United Church of Christ
Preaching
Preaching is central to the life of our church, but maybe not in the ways people often expect. Our pastor, Rev. Michael Caine, says his responsibility with the sermon is “not to dole out the truth, as if from on high.” Instead, he believes preaching is to invite us to reflect on our lives; to recognize signs of God in our world,
in our daily living, in our relationships; and to become more aware of our own choices and how our tradition and our faith can enrich our practice of those choices.
Our pastor does not expect that everyone in the congregation will agree with him or his sermons, but, when he can make us think, prompt the meditations of our hearts and minds, get us talking about our faith (even if only to say what we don’t believe), asking what our tradition and the Bible and our own faith says to us, then he has done what God expects. The best sermon is not when anyone can remember what the preacher said, it is whatever gets people talking with one another and with God about what really matters.