Musings Along Lifes Way: Silence

Someone asked me the other day, "Why do we observe a time of silence in worship?" In "The Way of the Heart," the book that we will be studying on Sunday mornings during Lent, Henri Nouwen says silence does three things: it makes us pilgrims, it preserves the fire within and it teaches us to speak.

Silence makes us pilgrims of the Way because as we overindulge in words our focus moves outward and we find our lives entangled with the world and its problems, our attention diverted from matters of soul and Life. With our focus inward the fire of the Holy One is fueled and our intentional walk with God begins.

As the Holy One accomplishes her work within, silence also functions to preserve the holy fire. The fire of our ardor for God grows and is preserved in the furnace of transformation we experience as silence.
Lastly, according to Nouwen, silence teaches us to speak,. In the gospel of John, John tells us that "In the beginning was the word…" This is the primal, creative word, out of which God spoke all of creation. The very same word present to us in Jesus Christ. Rather that breaking silence, the divine word of God amplifies it. As we speak out of the divine silence of the heart, our voices join in concert with God's voice as we speak true words of heart, words that can help transform as they speak mercy to others and to this world.

So, that's why we observe silence in worship. Finally, silence fosters our sense of God's spirit within helping us to join that spirit for compassionate action.

Opportunities for Silence at First Congregational UCC:
~Morning worship, 8;30 and 10:30 Sunday mornings
~Over Coffee, Adult Study, beginning Feb. 10, 9:30 am – "The Way of the Heart," by Henri Nouwen
~Wednesday Evening Spiritual Enrichment and Meditation, 7 to 8, with an optional half hour to 8:30 pm.

Blessings and Peace, David

Musings Along Life's Way: This Sunday And Next!!!

When I think of worship at First Congregational UCC, I can't help but get excited. So far in January we have enjoyed a wonderful Epiphany Sunday with the arrival of the 3 wise ones, the wonderful pieces from our choir and the Samoan choir, Andrew's preaching, etc…. Last week, we baptized Cannon Arthur Meirs celebrating the new life that has entered our lives. It seems that each week we have an opportunity to give thanks and to praise God in a different way. The next two weeks are no exception.

This Sunday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday. This will be a service filled with the music of the civil rights movement in the United States. Lizann Bassham has gathered a group of musicians who will have us singing and listening to Freedom Songs, songs that give voice to the universal yearning for freedom, equality and inclusion. The service will be filled with hope and anticipation of that time when God will be all and in all, and Jesus' message of love and reconciliation and inclusion will be manifest not in word only, but also in deed. I am looking forward to this wonderful and uplifting service of worship.

The following Sunday, the 27th, the Rev. Jim Gertmenian will preach at the 10:30 am service. Jim is the minister of Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, having served there since 1995. Plymouth is large church with a membership of over 1000 people. Jim is the nephew of Jack Lawrence who arranged for this preaching date. We are looking forward to a wonderful worship service with Jim. Thank you Jack! Please make plans to attend.

With Love, David

Musings Along Lifes Way: Worship and Transformation

Dear Friends, What a wonderful worship last Sunday! It was good to have Andrew Metcalfe back with us as he brought the good news of God with us on the Feast of Epiphany. I found that the service had a deep center and the the contributions of our choir and the Samoan congregation were rich and filled with the light and life of Christ. Each week worship presents to us an opportunity for transformation, a crucible for deep encounter. This transformational encounter is integral to our worship and it happens in two ways:

1. ”We have one another. Worship is a gathering of the beloved community” (Martin Luther King, Jr.). We come together with our natural diversity -- each of us is who we are, experiencing life as the unique person we have been blessed by God to be. As the beloved community we celebrate our deep integrity, our unity as those loved and honored by God. Our gathering is no petty occasion. On the contrary, it is sacred where together we begin to experience ourselves in a way that transcends our individual identity.

2. God is present to us. The deep mystery of God's presence permeates all of worship. This presence opens us, empowers us and guides us to reach beyond ourselves to an identity that is, simply, larger. In God's presence our perspective begins to take on the universal, we begin to experience the depth of what have been called divine virtues: love, peace, joy, harmony, etc.... God's presence transforms our gathering as we begin to sense that the divine benevolent mystery lives in our midst and encourages us to reach out with love into a fractured and chaotic world.
Worship is spiritual practice as we take our refuge in God and in the beloved community. Worship is central to who we are. Worship is where the divine is revealed in the midst of everyday life.

Love, David

Have you ever been talking with someone and wanted to tell them how much you love your church? Here are some responses to that question from members of the United Church of Christ. 16 reasons UCC members love their church.

Musings Along Lifes Way: Epiphany, in the celebration of new life

Dear Friends,
It is January 1st and a new year has begun. As I begin the new year I am finding myself simply grateful that we in the church have one another. We are walking a path that extends back to our founding in the 19th century (the exact year escapes me right now) and we look to the unknown path that reaches into our future. We walk together. With our fathers and mothers we walk, with our brothers and sisters we walk, with those whose names are now almost forgotten we walk. I am grateful that we have this community, this great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews) all about us. I am also grateful for the newness of each moment.

This morning the sun shines bright, the air is cool and the wind blows through the leaves. I am grateful for the ways that the world simply comes to us – life abounds. We continue in this season of Christmas and Epiphany, in the celebration of new life, the new life that is available to us in every moment of every day. Though I am wary of resolutions (it seems that almost as soon as one makes a resolution, it is unattainable), let us resolve to find and embrace the limitless newness in our lives, this newness that is known to us in the living Christ.

I look forward to seeing you in church this Sunday for the feast of Epiphany, the revelation of the new light of Jesus Christ to the whole world.
Blessings on Your New Year,
David