Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

We had a lively conversation about many things in Java and Jesus at ORUCC on Sunday, December 9th, including the meaning of the title “son of God.” I thought it would be good to follow up the conversation with some further reading and writing on the issue. This post contains some scholarly insight I have found helpful. While I appreciate the historical and sociological understanding, I do hold hope that they lead, most of all, to deeper proclamations of faith in our lives. I am deeply committed to helping us claim or reclaim Jesus at the core of our Christian faith. I think Borg and Crossan, in their own ways, help us see beyond just language. Following these two short readings are some questions for consideration.

Winton Boyd
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5th in a series: Faithful Christians in Life’s Tragic Gaps V
preached onNovember 4, 2007 (All Saint’s Observance), by Winton Boyd

“If I get a little crazy or inappropriate,” she said, “just say to me, Loreen, take a pill.” Don’t try to argue with me, don’t just tell me I am inappropriate, don’t ignore me – I need someone to just say, ‘take a pill.”

Loreen was a dear woman in our former church, First Congregational Church of Fresno, CA. This elderly woman was not only bi-polar, but probably had other mental illnesses. She imagined herself an elegant, sexy and sophisticated woman. Now I like to shop Goodwill with the best of them, but when this dear woman picked clothes at second hand stores – well let’s just say she had a unique sense of style. She loved hats and I never saw her without one. She would come and go in the life of the church depending on whether she was in a manic or a depressive state. Because she was one step away from being homeless, we always worried when we didn’t see her for awhile. Continue Reading »

By Desmond Tutu | October 26, 2007

While this essay relates directly to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it also speaks to the ongoing work of faith inspired justice work - wherever that is.

WHENEVER I am asked if I am optimistic about an end to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, I say that I am not. Optimism requires clear signs that things are changing - meaningful words and unambiguous actions that point to real progress. I do not yet hear enough meaningful words, nor do I yet see enough unambiguous deeds to justify optimism.
However, that does not mean I am without hope. I am a Christian. I am constrained by my faith to hope against hope, placing my trust in things as yet unseen. Hope persists in the face of evidence to the contrary, undeterred by setbacks and disappointment. Hoping against hope, then, I do believe that a resolution will be found. It will not be perfect, but it can be just; and if it is just, it will usher in a future of peace. Continue Reading »

By Annie Dillard

There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead - as if innocence had ever been - and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready, having each of us chosen wrongly, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak, and involved. But there is no one but us. There never has been.

On Sunday, Paul Hedges showed a 20 minute DVD on the history of the United Church of Christ in the Southwest part of Wisconsin. This was commissioned for the 50th anniversary of our denomination and first shown on Sunday, October 14 at a Association wide celebration. Paul was the interviewer, filmer and editor of this DVD. He followed the DVD with reflections of his own about where he found hope and how it impacted him. This audio clip is his “sermonette” following the DVD. When it is available, we will post the entire DVD on this site as well.