Posts by pwsadmin

Growing in Wisdom by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – December 29, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Luke 2: 41-52 This is one of our lectionary readings today that we share with Christian communities all over the world. There are a lot of congregations this morning taking a look at this passage. We…

Light a Candle by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – December 24, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Matthew 1:18-25 A last-minute, late-breaking development – I want to read a passage of scripture to you that’s not listed in our bulletin. It’s one that’s familiar to many of you. It is the first 14…

The Manger by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – December 22, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Luke 2:1-20 Well, this is it, the fourth Sunday in Advent, we’re getting closer. If you’ve been here at least one of the Sundays you hopefully remember that during Advent I’ve lifted up at the beginning of…

Let’s Go by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – December 15, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Luke 2:1-15 I remind you that during these four Sundays in Advent, on Sundays one and two we looked at Matthew’s birth narrative. This is what scholars call anything to do in the New Testament with the…

Where Is the Child? by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – December 8, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Matthew 2: 1-12 I begin this morning by reminding you what I am setting forth to do for my messages in this Advent season. There are four Sundays in Advent, and there are four Gospels…

First Words by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – December 1, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Matthew 1: 18-25 There’s one thing that I would like you to take away from this message this morning. I’m hoping that you take more than one thing. I’m going to offer more, but there’s one big…

Thanksgiving by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – November 24, 202, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on I Thessalonians 5:12-22 I shared with you previously that I am part of a clergy peer group sponsored by our UCC local association, and I’ve been part of it for seven or eight years now. It’s a very…

Alabaster Jar by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat on November 17, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Mark 14: 1-10 I served a couple churches in 17 years in the Chicago area. While we were there, we were members of various museums and one of them was the Art Institute of Chicago. Who’s been…

Ministry of Presence by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat on November 10, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Mark 12: 41-44 So, this morning on this Stewardship Sunday, appropriately enough, one of our lectionary readings is what my Bible commentary says is, quote, the widow’s offering. In the tradition of the King James version,…

The Great Commandments by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – November 3, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Mark 12: 28-34 There was a theologian in the 20th century named Karl Barth. He was very well known. You don’t hear much about him anymore. I am of a generation where at my seminary we read…