This Sunday’s worship is at 3pm.
There is NO 10am worship.
This Sunday at 3pm, we will celebrate a special moment in the life of our congregation. Many churches go decades without ever having this privilege. We’re going to ordain one of our own, Jaz Buchanan, to the Christian ministry of Word and Sacrament.
Many of you remember that Jaz came to us as our Seminarian in 2019-20. You’ll recall her sweet spirit, her willingness to learn, her openness in preaching, her deep kindness. She was with us when the COVID pandemic hit and we learned to pivot to online worship, right as we were beginning the season of Lent. She went on to serve as a Pastoral Resident at First Church in Cambridge and now serves as Associate Pastor for Faith Formation at the United Church in Walpole.
For the past few years, a thoughtful, insightful team of United Parish members has served as her discernment group, helping her through each phase of the ordination process with the United Church of Christ (UCC), probing about her theology, her continuing education, her pastoral experience, reading drafts of papers, prepping her for interviews. On Pentecost Sunday (May 19), the Walpole Church confirmed her call as a settled pastor among them. And with this call, we have the privilege of ordaining her in her home church.
On Sunday, we will celebrate together as we confirm her call to ministry as well as our own. We will welcome her friends and family, members of the churches from Walpole and Cambridge as well as the Metropolitan Boston Association of the UCC. We will reflect on Miriam’s prophetic, exultant dancing in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 15:20-21) and Jesus’ challenge to Nicodemus to follow the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-8). And we’ll recall how the Spirit is moving in all of our lives, calling, inspiring, and liberating each one of us to our own individual and collective ministries.
Come and rejoice with us!
Kent
Image credit: “Miriam’s Tambourine” by Yael Harris Resnick
