Bread and More Soup Kitchen continues to serve a free to-go meal every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5:30-6:15.
October 2026
Congratulations to Pastor Murray on his retirement! Welcome Rev. Lorraine De Armitt as our interim Pastor. Please join us. Service begins at 10:00 am.
Check out the new Beacon Light newsletter located in the navigation menu above. We are grateful to Collene Richardson who has edited our newsletter for many years. We welcome Rev. Bonnie Miller as our new editor.
Sunday School: Please call our church office at 631-727-2621 if you would like information for this year. Sunday School is held during church services at 10:00.
Bible Study: Will restart in November. Please contact the church at 631-727-2621 if you are interested in joining. All are welcome to attend.
Thrift Shop: The thrift shop hours are Tuesday and Thursday 10-2 and Saturday 9-1. Clothing, knickknacks, and other small household items are accepted. No furniture or children's clothing. Please bring your donations only when we are open. Thank you for your support.
If you would like to join us on Zoom, please follow the link
Join Zoom Meeting:
Meeting chat ling ink
https://us06web.zoom.us810/launch/jc/84520152334
Meeting: 810 8693 1922
Pass code: 123456
21st Sunday after Pentecost 10-18-26 FCCR Pastor De Armitt
Mt. 22. 15-22; 1Thess 1.1-10
Don’t Give Everything to Caesar
I want to start with a story I picked up about 15 years ago. I don’t know if the geographical boundaries are still in place, but the human story still holds. Here it is. Mohammed Idris Ali and Chitra Das are neighbors. They are both farmers, caring for their rice paddies, living across a footpath from each other. They each own the land on which they live. Chitra Das’ home is in India, in the far north-eastern section on the border of Bangladesh, and he is a full Indian citizen. That means he has a voter ID and a ration card that entitles him to discounted rice and wheat at a government store. His children go to local schools and have access to Indian government hospitals.
His across-the-path neighbor Mr. Ali, however, does not live in India. Nor does he live in Bangladesh. Instead, he lives in an enclave of land which is claimed by neither country, protected by neither country. He does not have the right to vote – anywhere. He does not receive ration cards, nor can his children attend any school. They do not have access to health care. Because he and his family do not live under any government.
Both India and Bangladesh are democracies, and there are great benefits to being a citizen of either nation. Education for your children, health care for the family, road maintenance, voting privileges. These people who live in the border, in the neither-country, feel the loss of government deeply.
And so, this week, I was thinking about the role of government in the average person’s life. If you are Chitra Das or Mohammed Idris Ali, living in a quiet, rural corner of the world, government seems to be a good source of support and basic services. But, if you are Joshua and Miriam of Jerusalem, or Peter and Andrew of Galilee, and you live under the Roman Empire, government is not so benign or desirable. In fact, we know the Romans to be outright oppressive, with high taxes to keep the money flowing toward Roman despite the poverty of the people, [that’s why tax collectors were hated so much in Jesus’ time] and the Roman soldiers employed frequent arrests and even crucifixions just to keep the general populace terrified enough to be quiet, and to keep the tax money flowing toward Rome.
This was the big issue in Jesus’ time, the feeling people had toward the ruling government. It was a big deal when Jesus was asked, “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” The average person had strong, bitter, feelings about the emperor, but paying taxes was not optional.
The answer Jesus gave them is filled with wisdom. He took a coin, noted whose image was engraved on it, and said, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words, he was telling them, if you see something like a coin, with the stamp of Caesar on it, know that that belongs to Caesar. But if see something with the stamp of the Creator on it, like everything else, know that belongs to God.
Jesus is acknowledging an uneasy, but unavoidable, relationship between his followers and government. And Christianity has been working out that uneasy relationship with government ever since.
You may know some of the stories. Chinese Christians meeting in house churches, when the People’s Party had outlawed all religion. The punishment for practicing any religion was swift and harsh. But after the ban was lifted, the churches bounced into functioning, and even thriving, very quickly. Because Chinese believers had been gathering together and practicing their faith quietly, in defiance of their government.
You may have heard the stories of how Christianity continued in the USSR against great pressure. I heard how Russian Christians in the Soviet Union had been sitting by their radios, transcribing the Bible as it was read over the air by Christian broadcasters using short-wave radio to get behind the Iron Curtain. Those hand-written Bibles were circulated at great risk among believers. I happened to be in Quito, Ecuador and visited the radio station which was responsible for those transmissions. I saw the radio towers, high up on the mountains surrounding Quito, and heard the story from radio personnel about the cost and passion and sacrifice to make sure those transmissions got all around the world to the Soviet Union, to where people were waiting to hear Scripture.
