Dear friends, What a wondrous surprise! Thank you for the very special service honoring our twenty-five years of ministry together. The video was so moving, with so many thoughtful, loving expressions of thanks. And then a knock on the door…and another…and another. It felt like love overflowing. I couldn’t have possibly imagined such a lively, […]
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
Fall into Worship!
Dear friends, In the opening worship for our September church council meeting, I drew upon imagery from the book of Exodus—particularly the frustration of the Hebrew people as they wandered in the wilderness toward an elusive promised land. I chose that story because it resonates with our lives in the last eighteen months. It speaks […]
Pandemic Learnings
Dear friends, As I write this, I am surrounded by piles of shorts and t-shirts, hiking poles and beach shoes, in preparation for vacation in the Adirondacks. I am looking forward to hiking with Jeannie the dog, canoeing with Fran (probably not with Jeannie), biking the rolling hills and eating fresh produce from local farm […]
A Joyous, Delicate Dance
Dear friends, What a glorious birthday party we had! A giant dove. Tongues of fire. Peace shared in dozens of languages. Lively, inspiring music. Bubbles floating. Popcorn turned inside-out. Children laughing. The Spirit moving through our joy at seeing one another; the Spirit moving through wires and waves to connect us from Massachusetts to Florida […]
Loving, Connected, Inclusive and Safe
Dear friends, For more than a year, we have been learning how to be church during a pandemic. We have climbed the steep learning curve of Zoom. We have grieved the loss of members and friends and grieved hugs and meals and singing together. We have discovered new ways of connecting, worshipping, and reaching out […]
Virtual Epiphany
Dear friends, For the last twenty-four years, we have celebrated Epiphany in a joint worship service with our friends at Plymouth Church. This year, of course, it will look different, as we join together in a combined Zoom worship service on Sunday, January 3. We have invited Rev. Liz Garrigan-Byerly to preach in her […]
Herald of Good Tidings
Dear friends, On a sunny Friday afternoon in November, Nicola and I put on our masks, grabbed our cell phones and hiked up to Tippling Rock. We stopped a few times along the way—at a field where the grass was brown, at a bridge that leveled out the path, and finally on top of […]
Sailing for Stewardship
Dear friends, The Stewardship Team (Liz Garrigan-Byerly, Debbie Roy and Debbie Clark) invites you to join us on a journey of imagination. Imagine Edwards Church as a ship—small enough to maneuver through the narrows, large enough to hold all of us, with plenty of room to invite friends and neighbors and strangers. We are […]
The Church as a Lens of Hope
Dear friends, On September 20, we celebrated Rev. Dr. Karen Nell Smith’s installation as our associate pastor for faith formation and outreach. It was a joyous, memorable occasion on many levels: the Stewart-Morales-Aguirre family’s altar-scape, dramatic scripture readings by Ava Walker and Robert Mitchell, children running all over campus searching for treasure hunt clues. The […]
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 […]