Yes! We're Open: Living Faith with Needham UCC

For the beginning of Lent, we're taking it all the way back to The Beginning, when God made the entire variety of human beings from one flesh. Yet ever since, it seems, we have been dividing and categorizing and ranking people because they are different. And from the beginning, women have borne the brunt of that division. But God loves our differences and God doesn't divide. So can we ge...

If you’ve been around the church at all, especially around Christmas time, you’re likely familiar with the story of the Annunciation, when God announces to Mary that has been chosen to bear a special blessing. But the Biblical witness is that God chooses lots of people, many even less well-off and far less well remembered than Mary, including Hagar. (Luke 1:26-38; Genesis 16:7-13)  Preacher: The R...

Sadly, we don’t talk much about blessings these days, aside from the holidays, perhaps, when we are reminded to “count our blessings.” Which is fine as far as it goes, but if we stop there, we miss the point that we are called to multiply and share our blessings, even--espeically--with those we deem 'least likely." Because that's what God does. That's who God is.  (Genesis 17:1...

Like kids waiting for Christmas, in Advent the church is waiting for… what, exactly? If we focus just on Jesus’ miraculous birth, what’s the good news for those struggling to conceive or waiting to adopt? How can this story be Gospel for us even when our waiting doesn’t bring us the gift we hoped for? (Judges 13:2-7; Psalm 115:9-15) Preacher: The Rev. Maddie Foster This sermon is part of our yearl...

The Good Samaritan is probably the most well known of all Jesus’ parables. But that very familiarity can get in the way of our hearing the hard truth behind our Hallmark card interpretations: If we want to be neighborly like Jesus, we’re going to have to go out of our way, leave behind our usual haunts and habits, and cross over to unfamiliar territory. (Luke 10:25-37)  Rev. John Gage, preaching -...

There are a lot of powerful people in 2 Kings 5: Naaman, the Syrian general and his wife; the King of Syria and the King of Israel; and the Prophet Elisha, too. But this story of healing and grace hinges on a cast of nobodies who’ve been told to stand at the back. But like the waters of the river Jordan, the Spirit flows through them and lifts them up for us to see and celebrate. (2 Kings 5:1-14) ...

Idolatry is such an old-fashioned word. But what else can we call it when we value some thing, some possession, profit, or principle more than the lives of actual people? In our United States, guns are one of our peculiar idols, and the sacrifices just keep piling up. (Luke 3:1-6) Rev. John MacIver Gage, preaching. --- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a radically inclusive, justi...

In our faith tradition, God calls us to be stewards of creation, to “take care of it and look after it” (Genesis 2:15). But as Buddhist teacher, activist, and poet Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us in his book Love Letters to the Earth , that “it” is us. We are the earth and the earth is us. And we care for the earth not out of external obligation but from an intimate place of love. Now, when creation is...

1am. 2am 3am. Technically, these are early morning hours, but as anyone who’s woken up then knows, it is still quite dark. Sometimes only the clock tells you it’s the morning and not midnight. The Gospel According to John is clear that, just as a new day is born in the dark, whatever resurrection is, it’s something that begins while it is still dark. And doubt is one of the Easter dark's grea...

As his coming conflict with the authorities looms large, a woman spends the time and the money to anoint Jesus with precious oil in an act of pure devotion. Yet one of the disciples—let’s call him J.I.—objects on the grounds that her money should have been spent on something more productive. But sometimes the very best we can do is stop and smell the holiness. (John 12:1-8)  Rev. John MacIver Gage...

The Parable of the Prodigal Son: Even if you’ve never read it, you likely know it, this story about a father and his two sons, one dutiful, one wild, one grateful, one resentful. But which is which? The all-too familiar dynamics of this dysfunctional family drama mean we may have to listen extra hard to hear what it has to say to us today. (Luke 15:1-3 11b-32) The Rev. Maddie Foster, preacher. The...

It’s said that charity is pulling drowning people out of the river, while justice is walking upstream to stop whoever’s throwing them in. The trick, of course, is to do both, to help individuals and change systems; to do just one or the other leaves too many people open to harm. But how, Jesus, how? (Luke 13:31=5)  The Rev. John MacIver Gage, preacher. The Congregational Church of Needham strives...

