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. […]
Pastor
The following is an extract from Pastor Debbie's most recent annual report. Current posts by Debbie appear at the bottom of this page.
As our grace at a recent dinner with friends, each of us shared something we are grateful for and something for which we hope. “I am grateful,” I began, “that almost every day I get to do something that makes a difference. I hope that somehow all our individual efforts can come together to make a bigger difference.”
It was the first thought that came to mind. In the days that followed, I realized how much my gratitude and hope emerge from being part of Edwards Church. Through our church, I get to do things that make the world a better place—in small ways and large. Through our church, I find hope that all our individual efforts really can come together to transform and heal our world.
From the time I started as pastor here, almost 22 years ago, I have known that what we do as a church matters deeply—to the individuals who are part of the church, to the wider community, and to our world. This past year, it has felt especially true. We need Edwards Church. The city of Framingham needs Edwards Church. The world needs Edwards Church. In this troubled and divided world, Edwards Church offers sanctuary, healing and comfort, opportunities to live out our passion and compassion, and new models for being church.
There are so many reasons to be grateful and hopeful. I am grateful for the sanctuary we offer, and hopeful for the ways we will continue to widen the circle. I am grateful for all the ways we offer comfort and healing, and hopeful that God’s healing spirit works through and beyond us. I am grateful for the opportunities we have to make a difference, and hopeful that we can find new ways to work together with other communities. I am grateful for our openness to new ways, and hopeful that we can be a model to inspire others.
I am grateful for each person in our congregation: for our gifted and dedicated staff, for our officers and board and committee and team members, for people who usher and greet and welcome and bake, for people who crochet and drive and pray and sing. I am hopeful that in the coming year we will deepen our faithfulness, our caring for one another, and our compassion and passion for justice.
Peace,
Rev. Dr. Deborah L. Clark
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
What We Do Matters
Dear friends, “What we do matters.” This is the theme our Stewardship Team selected for this fall. Mark Whiteman, Clair Ball, Fran Bogle and I sat in the church office reflecting on what this church means to us. This statement emerged – a statement with so many layers of meaning. The world around us […]
Teaching for These Times
Dear friends, I am writing just a few days after our Sacred Service of Farewell for Rev. Dr. Karen Nell Smith. It was a service filled with beautiful music, inspiring stories, lots of quilts, laughter, applause, barking, and some tears. Most of all, it was a service filled with love, a reflection of the love […]
Teaching for These Times
Dear friends, Last month, I participated in Open Spirit’s program “Learning to Listen,” led by Laura Beck and Karen Nell Smith. It was thought-provoking and challenging. What does it mean to listen deeply to people with whom we disagree? How do we stand up for justice and compassion when someone speaks words that offend and […]
Our Children Are The Future
Dear friends, Dr. Lisa Miller, a research psychologist who studies the impact of spirituality on children and youth, was on the subway in New York City. She noticed that most of the commuters had crowded into a couple of cars. They seemed to be avoiding a distressed, disheveled man sitting in an almost-empty car, eating […]