Pastors' Blog
This Sunday will be the first time I preach at United Parish in Brookline! It has already been two months since I started my field education internship with you all and I already feel like I am a part of the church family. I am so grateful for all the opportunities you have given me.
Each week, our Pastors, Kent and Amy, share the Good News with us that we are all loved, forgiven and renewed in God’s presence. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Whether we want to believe it...
Dear Ones,
If you couldn't tell from the Christmas music I was blasting in my car well before Thanksgiving (Advent used to start on November 15th!), Christmas is my favorite holiday of the Christian year, and Advent is my favorite liturgical season. I'm so ready. I've got Love, Actually queued up on Netflix, my family is buying our Christmas tree this weekend, and Kent, Susan, Jaz, and I have been busy...
Greetings to you, and peace, from the One who is, and was, and is to come!
A couple months ago at our "Ask the Pastor" forum (which will be happening again on February 2), we had a lot of great conversation about children's sermons and children's services, and out of that conversation emerged the idea to have a special service this fall that was geared toward our children and youth. All the elements of our typical worship service are present, with a bit more of an interactive flair...
This Sunday's gospel reading is a doozy.
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven."
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This past week I attended a long-awaited clergy conference sponsored by the Pension Boards of the United Church of Christ (PBUCC). It’s called CREDO. “Credo,” is Latin for “I believe,” or even “I give my heart to…”
The conference was an intentional six-day period for church pastors to assess the different aspects of their lives: vocational, spiritual, physical, psychological and financial. There are...
Zacchaeus was a wee little manAnd a wee little man was heHe climbed up in a sycamore treeFor the Lord he wanted to see
And when the Savior passed that wayHe looked up in the treeAnd said, 'Zacchaeus, you come down!For I'm going to your house today!For I'm going to your house today!'
Zacchaeus was a wee little manBut a happy man was he...
This Sunday, we continue exploring some of Jesus' parables in the Gospel of Luke.
This week's parable (Luke 18:9-14), is about a righteous Pharisee and a worldly tax-collector praying side-by-side. The Pharisee is giving thanks for how pious and holy he is, while the tax-collector is asking for mercy and fessing up to his imperfections. Jesus observes that the tax-collector ...
When I was 3 or 4 years old and my mother was feeling particularly exasperated by her argumentative, persistent first-born, she would often sigh and say "God, give me patience." She later recounted to me one instance when she sighed in frustration...and then heard my little voice chime in, "Talk to God, mommy!"
Prayer is how we talk to God, and as anyone can tell you, communication is key to any healthy relationship, be it romantic, familial, platonic, or divine.
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You know the old saying, "strike while the iron's hot"? Well, what if the iron is very, very cold, and there's not a fire in sight? That is the situation the Israelites found themselves in in this Sunday's scripture reading, Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7. Captured by the Babylonians, they have no idea when (or even if) they will ever return home and be able to get to work being God's people,...
Have you ever been at a dinner party or reception where you really didn’t know people that well? Maybe you were a friend of a friend. Maybe you were the guest of a new acquaintance. Maybe you just crashed the party.
Depending on where you are on the introvert/extrovert scale, you may have keenly felt your outsider status, retreated into the walls, felt uncomfortable and gone home early. Or you naturally broke through any awkwardness, extended yourself to others, discovered common...
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