Church News, Lenten & Holy Week Resources

Year B (2018) Lenten scripture readings

Image result for journey through lent

February 14 – Ash Wednesday

  • Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17 (turn back with all your heart)
  • 2 Corinthians 5: 20b – 6:10 (accept God’s offered reconciliation)
  • Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21 (you devote energy to what you truly value)
  • Psalm 51: 1-17 (create in me a clean heart)

February 18 – 1st Sunday of Lent

  • Genesis 9: 8-17 (God’s unilateral covenant with Noah)
  • 1 Peter 3:18-22 (Christ seeks the salvation of all people)
  • Mark 1: 9-15 (a new age arrived in the person of Jesus)
  • Psalm 25: 1-10 (God guides and delivers)

February 25 – 2nd Sunday of Lent

  • Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16 (God calls Abraham)
  • Romans 4: 13-25 (Abraham trusts God’s promise)
  • Mark 8: 31-38 (you want to follow him? Then take up your cross)
  • Psalm 22: 23-31 (ALL will worship Him)

March 4 – 3rd Sunday of Lent

  • Exodus 20: 1-17 (the Mosaic/Moses Covenant)
  • 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25 (we are called to show God’s love)
  • John 2: 13-22 (Jesus drove out entrenched evil)
  • Psalm 19 (the Law of the Lord is perfect)

March 11 – 4th Sunday of Lent

  • Numbers 21: 4-9 (the role of judgment in redemption)
  • Ephesians 2: 1-10 (God is love … and we are NOT self-made)
  • John 3: 14-21 (we can’t conceal our deeds)
  • Psalm 107: 1-3, 17-22 (In God is the healing and the salvation)

March 18 – 5th Sunday of Lent

  • Jeremiah 31: 31-34 (God WILL forgive)
  • Hebrews 5: 5-10 (Jesus was human and DID feel as we do)
  • John 12: 20-33 (want to serve Jesus? Be where He is)
  • Psalm 51: 1-12 (prayer for cleansing and pardon)

March 25 – Palm Sunday

  • Liturgy of the Palms: Mark 11: 1-11 (Hosanna is called out)
  • Liturgy of the Passion: Isaiah 50: 4-9a (trust in God’s help)
  • Philippians 2: 5-11 (God voluntarily assumed obedience to death)
  • Mark 14:1 – 15:47 (the Passion story according to Mark)

 

Church News, Past Sermons

Sermon Jan 21, 2018

“The Immediacy of the Moment”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
Mark 1:14-20
January 21, 2018

“And immediately they left their nets and followed him.”  Mark 1:18i

Immediately. There must have been something about Jesus. Simon and Andrew, James and John – to a man they left all they had ever known, the people they loved the most – immediately. Had they nothing to lose? Continue reading Sermon Jan 21, 2018 →

Church News, Music News & Recordings

Saint Andrew’s hymn

Our commissioning hymn this Sunday is nick-named Saint Andrew’s hymn due to its second verse: “As of old, Saint Andrew heard it, by the Galilean lake, turned from home and toil and kindred, leaving all for His dear sake.” Here is its back-story.

Bradford Congregational Church is only a few miles south of Vermont’s Caledonia County, so the old hymns of the Scots-Irish are a big part of our tradition. Continue reading Saint Andrew’s hymn →

Church News, Past Sermons

Sermon Jan 14, 2018

“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 →

Church News, Music News & Recordings

We Shall Overcome

On Sunday, January 14, 2018 our commissioning hymn is the well-known “We Shall Overcome,” which is now most often associated with the Rev. Martin Luther King march on Washington. This song’s history is deeply entrenched in the very fields of injustice it spoke to. Voices from cotton fields, tobacco houses, labor unions, and then civil rights. Weaving it’s way through houses of worship as God’s guiding hand was praised and implored. Continue reading We Shall Overcome →

Church News, Past Sermons

Sermon Jan. 7, 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 →

Past Sermons

Sermon Dec. 31, 2017

“Are You Coming to the Shower?”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
John 1:1-18   Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7
December 31, 2017

“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God…”  John 1:12i

Would you agree to being adopted? Strange question, right? Most of us are all grownup. We’ve made it. No need to be adopted. But what if it was Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, two of the richest men in the world. Would you still hesitate? Mark me. They are not asking you to give up your lineage or to renounce those who brought you up. No. They just want you to become part of their family – an heir to the fortune. Continue reading Sermon Dec. 31, 2017 →