Throughout the fall, we will continue to worship in our homes via Zoom Sunday, September 6 at 10:00am—Holy CommunionLuke 19:1-10; “Not by Accident” Rev. Dr. Debbie Clark preachingPlease prepare elements (bread and juice or any other substitute) for yourself and your family. You will be invited to turn on your camera during Holy Communion. Sunday, September […]
Not By Accident
Luke 19:1-10 Rev. Dr. Debbie Clark Sept. 7, 2020 We had never met. Fran and I have lived in our house for 24 years. George and Sharon have lived in their house, about two blocks away, for almost as long. It’s on my regular dog-walking route, so I have passed their home at least a […]
A Horrible, Horrifying Week: A Pastoral Reflection
Dear friends, What a horrible, horrifying week this has been. Fires are raging in California; an “unsurvivable” hurricane has battered Louisiana—horrible. Jacob Blake is paralyzed after being shot in the back seven times by a police officer; demonstrators Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber were killed by a 17-year-old with an assault rifle—horrifying. A reminder of […]
Wading In
Mark 1:9-11 Rev. Dr. Deborah L. Clark August 23, 2020 “Here we are—Energy, Mass, Life, Shaping Life, Mind, Shaping Mind, God, Shaping God. Consider—we are born not with purpose but with potential.” These are the opening words of The Parable of the Talents, a science fiction dystopian novel written by Octavia Butler, a ground-breaking, award-winning African-American science […]
Walking in the Wind
Reading from Walking in the Wind by John Lewis Mark 4:35-41 Rev. Dr. Deborah L. Clark July 26, 2020 The story is devastating and uplifting, both at the same time. It is devastating in the picture it paints of our human vulnerability. We are like children—little children—in a rickety house in a storm, in danger of […]
Mine?
Genesis 28:10-19a We were there—Cindy Booth, Sarah MacLennan, Fran, Fran’s Dad Reese, and I—on our pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2012. We were there, at the place traditionally identified as the site of Jacob’s life-changing dream. I decided to see if I could enter into the story more fully. I lay down on the […]
Made One in Friendship and Struggle
Galatians 3:27-29 “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” These are familiar words; we often use them at baptisms. They offer a beautiful, though unclear, vision of unity. Was Paul saying that once a slave became part of the Christian […]
Framingham Community Farm
Dear Friends, I just returned from our third weekly drop off at A Place To Turn—what a joyful way to start the week. Early crops of lettuce, kale, radishes, chard and peas are ready now. They help fill the gap while we wait for summer to really take hold in the garden. All beds are […]
Summer Worship
Throughout the summer, we will continue to worship in our homes via Zoom Sunday, July 5 at 10:00am Rev. Dr. Debbie Clark preaching “Untold Histories” Sunday, July 12 at 10:00am Rev. Dr. Karen Nell Smith preaching “How Can I Keep from Singing?” Sunday, July 12 at 7:00pm, outdoors on our campus Join Debbie and Karen […]
Ordinary People
Dear friends, I recently read a book entitled Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into Moral Rebels, by Catherine A. Sanderson, a professor at Amherst College. Dr. Sanderson reviews a wide range of sociological studies as she pursues the question of why some people step forward to help when they see harm being done. Are […]