What is worship? Is it that ritual that we participate in on Sunday mornings in the main Sanctuary? Is it a Google Watch Party that we tune into at 10 a.m. on Sundays?
Does shared space and time matter anymore, given that Sunday worship is posted on the Church webpage, and you can hit play at 10 a.m. or 10 p.m. or any other time or day of the week?
Today, the COVID crisis challenges us to reflect deeply on what it means to be the Church as a people--a people scattered.
Read MoreWhat the risen Christ has shown us this Easter season is two-fold: 1) while we are in dire need of a better wealth distribution, all people and corporations are capable of so much more benevolence than we have ever imagined and 2) we may, with the help of technology, be capable of working and living and caring for the most vulnerable in ways that are more protective of our natural environment, steward our limited resources, and result in a more equitable situation for all of God’s creation.
Read MoreMany of us were led to believe that doubt is incompatible with the Christian life, but I disagree. In fact, I believe that doubt—even apathy—can be a beneficial--perhaps even essential part--of a mature faith.
I believe that character whom we have come to know as Doubting Thomas has been largely misunderstood, and inappropriately maligned by many preachers who have presented him as a flawed apostle.
While it’s easy to understand how eyes and hearts gravitate toward this negative view of Thomas, several leading New Testament scholars argue that John had a larger purpose in mind when he put these words on Jesus’ lips: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Read MoreWhat might our encounters with the experiences of Jesus‘ wrongful conviction and path toward his eventual crucifixion have to offer us in these days of pandemic? Watch this ecumenical service of meditation, reflection, and confession based on events in the life of Jesus leading up to his crucifixion.
Read MoreThis Holy Week, as we explore what Jesus’ death means to us, we face one of the most challenging facets of being progressive Christians. We practice a service-oriented faith, but we often shy away from talking about why we put service at the heart of our practice. We often jump to serving others because we’re good people who want to help. Sometimes our emotional connection back to Jesus is tenuous. You might find it interesting that every Gospel offers its own perspective on service and discipleship. In the Gospel of John, discipleship is a loving relationship with Jesus first, then from that love, action springs forth that demonstrates love for one another.
Read MoreMentoring is not easy work, but none of us is called to do it alone. God always intended mentoring to be a group project. Jesus always sent his disciples out two by two. As a religious community, Eden Church has been in this area for over 155 years helping families raise children, and helping our community mentor youth. During normal operations we offer ministries. . . The COVID-19 Crisis isn’t going to stop what we’ve always been doing. It’s just challenging us to find new ways to do it.
Read MoreAll of a sudden, we not only had a public health crisis on our hands, we had an economic crisis, too. And, truth be told, most people--not just church goers--encountered a spiritual crisis. People who had never before given much thought to their own limitations, their eventual demise, and the afterlife were all of a sudden wondering, “What if I get this virus? What if it kills me? Where will I go, when I die?”
If you find yourself in this camp, or if you’ve ever given thought to these questions, then today’s message is especially for you.
Read MoreThe Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;
for you are with me. . .
Read MoreThe Rev. Dr. Mary Ellen Kilsby, former senior minister at First Congregational Church UCC in Long Beach, California (1988−2000) was a bit of a legend in her own time. She was one of the first women to serve as senior minister in a large church in our denomination, and she was a guiding light for liberal Protestantism and progressive social justice work throughout her life.
One of my favorite stories about Mary Ellen has to do with her early advocacy for LGBT rights. She was one of the first five pastors in the UCC in California to lead her congregation through the Open and Affirming process in 1992, and she did it with style. For example, she suggested that her congregation celebrate their decision to become an Open and Affirming Church by entering the Long Beach Gay Pride parade in 1992. The Church Council agreed.
Read MoreSo, just for fun today...let’s celebrate our propensity for theological inquiry and our ability to question all of the answers that orthodox Christianity has shelled out by singing “the Hokey Pokey,” as printed on your bulletin insert.
You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out,
You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.
You to do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.
You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out,
You put your left foot in, and you shake it all about.
You to do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.
It’s good to laugh at ourselves from time to time, especially in these days when everything in the news is so serious.
