Advent begins this Sunday, and when you walk into worship, you'll
see that the sanctuary has been transformed with beautiful greenery,
blue liturgical colors, and an Advent wreath! This Advent, we will
follow a path from the Wilderness, to Nazareth, to Jerusalem, to
Ithaca. Advent is a time of waiting and expectation, trusting that
God will break into the world with new light and new hope. And so it
seems fitting that tomorrow is World AIDS Day, a day when we
remember that every day there are people living with HIV/AIDS, and
we are ALL affected. You can click here to
download or subscribe (scroll down for instructions) to a
meaningful daily Advent calendar from the Ecumenical Advocacy
Alliance.
Also, you will be receiving an important letter from me in the mail
within the next day or so. You can also click here to read it
online. Click "Letter from Manda" to download the letter.
I'll meet you in the Wilderness on Sunday...have a blessed weekend!
Manda
Friday, November 30, 2012
Friday, November 16, 2012
Thanksgiving Sunday
This Sunday will be Thanksgiving Sunday, and in our church, it's also
Stewardship Sunday. These two are naturally linked, because what better
way is there to express our gratitude than by giving back? Last night I
heard a story of someone who, after Hurricane Sandy hit his neighborhood
and left them without power, opened his home to share the food he had.
Others started doing the same, and there was a great feast - those who
had little, and those who had much, shared their abundance so that no
one would go hungry.
As I was reflecting on this story, I came across this devotional from the UCC, and I wanted to share it with you. As we consider what stewardship means in the context of Thanksgiving, I hope we will all give thanks - in tangible ways - out of our abundance.
Looking forward to worshiping with you on Sunday.
Blessings,
Manda
Abundance or Scarcity?
http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/abundance-or-scarcity-2.html
Abundance or Scarcity?
Excerpt from Psalm 128
“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around the table.”
Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver
So much of our scripture is a celebration of abundance. The first chapters of Genesis are a song of praise for God’s generosity. With each act of creation, the divine refrain is, “It is good, it is good, it is very good.” And it pictures the Creator saying, “Be fruitful and multiply.”
Many of the Psalms, including the one for today, survey creation and catalogue this abundance in loving detail and with joyful thanksgiving.
Then, in the Gospels, Jesus multiplies loaves and fishes so that there is more than enough for everyone. At a wedding feast he turns water into wine, and more wine than could be consumed at a dozen weddings. These highly symbolic stories speak of God’s abundance. There is enough, there is more than enough.
That’s the biblical narrative. But the narrative by which we are tempted to live is another story entirely, a story of scarcity, where there is never enough. In fact, we are tempted to define enough as, “always something more than I have now.”
Do you live out of a sense of abundance or scarcity? That may be an economic question, but certainly it is a faith question.
Prayer
O God, when I count your blessings, they are numberless as the sands, so I confess that I don’t always get very far with my counting. So I simply thank you for sharing your abundance with me. Amen.
About the Author
Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.
As I was reflecting on this story, I came across this devotional from the UCC, and I wanted to share it with you. As we consider what stewardship means in the context of Thanksgiving, I hope we will all give thanks - in tangible ways - out of our abundance.
Looking forward to worshiping with you on Sunday.
Blessings,
Manda
Abundance or Scarcity?
http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/abundance-or-scarcity-2.html
Abundance or Scarcity?
Excerpt from Psalm 128
“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around the table.”
Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver
So much of our scripture is a celebration of abundance. The first chapters of Genesis are a song of praise for God’s generosity. With each act of creation, the divine refrain is, “It is good, it is good, it is very good.” And it pictures the Creator saying, “Be fruitful and multiply.”
Many of the Psalms, including the one for today, survey creation and catalogue this abundance in loving detail and with joyful thanksgiving.
Then, in the Gospels, Jesus multiplies loaves and fishes so that there is more than enough for everyone. At a wedding feast he turns water into wine, and more wine than could be consumed at a dozen weddings. These highly symbolic stories speak of God’s abundance. There is enough, there is more than enough.
That’s the biblical narrative. But the narrative by which we are tempted to live is another story entirely, a story of scarcity, where there is never enough. In fact, we are tempted to define enough as, “always something more than I have now.”
Do you live out of a sense of abundance or scarcity? That may be an economic question, but certainly it is a faith question.
