Beeing
Today is my friend John’s birthday. He was 83 when he died on September 7, the same day as Andy’s dad. John was the most unassuming person you would ever meet, though he had advanced degrees in many different subject …
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Carry a Cave
Three years ago, on Epiphany, I received a little wooden star. Shelly had created a whole basket of them as a reminder of the magi following the light to Jesus. On each star she had written a different word or …
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Palm Sunday
Every year, around the world, people remember it. Palm Sunday. The day Jesus goes on a little ride into the city, a journey that changes everything. You may have had some of those–times of traveling a road or two that …
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Understanding Racial Disparity in Alachua County
During the weekend of March 11-13, UCG planned and hosted a community-wide symposium, “Understanding Racial Disparity in Alachua County.” Our guest preacher for the Sunday services was the Rev. Dr. Everett Mitchell, pastor of Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church …
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In the Gift of This Day
Andy Bachmann reflects on a passage from J. Phillip Newell’s book, “Sounds of the Eternal,” which begins, “In the Gift of This New Day.” In his reflection, Andy answers the cliff-hanger question he posed in January of, “what are the …
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We Don’t Make the Road
Note: The sermon references ‘desire paths,’ which I explained earlier in the service. They are the trails that mark frequent foot traffic. They usually represent the shortest route to a destination and often cut across or go around the designed …
Continue readingCéad Míle Fáilte – 100,000 Welcomes!
A highlight of this past fall was being invited to the courthouse to say a prayer at the ceremony that welcomed new citizens to the United States. I loved watching the hopeful, beautiful, colorful faces of the 60 plus people …
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The Soundtrack of Our Lives
On February 14, Andy Bachmann preached “The Soundtrack of Our Lives” as we began our new theme, We Make The Road By Walking.…
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Trans*figured
This is a very simple sermon, which can be summed up in three words that we’ve already said maybe a dozen times this morning: let it shine. When I hear those words, there’s an image from my life that frequently …
Continue readingBe Somebody
Andy Bachmann lifts up the challenge of “Being Somebody” in the face of a world of growing doubt and distress. “Rise up! The Matter is in Your Hands!”…
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A Waking Dream
They name the realities, do these prophets, Amos and Hosea, Langston Hughes and Martin Luther King, the realities are called out, sobbed and spoken and shouted. It is not so much that they prophesy as in foretelling, though often the …
Continue readingThe Matter is in Your Hands
Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I sat in a circle of friends on New Years Eve, struggling to come up with a resolution for the New Year. I tend …
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