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April 1, 2018 // Narrative Yr. 4 Easter // First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ashland, Oregon // Rev. Christina G. Kukuk // “While It Was Still Dark”: John 20:1-10; John 20:11-18 Intro While it was still dark… On the first day of the week, we are told that while it was still dark, Mary …

Paula Anema Sohl 28 January 2018 Born from Above: Redefining Human Possibilities John 3:1-21; Poems by Hadewijch   Do these babies make you think the stork might have brought them? and that they have been “born from above?” (3 dolls in pride flag stork slings hang from ceiling) Well, we teach Our Whole Lives sexuality …

Dec. 31, 2017 // Narrative Yr. 4.17 Christmas 1 // First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ashland, Oregon // Rev. Christina G. Kukuk // “Endings and Beginnings”: excerpt from “The Wasteland” by T. S. Eliot; John 1:19-34   I. We gather here this morning on the threshold of a new year. If we were Scottish, …

Christmas Eve Homily – UCC Ashland Rev. Christina G. Kukuk Dec. 24, 2017 – 9 p.m.   Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…. some of you call it the Midwest… my spouse and I watched art films with lush cinematography and spare dialogue. That was before kids, the era B.K., when …

Dec. 24, 2017 9 a.m. // Narrative Yr. 4.16 Advent IV // First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ashland, Oregon // Rev. Christina G. Kukuk // “Set the Table”: John 1:1-18; “People Look East” by Eleanor Farjeon; #WordofLove   Intro If we can take a few moments to reflect, let’s think back on the last …

Word Made Flesh… in You by Rev. Christina G. Kukuk #WordMadeFlesh #WordofLove   I cannot remember a year in which the power of words to build up or tear down has ever felt so keen. On the national and international level, jokes about what the President tweets mask the much more serious consequences of what …

Oct. 15, 2017 // Narrative Yr. 4.6 // First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ashland, Oregon // Rev. Christina G. Kukuk // “A Fiery Woman”; Judges 4:1-16, Judges 5:1-9, 24-31, “Brave” by Sara Bareilles [Buh-reyh-less] [Era of the Judges, when the liberated Israelites begin to settle as tribes throughout Canaan, but no one monarch leads …

Sept. 24, 2017 // Narrative Yr. 4.3 // First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ashland, Oregon // Rev. Christina G. Kukuk // “What Kind of God?”; Genesis 21:1-3; Genesis 22:1-14 [Continuing from last week’s story of Hagar and Ishmael and all the questions it raises about which voice is God’s voice? Where is God? Enabling …

Sept. 17, 2017 // Narrative Yr. 4.2 // First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ashland, Oregon // Rev. Christina G. Kukuk // “Words Can Do That: Naming God #1”; Genesis 16; Genesis 21:8-21 Intro One of my favorite Baptist preachers once described the story we just heard as a textbook example of family system dysfunction. …

Sept. 10, 2017 // Narrative Yr. 4.1 // First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ashland, Oregon // Rev. Christina G. Kukuk // “Words Can Do That”; Genesis 1-19; Genesis 1:20-2:3   Intro “Let us remake the world with words…” For the past two weeks, we called one another to worship with a poem by Gregory …