Sermons & Worship by Rev. Laurie DeMott (Page 13)

Matthew 5:1-12 One summer while I was vacationing at my family’s cottage, our lawn tractor broke down, and when the truck from the repair shop arrived to pick it up, I greeted the driver and we chatted for a few minutes as he loaded the tractor into his pickup.  Suddenly he said to me, “I see you’re a Christian.”   I quickly reviewed our conversation in my mind trying to figure out what I had said about tractor repair that…

Matthew 21:28-32 I come to you today as the Reverend Laurie DeMott, a graduate of Colgate Rochester Divinity School, and the pastor of this church since 1983, but if it weren’t for a decision I made in the fall of 1975, for one thing that I knowingly and deliberately chose to leave undone, I might be living an entirely different life. I have thought about that day in 1975 and that thing left undone for over forty years now, not…

Leviticus 19:19; Matthew 13:31-32 Did you ever have an argument with your teenager and wished there was something in the Bible to help you? Perhaps you should have turned to chapter 19 of Leviticus and read this scripture to your rebellious child: God says, “You shall revere your mother and father.” If they scowled at your advice, you could have followed your reading with Leviticus 19:32, “You shall rise before the aged, and defer to the old.” And if they…

Matthew 13:44-46 I want you to imagine for a moment that you are on the game show, “Let’s Make a Deal.” The host has just called your name to “Come on down!” and so you run down the aisle and if you are in good ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ form, you jump excitedly about in your chicken costume or whatever outlandish outfit you wore to catch the camera’s attention. Once you have calmed down, the host holds out a stack…

Introduction: The past few weeks, I have been preaching not only on the words of the Bible but on the words of my great-niece Leona and here is the story again. On December 28th, my sister’s five year old granddaughter, Leona climbed into my sister’s bed and declared, “In three more days, it will be a new year.” My sister Wendy nodded, “That’s right.  In three days it will be 2019.” Leona contemplated this fact for a moment and then declared,…

Luke 6:31-36 The past few weeks, I have been preaching not only on the words of the Bible but on the words of my great-niece Leona but because we had a week off for snow, I need to remind you of what she said, so here is the story again. On December 28th, my sister’s five year old granddaughter, Leona climbed into my sister’s bed and declared, “In three more days, it will be a new year.” My sister Wendy…

Luke 8:4-8, 11-15     Last week I began my sermon with a story that I said I would be preaching on throughout January, and so for those who did not hear it last week, here it is again: On December 28th, my sister’s five year old granddaughter, Leona climbed into my sister’s bed and declared, “In three more days, it will be a new year.” My sister Wendy nodded, “That’s right. In three days it will be 2019.” Leona contemplated this…

Matthew 2     On December 28th, my sister’s five year old granddaughter, Leona climbed into my sister’s bed and declared, “In three more days, it will be a new year.” My sister Wendy nodded, “That’s right. In three days it will be 2019.” Leona contemplated this fact for a moment and then declared, “It will be a new year but I am still five and I’m still brave and strong and kind and a little bit silly.” Wendy posted this conversation…

Luke 2:8-12December 23, 2018Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott On that night so long ago when Jesus was born, there were shepherds on the hills overlooking Bethlehem. That night, a group of ragged men tried to keep warm and tried to stay awake as they listened to the wind to discern if there was anything out there that might harm the sheep. In other words, they were working. Shepherding wasn’t a prestigious job — their neighbors often turned away to avoid…

Matthew 1:18-25 “He was a rebel, yes a rebel.  He changed water into wine, he was human and divine, and he sold a revolutionary line.  That was the trouble.  That was the reason.  Nearly everything he said was bound to cost his head for what he told the people sounded like treason.” This rather unmelodious tune has been stuck in my head for about fifty years now.  It was written in 1971 by Avery and Marsh, songwriters whose simplistic tunes were considered the cutting edge…