by Amy Norton, February 23, 2023
This Sunday marks the first Sunday of Lent, the 40 day period of reflection, repentance, and spiritual deepening that leads us towards Holy Week and Easter. This year we are diving into the book of Psalms as our Lenten theme, exploring how these ancient songs can help us grow closer to God not only in our individual spiritual lives, but also as a community seeking to follow God’s call toward justice, compassion, and peace. Our first focus Psalm is number 119- we’ll hear excerpts of it in worship (if we read the whole thing, we might not have time for… Read More
by Kent French, February 17, 2023
The Transfiguration is a peculiar story set down in the middle of Jesus’ ministry in three of the Gospel accounts (Matthew 17:1-13, Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36). It describes a defining moment in Jesus’ ministry, when his closest disciples could see for sure that he was connected to something heavenly, other-worldly. It shows up in the Protestant liturgical year on the last Sunday before we enter Lent. On Sunday, we will hike up the mountain again with Jesus, Peter, James and John. And we’ll remember what they experienced there, even though Jesus warned them to tell no one about it. I wonder… Read More
by Cantor Hollis Schachner, Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland, February 09, 2023
This week’s blog is written by our friend, Hollis Schachner from Temple Shir Tikva: Each year, the adult choirs of Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland and the United Parish in Brookline join together in leading song for collaborative, interfaith worship. Given the national attention that United Parish’s Negro Spiritual Royalties Project continues to receive, we felt this year’s collaboration was a great opportunity for the Shir Tikva community to learn more about it, while considering and sharing our own musical parallels in the Jewish tradition with the United Parish. Negro Spirituals are deeply imbedded in American music, most especially in houses of… Read More
by Kent French, February 02, 2023
During Epiphany, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking God Together, as we learn in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. This week, we’re learning about the centrality in our faith of Serving Others. On Sunday we will hear a story from the Book of Acts, the history of earliest followers of Christ, the movement known as The Way. It’s about a woman raised from the dead (Acts 9:36-43) named Tabitha or Dorcas. Apparently, she knew how to serve others. It says: Her life overflowed with good works and compassionate acts on behalf of those in need. The people around her… Read More
