What might our encounters with the experiences of Jesus‘ wrongful conviction and path toward his eventual crucifixion have to offer us in these days of pandemic? Watch this ecumenical service of meditation, reflection, and confession based on events in the life of Jesus leading up to his crucifixion.
Read MoreAll of a sudden, we not only had a public health crisis on our hands, we had an economic crisis, too. And, truth be told, most people--not just church goers--encountered a spiritual crisis. People who had never before given much thought to their own limitations, their eventual demise, and the afterlife were all of a sudden wondering, “What if I get this virus? What if it kills me? Where will I go, when I die?”
If you find yourself in this camp, or if you’ve ever given thought to these questions, then today’s message is especially for you.
Read MoreThe Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;
for you are with me. . .
Read MoreThe Rev. Dr. Mary Ellen Kilsby, former senior minister at First Congregational Church UCC in Long Beach, California (1988−2000) was a bit of a legend in her own time. She was one of the first women to serve as senior minister in a large church in our denomination, and she was a guiding light for liberal Protestantism and progressive social justice work throughout her life.
One of my favorite stories about Mary Ellen has to do with her early advocacy for LGBT rights. She was one of the first five pastors in the UCC in California to lead her congregation through the Open and Affirming process in 1992, and she did it with style. For example, she suggested that her congregation celebrate their decision to become an Open and Affirming Church by entering the Long Beach Gay Pride parade in 1992. The Church Council agreed.
Read MoreSo, just for fun today...let’s celebrate our propensity for theological inquiry and our ability to question all of the answers that orthodox Christianity has shelled out by singing “the Hokey Pokey,” as printed on your bulletin insert.
You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out,
You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.
You to do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.
You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out,
You put your left foot in, and you shake it all about.
You to do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.
It’s good to laugh at ourselves from time to time, especially in these days when everything in the news is so serious.
Read MoreWe kick off Lent, the season of reflection on “where we have gone wrong” and repentance, with a little review of the story of Adam & Eve from the Book of Genesis and “how they went wrong” and got themselves kicked out of the Garden of Eden. I say a little review because today’s reading is just a short excerpt of the longer story, which can be found in Chapters 2 & 3 of Genesis.
I’d like to start by drawing your attention to three key facts about this excerpt. First, Adam, and later, after she is created to help him, Eve, are placed in the Garden of Eden “to till it and keep it.” The underlying Hebrew words indicate that when God “placed,” Adam & Eve in the Garden, God intended for them to “rest, settle down, and remain” there, caring and serving it together.
Read More
