Vanasõna

 Last night, we watched a podcast with the Kelse brother's as they were talking to Caitlin Clark. She revealed that when she was in the seventh grade, she was already playing for the varsity team in her school and had college recruiters already scouting her. She said her parents kept a barrier around her until after her freshman year in high school because they wanted her to just play basketball and not worry about college while she was in junior high, letting her just be a kid. This past Fall, Kileen asked her mom if she knew who Caitlin Clark was and she replied, "Of course I know who she is, what do you think, I live under a rock?" For those who don't know, Caitlin Clark broke 'Pistol' Pete Maravich's scoring record for the most points by any basketball player, male or female, in NCAA history last year. Since joining the WNBA this past summer, attendance records, television viewership, and interest has skyrocketed.  It would be hard to imagine that as a...

 We have a lot of grandparents in our church. I wonder if there is more joy when you have grandchildren than when you have your own children? My mom was very impatient for grandchildren. I was nineteen, my older sister twenty-one, and my two younger siblings were still in high school and my mom told us at Christmas that she wanted grandchildren as soon as possible. I asked her if I could get married first? I do imagine that not being up all night and handing them back when they get too fussy are the benefits of being a grandchild over a parent.  We have this story of two cousins, Mary and Elizabeth. If they are literal cousins, they are about 30 years apart. Zechariah and Elizabeth in the story before tell of an old couple who wanted, but never got children. The gospel of Luke doesn't say how old they are, but it isn't as old as Abraham and Sarah who were how old when they had Isaac? (he was 100 and she was 90). I would say that maybe Elizabeth was in her late 40's, maybe 5...

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 ...