Personal and Political MiraclesRev. Dr. Robin Meyers, First Congregational Church of Norman, UCC - November 8, 2026Scripture: Psalm 23Robin wrote this sermon in a hospital room. For a week he and Shawn lived at Baptist Integris while she went through open heart surgery to repair a mitral valve, and he takes us inside that experience: the miracle of medicine that can stop a heart and start it again, the helplessness of watching someone you love connected to more wires and tubes than seems possible, and the kind of faith that becomes "a necessity beyond naming or knowing." He tells us about their three grown children taking turns through the nights, and how next to great kids, there is no better blessing than a great community.From there he turns to a second miracle, the election that same week. He opens with a prayer for the newly elected, asking that they go to Washington to serve and not to perform, and remember that either all of us matter or none of us do. He reflects on what voters said about character, decency and diversity, on two progressive pastors from our neck of the woods who asked a nation to go back and read the Sermon on the Mount, and on the hope that leaders now choose accountability without revenge. Along the way there is Shelley's Ozymandias, a Mark Twain line about democracy's death being greatly exaggerated, and a congregation that cannot quite agree whether to say "thank you, Jesus" or "thank you, God."It ends where it began, with the Twenty-Third Psalm, a table prepared, a cup that overflows, and a repaired heart with many more years ahead.00:00 A Prayer for the Elected02:35 Scripture: Psalm 2303:39 A Sermon Written in a Hospital Room06:01 Three Amazing Kids06:57 A Week of Miracles08:32 A Wave of Firsts10:51 Thank the Good Lord for Oklahoma?12:40 Kansas, Texas, and Two Preachers14:57 Accountability, Not Revenge18:59 Back to the Sermon on the Mount22:02 The Ozymandias Election22:53 A Repaired Heart23:30 Go in Peace

Before You Go, Sit DownRev. Dr. Robin Meyers, First Congregational Church of Norman, UCC - November 1, 2026Scripture: Luke 10:1-9Two days before an election, in a country he says we love but are worried sick about, Robin begins with a prayer for the poll workers, the organizers, and even the people who bring the donuts. He asks for an uneventful day, and for the grace to lose graciously, because that is what makes democracy possible.Then he sets two founding documents side by side. One is the Preamble to the Constitution, which he memorized in Mrs. Bethel's fifth grade class and still loves, knowing full well who "we the people" left out in 1787. The other is the set of instructions Jesus gave the seventy he sent out two by two: carry no purse, no bag, no sandals. Eat what is set before you. Heal the sick. When you enter a house, say peace to this house, and if the door is slammed in your face, shake it off and go on to the next one.Robin tells us that Christ never claimed America, so we cannot reclaim it for him. He shares his family's goodbye, "Bye, I love you, be careful," and adds one more line for all of us: before you go, sit down. Because if you have eaten at someone's table, you can never be strangers again.It ends at a seven-course Choctaw and Cherokee dinner in a friend's home, which was really communion in disguise, and with an invitation to check our swords at the door. We'll melt them down into plowshares if you like.Rome lives by the sword. We live at the table.00:00 A Prayer for Election Day02:01 Scripture: Luke 10:1-903:56 We the People05:32 Lambs in the Midst of Wolves08:32 Senator Byrd's Dog-Eared Constitution10:52 Christ Never Claimed America12:24 Peace to This House14:18 Bye, I Love You, Be Careful16:10 Before You Go, Sit Down18:22 Shake It Off and Go On19:55 Pass the Bread and Pour the Wine21:42 Communion in Disguise22:50 No Swords at the Table

The early church in Acts “had all things in common” and distributed what they had “as any had need.” This sermon by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers at First Congregational Church in Norman, Oklahoma takes that language seriously at a time when “socialist” is used as a trigger word in nearly every campaign ad. It looks at Acts 2 and Acts 4, who Luke was writing for, and why commentaries so often soften these passages for preachers. From there it moves to distributive versus retributive justice, the national debate over health care and the social safety net, and what it might mean for everyone to have enough to live in dignity. It closes with the common good, Godspell, and a Bob Dylan song, and a charge to preachers to preach the passage they would rather skip.

Scripture: Acts 2:42-47, with a look at Acts 4.

