CLICK HERE to read the Thursday, March 3, 2021 Thursday THoughts

March 4, 2021

Dear Congregation:

This comes to you while I am learning and playing with my clergy support group — Hal, Curran, and Jeff.   Five years ago, we were blessed to participate in a program named CREDO through the UCC health insurance program of the Pension Boards.   CREDO is a wellness program targeted to for clergy in mid-career to assess our spiritual, vocational physical and psychological, and financial health.   During the week-long program, we met as a large group for worship and presentations.  We were also assigned to a cohort group of four colleagues from across the country to share hopes and dreams and goals for continuing strong in ministry.

My small group has been in contact almost monthly since we first met in October of 2015.  We have met in person each year to play and learn and to find renewal and rest.  Our time together, it gives me a safe haven where four pastors serving very different congregations hold each other accountable to personal goals, celebrate successes, console each other in hard times, and encourage each other. We explore new ideas in an atmosphere of trust that sings with synergy, creativity, and honesty.

            I am grateful for this group of colleagues and friends and the time we have spent together.

Worship Notes:               Third Sunday in Lent

Psalm 19 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O God.”

With the image of God as a rock, the end of the Psalm 19 uses an image from Creation for God that alludes back to the Creation language at the beginning of the psalm. Skies and rocks speak of God. The individual or leader who prays this psalm prays to live in dependence on God, and in harmony with all Creation.                                                                                                                                             John 2:13–22 speaks of Creation and justice in a different way. In the ancient world, the temple was understood as a microcosm of Creation. This relationship to Creation is evident in the architecture and decorations of the temple. Jesus cleansing the temple is a cleansing of Creation from injustice. In calling his body the temple, Christ holds together spirit and matter. The body is spiritual, is God’s temple. Christ’s body is a microcosm of Creation. If this is so, then Creation could be understood as the body of God.                                                                     We will share in Holy Communion this morning.  Have some bread and a cracker and a cup of water, wine or juice at your worship centers.

Food for Thought:   

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”  (George Bernard Shaw)

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

CLICK HERE to read Thursday, February 25, 2021 Thoughts

February 25, 2021
Dear Congregation:
The weight of the anniversary of one year being in this time of pandemic is wearing on many of us including the knowledge that more than 500,000 people have died from COVID 19.
This week, I share a prayer by a favorite writer, UCC minister, Rev. Maren Tirabassi. Hope it comforts you as it did me.
Prayer for Grieving 500,000 Dead of Covid-19 in the US
Holy One, who blesses those that mourn and do not hurry into being comforted, we sit down into the loss of those we know, and those that now we’ll never have a chance to know. We grieve the stories they will not live, the songs they will not sing, the children they will not have, the hope they will not offer to those around them, the inventions they will not patent, the art, poetry, ink, music, shingling a house, legal argument, good tune-up and tire rotation, diagnosis, surgical procedure, gentle placement of a ventilator, dental cleaning, quilt, strawberry picking, produce counter stocking, life-guard undertow rescue, lullaby, recipe and vote that will never be made. We grieve the birthday candles on cakes they will never taste. We grieve for their parents and their children, their families, their colleagues and their friends. We grieve memories slipping away waiting for memorial services. We grieve that the very sadness ebbs away from weariness or the new whisper of good news. O God, our masks are wet with tears and our fingers shake holding balloons at nursing home windows. Comfort us, we pray. amen
Worship Notes: Second Sunday in Lent
Our first scripture reading for this Second Sunday in Lent is Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16, and speaks to trust in God’s promises. Abram and Sarai are childless; yet God makes a covenant, promising Abram he will be the ancestor of many nations. In Mark 8: 31-38, Jesus and his disciples are near Caesarea Philippi. For the first time, Jesus teaches that he will suffer and die. Today we will be honoring our young people and their families involved with Scouting.
Food for Thought:
“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” –Shannon Alder
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