The Rev. Mike Denton is the designated pastor of First Church of Christ (UCC) and South Congregational Church (UCC) in Pittsfield, MA. Join us for worship at 10 am on Sundays! Click here if you’d like to donate to the church and its ministries! Continue reading Lenten Reflection for 2/24/23

During political campaigns, one of the ways to try and discredit a politician is to share one of their quotes or pictures out of context. We’ve all heard or seen this happen. For example, the attack ad starts with a close-up of a politician saying something seemingly disgusting that, when read later in the full context of their speech or interview, isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. Or, we’ve seen or shared a picture in which the look on a politician’s face or where they’re looking has nothing to do with the named context of the picture. More recently, … Continue reading Digging deeper (2/12/23 Reflection on Matthew 5:21-37) #pittsfield #sermon #berkshires

Some sermons pop up quickly. You look at the text, pieces start to come together, and a sermon starts to emerge. Other times, it feels like a meandering journey that visits a few different points. Instead of one sermon, it seems more of a few short ones. Today’s sermon feels more like that second journey and starts with discussing religion in the big picture. The religious landscape of the world is vast. About 84% of people identify with some religious group, and there are close to 4,200 different religions with which people identify. We hear about Christianity, Islam, and Judaism … Continue reading “45,000” (2/5/23 Reflection on Matthew 5:13-20) #sermon #pittsfield #berkshires

The Beatitudes we read this morning begin what is traditionally called “The Sermon on the Mount.” Although there’s a good chance that these were not shared all at one time by Jesus, these are an essential collection of stories, parables, and words of wisdom that begin here in chapter 5 and end with chapter 7.  Reading these chapters would cover a good bit if you were thinking about being a Christian and wanted a basic understanding of Jesus’ teaching. If you took more time and studied what Jesus was talking about in his context, these chapters would cover most of … Continue reading “The Space in Between” Reflection on Matthew 5:1-12 for 1/29/23 #sermon #pittsfield #berkshires

The story of Christmas Eve, as we tell it in church and ritual, has order to it.  Many of us know the story and have heard it again and again. There is a calm to the repetition, the songs, and the candle lighting. I love that part, and I know that many of you are here because you love it, too. But have you ever imagined being there when it all happened? As described in the Bible, it must have seemed like a strange chaotic mess for all the people there. What we read is all of what people saw … Continue reading Christmas Eve Sermon 2022 #berkshires #pittsfield

Sermon for 12/18/22 Matthew 1:18-25 Last Wednesday, we were between storms. Icicles had started forming. The sky was clear. For all the wonder and excitement of this time of year, it can also be a season of rushing about. Last Wednesday night was one of those times I was going from this to that, and my mind was spinning with everything I hadn’t yet done or needed to do when someone asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks. “Do you think that stars or icicles are more beautiful?” Everything slowed down. It felt as though the question … Continue reading Icicles and Stars (A Sermon on Matthew 1:18-25) #pittsfield #berkshires