Vanasõna

Faith, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the First Congregational Church on a continuing mission to explore creation & justice, seek out God's creation, and boldly love as no one has loved before.  After worship and the cookie exchange, once we are all hopped up on sugar, we will have another discussion about our mission statement. According  to Jason Bowman at ARTSPEAK Creative, he defines mission statements, vision statements, and core values in this way: A mission statement is  what  you intend to do as an organization A vision statement is  how  you intend to accomplish your mission Core values are the  attitudes and habits  that allow you to accomplish your mission Our current statement is a mixture of all three, which is not a bad thing, but it is hard to share it with someone just off the cuff or post it in the bulletin or feature it on the bulletin. We are a Just Peace church that has its own statement, as well as an Op...

 Being an adult is the constant thought, "In two weeks, things will slow down... And then, I will have time to... and then I will work on... and then I will feel better..." We are very much in our society and culture a busy, let's get it done, we will sleep when we die type of ethos. We have come to identify peace as the absence of violence, absence of worry, and the absence of conflict. Time spent on a trail or on a lake is peaceful, the rest is grind, grind away.  However, the prophet Joel shares with us that now, right now is a good time to work on peace. In a time of this book and story, we aren't sure when in history, when there is a massive infestation of locusts eating every green plant, Joel sees this as a warning to humanity that we must change our ways or bigger disasters are headed our way. Yet, even now, proclaims Joel, yet even now, return, repent, come to me, says the LORD. We don't have to put on sackcloth and ashes, but we do have to feel it, work ...

  The enslaved from Africa, here in America, were taught Christianity, especially the parts from Paul's letters which said that slaves should obey their masters. However, when they were given the Bible, the story of Moses freeing Israel from Egypt was removed so that there would be no notion that God would hear the enslaved cries here in America and free them from their lot. And in spite of this, many enslaved found hope in the religion of their enslavers and it became a powerful strength in the Black American community that showed its power during the marches and fight for civil rights in the 1950's and 1960's. Not just the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but how many hear recognize the name Andrew Young? He was the first African-American who was elected to Congress since the Reconstruction in 1972 and became President Jimmy Carter's Ambassador to the United Nations in 1977 and then became mayor of Atlanta, Georgia for 8 years. His career began as a minister in the U...

 Grab a handful of pennies, everyone! We are going to try to a little experiment. We are passing around two baskets of pennies and would like for everyone to grab a small handful. Once everyone has a handful, I would like you to stand up and try to double your pennies. It should be easy, you give someone one penny, and they will give you two pennies back. The two guidelines, is you can't offer a penny to the one who just gave you two pennies and the same person twice. This means you have to move around a little. The second guideline is you always have to receive an offered penny and give two away. OK, everyone have handful, do a quick count of the pennies in your hand. Tell your spouse or someone near you so you remember. I will give you three minutes to try to get as many pennies as you can. Any questions? READY, SET, GO! STOP! Everyone can go back to their assigned seating. Count your pennies. Did anyone double their pennies, anyone run out? If we did this right, almost everyone ...

 Oh, how do we begin? Do we allow the words of lament to be the space to feel sorrow or do we allow more time, words, and feelings to flow? Am I to jump in quickly with the "God is good" or does that somehow feel a little hollow right now? Donald Trump and his campaign convinced enough Americans, the majority of voters, that we live in a third world country right now, that everything is terrible, the invasion of immigrants is an act of war that needs a military response, and that government, especially the federal government, can't be trusted to help people so that people were aiming guns at FEMA workers who were literally there to help people caught in hurricane disasters. The election is over, so now I can freely talk about 'politics'. Many, who voted for him, held their noses at his bizarre speeches and accusations and incoming racist policies and lack of moral character, and voted for him anyway. Many voted for him knowing full well that this could be the end ...

First of all, I invite everyone to stand. When I was at the clergy retreat, besides singing refrains, the retreat leader asked us to follow Taylor Swift (actually she didn't know who Taylor Swift was) and shake it off. Last year during Pizza and Social Justice, Kristin did a similar exercise with our youth. Shaking our bodies and letting go does help release our anxieties and the toxins that build up in our bodies. I am not going to put on any music, but let us take a couple minutes and shake our bodies. Be aware of those around you, and maybe swing your arms, bounce a little bit. REady?  Begin... You may be seated.  Can anyone tell me why Jesus' hometown people tried to throw him off a cliff the first time he preached after he was baptized? ...   It was because they believed he was coming home to set up shop and they would have wealth and prosperity because all of Israel would flock to Jesus, the new prophet, the new king, the new messiah. And then Jesus told them t...