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

The 10:30 service can be viewed online: HERE

A copy of  October 21st Thursday Thoughts can be viewed: HERE

October 21, 2021

Living Psalms Book is created by UCC Witness & Worship Artists’ Group, a Network of UCC connected artists, activists and ministers bridging the worship and liturgy of the local church with witness and action in the community.  I appreciated the reflection of this group of writers as they pondered how to bring this Psalm to life for us in these days:
Living Psalm 34; 1-8(19-22)

Bless God in the mess,
in the stress, in the wonder, in the might,
Bless God in the grief
With each heartbeat, and in the lonely soul night,
Bless God while I sleep and while I wake,
and while everything within me aches,

Bless God when my joy shatters through my body and my voice erupts in song,
Bless God in the morning, at midday and the gloaming moments all along.
Because when I stretch ed towards God, They answered me, and delivered me.
God carried me through the panic moments and uncertainties,
And still, found me moments of gratitude.

I wept and I cried and I grieved and sighed,
not recognizing this polarized world in pandemic stride,
And yet, here I am, anew, months and months later.
The Angels of the Lord accompanied me,
Strengthened me into mutual aid and care of community,

Taste, then, and see, this feast of abundance,
The wonder of possibility,
The knowing that God is Good.
God will not abandon us in the struggle.
O Bless the Lord, my Soul.

(Living Psalm 34; 1-8(19-22)—Pentecost 22B was written by Chris Davies)

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  October 14th Thursday Thoughts can be viewed: HERE

October 14, 2021

Dear Congregation:

What an honor it was to host the 4H event this past week.  Hundreds of people of all ages came through our doors to celebrate the accomplishments of children and youth with cooking, baking, clothing design, growing vegetables, and caring for animals.  As one of the organizers said to me, “How great for us to be here in a church because churches care about children and God’s creation.”

While we have hosted large events in the past, this was a multiday event utilizing just about all our space on the main sanctuary side of the street.  I am grateful to Amy Aguilar for making the connection and encouraging the group to consider renting with ERUCC.   I am grateful for the church staff and the volunteers who came in and spent hours providing hospitality as we extended our ERUCC welcome.

Before the new space was completed, we had conversations about how we envisioned that space being used. Of course, we thought about our own educational programs and events. We got excited about having plenty of space for fellowship. Some of you may remember when we were crammed into the old social room with standing room only.

We made an intentional decision to call the new room, The Community Room.   This is a place we envisioned the community using, just as the community had been welcomed into our buildings in the past.  It is an opportunity for us to meet community needs while at the same time engaging people in knowing more about who we are as a church.

Last night, for example, several of the 4H staff people asked me about the demographics of our church and what we had been doing during COVID.   They noticed that we had two other groups coming to use space including a support group and the Religious Coalition.  “Busy place,” one of them commented.  And with that comment, I was able to share more about our congregation’s values and how we seek to live them out.  I have been telling them about our children and youth programs, our creation justice work, our engagement with vaccine clinics and hosting the family shelter.

They have met some of us and experienced our hospitality and friendship.

We look forward to hosting more community events in the months to come, a Muslim wedding reception, a community of African immigrants will be celebrating a boy’ 11^th birthday (a special rite of passage), and a Quinceanera

ERUCC continues to be a place of warmth and welcome for all.

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

The 10:30 service can be viewed online: HERE

A copy of  October 7th Thursday Thoughts can be viewed: HERE

October 7, 2021

Dear Congregation:

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.  (Isaiah 43: 1)

With these words from the prophet Isaiah, we hear that we belong to God, who has created us and knows are name.

One of the amazing things about living in our area is that there is always something new to discover.  Last week I visited Catoctin Furnace for the first time.   Visiting the Museum of the Ironworker, one can learn about the enslaved peoples who worked the furnace and built many of the buildings in the village.   In the 1970’s a highway expansion project resulted in the excavation of thirty-five graves belonging to some of these enslaved people.  Their names have been left out of the historic record, yet archeological work and the art and science of forensic facial reconstruction has produced two busts of two of these people.

This article from the Washington Post describes the work done to recreate the faces of the people buried in that cemetery:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/07/09/african-american-cemetery-catoctin-enslaved-faces/

Sharon Burnston, the archeologist who directed the exhumation, called them the invisible people.  Today, those working at Catoctin Furnace are working to make those who have been forgotten visible.  To remember and honor those who names we know and those whose names we do not know.  In an event called, “The Return of the Names,” the known names of enslaved workers at Catoctin Furnace we read aloud to ensure that they have not been forgotten.

“Say their name,” is the rallying cry for black lives matter marches.  “Say their name,” so that George and Briana and others are known as more than a statistic.

Recently, 700,000 white flags have been placed on the National Mall, each one representing an American lost to the coronavirus pandemic.  Visitors were asked to write their own dedications on the flags, claiming the names of those they have loved and lost.  700,000 is more than a statistic.  Each number represents a name, a person who lived and loved.

For a student, hearing their name pronounced correctly is a reaffirmation of their identity and a celebration of who they are.  Mispronouncing it has the opposite effect.

Part of what I talked about in my sermon last week was how Jesus made the invisible visible.   Our call is to do the same.  Say their names.  Let us not forget how each one of us has been created in the image of God.   God knows our name.  May we commit ourselves to knowing one another and calling one another by name.

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