This Sunday, October 19th begins our Stewardship Season! Our worship services will include “A Moment for Stewardship” featuring individual sharing about why members appreciate this community and choose to generously pledge. I hope you will consider whether this is the time to make your voice heard about all things, great and small, that compel you to financially sustain this… Read More »
Help By Phone is a Help to Many
I am sending out last week’s edition which I simply could not complete, with the ever-changing dynamics of any vibrant community of faith. Have a retrospective look at last week’s Pastor’s Pulse and do not hesitate to offer comments, if you wish to share anything. We regret that the “virtual sanctuary” was unable to see… Read More »
World Communion Sunday
We are coming into the third message in the “God, Self and Neighbor” sermon series. October 5th is World Communion Sunday. On World Communion Sunday, we receive the offering that supports ministries of justice and compassion, with one-third of the offering given to the Council for American Indian Ministries. The remaining two-thirds supports UCC justice ministries. During… Read More »
Inspiration is an Inside Job for the Faithful
On Sunday, following our worship service, I was able to join the Coffee Hour for a couple of brief conversations before scurrying off to an afternoon commitment to deliver a homily at the Potomac Association of African American Women in Ministry’s end-of-summer convening. There was food, fellowship, prayer, music and laughter. We enjoyed an anointed… Read More »
Making Me Feel Right at Home
I am taking a moment, during my move-in to my new office, to express my heartfelt gratitude for being called as your next Pastor with such overwhelming favor! This week as I unpack I feel very blessed to pause every so often and read through the box of “WELCOME” greeting cards that you prepared for… Read More »
We’re Doing This Again – A Change of Address
We’ve done this before – we can do this again. This will be the second time I will be ending a tenure of being your pastor during a time of transition. We know how this works. Sunday there will be a “change of address” for any thoughts coming from this “Young”. I started writing mid-week… Read More »
Wear Red
This coming Sunday, September 7th, is “Wear Red Again” Sunday. No, that is not a new holiday in the church calendar. It will be our way to dedicate the new RED altar paraments. This particular set of paraments is only used once a year, on Pentecost Sunday. Although some churches in the reformed tradition have… Read More »
Let the little children come to me
Matthew 19:14 New International Version 14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Greenbelt Community Church UCC has an opportunity to make space for the little children to be in Jesus’ presence. The Board of Worship and Christian Education has created… Read More »
A Time of Hope and Promise
One of my favorite hymns was written by Natalie Sleeth. She titled it “Hymn of Promise.” In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree; in cocoons, a hidden promise; butterflies will soon be free! In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be, unrevealed until… Read More »
Praying the Psalms
One of the spiritual practices for times of trouble, and for times of joy, although times of trouble seem to be more common, is “praying the Psalms”. Somewhere in my library of books I have a small volume by that name written by the noted biblical scholar and theologian, the recently deceased Walter Brueggemann. The… Read More »
