Pastors' Blog
Dear Ones,
Over the last two years, we've gotten used to regular, breaking news updates of national or international importance. It is tempting to numb out with optimism, it is easy to spiral in fear, it is hardest to stay present while acknowledging and feeling all that each momentous happening brings up in us. This week, I am sitting with heartbreak, anger, and even fear at the all-but certain overturning of Roe v. Wade, even as many of our Black sisters and siblings...
Barbara Lynch, Convener of the Stewardship and Budget Ministry Team, noted in Sunday’s kick-off of this season’s stewardship campaign,
“Three congregations came together 52 years ago to form the United Parish. They didn’t come together just to survive, they came together to thrive. And TOGETHER is the only way we can continue to survive AND thrive.”
It has been a gift to my soul to cheer on your congregation’s wonderful stewardship team this year: Dot Gorenflo, Madeline...
Happy Thursday! It was so great to return to an in-person Holy Week and see pews that were filled all around us.
As we enter into our stewardship season and Eastertide, we’re excited to introduce a new liturgy series from our friends at A Sanctified Art, I’ve Been Meaning to Ask. This series invites us into several weeks of opportunity for curiosity, courage, and connection. Along the way, you might notice that the familiar...
Each year we return to the story of betrayal, desertion, suffering and death. And every year we come to the story with our own present and particular experiences of these realities in our own lives. Sometimes, perhaps in the remembering of the story, there’s a feeling of joining, an understanding of how it is with us. Sometimes, perhaps, a reminder of how unjust life can be.
And each year we return on Easter Sunday to the story of an unexpected and different rising to life where we’d...
Dear United Parish Family,
This Sunday, we have the joy of celebrating our confirmation class and the educational and spiritual journey they have taken.
Over the past church 'semester,' our confirmation class has been diving into some pretty big questions:
What is faith?
Who is God?
Who is Jesus?
What is the Holy Spirit?
What does it mean to be a Christian in the world?
What does it mean to be a member of United Parish?
And much...
Dear Ones,
As we move ever onward towards the Passion and Resurrection, we pause this Sunday to reflect on beauty, on being our authentic selves, and on taking a moment to pour out our souls in a 'frivolous' act of devotion. Our Gospel story is a classic Family Systems case study: Mary, Martha, Jesus, and a jar of expensive perfume. Our Lenten curriculum reflects,
"The story of Mary breaking open a jar of expensive perfume is surrounded by death. Only one chapter earlier,...
So here we are, now just over a month into this sabbatical season. I remember on my own sabbaticals that somewhere around now I found myself letting go of what was, unable yet to worry or think about what might be, and able to be present right here, right now in this moment of time. I remember how surprising and strange it felt to be free to be in time in a way I’d never experienced before. I hope Kent is experiencing the gift of such presence in time now.
As for you, here at United...
This Sunday, we are delighted to welcome to the pulpit Rev. We Chang, District Superintendent of the Commonwealth East District of the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church.
“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work. God’s Decree.” Isaiah 55:8 (The Message)
Rev. Chang writes, "This is the scripture that has been poking at me. I’m thinking about relating this to the concept of...
**REMINDER: Daylight Savings starts this Sunday, March 13. Set clocks forward one hour.**
Dear Ones,
As we continue our Lenten series, "Full to the Brim," we have the pleasure of welcoming Rev. Dr. Mary Day Miller, the Executive Minister for The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, as our guest preacher this Sunday. We'll be turning our attention to ...
It’s been such a gift to be here with you the last two weeks. Thank you for your warm welcome. I look forward to our next three months of ministry together.
As we begin this brief breath of time together, I’m curious, What’s our opportunity? What might this time open for you and United Parish? How might it be its own gift and grace of a “sabbath time?”
It’s a gift that we begin our time together with the season of Lent which is an opportunity to look anew at all we are doing in...
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