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Copy of Conference Minister's Corner 3.24.26
Title In the three-plus weeks that the United States has engaged in armed conflict with Iran, I have been searching for the right words to convey my prayers for peace. There are times when I find that the more I try to grab onto exactly the right words, the more they seem to slip through my grasp. That is often when I turn to music. Somehow, music tends to cut straight to my soul in ways that not even spoken words can do. I wanted to share with you the words, in music form, t
malighieri9
2 days ago1 min read
Conference Minister's Corner 3.17.26
Discernment I have been talking a lot about the practice of discernment lately. The more conversations I have had about discernment, the more I have realized it is not a commonly understood concept. My experience is that some people consider discernment to be the “church word” for decision-making. For me, there is more to discernment than that. So, I thought I’d write this week about what, for me, the essence of discernment is. For me, discernment is never just about figuring
Rev. Gordon Rankin
Mar 172 min read
Conference Ministers Corner 3-10-26
My very good friend came to visit from Nashville back in January. When it was 20 degrees and colder. 'Cause…Maine. She brought a jacket with her. 'Cause…Nashville. I gave her one of my coats, of course. I have plenty – one for every severe change in temperature. Maybe you do, too. Giving her a coat wasn’t an issue...I didn’t give it a second thought. In the bible there are a few scriptures (Luke 6:27-31 and Matthew 5:38-42) about giving someone your coat and/or shirt if the
Rev. Linda Hirst
Mar 102 min read
Conference Minister's Corner - 03-04-2026
“Grace Abounds” is how a clergy friend of mine signs his email conversations. Such a great reminder, when things are hard and seem hopeless, that there is grace out there and often it’s right in front of us. Take this past Saturday’s Prepared to Serve Event: there was so much grace! It was there in the set up on Friday – when the staff spent hours (yes, hours) setting up tables, moving chairs and getting ready for worship the next day. It was there on Saturday when staff and
Rev. Linda Hirst
Mar 42 min read
Conference Minister's Corner 02-18-2026
Six or seven years ago, before Covid, my church at the time began offering “Ashes to Go” outside our parking lot. With deacons present we stuck hand warmers and toe warmers into our mittens and shoes, placed our stoles around our neck and outside we went praying this crazy new thing we were doing would work. We were lucky to be in a location where cars drove up and down the road dropping off their kids to school. We waved to everyone as they drove by – our sign nice and big o
Rev. Linda Hirst
Feb 182 min read
Conference Minister's Corner - 02-10-2026
I am obsessed with Olympic curling. I am riveted by it. I will be up at ridiculous times of night to watch big matches live. I just can’t get enough. For those who don’t know much about curling, it is a sport where teams “throw” (actually slide) granite stones with handles down a sheet of ice to a bullseye section on the opposite end. The team that gets the most stones closest to the center wins the end. The team with the most points in a certain amount of ends (8 or 10) wins
Rev. Gordon Rankin
Feb 102 min read
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