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474 Centre St
Newton, MA 02458 617.244.3639 |
Sermon from 8.14.22 |
Regrettably, we have had to return to a Zoom service this Sunday which we will continue until the latest Covid surge abates. A survey of the congregation indicated new anxieties about infection and proximity, enough to warrant suspension of in-person services for the time being. Other churches have done the same thing. Hopefully, there will be grounds to return to worship in the sanctuary soon.
In the meantime, we will offer worship services and coffee hour via live Zoom. We are also developing a new recording approach which will result in having the musical selections and scripture and sermon available via the website. We don’t envision posting the entirety of the service on YouTube or Facebook. The result we hope will be a shorter, more appealing worship experience that is more likely to be accessed.
In the meantime, we will offer worship services and coffee hour via live Zoom. We are also developing a new recording approach which will result in having the musical selections and scripture and sermon available via the website. We don’t envision posting the entirety of the service on YouTube or Facebook. The result we hope will be a shorter, more appealing worship experience that is more likely to be accessed.
Recorded Audio from the Ash Wednesday Service
March 2, 2022
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Please find below the audio recordings of the music and Sermon from Sunday's Service (1.30.22).
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From 1.30.22 Worship ServiceThe Zen of Christianity
Matthew 10:3-7; 15:21-28 When I was Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Skidmore College in upstate NY, I also taught in the Religion Dept. I collaborated with them on bringing significant scholars and practitioners of religion to campus. Every year we sponsored lecturers representing varied faith traditions. It wasn’t long before I realized that lectures on Buddhism drew very large student audiences. On the other hand, lectures related to Christianity were poorly attended. For instance, we brought Konrad Ryushin Marchaj to Skidmore twice in four years, both times to very full lecture halls. Ryushin was abbot of nearby Zen Mountain Monastery from 2009 to 2015. One indication of how engaged the students were, the Q and A was always long. But to take one example of Christian lectures, a wonderful speaker on altar paintings from northern Europe garnered only a dozen of us in an empty hall. READ MORE |
We will wear high quality masks, keep windows open a bit, operate air ventilation fans,
socially distance and limit singing.
socially distance and limit singing.
Music selections from the Sanctuary
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"There is No Rose" by Gerald Near
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"Gabriel's Message" by David Wilcocks
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"Get on Board"
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"The Sum of Us"
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Photo by Lucas van Oort on Unsplash
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Poet of the Month
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4/25/2021
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On Adam by Matthew Sisson I like to think of him in the Garden, lonely without yet knowing what loneliness is. He moves with a stride unencumbered by gravity. Or waist high in ferns, though sometimes I hope a little gust of wind parts the green curtain. His chest is smooth. His nipples in proportion. I’m talking about the time before Hell broke loose. No scar at his rib to mar the surface. That flat stomach unencumbered by an umbilicus. I watch him eating fruit. Grapes, oranges, the juice running from his mouth. At the river, he kneels down on all fours extends his neck, giraffe-like, drinks. Some days he cups those perfect hands in the water. The animals line up calmly, unafraid-- elephant, zebra, rhinoceros. --Reproduced with permission of the author. |
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https://youtu.be/iCsQOo4FXng
April is Poetry Month.
Snow Drops Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know what despair is; then winter should have meaning for you. I did not expect to survive, earth suppressing me. I didn’t expect to awaken again, to feel in damp earth my body able to respond again, remembering after so long how to open again in the cold light of earliest spring-- afraid, yes, but among you again crying yes risk joy in the raw wind of the new world. Louise Glueck (Nobel laureate in Literature, 2020) |
Sunday Services are canceled today,
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Anti-Racism
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Have a look at a slideshow of the Previous 40 Days of Prayer
while listening to lovely patriotic music from Monique Weiss Byrnes.
To hear it, just click on the audio clip below it.
while listening to lovely patriotic music from Monique Weiss Byrnes.
To hear it, just click on the audio clip below it.
40 Days of Prayer During Election Season
November 4, 2020 Christian citizens, it’s time to come to the aid of our nation Pray. Act. Every day for forty days.
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“Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
-Abraham Lincoln A Suggested Prayer:
Revolutionary Spirit of Democracy, |
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