Recently I enjoyed some moments relaxing on the well-crafted benches placed in front of our church by the Boy Scout Troop 503 in celebration of their 100th anniversary of being connected to us. What an amazing accomplishment–100 years of offering scouts orienting points for lives well-lived and connections to a larger reality by being part […]
Do you know why we only take communion once a month instead of weekly? Do you know why we have two sacraments – Baptism and Communion – while the Catholic Church has seven? Do you know why we have crosses in our churches and not crucifixes? Did you know that our renovating Ripley Chapel to […]
For many of us, the summer is a respite from the weather, schedules, responsibilities and layers of clothing our New England life entails. Yes, jobs continue, responsibilities don’t go away, children and families have to be fed, joy and sorrow continues in its inevitable arc, but somehow the Summer brings a different rhythm. We spend […]
August 22, 6:30-7:30 PM Ripley Chapel Join us for some beautiful summer evenings of yoga and prayer. Bring comfortable clothes, mats, meditation pillows/stools (these will also be provided for those who need them), and meet us in Ripley Chapel. Christine Tresselt will lead a 30-minute Yoga practice followed by a chant or two led by […]
Pastor Will Burhans and Bill McCarter attended the first ever Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island conferences of the UCC on June 16 & 17 in Hartford, Connecticut. Approximately 1,000 people attended the joint meeting. Each of the three states, in separate plenary sessions, voted decisively to form a new combined conference […]
Curious About Ruth Group? Ruth Group is a monthly book group open to all women of the church and community. We are named after the Biblical Book of Ruth which is a story of women supporting each other. Ruth tells her mother-in-law, Naomi, “…Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will […]
As we move into the season of Pentecost, we remember the story of those gathered long ago in Jerusalem, all of whom were given the “gift of the Spirit.” All had access to the reality of being created and loved by the Eternal One. Each carried the breath of the Holy Spirit within them. In […]
May 21, 2017, 10:00 AM Worship Spirit, the cry has erupted and now falls away into the silence of the seeking deaths In the warm, bright waters. Lord, have mercy. Lord, say we knew you. Lord, that you knew us. —Euan Tait Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, […]
As the Leadership Team gathered this month to address many decisions coming before us a congregation, we began by turning to Ephesians 4 for some inspiration: So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, the teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may […]
We are in the season of Eastertide—the fifty days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost. In the wisdom of the liturgical calendar, Easter does not just last for one day. Instead, it is an entire season. The resurrected life takes time to grasp, to begin to understand, to bring more fully into our conscious being, and […]