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

Ephesians 6 famously describes the gifts believers are given for the life of faith and the struggle against injustice: “the armor of God, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness.” But that way of thinking about spiritual gifts isn’t one-size-fits-all. What are your particular gifts, your “gospel accessories,” tailored just to you and to the needs of our historical moment? And are you w...

“Holy Wisdom cries out, ‘You that are simple, come and share my table! Walk in the way of wisdom and live!” Why are the simplest things the hardest?! There is only one commandment: LOVE. But working out that commandment is a life-long—lives-long!—journey. Is it really that complicated, or are we just... simple? (Proverbs 9:1-6) The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a radically inclusi...

Anger traditionally has been rated one of the 7 Deadly Sins in Western European Christianity, and it certainly can be destructive. But is it always? Is there ever a proper, righteous anger that burns but does not consume us or others? And what do we lose when we try to keep our anger in the closet? Audre Lorde, Valarie Kaur, and Frederick Buechner help us reflect on these questions and more. (Ephe...

Last week, we were reminded that when we feel small and insignificant in the face of the challenges of our world, we are never alone. Even "drops in the bucket" can turn the wheel, together. This week, we reflect on the challenges such a "group project" approach presents (Have you read the news lately?) and the opportunities, as we share our diverse gifts toward a common purpos...

Sometimes, when we consider the challenges before us as a nation, a species, it's easy to get overwhelmed. We may ask ourselves what we can do as individuals, mere drops in the bucket, about problems as big as racism or climate change, especially when we've got all the challenges of our personal lives to deal with, as well. But remember: drops in the bucket are what turn the turbines and...

For many of us, summer is a time to take a vacation or at least take things a bit slower. Which is good for us. Even Jesus tried to get away for a while. But many more people--especially people working multiple, maybe part-time jobs just to make ends meet--don't have that luxury. But rest isn't a luxury, it's a requirement, and in our Judeo-Christian tradition, sabbath rest is a com...

For this LGBTQ+ Pride Sunday: "A Prayer of Queer Thanksgiving." A chance encounter on Pride parade day calls forth a rainbow revelation, a great cloud of witnesses--and martyrs, and a vision of chosen family in the kin-dom of God. Rev. John MacIver Gage shares a poem-slash-prayer originally offered by Rev. Micah Bucey. Here are all the names mentioned in the poem. Give yourself a little...

At first glance, the doctrine of the Trinity may seem like some kind of mathematical joke at best, a dangerous irrationality at worst.. How can 1 really be 3 or 3 be 1? But maybe the point isn’t knowing God with our heads but with our hearts? Kind of like people. It’s not that logic and reason aren’t important; they’re just so limited and limiting. A reflection on John 3:1-10, Rev. John MacIver Ga...

Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the same Spirit who turned frightened disciples into bold messengers of good news “with the sound of a violent wind.” But something doesn’t have to be loud to be important or powerful. Sometimes a whisper changes the world, and you along with it. Romans 8:22-27    (Rev. John MacIver Gage, preacher) Join us for LI...

Everybody loves "charismatic megafauna"--you know, the "bright and beautiful," cute and cuddly animals, your pandas, elephants, and humpback whales. And it's not so hard to appreciate the useful animals, too, like cows and pigs. But what about the animals we don't understand and definitely don't like? What about mosquitos? Aye, there's the gospel rub. Becaus...

Just because bad things happen to you (or you feel bad), that doesn’t make you a bad seed... or a bad person. One particular sunflower seed shares this important life lesson in an intergenerational story time sermon from the book by Jory John with illustrations by Pete Oswald The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a radically Inclusive, justice-seeking, peace- making, love-affirming co...

Christians sometimes give the impression we are backward-leaning people, that God and everything good are in the past, and we're just trying to turn back the clock. But the truth is God leans forward, toward us and toward a world not restored but resurrected. Through inspiration, imagination, and innovation, the Holy Spirit show us the best is yet to come. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, 12, 17-18) Len...

