Author: UCC Magnolia blog
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What If We Saw That Star?
What if we saw the star in the sky that night? What if we were awed by the birth of that new baby? What if we knew that a new creation had now begun? How would we live? On Christmas Eve we spoke about the glory of God’s light in our dark world and how…
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The Third Week of Advent
A blank space at the end of this week’s calendar? Nah, space for a reminder why this Sunday is Gaudete (Latin for rejoice) in the tradition of Advent. It is the pink candle of JOY. Despite the difficulties of our world and our lives, this is a Sunday we look to God with Joy–joy of salvation,…
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Hope from Hopelessness
There have been so many times over the past few years that I have remembered, reflected on and carried with me little bits and pieces from a former pastor’s sermons. Often things that challenged me and none more challenging than: Is God omniscient? Is God all-knowing? In basic vernacular–does God know the future? Though that…
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A Slippery Slope Seeking Unity
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.Philipians 2: 3-4 I read this passage recently on an early morning. Another letter from Paul to another church. Given our current political and…
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Stand Firm in Your Faith
Last Saturday, during my writer’s retreat at the Chapel of St. Anne in Arlington, I walked through their Garden of the Stations of the Cross. It was a beautiful morning and much like this weekend, the autumn sun was bright and crisscrossed the pathway. The only rule for our morning retreats is this “quiet your…
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Simply Reflecting
Last week’s sermon has been rattling around my head all week. The image of Heaven crashing down to Earth–to a New Earth. That was delightfully dramatic. But also metaphorically profound. The theological concept that THIS is the Kingdom of God is not new. Jesus brings the Kingdom of God and the role that we all…
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Metaphors from Nature
Theologian and author Diane Butler Bass watched the ocean churn as Hurricane Erin brushed the shore of North Carolina and reflected on the edges of a hurricane as a movement. She saw the chaotic and dangerous waves and felt the forceful winds. She knew once the storm subsided, transformation would be its result. The ground…
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Liminal Boundaries–Sacred Space
Several years ago Richard Rohr wrote a daily devotion about liminal space. Liminal refers to spaces of transitional or in-between spaces such as a threshold boundary or the time between new stages in life. It is a physical place or metaphorical sense of not being where you were and not yet being where you are…
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Called to Love and Serve
Calling, vocation, purpose. These are all familiar concepts in Christianity. As our faithful response to God, they refer to a deep sense of purpose or a strong inner pull to use unique gifts, passions, and experiences to make a difference in the world. While we often speak of them for our own lives, there is…
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Interdependence and Union
Unity–the state of being one; oneness. a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one. the state or fact of being united or combined into one, as of the parts of a whole; unification. We stand at a unique intersection of two very different congregations. We hold different forms of worship and follow…
Union Congregational Church of Magnolia 