Dear friends, First, let me say with all gratitude that I am thrilled about being called as the Monroe Congregational Church’s 50th seated pastor! It has been good in the past few weeks to move from the “maybe?” to the “yes!” and become more settled with the idea of leading the church in a different [...]
Have you ever wondered if there really is a culture war against Christmas? The other day I was speaking with one of my relatives who was truly distressed. In her youth, it was Christmas, not X-Mas. She never used to be bombarded with flyers from retailers beginning in mid-October, urging her to go out and [...]
Ritual Connections Advent begins on November 27th this year, which is only a few Sundays away. Where does the time fly? When I think about Advent, I think about rituals and traditions to mark the time. While it is true that our elders are often the standard bearers of tradition, I’ve also observed over the [...]
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month My heart is in anguish within me, the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. And I say, ‘O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; truly, I would flee far away; I would lodge [...]
An oak tree grew slowly, steadily, seeing other trees, grass. A nuthatch flew swiftly, spryly, seeing verdant trees, meadows, brilliant sunset skies; savoring each scene soaring by its roving eyes. The oak tree grew inch by inch seeing from where it was planted. – Anonymous Are you an oak or a nuthatch? Some of us [...]
A Simple Act of Generosity… On a recent Sunday morning following worship service I was handed a jar of money by one of our church’s eleven year old youth. “Some friends in the neighborhood got together and we made a lemonade stand. We want to give this money we made to you so that you [...]
Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long on the land which the LORD your God gives you. (Exodus 20:12) Parental Control Our almost-12 year old son has been experiencing major growing pains. Or maybe his dad and I are the ones experiencing pain. Suddenly and without warning, our sweet, adorable [...]
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16, NIV When my son Zack was little, he really enjoyed making “forts” out of folding chairs, blankets and pillows. Sometimes, if he was in a particularly peaceful mood, he’d bring a flashlight and a book and read until he fell asleep. He reminded me [...]
I have to admit that this summer, my head is spinning (just a little bit). After a wildly fun and successful Strawberry Festival, I had the good fortune to represent the Fairfield East Association at this year’s 28th General Synod. For those of you who may not know what that is, I commend to you [...]
As some of you may have heard, I am planning a three month sabbatical from January 1 – March 31, 2011. These past five years of ministry with you have been wonderful, and I am blessed to have the opportunity to take time to reflect upon our joys and challenges, to study and be renewed, [...]
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” – John 20:21 Full of God’s peace… vessels of the Holy Spirit… sent out into the world. Scripture reminds us that each one of us, having received gifts of grace and empowerment from God, are [...]
Let me share with you something that happened at a recent confirmation class. There we sat in the front of the meetinghouse, 16 youth and 4 teachers. It was “history walk” night, we had walked around the green and church grounds. We took them through 2,000 years of history in about 30 minutes. We were [...]
Due to recent changes in HIPPA laws we are finding it more and more difficult to find out if a member has been admitted to an area hospital. Please remember, if you or a family member would like pastoral care while in the hospital please call the church office and speak with Pastor Jenn or [...]
Dear Church, I wanted to let you know that I will be away from May 4-6th at a conference in Waltham, Mass. entitled “Celebrating Call, Celebrating Challenge: Ministry in a Changing Landscape”. This time of renewal will help me learn new leadership strategies through presentations and workshops, Bible study, worship and opportunities to share [...]
On March 26, a group of five interested people from MCC travelled to Ridgefield to take part in an informational meeting about Stephen Ministries, a one-to-one lay caring ministry (www.stephenministries.org). I first learned of Stephen Ministries through a colleague of mine who is the pastor of another UCC church in the area about our size. [...]
Queries: Self-Examination for the Season of Lent (Rooted in the 17th century Quaker tradition) “Be still in the presence of the Lord….” (Psalm 37:7) Taking time for “Holy Silence” v Do I try to set aside times of quiet for openness to the Holy Spirit? v Do I encourage in myself the habit of relying [...]
Why Women’s Sunday? The other day I was having a conversation with one of the men of our church about Women’s Sunday. I won’t tell you his name, but you can think of him as a thoughtful, trusting, compassionate person –a really solid and faithful individual. I had been talking about women’s Sunday in a [...]
In Our Shoes: A Reflection written by the Junior Pilgrim Fellowship Imagine you only have one friend. You have grown up with this friend since birth. You two do everything together. You are inseparable. But what if your friend says something that makes you feel small and inferior? What would you do? Our Junior Pilgrim [...]
We are a vibrant and very busy church and are all greatly blessed by Jenn’s call to serve our church community as Associate Pastor. We want to extend a gentle reminder of Jenn’s role; particularly during this transition time. Jenn undoubtedly went above and beyond her call during the sabbatical and through much of 2010. [...]
Welcome to liminal space… the space betwixt and between. “Limina” is the Latin word for threshold. It is a place of waiting. It is a time directly after the tried and true, but before the not yet. In the stories of the Bible, it is a place where God pulls, pokes, and prods human beings [...]
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