Preaching In Pumps | Sermons By Rev. Sarah E. Weaver

We are nearing the end of our Year Of Mark!  We will be taking the week off for Pentecost and Children's Day and then will pick it up again on June 16th - Father's Day.  This week was Peter's Denial.  I talked about what it means that Jesus called the Church into being and how we can use this space to hold ourselves accountable to who we are, as people of faith, and who God is calling us to be. Enjoy! - Sarah

Hi Friends!  I hope you all had a safe and peaceful Memorial Day Weekend.  It is the tradition of the Rehoboth Congregational Church to worship outdoors on the Ephraim Hunt Ministerial Land Memorial Day Weekend.  We were a little bit nervous about the weather, but it turned out to be the most gorgeous morning for an outdoor service! I continued with the Year Of Mark, even though I knew we would draw a smaller crowd for worship and it's a tougher space to preach in.  The text is Jesus' trial before the Council and I talked about how this story exposes our own human vulnerability as we read it. The sound quality might not be the best on the audio - it's tough to record outside.  But hopefully not too bad! Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi friends!  Here is my sermon from Sunday - I was preaching on Judas' betrayal and Jesus' arrest.  It's funny, because as I was wrestling with the text this week I thought to myself, "This is why we rarely preach on this stuff!"  I feel bad, because I have a feeling my congregation is going to get a lot of me not coming to any conclusions from here until we finish the Year of Mark.  But perhaps maybe inviting them into my own process of trying to understand it is more important. Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi Friends! Here is my sermon from last Sunday - Jesus praying in Gethsemane.  I have to admit that I was having a hard time not laughing every time I mentioned Peter, James and John falling asleep because all I could think of was that episode of Friends where Ross and Rachel got back together and she wrote him an 18 page letter (FRONT AND BACK) and he fell asleep while reading it and when they fought about it and Ross told Rachel he had fallen asleep and not finished the letter she said, "you fell aSLEEP?!" Thankfully I know well enough to keep those thoughts to myself when I'm actually preaching. Enjoy! Sarah

Hi friends - here is my sermon from yesterday. I was preaching on the last supper - conveniently timed with the first Sunday of the month, which meant that it was also Communion Sunday. As I reflected on the last supper during my sermon, I'm seriously considering revising our communion liturgy at some point this summer. I want to simplify the language and really remind us - myself included - why it is that we gather. Enjoy ...  Sarah

Hi friends!  I can't believe May begins this week!  I am not really sure where the week went. Even though it was the week after Easter and most of my friends were preaching Doubting Thomas, we were back in the Year of Mark this morning, actually beginning the Passion Narrative (which, yes, felt like 5 giant steps backwards considering we celebrated the resurrection last week, but also I am looking at it as a great way to get a resurrection do-over - ha!). This sermon reflects on The Year of Mark and then talks about the stories we are telling and reinforcing in our lives.  I think sometimes we are inclined to focus on the negative, but if we look there are really amazing and grace-filled things happening in our lives! Enjoy ... -Sarah

Happy Easter!  I have so much to say about our Easter service, but for the time being, I will leave you with my Easter sermon.  It was short and sweet, but that's the way I like Easter sermons - after all, the story speaks for itself! Enjoy ... 

Bonus sermon this week!  RCC hosted our area men's ecumenical Palm Sunday breakfast this year, so we had worship and communion at 7AM and then the men gathered for breakfast afterwards.  Here is that sermon!  Apparently I had a lot to say about Palm Sunday this year? Enjoy ... -Sarah

Hi Friends!  Posting this quickly before Palm Sunday is completely irrelevant.  We were, of course, in the Gospel of Mark. Enjoy! -Sarah

Here is my sermon from Sunday! I can honestly say that I don't think I have ever preached on this text. It's dark and challenging and a little but scary - but also has SO much to teach us! Also - if anyone has any suggestions for how to brew good church coffee - email or DM me! I haven't given up yet - ha! Enjoy ...  Sarah

Okay, so my proud blogging moment of March was when I went through and updated all of my pages and then created a Year of Mark page where all of my sermons from Mark are archived!  It's crazy to look back and see how far we have gotten. Here is my sermon from last Sunday.  It was the end of chapter 12, the end of the Gospel narrative, before the apocalypse in chapter 13 transitions us into the Passion.  I feel like everyone in the church is really into this right now!  It's going to be a little bit odd celebrating Easter and then jumping back into the Passion and the crucifixion and resurrection but also we are all really caught up in the story right now, so I think it will be fine. Here's my sermon!  Enjoy ...  -Sarah

