To: The United Church of Christ In Florida Re: Recent Events July 8, 2016 Dear Church, Grace and peace to you in a time that, for many, is trending toward despair. There is so much violence, and it happens with such frequency as to make new words of hope and comfort hard to come by.…
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From the UCC Still Speaking Daily Devotional, June 28, 2016 “When you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; nor shall another one be made.”…
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Last Sunday UCG and the greater community gathered to create flyers of support and love for Orlando. It was part of a project by artist Oliver Bendorf. Thanks to Kristen Angeline-Stone for organizing. Enjoy these beautiful flyers and visit Oliver’s website for downloadable PDFs https://oliverbendorf.org/orlando-flyers/
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On Monday, June 13th, almost 1000 people gathered at City Hall for a candlelight vigil to honor those who were killed in the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando and to show love and support for the LGBTQ+ community here and everywhere. Many UCG members gathered to love and grieve together. Two of our ministers,…
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It says something about our church when, last weekend, as our children and youth took control of our 9:15 and 11:15 am services the youth speakers gave a powerful testimony to the love, acceptance and care that has been modeled for them by our family of faith. If you weren’t there, it was a pretty…
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This week I’ll be traveling to San Francisco as part of the Next Generation Leadership Initiative, a clergy leadership program I’m part of. One of the things I’ll be doing with my colleagues is attending a Maker Faire. (If you’ve never heard of one, you can check it out here: http://makerfaire.com/) As the website explains,…
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There is a fabulous verse in the book of Philippians that says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!” The apostle Paul seems to be encouraging his friends in the Philippian congregation to reconnect to gratitude and to remember their sense of blessedness– a Rejoice Reboot! Recently I read an article in…
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My friend David Hackett stopped by the office today, to briefly ponder the modern day dilemma of chronic screen-time. And on his way out, he directed me to a youtube video I had to check out. Ironic, no? And yet, with this simple link, and these 9 minutes and 22 seconds, I am feeling a…
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On Sunday, May 1, our Board of Parish Ministry invites us to worship services centered in the theme, The Wisdom of Flowers. The structure of the service is Unitarian Universalist in its origins and often called a “Flower Communion,” because of its intention to provide ritual that is inclusive of all and celebrates connection to…
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It’s time to lace up those travelling shoes again and get ready to hit the road. It’s time to pack up the van and get ready to head on down to Warren Willis Camp for yet another installment of the All Church Retreat. And this is a trip that I look forward to all year.…
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Part of our responsibility and opportunity as a spiritual community is to nurture health and wholeness for our congregation and our community. All of us are individuals who live with considerable challenges of all kinds. And as well, the resiliency of each of us is enhanced when we know we are not alone in the…
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Sabbath doesn’t always bring rest. And Easter doesn’t always remind me of resurrection. Sometimes, the message of Easter is simply, “endure.” Not the most hope-filled word, I know. But sometimes, it is all we can do. It was hard not to draw correlations between the death of 16-year-old Robert Dentmond and the death of Jesus,…
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