Read MoreWe kick off Lent, the season of reflection on “where we have gone wrong” and repentance, with a little review of the story of Adam & Eve from the Book of Genesis and “how they went wrong” and got themselves kicked out of the Garden of Eden. I say a little review because today’s reading is just a short excerpt of the longer story, which can be found in Chapters 2 & 3 of Genesis.
I’d like to start by drawing your attention to three key facts about this excerpt. First, Adam, and later, after she is created to help him, Eve, are placed in the Garden of Eden “to till it and keep it.” The underlying Hebrew words indicate that when God “placed,” Adam & Eve in the Garden, God intended for them to “rest, settle down, and remain” there, caring and serving it together.
Read MoreSimilarly, members of organizations need their leaders to do the same. They need to hear and see us expressing our beliefs and values, and aligning them with our daily practices. Organizations that are most successful in identifying and electing leaders with these capabilities are typically those that recruit, hire, and promote folks whose personal vocations, values, and goals are aligned with the organization’s MVV.
Read MoreSometimes, feeling our way in the dark or holding on to our sled as tight as possible is the best we can do. And at other times, we actually have a chance, like Jesus did in today’s gospel reading, to go on retreat, ground ourselves, and put a strategy together for how we will navigate the unknown.
If we get that opportunity to retreat, like Jesus did, I suggest that we take a lesson from the Transfiguration story. I suggest that we gather up those who are nearest and dearest to us, that we ground ourselves in the wisdom of our ancient prophets, that we study and emulate the values and practices of these trusted wise ones, and that we pursue the visions that they have instilled in our heads and heart.
Read MorePain pushes people to the edge, causing them to ask fundamental questions such as “Why is this happening?” and “How can this be fixed?” Pain brings out the best in people along with the worst. Pain strips away all the illusions required to maintain the status quo. Pain begs for change, and when those in its grip find no release on earth, plenty of them look to heaven--including some whose formal belief systems preclude such wishful thinking. Pain makes theologians of us all. If you have spent even one night in real physical pain, then you know what that can do to your faith in God, not to mention your faith in your own ability to manage your life.
Read MoreYou see, in today’s chapter, Paul was determined to settle a dispute within the burgeoning Christian community in Corinth. It seems that there were some who thought they were better than others, because they had a fancy education and were more erudite spokespersons on Christian theology. Paul wasn’t having any of this. While he did not discount the value of education, he saw education and formation as a both-and not an either-or, and he was determined to bring some balance to the discourse and the hierarchy of beings in that fledgling congregation.
The way that modern Chrstians sometimes paraphrase Paul’s teaching here is to say that the Christian life is not just about what you know, it’s about who you know.
Read MoreI don’t want to forget the origin and meaning of our traditions. In this narrative something supernatural happens when the Glory of God is present. Let me say it this way: The Revolutionary Spirit of God drives us to do things we would not do easily at our own will. Have you ever wondered how the impulses of the Holy Spirit move in your life? In the three examples I mentioned, the impulses of the Spirit of God manifest in a form of solidarity amongst the rejected. Elizabeth stands in solidarity with Mary and hosts her in her house. During those times, Mary could have been stoned to death for being pregnant outside of marriage.
Read MoreThere’s something compelling about this story and about what Jesus says: I will make you fishers of people. Over time, many Christians have taken up this invitation to Peter and Andrew and made it their own, taking it as the essence of their own call or mission in the world today. They are fishers of people, spreading the Christian faith far and wide, in the hope of attracting others to their faith and to their church. And some of these people who take this “fishers of people” approach most seriously are quite successful at collecting whole schools, if not teaming oceans, of fish-people to them.
Read MoreThis holiday weekend as our nation observes the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we have occasion to reflect on life and contributions of a great man who courageously testified to his faith in the public square.
In celebrating Dr. King’s birthday, it behooves us to remember that he wasn’t alone in his mission, and we ought not sit on our hands waiting for someone else to carry it on. We must each, in our unique ways, step up and do our part.
Read MoreThe story of Jesus’ baptism is central to the celebration of Epiphany. It is also the story on which the Christian sacrament of baptism is founded. In the United Church of Christ, our denominational tradition, and in Protestantism in general, we celebrate two sacraments: Baptism and Eucharist.
Read More
