir, if you’re talking about our beloved Minister, you may call... MoreAudio/Video:
081116-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon November 9, 2008Scripture: MATTHEW 25:1-13 Now that’s a bracing, sobering story. What a harsh, even repulsive feel it has to it. Whatever happened to the kinder, gentler Jesus we adore, the God who inspires us to sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know”! Here, half are... MoreAudio/Video:
081109-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon November 2, 2008Scripture: I THESSALONIANS 2:9-13 A number of years ago, a church member put me onto the comic strip “Zits,” which, as many of you know, is an acutely perceptive and funny story of the adventures of a teenage boy named Jeremy. In this past... MoreAudio/Video:
081102-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon October 26, 2008Scripture: MATTHEW 22:34-46 There’s a story told about Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws and other popular novels. Mr. Benchley, according to this story, was once a little-known speech writer in the White House during Lyndon Johnson’s presidency.... MoreAudio/Video:
081026-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon October 12, 2008Scripture: PHILIPPIANS 4:1-9 In the course of my life, I am not one who has spent a lot of time watching the returns of the stock market. Most days, I notice what the Dow has done, but that’s about it. So it’s different for me to pay as much... MoreAudio/Video:
081012-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon October 5, 2008Scripture: EXODUS 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 You probably know the old story about Moses going up the mountain to get the laws from God, and when he comes back down, carrying these heavy tablets, he says to the people, “Well, the good news is that I got God... MoreAudio/Video:
0801005-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon September 28, 2008Scripture: PHILIPPIANS 2:1-13 Twenty years ago this past Thursday, on a warm, clear, spectacular September evening, I was ordained into the Christian ministry. It was a momentous event in my life, and I still have vivid memories of it. My mother... MoreAudio/Video:
080928-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon September 21, 2008Scripture: EXODUS 16:2-15 I’m guessing you know the scene: you finally move into the house of your dreams, and it’s not exactly what you wanted. It doesn’t get enough sun, or the basement leaks, or the cell phone service stinks. Or maybe it’s this:... MoreAudio/Video:
080921-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon September 14, 2008Scripture: EXODUS 14:19-31 EXPERIENCE OF RACE This morning, I want to talk about my experience of race. My experience of being a white boy and man interacting with others of different races. I’m less interested, today, in doing a sociological or... MoreAudio/Video:
080914-Sermon-HCT.mp3 Sermon September 7, 2008 Rally DayScripture: MATTHEW 18:15-20 What a great day this is—this place is so full of spirit as we gather and commit ourselves again to this place we call “church”! “Church”: it’s an odd word. The Greek word for church, ekklesia, from which we get our word... MoreAudio/Video:
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Sermons by Hamilton by
This blog archives sermons delivered by Rev. Hamilton Coe Throckmorton Recent Entries - Sermon, August 28, 2010
- Sermon August 22, 2010
- Sermon June 27, 2010
- Sermon June 20, 2010
- Sermon June 13, 2010
- Sermon June 6, 2010
- Sermon May 23, 2010
- Sermon May 2, 2010
- Sermon April 25, 2010
- Sermon April 18, 2010
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