Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

INTRODUCTION

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By the time you read this, our 13-year-old Subaru Legacy will have reached 200,000 miles. As the third owner, we have not put all the miles on it, but we recognize this click of the odometer as an important milestone. The car does not feel or look new, but it is dependable and comfortable in that “worn in” way. Even in the 3 years we have owned it, it has carried us to points far and near; to work and school, holiday travels, taking our son to college and daughter to camp, to the airport and countless errands around town. It does especially well in the snow too! It has become part of the fabric of our lives. Continue Reading »

Many of my colleagues are struggling to get ready for Lent this because it begins so early (Feb. 6 is Ash Wednesday). And yet, I find myself excited for a focused time of worship, reflection, discussion and prayer around the theme of spiritual renewal in our lives. Last summer I discovered a very helpful and intriguing book, Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith, by Diana Butler Bass. For three years, Ms. Bass visited a select number of neighborhood based, mainline congregations to see what it was that brought vitality to their ministry. It is a timely and appropriate book as we begin 2008, a year of exploration and experimentation in our life of faith. Continue Reading »

Faith Engaging Science

From John Thomas, UCC President

I am pleased to send to you an advance copy of our Pastoral Letter on Faith Engaging Science and Technology – A New Voice Arising . This is the result of a collaboration with the Science and Technology Network of the UCC. Dr. Ron Cole-Turner was the major collaborator on this. Continue Reading »

In his book, Velvet Elvis (Zondervan, 2005) Rob Bell, pastor and author writes about one of the first times he felt truly in awe of God.

“I remember surfing Trestles, the legendary beach between Los Angeles and San Diego – for the first time. I paddled out on a gorgeous day, and as I sat there on my board, a couple hundred feet off shore, surrounded by blue and green and sunlight and quiet, a dolphin jumped in the water next to me. I thought my heart was never going to start beating again. Beauty can be crushing at times, can’t it? (p.72)…

But it isn’t just extraordinary experiences when this happens. I was with my friends at one of our favorite restaurants the other night. We had been there at least three hours when I noticed we were the last ones in the place. The employees were starting to stack chairs and vacuum the floors, and we were still talking. I was looking at my wife, whom I just adore, and our friend Shauna, who may be one of the best storytellers on the planet; Tom, who I would take a bullet for, and Tom’s wife, Cecilia, who is one of the most loving, authentic people I have ever met. And I’m sitting…looking around the table, soaking it in, totally overwhelmed with the holiness of it all. The sacredness of the moment. That sense that in spite of everything awful I have ever seen, we are going to make it. I know that sounds like it’s from a greeting card, but I know you know what I’m talking about. Ordinary moments become infused with something else. With meaning. Significance. Hope. (p.73)…

Whatever those things are that make you feel fully alive and like the universe is ultimately a good place and you are not alone. I need a faith that doesn’t deny those moments but embraces them. I need a spiritual understanding that celebrates those kinds of transcendent moments instead of avoid them…a spirituality that is real will have to make sense of them and show us how they fit. They are expressions of what it means to live in God’s world. (74)”

Winton Boyd used these reflections as part of his sermon on January 13.  For a copy of the full sermon, see category on left.