Dear friends, Hope is alive! With trumpet and tuba, flowers and blessing eggs, we boldly proclaimed our Easter faith. Christ has risen. Love is more powerful than hatred, fear and even death. In a time when it is easy to feel overwhelmed by hopelessness, we celebrate that hope is a gift from God. […]
Staff
Reflections: Family Service Project Trip
Dear friends, I am worn out and exhilarated! I am writing this article after returning from our first-ever Family Service Project Trip. Fifteen of us – five youth, three young adults, and seven young-at-heart adults – participated in a weekend program led by “Incredible Days,” an organization that helps church groups learn and grow as […]
Deep and Wide: Becoming Beloved Community
Dear friends, We need each other. That’s nothing new; we have always needed each other! What is new – or feels new – is that we are living in a time of tremendous instability, distress and discord. Our rights and the rights and well-being of the most vulnerable around us are under threat. It […]
A Message from our Assistant Minister (in Training) for Pats and Woofs
Dear Two-Legged, Opposable-thumbed friends, My name is Lily. I’m a fluffy white standard poodle. Many of you met my Aunt-in-Spirit, Jeannie the Service Dog for Ministry. I never met her, but I feel her spirit every time I am in the church. I sense her energy in the dogwood tree planted in her […]
Being Part of the Community
Dear friends, Before our combined Epiphany worship service, the pastors from the four participating churches were talking with our guest preacher, Rev. Matt Crane. We were saying how much we were looking forward to his message and to connecting with his organization. Hospitality Common, Inc., is doing both practical and visionary work to support our […]
THANK YOU, Edwards Church!
I am so grateful for the time I have spent at Edwards Church these last few months as the Consulting Associate Pastor. I don’t think I have run around a sanctuary this much in many years. And I know it was the first time I have ever made bread in the sanctuary! It has been […]
Faithful Followers
Dear friends, These are complicated times — filled with uncertainty, stress, worry, and tension. It is hard to know how to live well: how to figure out what we can do to make a difference, how to face the limits of our power, how to find energy to keep trying, how to build bridges while […]
Faith Formation Updates
Greetings from Faith Formation! As we move through this transition time in our youth programming, we are grateful to everyone who attended our information/brainstorming sessions in the first week of November. Family members, caretakers, and Faith Formation team members had two engaging conversations with absolutely amazing attendance. We shared some of the joys of […]
Tending the Light
Dear friends, Lately I have been finding comfort and inspiration through the writings of Jan Richardson, whose poems most often take the form of blessings. She has a beautiful way of honoring pain, struggle, exhaustion and confusion while gently pointing toward healing, beauty, peace and hope. This week I happened upon one of her poems […]
Transitions and Anticipation
Dear friends, It’s hard to believe that I have already been at Edwards Church for over a month as Consulting Associate Pastor. It has been a blessing to worship with you on Sundays and to be with the children/youth. Sometimes things don’t go as planned and I have definitely forgotten a couple of things as […]