by Christine VanDeWege, October 26, 2023
I spent this morning at a regional airport, celebrating my 20-year-old son’s first solo flight. This is a big day in the life of a would-be pilot, so three of his flight instructors came to observe and congratulate. There were lots of smiles and swells of humble pride. Then three moms arrived with their babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. The children ran as fast as their little legs could carry them toward the airport’s viewing platform. They shouted with glee, pointing at the planes as the children danced, unable to keep still in their excitement. Already very happy for my son,… Read More
by Kent French, October 19, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. What do you worry about? Job security? Your health? Your kids? Your aging parents? Loneliness? Climate change? War? The political future of our country? Any number of things that pop up on your regular media source? Would you like to worry less? In two of the Gospels, Jesus tells his disciples very clearly, “Do not worry,” and then goes on to talk about the natural world and how grass, wild flowers and birds “neither… Read More
by Kent French, October 12, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. How do you perceive God? Is God a hard-driving, task-master who always gives you the impression you come up short? Or a kind, loving, benevolent, generalized feeling, like the air on a warm summer day or a comforting morning mist? Is God in the feeling you get from music that moves you down to your core? Is God like Santa Claus, keeping a list of when you’re naughty and nice, and rewarding you accordingly? Our perceptions… Read More
by Christine VanDeWege, October 06, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. Two weeks ago, Pastor Kent shared a message about Nicodemus’ encounter with Jesus, as told in the book of John, chapter 3. This week, I will be teaching and preaching about a companion story that follows in John, chapter 4, when the Samaritan woman encounters Jesus at the well of Jacob. The author of the book of John, who opens this gospel with images of light and darkness, contrasts Nicodemus’ midnight meeting, with all the darkness and… Read More
by Kent French, September 28, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. Throughout his teaching and preaching ministry, Jesus used lots of metaphors to explain what it means to live a faithful life, connect with God and bring about the realm of heaven: sowing good seed on fertile soil, the exponential growth potential of a mustard seed, light shining in the darkness, separating sheep and goats. Sometimes these metaphors are so strong, clear and durable that I wonder how we can improve upon them or understand them any better… Read More
by Kent French, September 20, 2023
This autumn, our worship follows our Church School curriculum, Seeking Peace Together. We are learning in worship alongside the youngest members of our community. There’s a wonderful, enigmatic figure who crops up in our scripture reading from time to time: Nicodemus. A leader of the Pharisees who came furtively to Jesus after dark to find out what this guy was all about (John 3:1-21). In the past, I’ve referred to Nicodemus as a closet Christian. He’s longing to know something about Jesus, but he doesn’t want others to see him associating with him. Jesus tells him that he must be born… Read More
by Christine VanDeWege, September 14, 2023
This is my first blog as United Parish’s Sabbatical Pastor, covering for Associate Pastor Amy Norton while she is away. I am looking forward to offering my first sermon at United Parish this Sunday. I am also excited to get to know you, the members of United Parish, and warmly invite you to reach out to me. I’m happy to take a walk together, chat, or go for coffee, and I am always ready to pray with you. As a reforming Type A person, there’s a sense of peace that I seek and find while on a body of water…. Read More
by Kent French, September 07, 2023
Worship at 11am in the Sanctuary! (This Sunday’s worship will not be streamed live, but will be recorded and posted later on YouTube*). The last few years of global pandemic shook up a lot of our assumptions about in-person gatherings and brick-and-mortar institutions. Working from home and telecommuting are now much more viable options. So much of commerce has continued to move online. We see more street-level retail going empty or becoming a bank or a cannabis dispensary. And yet, we also got it at a gut level that certain human, social interactions cannot be fully re-created or that fulfilling… Read More
by Kent French, August 31, 2023
This summer we welcome our neighbors to come and share about their lives, work, passions, spirituality and inspire us about how we can serve “our neighbors as ourselves,” following what Jesus called the second greatest commandment (Leviticus 19:17-18, Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-31, Luke 10:25-28). See speakers list below. Last year, some local advocates for affordable housing got curious about what it’s like to live in public housing in Brookline. They went on a tour and were dismayed, even horrified by what they discovered: crumbling staircases, flaking asbestos, constant vermin infestation, failing appliances, inoperative and leaking windows, miserable energy performance, heating… Read More
by Kent French, August 24, 2023
This summer we welcome our neighbors to come and share about their lives, work, passions, spirituality and inspire us about how we can serve “our neighbors as ourselves,” following what Jesus called the second greatest commandment (Leviticus 19:17-18, Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-31, Luke 10:25-28). See speakers list below. NOTE: After worship this Sunday, we strongly encourage you to join us for a site visit to Saint James Episcopal Church in Porter Square, Cambridge, 12:30-1:30pm and see the amazing work they’ve done with a local developer to transform their space and property for financial and missional sustainability. It will inspire you! Ride sharing available. People think… Read More