Our Lenten journey begins when we follow Jesus into the wilderness. And as long as his days alone there were, it’s sure the nights were longer. The wild, and especially the wild dark, is a place where all bets are off. It’s where the rubber meets the road, and we meet the demonic, the divine, and ultimately ourselves. So let's head into the wild dark, into Lent, and into life with curiosity....

On Transfiguration Sunday, we usually read the story of how Jesus’ glory was revealed in a flash of insight and a dazzling light on a mountaintop. But we learn what that glory really means, what it’s actually for, only when Jesus comes down off the mountain and walks into the shadowy valley below. The question then isn't "Why aren't we up on the mountain?" but "What are we...

With the deepest gratitude to the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, who said it all best back in 2014. Telling people they are dust and to dust they shall return isn't a threat or a put-down, it's a promise: You don't have to do it all. You can't. Do your best, sure, but at the end of the day, just let God be God, and God will. The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a radicall...

In his “Sermon on the Plain,” his theological manifesto in Luke’s gospel, Jesus continues to level the playing field, offering us a new perspective on the value of our lives. He literally flips the script on who’s blessed and why and offers a new definition of just what “blessing” is, anyway. (Luke 6:17-26) The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a radically inclusive, justice-seeking,...

The soon-to-be disciples’ fishing trip isn’t going so well, until Jesus gives them a new direction. If they follow him, their nets will burst with the abundance they’ll encounter, and the whole of humanity will become their concern, not just their own little boat and backyard. But only if they let themselves get caught up first. (Luke 5:1-11) The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a ra...

Push. Push and pull. This is how we all come into the world. And this is the way loving change come into the world through us still, as we push and pull, with and against each other. It's awkward, often unpleasant, and success isn't guaranteed. Revolutionary love is always risky, but we labor in hope for hope. Now, Push! (Matthew 15:21-8) This is Part 8 of a 9-part series this fall putti...

“Breathing creates space in our lives to think and see differently, enliven our imagination, awaken to pleasure, move toward freedom, and let joy in. For those... who live in bodies that are denigrated by society, breathing like this is a political act.” This Sunday, we join Jesus on the mountaintop, where taking time to catch our breath can reconnect us with our Source, Guide, and Goal. (Mark 9:2...

It's bad enough Jesus asks us to love our enemies. Do we have to listen to them, too? But as Valarie Kaur puts it in "See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love," listening isn't just nice, it's strategic. Listening to our opponents helps us understand them better and teaches us how to love them without compromising our commitment to justice, peace, and...

Proverbs and clichés admonish anger but a quick temper is not the same as divine rage. Valarie Kaur shares how our anger can be the first authentic step in loving our opponent and in building the beloved community. We'll continue our exploration of Kaur's "See No Stranger" with Chapter 4, "Rage," in conversation with Mark 3:1-5, where we meet Jesus healing on the Sabb...

Fear, flight, and fight. We've been taught good Christians don't do any of these things. But of course we do. They're all part of our inheritance as human beings and they all help keep us alive. It's how we do them that makes the real difference, especially fighting--fighting for the people we love, for justice and peace. It's up to us to "fight the good fight" i...

It's said that "into each life a little rain must fall." And it's so true. There is no life that doesn't involve loss, and there's no love that doesn't involve grief; in fact, as Valerie Kaur says in "See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love," grief is the price of love. And grieving together--compassion--is a choice that creates a...

In her book, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love,  author and activist Valarie Kaur says "wonder is where love begins." Are we willing to wonder about other people, who they are, what their lives are like, why they do what they do? Remember Zacchaeus, that "wee little man" (and notorious sinner) who climbed a sycamore tree just to see Jesus? Wonder wha...

The Church tells so many stories of Jesus healing people that illness, disability, and healing all have become enduring metaphors for the life of faith. But for people living with disabilities, they’re not just metaphors, and they themselves aren’t objects for pity, aide, or inspiration. So let’s reconsider Jesus’ interaction with this “deaf man who had an impediment in his speech” from Mark 7:31-...