Psalm 121 Imagine that we are walking through an old growth forest in the Bavarian region of Germany. It’s kind of like the forests we may have envisioned as children when we heard the stories of Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood. There are giant deciduous trees–maybe beech–with broad canopies of leaves above […]
Strong, Smart and Brave
Isaiah 40:28-31; Luke 2:41-52 Girls be strong! We can kick a goal, run a marathon. Hike up a mountain, do you want to come along? Girls be strong! Last Thursday night, Fran and I were invited to a concert at our friends Matia and David’s house in Wayland. I vaguely recognized the name of the […]
Prophets of Transformation
Exodus 20:1-4; Luke 8:19-25 It was an impressive group gathered around the conference table at Bay Path Elder Services in Marlborough. There was a hospice nurse and a hospice chaplain, a social worker from a senior center, the director of an elder services network, an entrepreneur who started his own organization matching volunteers with isolated […]
Reclaimed
Genesis 1:26-31; Matthew 25:31-40 “Someone once said that Jesus began the most revolutionary movement in human history. A movement grounded in the unconditional love of God for the world–and a movement mandating people to live that love, and in so doing to change not only their lives but the very life of the world itself. […]
From Sea to Shining Sea
Psalm 133; Revelation 21:1-6 [Note: This sermon draws heavily from Melinda Ponder’s book, Katherine Lee Bates: From Sea to Shining Sea, published in Chicago by Windy City Publishers in 2017. Page numbers in brackets refer to Ponder’s book.] “But if Christ came to the world nearly 2000 years ago to teach us to love each other, why is […]
Rhythm of Change
Dear friends, The life of a church community involves a balance and a rhythm of continuity and change. At any given moment, we need both. Without change, we become stagnant. Without continuity, we lose our sense of who we are. While we seek to balance familiarity and newness, we also recognize that there are times […]
Flowing Water; Living Stone
Exodus 17:1-6; Acts 2:1-11; I Peter 2:4-5 Tongues of fire leap from person to person! A gale-force wind whips through the city! A dove shocks the crowd as she lands on a man emerging out of the river. Today is Pentecost–a holiday filled with drama and danger, surprise, disruption and possibility. The opening part of […]
Inscribed
Isaiah 49:13-16a; John 13:31-35 “So,” I asked, “how many of you remember back when diapers were made of cloth and were held together with giant diaper pins?” Every single hand in the room shot up. I had picked my question well for the particular audience–the ladies at Countryside Nursing Home, where Cindy, Ellie, Jeannie and […]
Springtime Planting
Dear friends, This spring, as you come onto the Edwards Church campus, you are likely to see lots of people. You might see Neela, a botanist from Garden in the Woods, pointing out native plant species. You may run into Andrew, a permaculture gardening specialist who created our Edible Forest Garden, showing a group of […]
Singing, Soaring Spirit
I Corinthians 12:4-26; Genesis 2:4b-7 It is all about air–breath, wind. It is all about the intentional, focused movement of air to create a sound. It is such a gift this morning to have our guest musicians with us. With the exception of the timpanist, these musicians make music by focusing their breath, by exhaling […]