A full copy of December 2nd’s Thursday Thoughts can be found HERE

The 10:30 service can be viewed online at: https://boxcast.tv/view/sunday-november-28-2021-673002

December 2, 2021

Dear Congregation:

We have one more 275^th anniversary year event coming up.  On December 19^th we will hold a White Gift service.  The White Gift service was the Christmas pageant for ERUCC for many years.  The chancel was draped in white fabric and people brought gifts of canned goods, wrapped in white paper.  The white gifts will be presented during the pageant and laid at the manger, hence the name!
Churches across the USA hold White Gift services with people bringing gifts wrapped in white paper so that no one would know which was an expensive gift and which was a more modest one.  ERUCC’s tradition was to bring food that was shared with Hoffman Homes for Children.
You are invited to participate in the white gift tradition once again by bringing your canned and boxed goods wrapped in white paper or placed in a white paper bag.  The gifts will be shared with the Frederick Food Bank.
The Pageant also provides opportunities for anyone who has a desire to participate to do so as a reader of a piece of the traditional Christmas story, through portrayal as one of the characters (angels, shepherds, etc.), or helping with sound and lighting.

We invite you to join us this year for the Pageant.  Questions? Please contact Trish Coffey at trishcoffey1195@gmail.com or 301-455-8720.

Rev. Dr.  Barbara Kershner Daniel

Senior Pastor
Evangelical Reformed United Church of Christ
bkdaniel@erucc.org
301-662-2762

A full copy of November 24th’s Thursday Thoughts (on Wednesday) can be found HERE

The 10:30 service can be viewed online at: https://boxcast.tv/view/sunday-november-28-2021-673002

November 24, 2021

Dear Congregation:
At Tuesday’s Multifaith Thanksgiving service, Katie Bliss from the Religious Society of Friends, invited us into the spiritual practice of queries. She asked us to consider where we found unexpected joy in the past year. After a time of silence, we were invited to have a conversation with someone we did not know.  People moved around the sanctuary seeking a new face and contemplating how they would share their unexpected joy.  In reality, the energy and joy and sound of excited voices at that moment was an embodiment of unexpected joy. In the midst of all the challenges, sadness and grief of the past year, I encourage each of us to recall a moment of unexpected joy. Why not consider including that query as part of your Thanksgiving conversation?
May you have a blessed day tomorrow and, in the days, ahead.

Rev. Dr.  Barbara Kershner Daniel

Senior Pastor
Evangelical Reformed United Church of Christ
bkdaniel@erucc.org
301-662-2762

The 10:30 Service can be viewed online : HERE

A copy of November 11th Thursday Thoughts can be viewed: HERE

November 11, 2021

Dear Congregation:

To all veterans of all branches on this Veteran’s Day:  Thank you for your sacrifice, your bravery, and the example you set for us all. Thank you for your service!
I once heard someone describe sacrifice as prioritization and discipline.  We do not always have the space or time in our lives to do everything we would like.   I never thought about sacrifice as prioritization.  Clearly, we all have to prioritize what we do in our lives because there are only so many hours in a day.  Rather, I have always thought of sacrifice as making an intentional decision for the greater good or for the sake of someone else.  To make a sacrifice is to make a sacred gift so that someone else may have life.
While we are conscious of the sacrifices of those serving in the military on this Veteran’s Day, I invite us to give thanks for others who are giving the gift of their lives in service to others so that others may live.   May we thank them, too, for their service.

Rev. Dr.  Barbara Kershner Daniel

Senior Pastor
Evangelical Reformed United Church of Christ
bkdaniel@erucc.org
301-662-2762

The 10:30 Service can be viewed online : HERE

A copy of November 4th Thursday Thoughts can be viewed: HERE

November 4, 2021

Dear Congregation:

Throughout Christian history, the church has and continues to remember and celebrate the lives of faithful people who have died.

The German word, Totensonntag, translates to “Sunday of the Dead.” The name indicates the fact that the holiday always falls on the Sunday before Advent. You might also hear the holiday referred to as Ewigkeitssonntag, which means “Eternity Sunday,” or as Totenfest.

Totensonntag is a federal holiday in Germany and the Netherlands. It’s the day of the year when Protestant Christians commemorate their dead. The date is especially devoted to family and community members who have passed in the last few years.   To this day, in parts of Germany, families will visit the graves of loved ones to clean off the summer flowers and cover the graces with evergreens for the winter.

Our friends in Inden and Langerwehe mark this Sunday with communion and the reading of the names of those who have died in their parish.  They share the age of the person who has died and light a candle in their memory.  One year  they put a pine branch on the altar for each name which was then woven into the advent wreath we started using on the first Sunday in Advent.

The tradition of Totenfest, “Feast of the Dead,” was common in the German reformed tradition.  Our church has continued to remember those who have died by reading their names during a Sunday Service, although we have moved the tradition to the first Sunday in November as All Saints Sunday rather than the last Sunday in Pentecost.

This Sunday, we will remember those who have gone before us with a special presentation by Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Fred Wenner, at 9:30 in the Community Room.  At the 10:30 service, we will be reading aloud the names of church members and your beloved family members and friends who have died since last November 1st.

Come, remember, and give thanks for the communion of saints.

Rev. Dr. Barbara Kershner Daniel, Senior Pastor

Evangelical Reformed Church, United Church of Christ

15 West Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701

301-662-2762

E-mail: bkdaniel@erucc.org