Prayer
O God, when I count your blessings, they are numberless as the sands, so I confess that I don’t always get very far with my counting. So I simply thank you for sharing your abundance with me. Amen.
About the Author
Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.
Friday, November 9, 2012
The Separating Power of Possessions
This is stewardship season, and as we continue to reflect together
on what it means to be good stewards of all that God has given us, I
wanted to share with you this Daily Devotional from the UCC. I look
forward to worshiping with you on Sunday - hope you have a great
weekend!
Blessings,
Manda
The Separating Power of Possessions
Blessings,
Manda
The Separating Power of Possessions
"Their possessions were too great for them to dwell
together."
Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver
Jacob and Esau, the twin brothers whose tussles began in
their mother's womb, eventually reconciled enough to be able to
settle in the same neighborhood in Canaan. They prospered, but
eventually became the victim of their own success. The land was
not able to support the herds of cattle of both brothers, so Esau
had to move away.
This was a matter of environmental sustainability, but
also something more. As the author of Genesis put it, "Their
possessions were too great for them to dwell together." This is
not an ancient problem. Today—whether it's in Canaan or New
Canaan—prosperity has a way of separating us. The fastest growing
segment of the housing market is exclusive gated communities,
whose chief attraction is the way they separate people. If you
have enough money to buy sugar in large quantities, you are less
likely to have to go next door to borrow a cup from a neighbor.
When you have your own car, you never meet your neighbor at the
bus stop.
Our prosperity can be too great for us truly to dwell
with one another. There is another way of putting it: Sometimes
the more wealth we have, the more impoverished our lives can
become. Is there a way you can think of to keep your possessions
from coming between you and your neighbor?
Prayer
Dear God, everything I have is a gift from you. May I
express my thanks by never letting my possessions create distance
between me and those around me. Amen.
Friday, November 2, 2012
After the Storm
Yesterday, I went to a meeting of the authorized ministers in the
Susquehanna Association of the UCC. Our new conference minister,
David Gaewski, met with us as part of his "listening tour" of the NY
Conference. Rev. Gaewski shared with us some updates about UCC
churches affected by Hurricane Sandy. I wanted to share his update
as well as an inspirational reflection by Rev. Donna Schaper, pastor
of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. At the bottom of
this message you will find links and information about how you can
help and stay up-to-date.
Looking forward to worshiping with you on Sunday, as we celebrate the feast of Communion, remember those who have passed on in the last year, and work together after worship to feed our neighbors.
Blessings,
Manda
From David Gaewski:
Update: Reports are trickling in on damages sustained and unfolding concerns. Thankfully most of our churches on Long Island did not sustain major damage. Two churches that have reported damage are Rockaway Beach (Queens) and Mt. Vernon (Weschester Co.). I must emphasize that there are still a number of churches both on Long Island and NYC that we have not yet heard from. Fires have continued to be burn and sadly there have been several reports of looting. We thank all who have reached out to us in NY with messages of support.
"Many Different Kinds of Power" by Donna Schaper
Last night at Judson about 20 of us gathered, along with one dog, to light candles, sing a few songs and say a few prayers. We also walked the giant canvas labyrinth, which was easy to put out in the dark. It has white stripes. We observed what our hearts know: there are many different kinds of power. Too many people are saying they are “out of power,” or “powerless.” More precisely, we are without electrical power.
Last Sunday I innocently preached about the need for new folkways, new rituals, and new ways of being. I actually said, “For most of us, the major ritual of our lives is to remember to plug in our cell phones.” I pontified, “Wouldn’t it be great if we kept a good Sabbath with such rigor or also prayed intentionally before we ate or before we slept? Not to mention how great a Jubilee, an automatic normalized forgiveness of debts, would mark our political economy?” Well. Since Sandy hit, we have been wandering around with cell cords in hand in lower Manhattan, looking for a plug that had power. No lights, no traffic lights, no hot water, and no working plugs: that is the reality post Sandy. It is dark outside and sometimes also dark inside.
To keep from being a complete fibber, we just had to do a service. We had to remind ourselves that there are different kinds of power than the kind we don’t have. There is people power and candlepower, physical power (you can’t volunteer for the Red Cross if you can’t lift 50 pounds or stay for 12 hours), magical power, the kind that makes you think the A train will be humming again soon. There is the power to hear words anew: infrastructure, nature, air, wind, fire. There is the power to recognize, as the labyrinth shows, that in every end there is a beginning. New York will never be the same. We know that. Worship helps us say what we know out loud. The word Katrina came to mind. We have known for a long time about climate change and aging infrastructure. Now we know that we know, in a different kind of power, the kind that moves people to change.
