Mind the Call
Okay, I know you picked up on the fact that our subtle theme in this worship service is Call and our responses to it. And one of the ways we can respond to life’s call is to sign up on …
Continue reading
Plugging Into Prayer
Pray what you can, not what you can’t. That’s where we start. In our lifetimes we may experience many kinds of prayer – childhood prayers of thanks and good night, traditional prayers from scripture and from church liturgy, responsive prayers …
Continue reading
Slow Food Spirituality
With a Lenten theme of “Unplugged,” it just makes sense to discuss some slow food spirituality—slowing down…reconsidering food. Because, as Wendell Berry points out in more than one of his essays, “Eating is not just fueling up, it is an …
Continue reading
Safety First
March 17th is an important day for my family – 4 years ago today, a judge declared that Aiyana was our daughter and that we were officially a forever family. I remember lots of moments from that day – the …
Continue reading
Lenten Bliss
This first Sunday of Lent, Andy Bachmann kicks off our new theme, “Unplugged.” Traditionally, these forty days and nights are OUR symbolic journey into the wilderness, meant to be a time of preparation for Easter Sunday. But what if we …
Continue readingChanged for Good
Our worship theme, the Broad Way, has been very wonderful, hasn’t it? I want to say thanks to Wilfred Vermerris for his inspired bulletin cover, and to all the musicians, preachers, readers, and participants in each and every week of …
Continue readingThe Why’s Along the Way
We continue our theme, “The Broad Way” with Andy Bachmann preaching about that Narrow Gate that Jesus says we’re supposed to try to squeeze through. Special music from Adam Hill and the musical, “Dear Evan Hansen” as well as a …
Continue reading
Epic Noah the Twosy Apocalypse
The story of Noah and the flood is one of the most widely known and best loved stories of the bible. There is the sweet part of this story that we are all so familiar with. We decorate children’s rooms …
Continue readingEars Primed for an Alleluia
Andy Bachmann, FRESH back from some continuing education with poet and philosopher David Whyte wraps up our theme of, “Healing a Fractured World” with his sermon, “Ears Primed for an Alleluia.” Special offered by Noah Kaufman, doing a Justin Townes …
Continue reading
Servants or Saviors
A week ago Friday, 17 UCG youth and adults loaded into three vehicles and headed out on the annual “Mystery Trip.” That means that only the adults knew anything about the weekend plans, the youth were heading out on trust …
Continue readingHealing a Compound Fracture
Last Sunday we examined the challenging legacy of what has been termed our nation’s original sin—slavery–and its various surviving scourges of racism in modern life. Working toward racial reconciliation and reparation is certainly one visceral example of our worship theme—healing …
Continue readingReflections on Montgomery
In November of 2018, members of the United Church of Gainesville partnered with members of the NAACP to travel to Montgomery Alabama, to experience The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (also known as the Lynching …
Continue reading