February 12, 2023 Epiphany 6 Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service and a daily devotional guide for the coming week with reflections on this Sunday’s Scripture readings, a schedule of psalms to read and pray through, and guides for your prayers of intercession.

In Matthew 5:21-37, Jesus takes the words of the Old Testament Law and radically sharpens them. Instead of outward obedience, he demands inner purity. But what if this is beyond our power? In this sermon, Pastor Eric uses the image of a coach vs. a surgeon to understand how these words of Jesus work in our souls, and how we can find freedom and joy in the love of Christ.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

February 5, 2023 Epiphany 5 Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service and a daily devotional guide for the coming week with reflections on this Sunday’s Scripture readings, a schedule of psalms to read and pray through, and guides for your prayers of intercession.

Sometimes in worship, we hear “church words” that have been nearly forgotten in our modern world. Taking a word from all of today’s lessons, and particularly from the gospel reading from Matthew 5:13-20, Pastor Paige invites listeners to learn about the word, “righteousness.” What does it mean that we are clothed in Jesus’ righteousness? Do we need to worry about our measure of righteousness? What does righteousness have to do with how we live each day as followers of Jesus? In this sermon, we consider these questions so we can learn how to obey God’s call to practice righteousness and shine the light of Christ as we serve our neighbors.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

January 29, 2023 Epiphany 4 (Annual Meeting Day) Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service and a daily devotional guide for the coming week with reflections on this Sunday’s Scripture readings, a schedule of psalms to read and pray through, and guides for your prayers of intercession.

In today's readings (Micah 6:1-8, 1Corinthians 1:18-31, and Matthew 5:1-12, we hear God's call to his people to live in holiness and service. It's a call that can feel impossible. But what if it wasn't up to us? What if God does want to transform us, and change the world through us, but if it wasn't our strength or wisdom that would get it done? In this sermon, Pastor Eric lifts up the grace of Jesus in the Cross as the source of all spiritual good and power. When we trust in him, and not our own efforts, then God's saving purposes will get done.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

January 22, 2023 Epiphany 3 Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service and a daily devotional guide for the coming week with reflections on this Sunday’s Scripture readings, a schedule of psalms to read and pray through, and guides for your prayers of intercession.

As the season of Epiphany continues, we hear the good news that Jesus brings light to scatter the darkness. Today’s gospel reading from Matthew 4:12-23 invites us to follow Jesus as his disciples. In this sermon, Pastor Paige points out that it isn’t always easy to do that, given the challenges of sin and the unexpected ways that darkness tries to sneak into our lives. By becoming human for us and our salvation, Jesus knows what that feels like. In his death on the cross and his resurrection, the light and power of God overcame the darkness once and for all, for us and for the whole world. Now we get to shine the light of our risen Lord everywhere we go.

[We had to cut the second reading, and the first reading & psalm might be hard to hear clearly, as the microphone batteries were dying.]

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

January 15, 2023 Epiphany 2 Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service and a daily devotional guide for the coming week with reflections on this Sunday’s Scripture readings, a schedule of psalms to read and pray through, and guides for your prayers of intercession.

A lot of Christians, especially those invested in their churches, are vulnerable to frustration and disappointment now. Trends of lower participation, and of more people identifying as non-Christian, had been going on for decades, and the pandemic & lockdowns only accelerated them. The temptation is to say that "the world should change so they can come to us." But what if the Lord wants us to change so that we go to the world? What if caring about the well-being of the institution, and those already in it, is too small a hope? In this sermon from Isaiah 49:1-7, Pastor Eric uses the image of the Dead Sea to lift up God's call to mission for the sake of others.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

January 8, 2023 Worship! (The Baptism of Our Lord, with a little Epiphany!)

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. The button above will allow you to download a bulletin to help follow along in the service. Our daily devotions guide is still “on hiatus,” but will come back soon. On January 8, we are celebrating both the festival of The Epiphany as well as The Baptism of Our Lord.

So much of what people do boils down to pursuing feelings of worthiness, belonging, and acceptance. And no matter how hard we work for it, we are often left disappointed or disillusioned. But the story of Jesus' baptism offers us a different way. What if, instead of spending our lives working for acceptance, we could live our lives FROM the gift of acceptance by God? In this sermon from Matthew 3:13-17, Pastor Eric invites us to see how Christ's baptism reveals what happens in our own baptisms, and how that can empower us to live transformed, healed, and holy lives.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

New Year's Day Worship! (2nd Sunday of Christmas, 10:00am)

Merry Christmas! We continue to observe the 12 Days of Christmas with a service of Lessons, Carols, and Holy Communion today. What better way to start a new year than by singing praise to the Christ Child with your church family?

