In our summer preaching series, I Don’t Believe That…we’ll preach about some of the most difficult and often divisive topics in the Christian faith. We’ll take on teachings, doctrines and ideas that many may disagree with or not believe. Progressive churches often shy away from these topics because they are hard to talk about and hard to understand. After church, pastors and members will have a time to discuss what they heard in the sermon and ask questions or disagree. (Thank you to the Adult Ed team for suggesting the Talk Back Sessions!)
God’s Justice
We have a new Social Justice team to help us learn about and show up for opportunities to bring God’s justice to the world. They stay abreast of denominational, regional and even national actions that we as a church can participate in or wrestle with as we try to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world. Their work both represents us and stretches us — but we know that they are modeling how to answer Christ’s call.
Our Environmental Justice team has led us to be named a “Level 1 Green Congregation” by the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC, for the work we have done to help heal creation. They have brought movies to the Storr’s Library and joined Adult Ed in book studies.
Near the beginning of this article, I talked about helping First Church become a “yes” church. Well, that means we are waiting for you to step up and share a dream, goal or prayer for First Church. I have come to know many of you. I know that God is still speaking. And I know that God is speaking to First Church through you. So, bring an idea and we will say, “YES! Yes, we can help you make that dream happen here!” Bring me your ideas, whether they are well-developed or just “idea seeds.” Together we can help them germinate and grow in the sunlight of God’s “YES.”
These are just some of the ways we have partnered together over this year. I continue to find more and more ways to love this church and her people. And we are just getting started. Wait until you hear some of our plans beginning in fall of 2018-2019. (You can read about it in the next COG newsletter.)
What a good year. I am even more committed to First Church and all of you! They say the appropriate gift for a first anniversary is made of paper. So let this newsletter — and all the growth and promise it represents — be our first anniversary gift to each other.
— Blessings, Rev. Pam
6