Grace to you and peace, from God Our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  It was fun to bump into Darryl at the Co-op today and have him ask with affirmation, “tomorrow is bread Sunday, right?”  Yes, we care for others by bringing bread to church as we enter the season of Lent.  At our Ash Wednesday service, we spoke of our invitation into the season, which includes both looking inward in self-reflection and repentance as we turn toward God, and also looking outward while “giving alms,” caring for others as we turn to God in other ways.  Finding personal balance and community energy can be a goal for us this fast season as we prepare our hearts on the journey toward Holy Week that continues tomorrow.  

Words like holy and fast are new for some of us and deserve our attention as we consider what it means to grow our faith and faithfulness.  See you at church!

Blessings, Lisa

Grace to you and peace, from God Our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  “That’s unbelievable!”  You may have uttered these words a dozen times in the past year, not really considering what it means to make the statement.  What does it mean to say that we believe in something, or don’t?  Does our belief or unbelief affect whether something is real or not?  In the stories we hear from scripture this weekend are startling occurrences, which draw a variety of responses in the moment and even now as we read about them.  We may look at our reactions as closely as we regard the events themselves, to wonder what is real and what we believe God is capable of.  On this Transfiguration Sunday, join together to know ways we are inspired by God’s brilliance and are called to respond. 

Blessings, Lisa

Grace to you and peace, from God Our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  Our hearts are full this week in response to the unfathomable loss of life in Turkey and Syria.  It may be that devastation in this degree might make the sermon title this week, taken from our lesson from Deuteronomy, feel extreme when speaking of God’s law, of God’s commands to God’s people.  “So that you and your children may live” is given as a reason to be obedient, and we know that even good and faithful people experience calamity.  So, what are we to do?  How are we to feel?  Our coming together in worship begins to help us answer the question as we forge a way of living in mutual support.  Let us pray and sing together!

Blessings and peace, Lisa

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  I hope very much that everyone within reach of this email is inside, safe and warm!  Writing to you from the basement of St. Francis, I pray that the reason this “warming center” has not been utilized is that all are cared for indoors on this bone-chilling weekend.  Figuratively warmed as well, by the good conversatIons I have been having with the few other people gathered here, I give thanks that we come together as one community to serve those in need. 

Meeting the needs of others is what we are called to do in response to God’s love for us, which is a point highlighted in the texts this week (and every week?).  In the Gospel of Matthew we move beyond Jesus’ description of those who are “blessed” by God–now and when God reigns on Earth–to a fuller development of God’s commands to us.  To love our neighbor is not an easy task; forgiveness is not easy.  The prophet Isaiah spells out in very direct terms how we are to live, what we are to do for others, and on this frigid weekend, we may follow those commands very literally. 

We have spoken of turning the heat down in the sanctuary.  Rest assured, the heat is on this weekend!!  In fact, we have determined to keep it at the usual temperature through the winter, as some people are, indeed, uncomfortable with cooler temps.  So, look forward to coming out of our temporary hibernation tomorrow for the warmth of fellowship in worship, including the sacrament of Communion.  Those of you at home may wish to bring your own elements to your table to partake together with those in the sanctuary.  Until then, please stay safe and warm! 

Peace and blessings, Lisa

With temperatures predicted to be well below 0 degrees over the weekend, we will be helping to host a WARMING CENTER at St. Francis Church on Hinckley Ridge Road. Please spread the word to anyone who is without shelter this weekend or who has lost power or heat. Likewise, if you are willing and able to take a four-hour shift in offering hospitality, with a second person as well, please reach out to Milissa LaLonde, who is their Chief Warden. You may contact me for her phone number. Thank you for your help! Stay safe and warm!

Peace, Lisa

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  After a week of dark skies, fluffy snow and then thawing rain, we have a glorious Saturday, albeit with the return of true winter cold!  Grateful for the participation of many in the congregation who attended a meeting Tuesday night to discuss how we do the work of ministry together, I turn to this Sunday’s lectionary texts with similar thankfulness.  We learn in each of the three readings just “what the Lord requires” of us and what the Lord also prepares for us.  So, we are invited to consider the way that our lives lived faithfully is the way we worship, and to consider that when we live as God asks us to live, we get a glimpse of heaven on earth.  That may seem hyperbolic, as if we throw around the concept of heaven lightly.  What we learn may surprise us, though, and certainly will challenge us.  Our Wednesday evening Zoom meditation group took as our focus an interesting quotation: “Bless us with wise patience and wise impatience, Good Lord.”  We need to know when to act and when to wait; we need to look for the good we can do as we respond to God’s goodness to us.  Isn’t that what a life of faith should be, and isn’t the church meant to be a vessel for the goodness we can do together?  Come, let us worship together on Sunday and throughout the week.