You know you have been around the life of a church a long time when words like chancel, narthex, Trinity, pledge don’t make you pause and wonder what is going on.  One of those words, “pledge”, is a fixture of many churches each year.  Longtime members know what it is all about.  Some church… Read More »

Although it is our tradition to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion primarily at worship on the first Sunday of each month, the Table remains central to our identity.  We are people who have been invited to sit with Jesus at a table fellowship and receive from him the blessing of our lives.  We are… Read More »

I love autumn.  I love October in particular.  It is a month that offers clear blue skies, crisp air, and a color palate that unfolds gradually, signaling the change in season. Even though slowing down is out of the question because fall also heralds the holiday season, it is a time to settle into a… Read More »

This Saturday, October 8, is the 22st Anniversary of my Ordination into Christian Ministry.  What a wonderful journey this has been and continues to be.  I have been blessed beyond measure.  In her introduction to a favorite novel, the late writer Phyllis Tickle wrote something to the effect:  we, who call ourselves Christians, are all… Read More »

In the 1930s the congregation of Sunnyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania decided to embrace a feeling of ecumenism popular in the wider church of that time.  They instituted the first Communion service to be designated Worldwide Communion Sunday on the first Sunday of October.  It would be a time to remember Christians around the… Read More »

This past Sunday I used a prayer written by Thomas Merton (1915-1968), an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, and mystic. The words of this prayer always resound with me at various times in my life. It was a prayer our Conference Minister, John Deckenback, would occasionally offer before we began a particularly complicated committee meeting.… Read More »

Young Thoughts From the corner of Hillside and Crescent As Labor Day weekend draws near with all the excitement that is characteristic of Greenbelt, I have been thinking about the story of workers in our country.  Some of those reflections will be shared in the sermon on September 4. In Psalm 137:13-14 we read “for… Read More »

Young Thoughts From the Corner of Hillside and Crescent It has been quite a month!  I have had the privilege of officiating for one Renewal of Vows Ceremony and a Wedding.  I have also had to say goodbye to a lifelong friend who died, along with another high school acquaintance.  And this year is the… Read More »

One of the exercises the Council participated in during their recent Leadership Retreat was to think about where they saw Greenbelt Community Church in the biblical narrative.  They had four situations to consider:  The sending of the Twelve, the early church in the book of Acts, the story of Mary and Martha, and the story… Read More »

I first became involved in refugee resettlement during the Vietnam war.  As the war was concluding, it became obvious to my husband and I that we needed to take the necessary measures to make possible an exit for a Vietnamese family that had become part of our family by love and choice.  Working under guidance… Read More »