Dear Church Family,  We are rapidly approaching the end of our pastoral relationship. Already I have started saying goodbyes; the youth group had their end-of-year picnic this past weekend, and I taught my last Godly Play class. This Sunday will be my last Celebration with you.  Last week in Contact you read about the boundaries we will need to keep when I…

          GUEST AUTHOR: MARGARET IRVIN Sunday after Sunday we repeat the phrase “Honor all people” in the congregational charge. What does it mean to honor someone, indeed everyone? Can you honor without caring? Without paying attention? Without noticing needs? Without valuing the other person as much as yourself rather than dividing human beings into worthy and unworthy (or less worthy – maybe just…

Dear Church Family, I am very, very grateful to this church community for your work on the Climate Call to Action, and for the enthusiastic support with which you voted to endorse it on Sunday. Huge thanks go to Art Paull, Susan TenBosch, Suzanne Jones (who’s been nominated for an academy award for those climate videos), Andrew Newell and Cynthia Cudaback. What…

Dear Church Family,  I am back from a lovely vacation and Ben is off on his vacation right now. So my original intent for today’s Contact was to write something light and fun about the importance of relaxing and resting. God knows we need it—resting (sabbath) is one of the Ten Commandments. But I returned home and checked news to find a…

Dear Church Family,  Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!  In his Easter sermon, Ben referred to a poem by Wendell Berry that is a favorite of mine: Manifesto (the Mad Farmer Liberation Front). You can read it here: https://www.context.org/iclib/ic30/berry/ Though written in 1991 some of it seems eerily predictive, like the line “if they want you to buy something, they will call you.”…

Dear Church Family,  When I saw the news again yesterday, I just had no words. Another shooting, less than a week after last week’s horrific one. But it is my calling and responsibility to “have words” even at times like these… and words more than “no, no, no.”  We have spent a year getting used to one kind of senseless loss of…

TALITHA’S TAKE Dear Church Family,  This is a time of remembrance. The anniversaries have been creeping up on us slowly — the anniversary of the first confirmed Covid19 case in the US, the anniversary of the first death, the anniversary of the last vacation you took, or the last office party you attended — but by the end of this week we…

Dear Church Family, As we approach the 1-year anniversary of when Covid19 started touching our lives directly, I have been meditating on endurance and perseverance. I remember the early days of shelter-in-place orders and my own over-the-top ideas about what I could do and how long I could keep it up. I honestly thought I could record an inspiring video every day,…

Dear Church Family, Welcome to the solemn season of Lent. This is a time for reflection and contemplation, as we walk with Jesus on the road toward the cross. Today is traditionally a time to contemplate our mortality as we remember “we are dust, and to dust we shall return.” However, this is already a very solemn year, and with the hundreds…

Dear Church Family, We are so happy and relieved for those of you in our church community who have successfully received (or even just scheduled) a covid vaccine… whether it is because of your age, your occupation, or your medical needs. Huzzah! What joy! There are so many of you now joining this lucky club, and hearing each person’s news is a…