Blog
Posted by on 16 July 2015
Hi Beloved!
This Sunday we will baptize five beautiful children into the full life and promise of our faith and communal life together.
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Posted by molly on 5 July 2015
Would you love to work for our dynamic, healthy and justice-oriented organization? Would you love to make a living wage and work flexible hours, knowing you are supporting life-changing ministry?
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Posted by molly on 3 July 2015
Hi Beloved!
I am freshly back from UCC General Synod 30, and full denominational pride, news and vim.
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Posted by molly on 18 June 2015
Beloved,
Maybe your heart is breaking, like mine, at the news of the shooting death of 9 African-American brothers/sisters/siblings in their church while they read scripture and prayed together. By a young white man who talked to them for an hour—told them that he was going to kill them just because they were black—and then, in fact, did it. He deprived 9 beautiful people of their lives, and took them away from every earthly person who loves them.
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Posted by molly on 28 May 2015
A persistent question at our church—it came up when asked our Big God Questions back in January, and many other times over the years, is:
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Posted by molly on 28 May 2015
FIRST CHURCH SOMERVILLE
ADMINISTRATOR & BUILDING SUPERVISOR:
$17/hour
Part-time: 20 hours/week
Regular schedule with some flexibility: preferred Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 9:00 AM - 2:00PM
Our fabulous, fun, progressive and arts-friendly spiritual community is looking for an organizational powerhouse!! The job involves a lot of left-brain administrative tasks including: scheduling/ maintaining the building’s calendar, executing contracts, managing tenant relations, editing, and general office procedure; some right-brain writing, cheerleading, team playing, and design work. A large part of this job is to oversee the day-to-day operation of our busy building.
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Posted by molly on 14 May 2015
In this week’s scripture, the 11 disciples have a conundrum. Judas is dead—some say suicide, some say act of God. Jesus has ascended once and for all (bye!). The 11 are not sure what to do next, so they hold a Congregational meeting, and elect a new 12th apostle to make their number complete. The church is growing.
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Posted by Jeff on 7 May 2015
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Hi Beloved,
Watching some PBS celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, I was floored by this math: There are more stars in the observable universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches and all the deserts of the world. And it's not like 2 or 3 more stars than grains. It's like 5 or 10 times more stars than grains of sand!
The universe is a big place.
And a beautiful one. Hubble has opened our eyes to just how beautiful. Take this image of the "Pillars of Creation":
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The Pillars are called a stellar nursery - a birthplace of stars and planets and who knows what else. We were once - all of us - a bunch of star dust floating in space in an image that would have looked much like this one.
In a sense, this picture is like tracing back our family tree, down through our mothers, back through human history, back beyond the first stirrings of life, all the way to the very beginnings of things - our Star Mother.
It's Mothers' Day on Sunday! And in the Easter Season we will remember some Mothers we all share in common. Jeff will preach a NICE, non-misogynistic sermon about Eve. In the Bible she's called "the Mother of All Living!" Kind of like that picture up there. Are we really gonna try to pin the whole mess on her? Eve needs some love from us kids on Mothers' Day! The choir will sing to another powerful Mother from Christian tradition - Mary, called "the Mother of God." Sarah G. is our liturgist. Megan and Molly will read scripture and pray.
After church, there's coffee hour! And that's it! So come downstairs and relax. Yum!
Peace!
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Posted by on 1 May 2015
Hi Beloved!
I'm back from a little vacation this week and looking forward to worship with all of you. Bonnie and I spent last weekend in New York City at Judson Memorial Church - the church that made me (partially) the wild pastor I am today. We were celebrating the 40th anniversary of the ordination of my mentor Rev. Donna Schaper. It was a wonderful reunion and a great refresher course in all she has taught to so many of us. One of those lessons is the importance of CELEBRATING the good things. In light of that, this week was also the three-year ordination anniversary of yours truly. So, TBT:
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That was a great day!
And, as Judson was a place that mentored and taught me, I'm also excited to let you know that while we'll miss Student Minister Megan Snell, whose last Sunday will be May 31st, we've hired on a new student minister, Casey Guet, from Andover Newton Theological Seminary. You'll be hearing more about Casey this summer and getting to know her beginning this Fall. AND this year we're looking to add a second "learning" minister to our staff. They may or may not be a student; they could be someone who has recently graduated from seminary and is trying to find their way (as I was when Donna and Judson took me under their tutelage.) If you know anyone who's interested in learning about Real Good Church from an amazing congregation and -ahem- staff, please send them my way!
It's Communion Sunday this week so the celebration continues. And in worship we'll be celebrating the life, the challenge, and the lessons of the Ethiopian Eunuch - a man who was baptized into the very earliest Church just as he was.
Jeff's preaching, Molly will pray, Megan's heading up communion, Andrew is our liturgist, and the Comstock Boys will pluck n strum. There will be a special golden moment of blessing for all of you who shoveled this winter - just in time to get you excited for the Spring All-Church Workday! Wear some work clothes to church and help us get ready for Spring and Summer inside the church and out - there will be fun jobs for all. And don't miss the Church Swap, Open Studios, and the New Members' Gathering this Sunday - see below for more info.
Peace!
Jeff
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ALL ANNOUNCEMNETS HERE
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Posted by molly on 23 April 2015
Hi Beloved!
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