Full disclosure - according to the timestamp on my phone, I texted Bruce at 9:22PM last night (Saturday night) and said: Word count: 75 I haven't done this in a long time.  I have really tried to move away from the whole Saturday night sermon writing thing - it just doesn't work for me in this particular season of my life.  But for so many reasons this week, I just couldn't get it together - and yet, I was totally calm about the whole thing.  We had our annual Spaghetti Supper and Dessert Auction last night and after we cleaned up and everyone left, I sat down in my office and started to write.  And at 10:51PM I sent this text: 1657. Done! Once I sat down, the words just flowed.  I love this scripture and I love preaching on it.  I love charging my church to be a Greatest Commandment church! Here's the sermon.  Enjoy ...  Sarah

I explained this in the sermon, but the timing of where we are in the Year of Mark is not totally lined up with the timing of where we are in the church year.  Technically we are already in Jerusalem - we skipped over the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, because we are going to read that in a few weeks on Palm Sunday.  So give yourself a minute, get yourself to Jerusalem and here's my sermon from this past week! Enjoy ...  -Sarah

It will come as no surprise to anyone who reads or hears my sermon that I for sure wasted four hours of my life on the two-part Bachelor finale this week and y'all - I am so glad it is over!  What a hot mess, but everyone seems happy in the end, so - okay? Let's all focus on Lent and get caught up in some actual world-changing drama, shall we?? -Sarah

Hi friends!  I am a little bit behind in posting (what else is knew) but we have had a tough couple of weeks at the church and spend a lot of time just loving my people and walking through that with them. Here is my sermon from March 3rd - Transfiguration Sunday! -Sarah

We had such a special morning at RCC! I presided over a double baptism - a mother and son. It felt different to gather around the font with someone who was coming to it of their own free will.  Don't get me wrong - I love infant baptisms, they are honestly one of my favorite things in the world to do.  But this was special and it felt like such a privilege to have the opportunity to preside over this moment. If you are looking for the video I talk about in my sermon, you can find it here. Enjoy! - Rev. Sarah

Hi friends!  Here is my sermon from this morning.  If you are preaching on this text and looking for a children's sermon, I had all the kids wear crowns and we talked about what we would do if we were kings and queens and princes and princesses and then I talked about how Jesus said if we want to be great that we first have to serve others.  I charged the kids (and later the adults) to do at least one thing to serve others this week. Enjoy!

Hi friends!  Here is my sermon from this past Sunday, February 10th.  For the first time, Bruce said to me after church, "I like the whole Year of Mark thing and I get why we are doing it, but I kind of miss the Old Testament."   A year is definitely a long time to preach through one book!  I'm already starting to think about what I want to do next.  Any favorite sermon series?  Things you'd like to hear my thoughts on? Enjoy! -Sarah

Hi friends!  Sorry I didn't get to post this on Sunday - we hosted an impromptu Super Bowl Party (although does anyone follow Young House Love on instagram? Apparently you're supposed to call it "the big game" because "super bowl" is under copyright - who knew?) and I also figured no one would be listening to my sermon during the Super Bowl anyway - ha! But on that note - the RCC Super Bowl Challenge is on!  I always tell the church that, if the Patriots win, Bruce and I would match, dollar for point, the total number of points the Patriots scored and donate the money to the church.  At halftime (when the score was 3-0) our Financial Secretary texted me and said, "The church isn't going to make any money." Granted, the Patriots helped us out a little bit more in the second half, but the challenge has sort of become a free-for-all - people are multiplying the number of points scored by the number of members in their household, by the number of Super Bowls Tom Brady has won, by the MVPs number or just arbitrari

Hi all and Happy Sunday!  It was so nice to have clear skies for worship this morning. Here is my sermon.  I was having a hard time coming up with a children's sermon - there's something about Jesus telling the disciples to cut off their hands and feet if they cause them to stumble that just doesn't translate well to children's ministry, ha!  Eventually I just gave up and asked Allison, our church school director, what their lesson was going to be.  They were learning about Daniel and how God makes us strong so I brought in a free weight and talked about different kind of strength. Enjoy! - Rev. Sarah