“God Is Still Speaking”
Rev. Michael Caldwell
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
I Samuel 3.1-20, John 1.43-51
January 14, 2018

Friends, one of the greatest disciples of our Lord of all time was alive during many of our lifetimes – Martin Luther King, Jr. His faithfulness to our God and to Christ was unfailing. His attentiveness and responsiveness to the Spirit’s moving among us were creative, prophetic, and ground-breaking. His life and faith and ministry and martyrdom changed hearts, changed lives, and changed society in a way that was and is revolutionary. Continue reading Sermon Jan 14, 2018 →

“God, Creation and the Twenty-First Century”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
Genesis 1:1-5
January 7, 2018

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…”
— Genesis 1:1ⁱ

The purpose of this sermon is to help people believe. But here’s my problem. Twenty-first century men and women, for the most part, cannot reconcile the truth known through science with a creation story that is painfully out of step with our time. That’s my problem, but I don’t think I am alone. Continue reading Sermon Jan. 7, 2018 →

“It’s Time to Go”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
Luke 2: 1-20   

Christmas Eve

“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”  – Luke 2:20ⁱ

I don’t know what I would have done if I had been one of the shepherds. Angelic chorus. Voices from heaven. The glory of God.

I don’t know.

Knowing me, I would have sought some reasonable explanation. Like you I live in the twenty-first century. No angels have come flapping by. No voice from heaven. Indeed, I wonder if they would have admitted me to seminary, prepared me to lead a church, if I had claimed anything like what happened to the shepherds. All I know is that I would attempt to hold onto the reality I know. The world of cause and effect. The science of replication. I do know I would have put down the wine skin!

A first century Palestinian might have sought to obey more than understand. They lived in a world more alive with mystery, with forces unknown. Continue reading Homily, Christmas Eve 2017 →

“Risky Business”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
Luke 1: 28 – 38                                                                                                                 4th Sunday of Advent

“Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.”                           — Luke 1:38ⁱ

Maybe it’s because she was so young. Some scholars suggest Mary may have been all of twelve years of age, most put her at 15 to 16. Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have this to say about the adolescent brain:

…recent research has found that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s rational part. This is the part of the brain that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences. Teens process information with the amygdala. This is the emotional part. Continue reading Sermon Dec 24, 2017 →