When our gospel writer Matthew told the story about Jesus and the Roman coin, Christianity was an illegal religion, which occasionally resulted in persecution and death to its followers. It was very risky to be a follower of Christ in that time, not much different from being part of a faith community in Communist China, or under Soviet Rule. These governments were not the benign presence experienced by our two rice farmers.
Jesus and the Roman coin. It was more than just a coin, you know. It was, to a Jew or a follower of Christ, that coin was a painful reminder of being in a land occupied by foreign powers who worshiped false gods. Taxes needed to be paid annually. And the tax could only be paid with Roman coins which were not just legal tender but also pieces of propaganda. Most of the coins contained an image of the Caesar with inscriptions proclaiming him to be divine or the son of the god. One common phrase on coins during the time of Jesus was: “Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus.” And so, paying taxes with Roman coins raised both political and religious issues.
Not only with the required tax, but every time Jews used Roman money, they were reminded that they were occupied and that the emperor was making himself to be yet another god, something the Ten Commandments forbade Jews to have. How different would it be if our pledge of allegiance said, “One nation, under our god, the Divine George Washington.” Would we Christians be able to speak that?
Religion, these days, in this nation, is a minefield. But practicing Christianity has always required savvy, a certain gift for discernment, a commitment to the One Living God despite worldly pressures and false prophets. We remember what Jesus said: Give to the Caesar what bears his image, but know that whatever else bears the mark of the Creator God, that belongs to God alone. Is there any God stronger than the Lord God? Is there any force stronger than God’s love? We can persevere with courage and great hope, and wisdom. Amen.
October 11, 2026 FCCR Rev. De Armitt
Exodus 32: 1-14
What Keeps you Safe?
This morning I want to go back to the Book of Exodus and talk, once again, about those folks wandering in the desert, between Egypt and the Promised Land. And then, I assure you, we are going to leave them there and move on, in future sermons, to different times and topics.
This story about Moses being up on the mountain, the people asking Aaron for new gods, and the golden calf, this story itself is ancient; it was developed and reworked over a long period of time, and in fact some of its elements are founded deep in obscurity. It takes the idea of the Canaanite fertility god, some elements of a rivalry between different priestly factions [Moses vs. Aaron], and other ancient fragments into a sort of patchwork quilt. But the main idea, about having one God and trusting that one God, is clearly there. And we will address that.
The people have been rescued out of Egypt, are wandering in some big wilderness, completely dependent on the Lord’s prophet Moses for their well-being. But Moses has climbed up some mountain, left the people behind and is gone 40 days and 40 nights. We know Moses has been on the mountain in the presence of God receiving the Ten Commandments, but the people only know Moses is missing.
They’re pretty worried about this, so they go to his brother Aaron. And you might think they tell Aaron to go find Moses. Instead, the people say to Aaron, “Make gods for us, who shall go before us [that is, lead us] like Moses did.”
To me, that sound kind of nutty. And Aaron’s answer is even stranger. He says, “Take off your gold rings and bring them to me.” And he takes the gold, melts it down, forms it – somehow, I don’t know when he became a goldsmith – into the statue of a calf, and proclaims, “These are your gods, O Israel!”
In some ways, this story of the Golden Calf seems too odd, to have much relevance for us today. But it’s a story we still tell. Most people still understand the reference to a Golden Calf. I would suggest this is, in fact, one of the classic tales of the human race. [it’s about, Who do you trust?]
Idol worship. We could picture these barely-civilized ancient people dancing around a golden calf, waving their arms, drums and chanting adding to the exotic atmosphere. Seems so…silly, in a primitive sort of way. But we do still tell this story because it rings true. Because we as evolved and technologically sophisticated as we are, we still create and worship idols.
I know more than a few congregations who put their full trust in the endowment fund. They watch over it carefully, protect it zealously, have meetings, make decisions, sometimes argue about it. We know other congregations who treasure the beauty of their sanctuary, so much so that they can lose sight of the LORD God and the ministry, the reason for the sanctuary. Of course, there’s not a thing wrong with good stewardship. I’m talking about the times when it crosses over to an overly-zealous concern that gets in the way of real ministry and focus on the LORD.
When people are feeling lost, having troubles that seem bigger than anything we can handle, we have a tendency to turn to making idols. When we create a god in our own, favorite image, we are making idols. We could trust in how big the endowment fund has grown. How popular we are on social media. How much positive feedback we got on our last marketing campaign. It’s good every once in a while to slow down and ask ourselves Who do we turn to when we are looking for safety?