As we went back to our dark homes and our meager food, we didn’t forget to give thanks for the Sabbath we had just had because nature had demonstrated astonishing infrastructural failure.
Click here to read another reflection by Donna Schaper
-------------
The New York Conference has set up a fund to help with Sandy recovery. The funds will be administered to UCC churches who can then use them in various ways to help themselves and their neighbors. There are 2 ways to donate to this fund:
1. Go to http://uccny.org and click the donate button on the right. Type an amount into the "UCCNY Sandy Relief Fund" box and fill out the rest of the form to make a donation.
2. Write a check to our church and indicate that it is for Sandy Relief. We will send it to the conference office.
If you are on Facebook, click here to go to the NY Conference page. Regular updates are posted here. You can also visit http://uccny.org for updates on the conference website, but Facebook has the most current information.
Texts For This Week:
Hebrew Bible Ruth 1:1-11, 14-18
Looking forward to worshiping with you on Sunday, as we celebrate the feast of Communion, remember those who have passed on in the last year, and work together after worship to feed our neighbors.
Blessings,
Manda
From David Gaewski:
Update: Reports are trickling in on damages sustained and unfolding concerns. Thankfully most of our churches on Long Island did not sustain major damage. Two churches that have reported damage are Rockaway Beach (Queens) and Mt. Vernon (Weschester Co.). I must emphasize that there are still a number of churches both on Long Island and NYC that we have not yet heard from. Fires have continued to be burn and sadly there have been several reports of looting. We thank all who have reached out to us in NY with messages of support.
"Many Different Kinds of Power" by Donna Schaper
Last night at Judson about 20 of us gathered, along with one dog, to light candles, sing a few songs and say a few prayers. We also walked the giant canvas labyrinth, which was easy to put out in the dark. It has white stripes. We observed what our hearts know: there are many different kinds of power. Too many people are saying they are “out of power,” or “powerless.” More precisely, we are without electrical power.
Last Sunday I innocently preached about the need for new folkways, new rituals, and new ways of being. I actually said, “For most of us, the major ritual of our lives is to remember to plug in our cell phones.” I pontified, “Wouldn’t it be great if we kept a good Sabbath with such rigor or also prayed intentionally before we ate or before we slept? Not to mention how great a Jubilee, an automatic normalized forgiveness of debts, would mark our political economy?” Well. Since Sandy hit, we have been wandering around with cell cords in hand in lower Manhattan, looking for a plug that had power. No lights, no traffic lights, no hot water, and no working plugs: that is the reality post Sandy. It is dark outside and sometimes also dark inside.
To keep from being a complete fibber, we just had to do a service. We had to remind ourselves that there are different kinds of power than the kind we don’t have. There is people power and candlepower, physical power (you can’t volunteer for the Red Cross if you can’t lift 50 pounds or stay for 12 hours), magical power, the kind that makes you think the A train will be humming again soon. There is the power to hear words anew: infrastructure, nature, air, wind, fire. There is the power to recognize, as the labyrinth shows, that in every end there is a beginning. New York will never be the same. We know that. Worship helps us say what we know out loud. The word Katrina came to mind. We have known for a long time about climate change and aging infrastructure. Now we know that we know, in a different kind of power, the kind that moves people to change.
As we went back to our dark homes and our meager food, we didn’t forget to give thanks for the Sabbath we had just had because nature had demonstrated astonishing infrastructural failure.
Click here to read another reflection by Donna Schaper
-------------
The New York Conference has set up a fund to help with Sandy recovery. The funds will be administered to UCC churches who can then use them in various ways to help themselves and their neighbors. There are 2 ways to donate to this fund:
1. Go to http://uccny.org and click the donate button on the right. Type an amount into the "UCCNY Sandy Relief Fund" box and fill out the rest of the form to make a donation.
2. Write a check to our church and indicate that it is for Sandy Relief. We will send it to the conference office.
If you are on Facebook, click here to go to the NY Conference page. Regular updates are posted here. You can also visit http://uccny.org for updates on the conference website, but Facebook has the most current information.
Texts For This Week:
Hebrew Bible Ruth 1:1-11, 14-18
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