JESUS AS WINDOW, AS MIRROR
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Massachusetts
On December 5, 2010
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
A parishioner once told me, in early December, that she would see me again in January. Oh, said I, are you going on a trip? No, said she, I just don’t want to put [...]
“Upkeep”
The Homily on Thanksgiving Sunday
November 21, 2010
The First Parish in Wayland, Mass.
The Rev. Ken Sawyer
I was sitting in the parking lot of the supermarket in Weston Center, waiting for Carol, who was buying vegetables while I stayed in the car, hoping to hear the announcer tell me who had sung a [...]
“SAME OLD RELIGION, SAME OLD CALLING, EVER NEW”
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Mass.
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
On November 14, 2010
Anniversaries come along in the life of a relationship or of an event, a birthday, say, or the end of a war, and people may take note. Just this week [...]
Everybody needs a rock. Maybe not a real, put in your pocket, rub off the painted-on- lady-bug rock like I have but…everybody needs a rock. The story for all ages this morning about finding your rock contains many messages (as we heard from the children after the story). For me, on this day, the lesson [...]
“WHAT NOTHING MATTERS MORE THAN”
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Massachusetts
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
On October 31, 2010
At the start of the first of her two memoirs, Here If You Need Me, the Rev. Kate Braestrup, Unitarian Universalist minister and sole chaplain of the Maine Warden Service, speaks of [...]
“Heroes of Our Faith: Theodore Parker”
The Sermon a the First Parish in Wayland, Massachusetts
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
On October 17, 2010
Just as Lutherans on occasion reflect back on the greatness of Luther, Presbyterians on Calvin, Mormons on Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and so forth, we of liberal religious persuasion may look [...]
“WHO ARE WE UUs?”
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Mass.
On September 19, 2010
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
And so we launch into our 371st year as a congregation.
A lot has changed since 1640, not only in the world but here at First Parish, and not just new meetinghouses in [...]
“HOW RATIONAL ARE WE?”
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Massachusetts
On October 10, 2010
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
Three weeks ago I preached a sermon titled, “Who Are We UUs?” After all, it was the start of a new church year and a time to reaffirm some basics, and introduce us to any [...]
Opening words From “The Secret” by Denise Levertov
Two girls discover the secret of life
in a sudden line of poetry.
I, who don’t know the secret, - wrote the line.
They told me (through a third person)
they had found it but not what it was
not even what line it was.
No doubt by now, more than a week later,
they [...]
“WHO ARE WE THE PEOPLE?
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Mass.
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
On September 26, 2010
You can probably imagine how my first two sermons this fall came to be. Last Sunday was the first of the church year, a good time to reaffirm the fundamentals of our common religious life. [...]
Beverly V. Waring August 1, 2010
Starting Out: Visions of a Transitional Ministry First Parish in Wayland
Reading 1 “Working Together” by David Whyte.[i]
We shape our self to fit this world and by the world are shaped again.
The visible and the invisible working together in common cause, to produce the miraculous.
I am thinking of the way [...]
“REMEMBERING”
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND SUNDAY
At the First Parish in Wayland
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
On May 30, 2010
For many a year, I have taken this Sunday, the day before Memorial Day, to remember some of the people who have died since the last such service whose departure should not go without notice taken.
People in the entertainment business [...]