First Parish Sermon Archive

“SO IT ALL
ADDS UP TO SOMETHING”

The Sermon Given at
the First Parish in Wayland, Massachusetts

on March 18, 2012

by the Rev. Ken
Sawyer

          Looking over
all the canvass sermons I have given here (which I have in a notebook that you
can borrow, if you’d like), I noticed two common themes: First, that ours is a
darned good religious community; and [...]

“GOT HOPE?”
 
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Mass. (UU)
By The Rev. Ken Sawyer
On March 11, 2012
 
          In October I gave a sermon “In Praise of What Sustains.” It was an update of a sermon I had given long before, and looking back over the years I am aware that it is one of [...]

“ABRAHAM & ISAAC, GOOD & EVIL, GOD AND US”
 
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Massachusetts
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
On March 26, 2012
 
I have sometimes referred to this morning’s sermon as the one that got me this job. It was my pre-candidating sermon back in 1974, the one the Search Committee heard me give in [...]

“GIVING IN TO GOODNESS”
 
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland (UU)
On February 12, 2012
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
 
            This morning I would like to talk about temptation, about some of those times when we are inclined to give in to our impulses. Now there is a good, traditional topic for a sermon. One wonders [...]

“THE BEST OF THE BIBLE (to me)”
 
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Massachusetts
On February 5, 2012
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
 
            Why would anyone read the Bible?
            I realize that may seem an odd question to the newest among us, and perhaps to a few others as well. This is, after all, a [...]

“Change Happens”
a sermon by ministerial intern Kevin Tarsa
delivered January 29, 2012
at First Parish in Wayland, MA
 
Reading #1: A Litany of Change
 
1. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”    - Charles Darwin
 
2. “Things do not change; we change.”     - Henry David Thoreau
 
3. [...]

“Passion”
by the Rev. Kenneth W. Sawyer
A sermon preached at the First Parish in Wayland
On Sept. 16, 1979; Feb. 6, 1994; and Jan. 22, 2012
 
To the list of the basic categories of religion, elements of life most fully lived, to faith, belief, doubt, compassion, justice, mercy, community and love, this morning I want to add one [...]

“Dreams and The Dream”
The Homily at the First Parish in Wayland, Mass.
At a Multigenerational Service
On January 15, 2012
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
 
       Does anyone here dream when they sleep at night or when they fall asleep because the sermon is too long and boring?
       Everybody dreams. Some people dream in color, some people don’t. [...]

 “Let’s Go Exploring”
 
The Sermon at the First Parish in Wayland, Massachusetts
By the Rev. Ken Sawyer
On January 8, 2012
 
Here we are at the start of another calendar year, and an exciting one it will be here at First Parish. I do hope everyone has read the latest church newsletter, called The Unitarian, prepared by Nan Jahnke, [...]

“A New Year: Moments of High Resolve”
Sermon by Kevin Tarsa, 2011-12 ministerial intern at First Parish in Wayland
January 1, 2012
First Parish of Sudbury, MA
 
 
“Each January 1, millions of people drag themselves out of bed, full of hope, …resolved to eat less, exercise more, spend less money, work harder at the office, keep the [...]