Monthly Archives: October 2015

All Saints Sunday

This Sunday during worship we will be celebrating All Saints Day. One of the things that I love about All Saints Day is that it reminds us that we are not alone. All Saints Day is an occasion to celebrate the faithful of the past, present and future who touch our lives. We give thanks […]
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Morning Prayer

I invite you to start your morning with this prayer from Celtic minister John Philip Newell: “At the beginning of the day we seek your countenance among us, O God, in the countless forms of creation all around us in the sun’s rising glory in the face of friend and stranger. Your Presence within every […]
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A Sermon on Ruth, Naomi and Loving the Stranger

Ruth 1:1-18, Mark 12:28-34 “To love God with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself – this is far more important than any burnt offering.” This is something that I learned the hard way. Hi, my name is Naomi. I am an Israelite woman who lived […]
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Just Know You’re Not Alone

“Hold on to me as we go, as we roll down this unfamiliar road.” These lyrics from Phillip Phillips invite us to reflect on what it means to be home. Phillips continues singing, “Just know you’re not alone ‘cause I’m gonna make this place your home.” Phillips’ lyrics are rather vague. People generally interpret them […]
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For Such a Time As This

Ruth 1:1-18 While I was visiting the Taize monastery in France several weeks ago, one of the situations I heard about constantly was the refugees. For four years, civil war has been raging in the country of Syria and since then over four million refugees have fled the country, desperately searching for sanctuary where they can stay alive. […]
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Introducing Interplay!

Thank you to Lisa Laing who has volunteered her time again this fall to host three Interplay gatherings called “Moving Our Prayers Together” for people here in the Essex area! InterPlay offers us simple forms and incremental steps toward moving our prayer life into the physical realm. There is a sacred bond formed and a […]
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Participating in Church Digitally

Friends, I greet you with grace and peace! I am delighted that you have been reading our blog and wanted to share a couple other mediums on which you can participate digitally in the life of the church. If you are on Facebook, you can follow the church news on our public page (which you can access […]
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Sabbath Space

One of the busiest times of my life was when I was in seminary. My professors seemed to think massive feats — like memorizing the entire 2000 year history of the church — were completely reasonable tasks to do within the span of a semester. In the midst of the never-ending flood of assignments, it […]
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Rock piles and Reverence

Genesis 12:1-9 This week I found myself thinking about all the actions Abram took in face of his doubts: about how he built that altar of rock and how he gathered his family and simply began to walk, putting one foot in front of the other to his unknown destination. One Rabbi notes that this […]
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