Articles

Something is on the Horizon There are a lot of wonderful words out there that can be used to describe what’s happening during Advent, but few are better than this by Jan Richardson: “The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before ... What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [bac

Take a Chance… “ What Would You Do with a Chance? ” is the title and opening line of a children’s book (but really for all ages) by author Kobi Yamada. I’m guessing many of you have read this book or one of his other two: “ What Do You Do with an Idea? ” and “ What Do You Do with a Problem? ” Sermon possibilities abound with all three. The first book is a wonderful reminder that chances are all around us but sometimes we let them float away because of fear of failing, or fear

When I wrote a couple weeks ago, I promised to come to an additional point of the Washington DC “Love Knows No Boarders” Conference Minister’s Advocacy Days. This is the fulfillment of that commitment. What I wanted to speak a little more about are the impacts that are happening to refugee resettlement. Here in New Hampshire, many of our churches have participated in refugee resettlement programs. This is, of course, true across all of the United Church of Christ. One of the

My husband Brad’s birthday is at the end of October. And rather than declare just that day for his birthday, he has, for as long as I’ve known him, declared the entire month of October as his birthday month. Fortunately, for me, he doesn’t expect a gift every day, but he does rave continually about how wonderful his birthday month is: how beautiful the weather is, how wonderful the colors of the trees are, or how nice the autumn rain is for the one or two days it rains. And h

“You’ve got spunk” is a classic line spoken by newsroom editor Lou Grant to Mary Richards as she interviewed for a job at WJM-TV, channel 12, in Minneapolis. Mary Richards, star of the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore show, takes this as a compliment. To which Lou Grant replies: “I hate spunk”. Mary got the job anyway. I just returned from the Maine Conference UCC’s Annual Meeting held at Pilgrim Lodge where instead of the 600 people who used to attend 20 years ago there were 174

Do You Have A Church or a Club? By The Reverend Walt Hampton, J.D., CFC Transitional Associate Conference Minister for Judicatory Ministries The congregation found itself in turmoil. Someone new had begun attending worship; someone with a difficult, storied past. Some members were deeply uncomfortable. A few threatened to leave. Others demanded that before this person could join the congregation, they’d need to stand up, confess their sins, and ask for forgiveness before bein