This is a story told by Charles Inglis, the first Anglican Bishop in America. The story was told to him by a ship’s captain. George Mueller, a well-known preacher in his day, was traveling from his home in Bristol to Quebec. The ship encountered a very dense fog. Because of it the captain had remained on the bridge continuously for twenty-four hours, when Mr. Mueller came to him and said, “Captain, I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.” When informed that it was impossible, he replied, “Very well. If the ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement for fifty-seven years. Let us go down into the chartroom and pray.”
The captain continues the story like this: “I looked at that man of God and thought to myself, What lunatic asylum could that man have come from. I never heard such a thing as this. “Mr. Mueller”, I said, “Do you know how dense this fog is” “No”, he replied, “my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.” He knelt down and prayed one of those simple prayers, and when he had finished, I was going to pray; but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. “Firstly,” he said, “because you do not believe God’s will, and secondly, I believe God has, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.” I looked at him, and George Mueller said, “Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the LORD. Get up and open the door, and you will find that the fog has gone.” I got up and fog was indeed gone. George Mueller was in Quebec Saturday afternoon for his engagement.
Now, whatever you make of that story, it certainly invites the question: Who do you trust when faced with huge problems?
Now, at this point I could say we should trust God in all circumstances, trust God to deliver us from our troubles, and leave it at that. But things aren’t that simple.
John Baillie, who served as Queen Elizabeth II’s chaplain whenever she was in Scotland, wrote this prayer:
“Almighty and eternal God, Thou art hidden from my sight; thou art beyond the understanding of my mind; thy thoughts are not as my thoughts; thy ways are past finding out. Yet thou hast breathed thy Spirit into my life; yet hast thou formed my mind to seek Thee.“
So, even though we have been created with God’s Spirit breathed right into our own breath, created to seek God, yet God remains hidden, beyond our understanding. The human condition: where do we go when we are in trouble? To an unreachable God?
It’s understandable that sometimes we construct little idols for ourselves, little symbols of safety and well-being, that well-nurtured IRA, the nutritional supplement guaranteed to keep our minds sharp, even the good luck charm we can’t help but feel better about tucking into our pocket.
We forget, while worried about our troubles, we forget that we are in a relationship with the One who set the stars in their places, whose concern is with our troubles, but also with the redemption and conversion of the entire Creation. God is capable of more than we can comprehend, with healings and reconciliations and transformations beyond our imagining. May God help us to see. And grant us peace. Amen.
Rev. Lorraine De Armitt's sermon for October 4, 2026
Eighteen Sunday after Pentecost 9.27.26 FCCR Rev. De Armitt
Exod 17: 1-7; Mt. 21.23-32
Australia is home to 200 million wild rabbits. Those rabbits are everywhere. And they get hungry, and so they’ve eaten native plants and crops down to the roots. They’ve forced native animals and birds out of their own natural habitats. They’ve ruined pastures and cost local agriculture millions of dollars.
This big rabbitty mess started with one man. Thomas Austin. A long time ago, 1859, he released 24 wild rabbits on the property surrounding his hunting lodge. The rabbits had very few predators to keep them in check. And they multiplied. They had crossed the entire Australian continent in 50 years.
What was Thomas Austin thinking? Probably something along the lines of…it would be nice to have a few rabbits on the property. We humans are limited in our ability to see the future. [God has withheld that from us.] And mostly, we also seem to have difficulty anticipating the long-term effects of our actions.
I mean, how many people in Florida have reptile pets, that grew too big, or just too much, that were then released into the Everglades. What were those people thinking? The Everglades…that’s where reptiles and crawly things live, so my Burmese python should be just at home. I don’t want to go into any more detail about the trouble they’re having down there, seems too creepy for a Sunday sermon.
But I do want to establish that we human beings are prone to short-sighted thinking.
The Israelites were like that, too. Our reading has them in the wilderness. They are wandering around in the desert. A person could die in the desert, and they know it. There’s no water for them to drink, and they know without water they could lose their lives, quickly. So, they complain to Moses. That all makes sense. Bu then they take it one step further.
They say to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” This is very short-sighted because just a little earlier, after the people crossed the Red Sea, they cried for water, and God provided. Already And then the people said they were hungry, and God provided manna, and quail.