The two buttons above will allow you to download a bulletin to help follow along in the service and take you to our YouTube channel. The recording of the live stream will remain available on YouTube after the service is over (although it may “vanish” briefly once the live stream ends and YouTube processes it), but we will not be re-posting it to Facebook or the web site.

We pray that this service will be a blessing to you. May the entire 12 Days of Christmas, and all of 2023, be filled with the light of Christ!

Christmas Day Worship! (12/25, 10:00am)

Merry Christmas! Our Christmas Day worship includes a triple baptism (a father and two daughters)! The two buttons above will allow you to download a bulletin to help follow along in the service (including the baptismal booklet at the end of the bulletin) and take you to our YouTube channel. The recording of the live stream will remain available on YouTube after the service is over (although it may “vanish” briefly once the live stream ends and YouTube processes it), but we will not be re-posting it to Facebook or the web site.

We pray that this service will be a blessing to you. May the entire 12 Days of Christmas be filled with the light of Christ!

Christmas Eve Worship! (4pm service)

Merry Christmas! This year, we are live streaming our 4:00pm Christmas Eve service, which includes musical offerings by several of Reformation’s younger musicians. The two buttons above will allow you to download a bulletin to help follow along in the service and take you to our YouTube channel. The recording of the live stream will remain available on YouTube after the service is over (although it may “vanish” briefly once the live stream ends and YouTube processes it), but we will not be re-posting it to Facebook or the web site.

We pray that this service will be a blessing to you. May the entire 12 Days of Christmas be filled with the light of Christ!

December 18, 2022 Advent 4 Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service and a daily devotional guide for the coming week with reflections on this Sunday’s Scripture readings, a schedule of psalms to read and pray through, and guides for your prayers of intercession.

Christmas is almost here! It’s the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and the candles on the Advent wreath are at their brightest. In today’s Gospel reading, Matthew 1:18-25, we hear Matthew’s version of Jesus’ birth. We learn about Joseph and his surprising story. He wanted to quietly leave his fiancé, Mary, who became pregnant before they were married. But an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and convinced him to stay. Pastor Paige asks listeners to imagine how challenging it would have been for Joseph to abandon his plan to quietly slip away from a difficult situation, and to stay as the angel commanded him. Joseph’s obedience is a wonderful model for how we are called to listen for God and to allow God’s voice to shape our lives. When we lean into our faith and follow God’s call, even when his instructions are incomplete, God will lead us to joys we couldn't discover on our own: the joys of faith, hope, and love at Christmastime and always.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

December 14 Blue Christmas Service

Welcome to Reformation’s first Blue Christmas worship service, intended to provide peace, solace, and strength to those who find “the holiday season” to be difficult for any reason. You can download a copy of the bulletin at the button above, and the button below will take you to our YouTube channel where the service will stream on December 14 at 7:30pm, and then will remain as a recorded service. At Christmas, we do not deny the reality of the shadows of this world, but we lift up the promise that Christ’s light shines even in the darkness. May the presence of the Christ child bring you comfort and, yes, joy, even in life’s darkest seasons.

December 11, 2022 Advent 3 Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service and a daily devotional guide for the coming week with reflections on this Sunday’s Scripture readings, a schedule of psalms to read and pray through, and guides for your prayers of intercession.

John the Baptist was stuck in jail. How can this be? Isn't he a faithful servant of the Lord? Jesus gives John words of encouragement, but also a challenge. In this sermon from Matthew 11:2-11, Pastor Eric lifts up the hope of Christ's power even in our trials, reminding us that Jesus does not lead us around struggles, but through them. There is also a word of challenge, though: the kingdom of Jesus is cross-shaped. It comes not just for our blessing, but so that we can be made into the kind of community that can bless others. This is not easy, but it is the path of life.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

December 4, 2022 Advent 2 Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service and a daily devotional guide for the coming week with reflections on this Sunday’s Scripture readings, a schedule of psalms to read and pray through, and guides for your prayers of intercession.

The story of John the Baptist's ministry can sound like he was a fire-and-brimstone preacher. But what if that's not what he was like? What if the call to "repent" isn't an angry demand, but a hopeful invitation? What if the coming of God's kingdom doesn't mean impending punishment, but the arrival of mercy and redemption? In this sermon from Matthew 3:1-12, Pastor Eric offers a hopeful understanding of John the Baptist, while also challenging us to self-examination and repentance as we prepare for the coming Messiah.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

November 27, 2022 Advent 1 Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service.

