Grace to you and peace, from God Our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ! 

We pray in faith and we worship with hope and praise.  As we gather for worship on Sunday and move forward with votes that we pray will reflect God’s desires for our church in this community, we can take comfort in the lessons from scripture in this weekend’s lectionary texts.  Isaiah 65:17-18 “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.”  The prophet Isaiah reassures us that we are in God’s hands and that God has delight in mind for us.  As we carry our friends and families in prayer together and as we look to how we may continue our church’s mission long into the future, we may remember this good news.

Blessings and peace, Lisa

It’s the end of bow hunting season in Maine, which I am aware of because of friends who try each year to fill their freezer with food for the winter.  Not so much the hunting, but the archery may be on our minds into next week following tomorrow’s worship service.  The idea of “missing the mark” in archery has made its way into the theological term we know as “sin,” and we are encouraged to think about what sets individuals apart from others because of their having missed the mark.  We also are invited to remember that there are ways to true up our aim and to help others do the same as we try to live in such a way that all know the possibility of joy and abundance.

Do mark your calendars, as well, for next Sunday when we receive new members into the church.

Blessings and peace, Lisa

Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  On this glorious Blue Hill weekend, we have much to be thankful for!  I enjoyed my coffee with that thought.  As often as not, our thoughts and our emotions don’t lean that way, though, and our actions–our doings–don’t reflect our gratitude.  We are motivated by such myriad emotions, including fear, anger, and shame, as well as joy, confidence and anything else we might call positive.  In both lessons set aside for this Sunday, we are invited to consider how we face opportunities.  With what perspective, with what emotion might we approach the days ahead so that we are moved to gratitude and to generosity?  In the passage from Joel, we receive promises of fulfilling outcomes, with the recognition that our experiences might lead us to anticipate anything but fulfillment.  Our Gospel lesson from Luke may have us frame things a bit differently, and guide us to the humility that lets us both dream big and also know from whom good things come.

Blessings, Lisa

Grace and peace to you, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  This Sunday may seem like just one among many of the “Ordinary Sundays” between major holidays and “fast” periods.  In the quiet aftermath of our celebratory worship on the 2nd and before we get to the next significant focal point in the liturgical year with All Saints’ Day (We will have a special service, perhaps outdoors at the fire pit as we did last year, to begin our late fall gatherings behind the church.), we may feel some lack of momentum.  On the contrary!  This is the season of reawakening and rededication, as I was reminded this morning at the online Annual Meeting of the Maine Conference of the UCC.  Doing the work of the church with over a hundred dedicated church members around the state was a blessing, and I was especially pleased that we voted in favor of the resolution to support tribal sovereignty here in Maine.  I hope that interested individuals will ask me or Catherine Moore for more information about this important work, to know how we can lend our collective voices to move our state legislature.

On a more personal level, I am also marking the 15th anniversary of my ordination this week, with deep gratitude for having been recalled to ministry here among you.  In our worship tomorrow, we will reflect on the elements of life and literature to which we commit, and which we carry with us in different ways.  What do we have “written on our hearts” as touchstones of our faith, our morality, and our practices?  Come rejoice and sing together, as well, as we steer ourselves toward deeper commitment!

Blessings and peace, Lisa

Grace to you and peace, from God the Creator and our Lord Jesus Christ!  Freshly back from a sojourn away from home, I am struck by my freedom–freedom to move about freely, freedom to spend my time how it is that I choose, and freedom to worship God in the way that I choose.  None of these things were true for the people of Israel exiled in Babylon, as we read about in Jeremiah this week and may reflect on what our response to our freedom and overall blessings might be.  The Gospel reading for this weekend, which recounts one of the healing stories from Jesus’ ministry, may also ask us to consider how we respond to blessing.  Choosing to focus on the giver of blessings as well as how we may share our blessings with others will be part of our worship tomorrow morning.

Blessings and peace, Lisa

Grace and peace to you, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ! On this beautiful, crisp and sunny, autumn day, we welcome the celebration of our history and dreams for the future!  Please join us tonight–and bring all your friends–for our return to the Vanderkay Concert Series in our sanctuary!  I think that I can guarantee you will leave with a smile on your face and a tune in your heart.  Open the Door for Three are exceptional musicians who share their love of music, of good Irish craic with their audience that makes you feel as though you’ve just spent time with friends.  Doors open at 6:15 for the 7:00 show!  Children are encouraged to attend, with $5 admission for those under 10 and $10 for all students.

Our celebration continues in worship as we look forward with hope and to our history with joy and respect.  Jonathan Fisher’s own words steer some of our message in response to scripture so that we consider the role of the church then and now.  What do we seek and what do we hope to share with others as we respond to our faith?  What will define our chapter of the next 250 years of the First Congregational Church in Blue Hill?

Blessings and peace, Lisa