Chapters (approximate)

• 00:00 - Scripture reading: Acts 2:42-47
• 00:55 - “Socialist” as a trigger word
• 03:15 - Acts 2 and 4 next to “from each according to ability, to each according to need”
• 05:30 - One heart and soul: people over possessions, and who Luke was
• 08:15 - Empaths and narcissists, scarcity as a lie, and the safety net
• 10:40 - A God of distributive justice, not retributive violence
• 13:00 - Wonder, and what it asks of us (benevolence giving at church)
• 15:45 - What the commentaries say, and what else might be going on
• 18:00 - A peculiar people: the extra coat and the new creation
• 19:30 - The common good, “Day by Day,” and “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”
• 20:45 - Closing charge: “blessed are those who make good trouble”

Plenty Is Not Enough

Rev. Dr. Barbara Boyd, guest preacher at First Congregational Church of Norman, UCC -Oct 18, 2026Scripture: Philippians 4:10-13Guest preacher Rev. Dr. Barbara Boyd, retired Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma and retired Presbyterian Church (USA) clergy, picks up where last week's reading left off, with Paul's words on having plenty and being in need. A troubled boy on a Texas ranch who grabs two watermelons, Ruth gleaning in the fields, and the hunger here in Oklahoma lead to a harder question. Paul learned to be content, but did Jesus ask for something more? Barbara preaches against the text and leaves us with one of Tom Boyd's favorite sayings: if I have two chairs and you have none, I am a thief.00:00 A Path of Light: Opening Prayer02:04 Thirty-Four Years Ordained03:10 Scripture: Philippians 4:10-1304:17 Jake and the Two Watermelons08:31 Plenty and Not So Much12:15 Ruth Gleans the Fields14:35 When Plenty Is Not Enough18:06 Preaching Against the Text19:57 Four Ways to Live with Wealth21:16 The Jesus Path: Want Less24:40 If I Have Two Chairs

The God GapRev. Dr. Robin Meyers, First Congregational Church of Norman, UCC — October 11, 2026Scripture: Philippians 4:4–9Rev. Meyers opens with a prayer for his country, then looks at the word "heretic" and why it keeps coming back. Drawing on Mayflower's years as Oklahoma City's "House of Heresy" and the documentary American Heretics, he turns to the current midterm races, where Senate candidates James Talarico and Adam Hamilton are being called heretics for their faith. He asks why bad behavior gets forgiven while unorthodox theology does not, and reads Paul's words to the Philippians looking for the dogma. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just: think about these things.00:00 A Prayer for My Country01:42 Scripture: Philippians 4:4–902:56 The House of Heresy05:28 The Script Has Been Flipped07:12 Blasphemous, Evil, and Wrong09:17 The God Gap Is Closing12:53 What, Me Worry?14:51 Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxy17:34 Duped, Hoodwinked, Bamboozled18:55 Where's the Dogma?21:09 It Was the Company He Kept

An Honest Look at the Ten Commandments
Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers, First Congregational Church of Norman UCC — October 4, 2026

Living in Oklahoma means living in the middle of the culture wars over the Ten Commandments, from the monument on the Capitol grounds to the push to post them in public school classrooms. In this sermon, Robin reads Exodus 20 and takes the commandments one at a time, in their original context, asking what wisdom carries forward and what belongs to a patriarchal ancient world. He looks at idols old and new, why "taking the name of the Lord in vain" is really about lying, the Sabbath as the only commandment called holy, killing and pacifism, theft dressed up as ambition, and coveting as the most American commandment of all. Along the way he sets the Decalogue beside the Buddhist Eightfold Path and argues that what all these moral lists share is the goal of building relationships on trust. The commandments, he says, are signposts and not whipping posts, and trust can't be commanded. It has to be written on our hearts.

Chapters

00:00 Reading: Exodus 20
01:57 The Ten Commandments and Oklahoma's culture wars
04:48 An honest look in context
06:44 What all the moral lists have in common
09:32 1. No other gods
10:32 2. No graven images
12:13 3. The Lord's name in vain, and lying
14:33 4. Remember the Sabbath
16:10 5. Honor your father and mother
17:06 6. You shall not kill
19:04 7. You shall not commit adultery
19:53 8. You shall not steal
21:10 9. You shall not bear false witness
21:56 10. You shall not covet
24:09 Signposts, not whipping posts