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The UCC Lent Devotional for March 19, 2017:

"The woman said to Jesus, 'I know that the Messiah is coming' (who is called Christ). 'When He comes, He will proclaim all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I am He, the one who is speaking to you.' ... Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 'Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?' ... Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me everything I have ever done.'" John 4

The ‘meaning of the Cross’ is something we think and wonder about especially during the Lenten Season. It’s not that we don’t think about it at other times during the year, but our Lenten journey brings it to the fore.

‘Jesus died for our sins’ is perhaps the response we would hear most often throughout Christendom if the question were posed: ‘What is the meaning of the Cross?’ Or ‘What does Good Friday mean to you?’

The UCC Lent Devotional for March 2, 2017:

"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my parents conceived me. Yet You desired faithfulness even in the womb; You taught me wisdom in that secret place." Psalm 51

So my wife and I are having a baby.

Sometime shortly after Easter—likely—our first child will be born. There is something deeply appropriate about the forty days of lent concluding the forty weeks of waiting that is this great journey through the wilderness of welcoming new life.

2016 was a tumultuous and heart-wrenching year for a great many people, including those of us in mainline / progressive churches; with 2017 promising to be even more heart-wrenching. Our ministries have always included the prophetic call, set forth in the Hebrew Bible and, for us in the Christian community, manifested in the life and ministry of Jesus. Mercy, justice, compassion, kindness, mutual respect, and radical inclusion are basic tenants of our journey of faith.

When Jesus had something to say to the powers and principalities he staged a march upon a capital city. Admittedly, it was a wobbly thing. A donkey. No stomping, snorting stallions. No weapons or armor. They didn’t march neatly, in line, in step. There was nothing crisp about it. It was a wobbly thing, this un-assault or anti-assault upon the seat of power. Yet, these 2000 years later that march still speaks, defies, and clarifies.

I recently came across one of my favorite Christmas poems, a poem by May Sarton, that speaks of our journey, yet again, to Bethlehem.

Indeed, we have made this journey before – last year - every year. Whether we are fully aware of it or not, we come with our hopes and our fears, our joys and our sorrows, our expectations for the future and our anxieties about our present.

Dear Old South Church in Boston,

On the eve of Christmas, my heart is full. Full of poignant, sweet memories of our beautiful and elegant maker of music: Harry Huff. My heart is full with missing him.

My heart is full with wrenching images: Berlin, Aleppo, the Oakland Ghost Ship. Terror. Grief. Mayhem.

My heart is full with the memory of 2600 Jews, Christians, and Muslims gathered together at the largest mosque in New England in a show of solidarity and support in a time of rising hate-crimes, othering, and fear-mongering. My heart is full.

“Out of Many, One”

An Interfaith Call for Dignity and Diligence
Written by interfaith leaders of The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and
signed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Marty Walsh

Dear Old South Church,

Imagine your extended family is gathered together for Thanksgiving Day: cousins and in-laws, parents and children, siblings and significant others. The elephant in the living room is this election season and you have reason to worry that impassioned and incompatible opinions could fray the family, strain the gathering or worse: explode into hurtful words that cannot be taken back.

As we enter autumn, we may find the challenges of the days ahead daunting.  We may even dread some of the changes being asked of us as we move back into our “regular” life responsibilities after what may have been a less demanding summer schedule. How might God be inviting us to release our fear, apprehension, or anxiety, and see the days ahead as exciting, invigorating, and life giving?