Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  I am so grateful for everyone’s support while I have been ill with the recent bronchial mess!  Each day has me coughing a bit less and I look forward to celebrating Christmas Eve with all of you tomorrow (well masked on my part).  Each day now will be growing brighter as we celebrate the gift of light in the darkness.  Worship in the morning will include our Pop-Up Pageant (All are invited to participate!), which will be followed by a lovely Christmas tea in Fisher Hall.  You will find the worship bulletin and Zoom link for the morning service below.  Materials for the evening service are also included here, so scroll down if you will be worshipping from home and would like to print those materials, as well.  The evening service also will be streamed on Zoom, whose link follows at the bottom. 

Blessings and peace to you all this Christmas!  Lisa

This service recognizes that the season is not “merry and bright” for everyone and offers hope in a season when long days may make us especially mourn the loss of loved ones.  Join us in the Sanctuary this evening @ 7:00 for a candlelight service. If you are unable to be here in person but would like to join via Zoom, you may find the link here:  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87183093521
(Passcode 929821).

Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  Anne Lamott is an author whose books I recommend to you for their refreshing way of opening up theological ideas.  On the third Sunday of Advent, on which we light the candle of joy, I would offer you a quotable quotation from her: “Joy is the best makeup.”  As such, it is something we might think of “putting on,” because there are times that simply do not feel joyfull.  Still, we are in a season that apparently asks of us to put on a joyful face in public, even while we all acknowledge that there are devastating circumstances around our world.  It was into that mood, into painful circumstances that Isaiah spoke his prophecies (varied periods that they were).  Imagine how the good news that he shares in the 61st chapter would resonate with the displaced persons today.  Imagine how the later faithful might also have struggled when first hearing Paul’s admonition to “Rejoice always!”  It is for them and for us as we struggle to put on joy that John the Baptist shared good news.  There is a light coming into the darkness.  Let’s celebrate tomorrow and help nurture each other’s hope and joy.

Following worship, we will meet to discuss whether our congregation may sign as coalition partners in the effort to get four gun safety measures approved by the Maine legislature.  All are welcome to stay in order to learn more about plans of the Maine Coalition for Gun Safety and ways you may choose to be involved.

Blessings and peace, Lisa

Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  First, our reminders:  Our quarterly meeting follows worship tomorrow, as does fellowship to include our favorite appetizers.  What will I bring . . . ?
Heading to the church now for fellowship over breakfast, the “Advent Words” of the week are on my mind.  Perhaps not surprisingly, one of the words on which we will focus tomorrow is Advent, itself.  The other word, oddly loaded for many people, is salvation, as we consider the promise of the season.  We may see little glimpses of the grace we seek, even over coffee together.  In a time that is fraught with fears and violence, you are invited to celebrate in the hope of God’s reign breaking in, day by day.

Blessings and deep peace to you, Lisa

Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  First, two reminders:  We will have a potluck Thanksgiving luncheon following worship tomorrow, with turkey generously prepared by Lisa Groo.  Please bring your favorite side dishes as we continue the holiday season on this first Sunday of Advent!  Please also mark your calendars for December 10th, when we will have our Quarterly Meeting following worship. 

There are ways in which the church (liturgical/worship) calendar leaps out at us in the secular world, even while sometimes more subtle things happen during worship.  Advent this year is not one of those subtle shifts, with the movement from Matthew’s Gospel to the Gospel of Mark coming as a bit of a jolt.  In Mark, we meet apocalyptic predictions and harsh words of judgment.  Still, we know this quiet season to be one in which we look for hope, and hope there is.  In days that grow shorter, afternoons feeling like evening, we long for light and are promised that light.  We begin moving toward Christmas in that spirit of hope.  Knowing that the vocabulary of our faith is new to some people and, at best, unfamiliar to some of us, during Advent I will preach on some of the terms that may give us pause.  From where does our light come?  

Blessings and deep peace to you, Lisa

Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  After a filling and fulfilling Thanskgiving holiday, we can look to tomorrow as a kind of New Years’ Eve in the Christian calendar.  As such, we read texts assigned for what is variously called The Reign of Christ Sunday or Christ the King Sunday.  I prefer the former, because of considering the entire world as God’s realm, and because of considering God’s “rulership” through Jesus to be so counter to our usual earthly notions of kingship. Still, elements of the texts from Ezekiel and Matthew do remind us that our sovereign requires of us behavior that is just and merciful.  It is in regard to this that we hear familiar mention of sheep and goats–mention that may make us uncomfortable.  That is the paradox of Jesus’ claim on our lives.  We are asked to be uncomfortable if the way we live runs counter to the ways of justice and mercy.  Let us move together from thanks giving to a deep desire for God’s reign on earth as we move toward the season of Advent, when we make ourselves ready for Jesus’ coming into the world in peace. 

A reminder, too:  our children will gather during worship to create Advent wreathes for their homes, leaving after the Children’s Message.  Also, please mark your calendars for December 10th, when we will have our Quarterly Meeting following worship, accompanied by cookies and cocoa.

Blessings and deep peace to you, Lisa