Sermons from First United Presbyterian Church

Watch the Sermon here First United Presbyterian Church “Humanity Over Religiosity” Rev. Amy Morgan January 28, 2024 Mark 3:1-12 Now Jesus returned to the synagogue and a person was there who had a withered hand. And the women and men in the synagogue were watching him carefully to see whether he would cure the person on the sabbath so they might accuse him. Then Jesus said to the person who had the withered hand, “Come up to the middle.” Then Jesus said to the women and men in the synagogue, “Is it permissible to do good or to do evil on the sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they were silent. And looking around at them with anger, Jesus was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the person, “Stretch out your hand.” And the person stretched it out and their hand was restored. Then the Pharisees went out with the Herodians and immediately began to conspire against Jesus, how they might destroy him.   Then Jesus with his disciples departed to the sea and a great multitu...

Watch the Sermon here First United Presbyterian Church “Carry Each Other” Rev. Amy Morgan January 14, 2024 Mark 2:1-12 Now when Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And so many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door, and he was speaking the word to them. Then some women and men came, bringing to him a paralyzed person, carried by four of them. And when they were not able to bring the person to Jesus because of the crowd, they uncovered the chamber above Jesus and, after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralyzed person lay. Now when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed person, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Who is this speaking! It is blasphemy! Who is able to forgive sins but God alone?” And at once Jesus knew in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves an...

Watch the sermon here First United Presbyterian Church “Belovedness” Rev. Amy Morgan January 7, 2024 Luke 3:21-22 21 Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” There’s this thing going around on social media where people ask other people, “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?” Like many things on social media, I don’t fully understand this viral phenomenon, but it turns out that people, especially men it seems, think about the Roman Empire quite a lot.   So it occurred to me that it might be interesting to ask Christians, “How often do you think about baptism?” I mean, it’s a pretty important thing to Christians, right? Especially for Reformed Christians, who only have two sacraments, baptism has to carry a heavy load of meaning. But I have a f...

Watch the sermon here First United Presbyterian Church “Connection through Ritual” Rev. Amy Morgan December 31, 2023 Luke 2:21-38 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.   22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord   23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"),   24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."   25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.   26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.   27 Gu...