The people have already had the experience of God working great wonders in their lifetime, taking them out of slavery under Pharaoh, bringing them safely through the Red Sea ahead of the Egyptian army. Did they miss that they were part of such a big story, the liberation of a people, the creation of a people out of a group of the enslaved, the movement of those people through a wild place, accompanied by the living God, moving toward the Promised Land, to become a nation? Did they miss all of that?
Think of fish, living in the ocean, surrounded by ocean, yet unaware they live their lives within that ocean. We, too, live within God’s grace, surrounded by God’s grace, often unaware we live our lives within that grace.
The Israelites. In the midst of such an important time – the Exodus – so important we are still talking about it, they lost sight of how awesome and wonderful, and trustworthy, is the Lord. The people in today’s gospel show the same tendency to short-sightedness. I think it’s part of human nature.
Jesus enters the Temple, and he starts teaching. Remember, he teaches with an authority that seems…different…to many people. People are starting to wonder who he is. And word is spreading about how he has been healing people. The blind see; the lame walk. People are asking him for healing. Some are just touching his robe to be healed. People are starting to wonder who he is. Some think he might be the Messiah. Many think he’s sent from God for their salvation.
The chief priests and elders came to him while he was teaching. They weren’t wondering if he was sent by the Lord God. They weren’t open to the possibility he might be the Messiah. Their authority, their exalted position in society would be threatened by someone sent by God to heal and to teach. Where would that leave them?
And so, they turn away from the Big Thing that’s happening right in their time, the visitation of the Lord God onto this worldly realm, the Kairos of the Divine living for a while in the Chronos of the Earthly, in the form of a single person standing right before them, and they ask, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”
They were trying to prove him a fraud. Or at least, to rein him in a little. They were distracted, trying to protect their own standing, and so they forgot to look beyond the immediate, and glimpse the presence of holiness. They were in the presence of Glory. The Kingdom of God was taking shape right before them, and they were invited to join. But they missed it, because they couldn’t let go of their concern for their position in Jerusalem society.
This congregation has just entered challenging times. [maybe for the 100th time, but for the first time for a lot of us.] Your long-time pastor has retired and left, and that creates enough change to destabilize the church a bit. I’m here, as interim pastor. I’m not here for a long time, but my task, while I am here, is to help you through this time of change.
The search process, it’s a really big task, and maybe the folks in leadership positions are already feeling pretty stressed. Those of you NOT in leadership positions may be feeling pretty stressed. Sometimes when a whole group of people are feeling stressed, anxious about the future… now maybe it’s not as bad as being in the middle of a desert, with no water available, maybe not that bad… but when you’re worried about the future of the church you love, worried you might make wrong decisions that are going to affect that future, things can get pretty tense.
I’ve always experienced the people of this church to be loving and very level-headed. But no one is immune to the effects of change. And the uncertainty of the future.
Remember, though, this church has been here for over 190 years. What does that mean? People of faith, people who put great importance in their relationship with the Lord God have put their money, their time, their love, into building this place, into programs and worship services, celebrations and funerals, classes and 12-step groups, coffee and community meals, that have woven a thick tapestry of community here.
I pray that none of you will get lost in the short-sightedness, about how uncomfortable change is, how tenuous everything here seems with just an interim pastor, the worry about finding the right called-pastor. Remember, this is the Church of Jesus Christ. You are called to this church. You are surrounded by grace, as a fish is surrounded by ocean, and you are meant to thrive. May it be so. Amen.
We're biblical, traditional, yet progressive.
We honor and take pride in our
Congregational roots.
We covenant with one another and with God,
as revealed
in Jesus Christ through the illumination of
the Holy Spirit.
We endeavor to walk humbly with God and
strive for justice and peace.
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.
Isaiah 56.7
We are an open and affirming congregation in which all persons regardless of race, ethnic background, economic status, gender, age, or personal ability, are equally affirmed into membership, leadership and employment
and joyfully welcomed.
Our church office is open for phone calls at 631-727-2621. Pastor Sean will return your calls. Our secretary is in the office Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
Our church office is open for phone calls at 631-727-2621. Pastor Sean will return your calls. Our secretary is in the office Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
Worship on Sundays at 10:00am.
No matter who you are or where you are in life's journey, you are welcome here.
103 1st Street, Riverhead, New York 11901, United States
Open today | 09:00 am – 12:00 pm |
Our church office is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00am-12:00. Church services are held on Sunday at 10:00am, and coffee hour in the fellowship hall following the worship service. Sunday School will be held at 10:00 am. (To run concurrent with our worship service)
.jpg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
