The Villager Voice

According to a recent survey of sermons across America, The Digital Pulpit, researched and published by the Pew Foundation, the average sermon is thirty-seven minutes long.  Sermons in the evangelical tradition are most likely to feature terms like salvation and sin, heaven and hell, while mainline Protestants are more likely to hear gospel, poor and disciple.  And across all faith communities (the Pew report surveyed Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical Protestant and traditional Black congregations) parishioners overwhelmingly identified the sermon as the central feature of the  worship service.

This week’s New Yorker features a good review of the Pew report; if you’d like to read the entire piece (which I think you’ll enjoy), you can find it here:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/what-american-christians-hear-at-church

Give it a read; I’d love to know what you think about it.

Many thanks to Lol Fearon for leading last Sunday’s service, I’m grateful for his thoughtful reflection.  And thanks in advance to Rev. Toni Smith, who will lead worship next Sunday October 24 while I’m in Salt Lake City on study leave - you can read a little of my study topic, the Mormon Church, in the most recent Uniter.  I’ll be leaving after worship Sunday morning and returning Wednesday October 27…

…which means, much to my regret, that I will miss this year’s Tellabration.  We have made the difficult decision to invoke the rain date, as tomorrow afternoon’s weather looks a little dicey.  So please adjust your calendars and come on out for a delightful afternoon of storytelling on the church lawn Sunday October 17 at 3:30.  As some of you heard at last year’s virtual Tellabration, Lorraine Hartin-Gelardi is a wonderful and creative speaker, and we’re grateful she is returning for a live, in-person appearance.  Remember to bring your own chair; you’ll be glad you came.

So, in the spirit of story-telling, we’re going to be hearing a few stories, biblical and otherwise, from the pulpit Sunday morning.  The bulletin and link to service can be found here:

Sunday October 17, 2021 Bulletin
Link to service