We Welcome Our Interim Pastor
Congratulations to Pastor Murray on his retirement! Welcome Rev. Lorraine De Armitt as our interim Pastor. To learn more about her, go to the Pastor button on the navigation menu. You may also read previous sermons on the sermon page. Please join us. Service begins at 10:00 am.
Beacon Light Newsletter November - December
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. We hope to begin Sunday at the end of November.
Bible Study: Will restart on Friday, November 6. Pastor DeArmitt will provide an overview of the New Testament and then compare the four gospels. Please contact the church at 631-727-2621 if you are interested in joining. All are welcome to attend. Classes are available in person or by Zoom.
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.
Thanksgiving Worship Service
There will be no Community Thanksgiving Service this year, but we do hope that you will join us to offer gratitude for all our blessings at our church's worship service on Sunday, November 22, 10:00 am. Our altar will be decorated with a beautiful harvest display.
If you would like to join us on Zoom, please follow the link to
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us810/launch/jc/84520152334
Meeting: 810 8693 1922
Pass code: 123456
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SERMON, NOVEMBER 8, 2026 ~ 24thSunday after Pentecost/Stewardship Sunday Rev, DeArnitt
Joshua 24 : 1-3a, 14-15; Matthew 25.1-13
"Saving up for the Future"
This parable of the ten bridesmaids. There’s a wedding about to happen, and 10 young women, who are to be bridesmaids, are waiting for the groom to show up so the wedding can begin. We don’t hear anything about the bride, and have no idea where she is. There seems to be a delay, and the groom doesn’t show up until very late at night.
Now this story is probably an allegory constructed by the gospel writer Matthew to illustrate the theme of being ready for the coming of the Lord, despite the apparent delay. Those very early Christians in Matthew’s community believed that the risen Christ was going to reappear very soon, and they waited for that Second Coming. The groom, being so late, would have been recognized by the earliest Christians as a familiar experience, waiting for Christ to come again.
There are five wise, and five foolish bridesmaids. The wise maids were ready. They had purchased enough oil for their lamps to last them through the waiting, and the ceremony. The foolish ones had not.
This parable has one point. It’s about the wisdom of readiness. If you do not make preparation in time, you will be too late to be admitted into the kingdom of God, as the foolish, unprepared maids were too late for the wedding celebration.
There are some who would say, in the kingdom of God, we should be sharing resources rather than telling our companions who have no oil, tough on you. You lose, I’m going to the wedding. But, there are compelling reasons to think that interpretation is not valid. Let me tell you why, and how this all fits together, on Stewardship Sunday.
There’s a phrase in the Communion liturgy that stands out to me: Sharing by allmeans scarcity for none. That idea frees us from the too-common scarcity mindset. I mean, there’s a way of seeing the world that is rooted in the fear that resources are permanently limited, and each person needs to grab what they can if they are going to ever have enough for their own needs. This way of thinking leads to anxiety, competition, and hoarding.
Our faith tradition has deep roots that speak against that scarcity mindset. Humanity’s story begins in the Garden of Eden, a place of physical abundance, with a close relationship between people and God. And God supplied every need. There was no shortage of anything.
Throughout Scripture, God steps in when there is a shortage, and creates sudden abundance. The Prophet Elisha led a widow to discover her cooking oil never ran out during a famine. Jesus fed 5000 hungry people with a few loaves of bread. The Apostle Paul wrote that he learned the secret of being content whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Jesus warned us that life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.
Scripture teaches that God is a generous Creator who provides for that creation. We can see that in how God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies of the field. In those examples we are encouraged to see our God as a generous source of good.
And we are able to relax into the knowledge that we have a loving Creator who wants us to be well. Sometimes we face problems, serious problems, but we were never meant to adopt a world view wherein we live in a Mad Max post-apocalyptic violent waste land where we must compete for scarce resources or perish. If the sparrow is watched with loving divine eyes, and even the lily with its short life span is given gorgeous colors to wear for those short summer days, how much more are we cared for?
True biblical abundance is not meant for selfish indulgence. It is not right for us to grab more so we can indulge ourselves more. Instead, God equips people with sufficiency so they can give freely and generously to others.
I know a couple who decided they were being called to give a substantial donation to Habitat for Humanity. They looked closely at their budget, and thought they could do without a second car, if they scheduled family commuting needs carefully enough to get away with just one car. So they sold one car, donated the proceeds, as well as what funds they would have used for auto insurance, gas, and other expenses, all to Habitat for Humanity. That’s one way to live out extravagant generosity. There are many others ways when we are looking at what we are called to give rather than how much we need for what we want.
All of this comes in to play when churches plan their budgets. And this is where the character of the congregation really shows itself. In some churches, not this one, in some churches people are really worried about paying the bills. And they start by identifying how much money they have, how much less they have now than last year, or ten years ago, and that can start a flurry of worry. How can we go on with so little?
Other churches begin in a very different place. God has been so good to them, there are so many people the church has been able to touch, so many programs that have served the community, so many expenses that somehow got paid. What does God want them to do this next year? How might that be financed?
People recognize generous churches. The church that gives to the community, the church that is welcoming to new people and offers friendship, and maybe a cup of coffee without counting the cost, that church encourages generosity. And generous Christians teach others how to live with non-anxious generosity by their example.
I know some congregations who guard their resources carefully. They don’t let outside groups use the building because that might result in wear and tear on the carpet and walls and raise heating costs. They don’t lend out the building because they would have to give out keys, and lose control of who is in the building. The building, then, is in use on Sunday morning, and once a month on Wednesday evening for meetings. Otherwise, it sits dark and empty. The surrounding neighbors aren’t sure if the church is still open, or shut down and abandoned. There’s no reason to think about going there.
First Congregational, here, has an active soup kitchen, feeding a large number of people three times a week. There are numerous 12-Step programs that meet weekly. The Thrift shop has steady traffic in and out, offering friendly faces and a bargain 3 days a week. This is a congregation which is open to the community, knows the community, serves the community in many ways, and, I would say, lives out the spirit of generosity.
To support this congregation is to support that level of service and engagement, but it also challenges you to concern yourself less with what you might need [if not now, then in the future] and more with what you can give, and how you can do that.
I hope you take the time to prayerfully consider what God has given you, what God has called you to give, and to pledge as you are able, to continue the mission of your church. Amen.
(For previous sermons, please go to the sermon
button on the navigation menu above)
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