"They hung on the stranger's every word. As the day and their journey drew to a close, they couldn’t stand to let him go, so they asked him to stay for dinner. But still they didn’t recognize him. They felt the presence of the holy with them, reframing their questions, shifting their thinking, drawing them out of their old lives and opening the door to another, better way, but they didn’...

In his very first sermon Jesus declared "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news," the same message he embodies as he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. But what is the point of this preaching, really? Personal salvation? Political reform? Some say it's got to be one or other. But what if it's both? What if the Kingdom of God is justice and peace and sa...

People often think of monastics as people who've retreated away from life into the church. But that wasn't the case for Julian of Norwich a 14th Century English anchorite, whose confinement opened her heart to the whole world--and not in some abstract way, but in an experience as small and hard and concrete as a hazelnut. So we'll talk about hazelnuts, the world, and the infinite lo...

At Christmas we ask "What Child is This?" and sing about God being "pleased as man [sic] with man to dwell"--in other words, we reflect on The Incarnation, the enflesh-ment of God in Jesus. But this isn't just another "Prince and the Pauper," king-in-disguise story. The mystery of the incarnation--that God is found in our humanity and our humanity in God--is an e...

Sin is a strong word with a lot of baggage. Many of us have internalized the idea that a sin is a demerit, a ding on our permanent record that, if we earn enough of them, will keep us out of heaven when we die. But if we back up a bit, those individual dots may form a very different picture. If we recalibrate our thinking about sin--and forgiveness--focusing on our relationships rather than our sp...

The Bible is full of dysfunctional family histories: Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, David and Bathsheba. But behind them all is the story of the conflict between humanity and the rest of creation. Because animal, mineral, vegetable, we are one family, children of the same God. What if we saw the rest of the creation as neighbors, friends, siblings, rather than competitors or property? If...

Lent is a season in the life of the church for reflection, when we intentionally sift our lives, all that we do and leave undone, looking to build upon all that is life-giving, for ourselves and our neighbors, and leave behind all that is not. It's a time to sink our roots deeper into God's good soil and grow from there. This Lent, as part of our "Grounded" worship series, we&a...

Peter joins Jesus on the mountaintop and witnesses the moment of transfiguration, a moment that moves Peter first to fear and then inspires him to act. We'll remember our own mountaintop moments and reflect on how they make us feel, how they can keep us going, and how we can use that to build bridges. (Mark 9:2-9) - The Rev. Maddie Foster The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a r...

All our systems and schedules aside, rest isn't a might or maybe once everything else gets done. Rest is a have-to, a necessity, literally baked into the way God makes us. Even Jesus needed to take time off and away from his mission to quite literally save the world, so we can, too. Which is fine to say in this pandemic moment, but how, exactly? How do we rest? And what kind of rest do we rea...

Through much of Mark's Gospel the disciples wonder just who Jesus is and who they are in relation to him. But a stranger in need understands right away that Jesus comes from God intent on sharing the gift of liberation. So what about us modern day disciples? Who are we, and whose? And what do strangers see when they see us? (Mark 1:21-28) This also includes a children's sermon from Rev....

Jonah is maybe the most well-known least-understood book in the Bible. No, God didn't send the whale to swallow Jonah in order to punish him (you're thinking of Pinocchio) but to save him. But even Jonah misunderstood his own mission. When the people of Nineveh changed their wicked ways in response to his preaching, Jonah got upset that God hadn't punished them. Are we really ready...

This week we are grateful to partner with Church Anew, an ecumenical ministry dedicated to "equipping church leaders to face the changes needed for ministry today and tomorrow" ( www. ChurchAnew.org ) to share this worship service reflecting on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We'll have a Call to Worship drawn from the words of MLK lead by our Open and Affirming Ministry T...

This Sunday we'll share the sacrament of baptism the child of one of our church families. And even as we share that joy, given the terrible events in Washington, D.C. this week, we'll talk about what it means to live out our baptismal promises to them and all the children of God. After all, "resisting oppression and evil, manifesting justice, peace, and compassion, and witnessing to...