2020.03.15 | Those Kind of People
2020.03.15 | Those Kind of People

The 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.

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LentArlene NehringPastor Arlene
2020.03.08 | All In
2020.03.08 | All In

So, 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.

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LentArlene NehringPastor Arlene
2020.03.01 | How Do You Know….Good and Evil
2020.03.01 | How Do You Know….Good and Evil

We 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.

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LentGuest UserPastor Pepper
2020.02.26 | Living with Integrity / Viviendo con Integridad
2020.02.26 | Living with Integrity / Viviendo con Integridad

Similarly, members of organizations need their leaders to do the same. They need to hear and see us expressing our beliefs and values, and aligning them with our daily practices. Organizations that are most successful in identifying and electing leaders with these capabilities are typically those that recruit, hire, and promote folks whose personal vocations, values, and goals are aligned with the organization’s MVV.

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Ash WednesdayArlene NehringPastor Arlene
2020.02.23 | Transfigured by Grace
2020.02.23 | Transfigured by Grace

Sometimes, feeling our way in the dark or holding on to our sled as tight as possible is the best we can do. And at other times, we actually have a chance, like Jesus did in today’s gospel reading, to go on retreat, ground ourselves, and put a strategy together for how we will navigate the unknown.

If we get that opportunity to retreat, like Jesus did, I suggest that we take a lesson from the Transfiguration story. I suggest that we gather up those who are nearest and dearest to us, that we ground ourselves in the wisdom of our ancient prophets, that we study and emulate the values and practices of these trusted wise ones, and that we pursue the visions that they have instilled in our heads and heart.

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TransfigurationArlene NehringPastor Arlene
2020.02.16 | Grow Up
2020.02.16 | Grow Up

Pain pushes people to the edge, causing them to ask fundamental questions such as “Why is this happening?” and “How can this be fixed?” Pain brings out the best in people along with the worst. Pain strips away all the illusions required to maintain the status quo. Pain begs for change, and when those in its grip find no release on earth, plenty of them look to heaven--including some whose formal belief systems preclude such wishful thinking. Pain makes theologians of us all. If you have spent even one night in real physical pain, then you know what that can do to your faith in God, not to mention your faith in your own ability to manage your life.

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EpiphanyArlene NehringPastor Arlene
2020.02.09 | Spiritual Wisdom
2020.02.09 | Spiritual Wisdom

You see, in today’s chapter, Paul was determined to settle a dispute within the burgeoning Christian community in Corinth. It seems that there were some who thought they were better than others, because they had a fancy education and were more erudite spokespersons on Christian theology. Paul wasn’t having any of this. While he did not discount the value of education, he saw education and formation as a both-and not an either-or, and he was determined to bring some balance to the discourse and the hierarchy of beings in that fledgling congregation.

The way that modern Chrstians sometimes paraphrase Paul’s teaching here is to say that the Christian life is not just about what you know, it’s about who you know.

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EpiphanyArlene NehringPastor Arlene
2020.02.02 | Revolutionary Spirit
2020.02.02 | Revolutionary Spirit

I don’t want to forget the origin and meaning of our traditions. In this narrative something supernatural happens when the Glory of God is present. Let me say it this way: The Revolutionary Spirit of God drives us to do things we would not do easily at our own will. Have you ever wondered how the impulses of the Holy Spirit move in your life? In the three examples I mentioned, the impulses of the Spirit of God manifest in a form of solidarity amongst the rejected. Elizabeth stands in solidarity with Mary and hosts her in her house. During those times, Mary could have been stoned to death for being pregnant outside of marriage.

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EpiphanyGuest UserNadia Tavera
2020.01.26 | Fishing Methods
2020.01.26 | Fishing Methods

There’s something compelling about this story and about what Jesus says:  I will make you fishers of people.  Over time, many Christians have taken up this invitation to Peter and Andrew and made it their own, taking it as the essence of their own call or mission in the world today.  They are fishers of people, spreading the Christian faith far and wide, in the hope of attracting others to their faith and to their church.  And some of these people who take this “fishers of people” approach most seriously are quite successful at collecting whole schools, if not teaming oceans, of fish-people to them.  

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EpiphanyGuest UserPastor Pepper
2020.01.19 | Called, Equipped, and Empowered
2020.01.19 | Called, Equipped, and Empowered

This holiday weekend as our nation observes the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we have occasion to reflect on life and contributions of a great man who courageously testified to his faith in the public square.  

In celebrating Dr. King’s birthday, it behooves us to remember that he wasn’t alone in his mission, and we ought not sit on our hands waiting for someone else to carry it on. We must each, in our unique ways, step up and do our part. 

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EpiphanyArlene NehringPastor Arlene
2020.01.12 | God's Favorites
2020.01.12 | God's Favorites

The story of Jesus’ baptism is central to the celebration of Epiphany. It is also the story on which the Christian sacrament of baptism is founded. In the United Church of Christ, our denominational tradition, and in Protestantism in general, we celebrate two sacraments: Baptism and Eucharist. 

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EpiphanyArlene NehringPastor Arlene