The First Sunday of Advent begins a new church year. It’s a season when we’re called to pause and pay attention to what God is up to in our lives and in our world, so we can be prepared for Jesus to come. As Christians, we focus on Jesus coming as a baby in the manger, and at the same time, we cling to his promise to return in glory on the last day. In today’s reading from Matthew 24:36-44, Jesus instructs his followers to “keep awake” and to “be ready.” In this sermon, Pastor Paige offers spiritual practices that can help us pay attention to our relationship with our coming Savior and Lord. We don’t know when Jesus will come again, but our observance of Advent reminds us to keep watching, keep hoping, and keep trusting that he will.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

November 20, 2022 Christ the King & Commitment Sunday Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service, and a daily devotional guide based on this Sunday’s readings to keep strengthening your faith through the week.

"What planet are you living on?" That's a question we ask when someone is behaving in a way that doesn't match how we think the world works. On Christ the King Sunday, we are faced with the question of whether we live as though Jesus is our Lord, or if we are still stuck in the ways of this world. As this Sunday ends our stewardship campaign, "Come Together," Pastor Eric looks at how being under the graceful, loving reign of Jesus brings us "together" and makes us free to give ourselves away for the sake of the Kingdom.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

November 13, 2022 Pentecost 23 Sunday Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the button above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service. Our daily devotional guide is taking a week off, but will return next week.

In our Gospel reading from Luke 21:5-19, Jesus gives his disciples a reason for confidence when it seems like the world is falling apart. And in 1Peter 2:1-5 & 9-10, the apostle gives us a vision of what the Holy Spirit can do when we are gathered around God's presence: we can be built into the community where the world can encounter the love of Christ.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

November 6, 2022 All Saints' Sunday Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service, and a daily devotional guide based on this Sunday’s readings to keep strengthening your faith through the week.

The word “saint” isn’t a title we usually apply to ourselves. We tend to think of saints as loved ones who have died and are now with Jesus in heaven, or as people of faith who lived long ago. But a saint isn’t only someone far removed from us. In fact, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are all saints! Through Christ, our sins are forgiven and we have been made right with God. In this sermon, Pastor Paige explores Jesus’ teaching in Luke 6:20-31. She tells a story from her life of someone who lived out what it means to be a saint through his generosity and service. As part of our fall stewardship focus, she asks listeners to consider how they can grow in generosity as saints and bless our church and our community through their time, talent, and treasure.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

October 30, 2022 Reformation Sunday Worship Service

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service, and a daily devotional guide based on this Sunday’s readings to keep strengthening your faith through the week.

Reformation Sunday is a day to celebrate the gift of God's grace! The reality is that we often do so much damage --to ourselves and others-- trying to create our own satisfaction, peace, and security. But it doesn't need to be that way. In this sermon from Ephesians 2:1-10, Pastor Eric calls us to rejoice in Christ's unconditional love, and then let that love lead us into serving and supporting his mission.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

October 23, 2022 Worship Service ("The Way Down Is the Way Up")

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service, and a daily devotional guide based on this Sunday’s readings to keep strengthening your faith through the week.

A paradox at the heart of Christianity is that the way of humility is the pathway to glory. In this sermon from Luke 18:9-14, Pastor Eric invites us to follow Jesus on the road of humble confession, finding our hope not in our accomplishments, but in Christ's perfect love.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!

October 16, 2022 Worship Service ("We're All Wrestlers")

We are so glad you’re joining Reformation for online worship! We hope that this time of prayer, song, and hearing the Word of God will help you to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your love and service. Please use the buttons above to download a bulletin to help you follow along with the service, and a daily devotional guide based on this Sunday’s readings to keep strengthening your faith through the week.

When we face struggles, it’s easy to think that God is far away or unaware of what we’re going through. Today’s reading from Genesis 32:22-31 reminds us of the comforting truth that the opposite is the case: God loves us so much that he comes close to us. God stays with us as we wrestle with hard situations in our lives. In our reading, Jacob emerged from a whole night of wrestling with an unexpected blessing from the Lord. In this sermon, Pastor Paige encourages listeners to cling to the hope we have in Jesus, to pay attention to the blessings God gives us in the midst of our struggles, and to receive those blessings with thanksgiving.

This is a recording of our 8:30 service. After the service, we invite you to fill out an online response card here. Also, if you are able, we invite you to partner with us by financially supporting Reformation here. Your generosity allows us to bring the hope of Jesus to Milford and beyond. Thank you!