II Corinthians 4:7-18September 13, 2020Union University ChurchRev. Laurie DeMott My favorite season of the year ended just over three weeks ago, on August 20th. That’s the day the last of the baby bluebirds fledged. Every April, I listen in anticipation for the whisper of the bluebirds arriving on my property, I spend May worrying about … More Beset from Above, Beset from Below
II Corinthians 2:1-10September 6, 2020Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott After the Sept 11th attack, a journalist was interviewing a couple who lost a son in the World Trade Center bombing and the journalist said, “I know you are Christians. Will you be attending church this week to seek consolation to help you cope with this … More Forgiveness
II Corinthians 1:1-11August 30, 2020Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott There is a popular children’s book that is titled Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Well, we can all sympathize with Alexander this year because 2020 is turning into our national Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year. Every day we have to take … More Consolation
August 23, 2020Psalm 42:6-8Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott I’ve been thinking about God a lot this week. Now, many of you are probably saying to yourself, “Laurie, you’re a minister. Don’t you think about God all of the time?” and that’s true, but most of the time, the kinds of things I am thinking about … More Deep Calls to Deep
Genesis 1Ephesians 2:10Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz. This is the original Hebrew of the very first verse in our Bible, Genesis 1. Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” When I took Hebrew in seminary, our professor … More Faith and Creativity
July 12, 2020Mark 4:26-29Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott [Jesus] said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, … More The Birdbath
July 5, 2020Matthew 5:1-12Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott The twelve verses which I just read are called the Beatitudes, from the Latin beatitudo meaning blessed. In these twelve short verses, Jesus describes the full spectrum of human life and if you were to place these verses over the days of your time here on earth, … More The Beatitudes
June 21, 2020Galatians 2:19-21Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott We’ve celebrated our children and youth who participated in the 2019-2020 program year, and now I want briefly to share with you a story from one of my first youth groups way back in the 1980s. This was a group that included Judy Bowden, Marcia Stevens, Tom … More Faith is Trust
June 14, 2020 John 15:9-11Union University ChurchReverend Laurie DeMott This is the 13th week of Zoom Church. 13 weeks; that’s over 3 months; a quarter of the year. Back in March, when the state shut down the schools and a wave of closures swept across New York, the church leadership met to discuss moving to Zoom … More That Your Joy May Be Complete
These past months have been difficult for all of us but I know from my conversations with them, that it has been especially hard on our youth and young people. The pandemic was hard enough as they were suddenly isolated from friends and lost the independence that is so important at their age, but now … More A Letter to Our Young People
