by Kate Baker-Carr, November 20, 2023
We are entering a busy time. This week, Thanksgiving, is a chance to “set our tables for peace” and to welcome our neighbors for a feast in Willett Hall. It is a joyous time when we gather with family and friends and a poignant time when we note keenly those absent from us. One of the things I love about the Sunday after Thanksgiving is seeing United Parish’s college students and young adults who are home. It’s also a chance to meet grandparents, aunts and uncles, and treasured kin of my United Parish family. So too, we are entering a… Read More
by Christine VanDeWege, November 16, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. There’s a popular saying, engraved on bracelets and emblazoned on t-shirts with the acronym WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?). Not a bad question to ponder when faced with an important decision, but I was recently tickled when I saw a meme poking good-humored fun of the saying: Most people wear “What Would Jesus Do” bracelets, but I rock my “Jesus Probably Would Not Have Gotten Himself Into This Situation In The First Place” bracelet. As Ben Franklin put it,… Read More
by Kent French, November 08, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. In the early stories of the Hebrew Bible, Isaac gets very little air time. He’s often overshadowed by his father Abraham and son Jacob. There is one story, however, that says a lot about his character. In Genesis 26, we learn that Isaac became quite successful as a rancher. He had lots of flocks, herds and servants. He also had access to his father’s wells — a necessity for surviving and thriving in that dry part of… Read More
by Kent French, November 02, 2023
REMINDER: Daylight Savings ends this Sunday, set clocks back one hour. This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. What do you spend most of your time thinking about? When you wake up in the morning? When you go to bed? As you go throughout your day, what thoughts hang out the most in your head? In short, what preoccupies your mind? In the closing of his letter to the early Christians in Philippi (in northeastern Greece), Paul encouraged the faithful to keep… Read More
by Christine VanDeWege, October 26, 2023
I spent this morning at a regional airport, celebrating my 20-year-old son’s first solo flight. This is a big day in the life of a would-be pilot, so three of his flight instructors came to observe and congratulate. There were lots of smiles and swells of humble pride. Then three moms arrived with their babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. The children ran as fast as their little legs could carry them toward the airport’s viewing platform. They shouted with glee, pointing at the planes as the children danced, unable to keep still in their excitement. Already very happy for my son,… Read More
by Kent French, October 19, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. What do you worry about? Job security? Your health? Your kids? Your aging parents? Loneliness? Climate change? War? The political future of our country? Any number of things that pop up on your regular media source? Would you like to worry less? In two of the Gospels, Jesus tells his disciples very clearly, “Do not worry,” and then goes on to talk about the natural world and how grass, wild flowers and birds “neither… Read More
by Kent French, October 12, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. How do you perceive God? Is God a hard-driving, task-master who always gives you the impression you come up short? Or a kind, loving, benevolent, generalized feeling, like the air on a warm summer day or a comforting morning mist? Is God in the feeling you get from music that moves you down to your core? Is God like Santa Claus, keeping a list of when you’re naughty and nice, and rewarding you accordingly? Our perceptions… Read More
by Christine VanDeWege, October 06, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. Two weeks ago, Pastor Kent shared a message about Nicodemus’ encounter with Jesus, as told in the book of John, chapter 3. This week, I will be teaching and preaching about a companion story that follows in John, chapter 4, when the Samaritan woman encounters Jesus at the well of Jacob. The author of the book of John, who opens this gospel with images of light and darkness, contrasts Nicodemus’ midnight meeting, with all the darkness and… Read More
by Kent French, September 28, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. Throughout his teaching and preaching ministry, Jesus used lots of metaphors to explain what it means to live a faithful life, connect with God and bring about the realm of heaven: sowing good seed on fertile soil, the exponential growth potential of a mustard seed, light shining in the darkness, separating sheep and goats. Sometimes these metaphors are so strong, clear and durable that I wonder how we can improve upon them or understand them any better… Read More
by Kent French, September 20, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. There’s a wonderful, enigmatic figure who crops up in our scripture reading from time to time: Nicodemus. A leader of the Pharisees who came furtively to Jesus after dark to find out what this guy was all about (John 3:1-21). In the past, I’ve referred to Nicodemus as a closet Christian. He’s longing to know something about Jesus, but he doesn’t want others to see him associating with him. Jesus tells him that he must be born… Read More
