Now. Here. This.

Two of the fingers on his right hand had been broken    so when he poured back into that hand it surprised him—it hurt him at first.   And the whole body was too small. Imagine the sky trying to fit into a tunnel carved into a hill.   He came into it...

In his beautiful book, “Telling the Truth,” Frederick Buechner writes that the gospel is “tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale,” all wrapped into one. “The gospel is bad news before it is good news,” he writes. Tragedy is that “we are sinners,” and that when we look in the...

It was almost exactly two years ago this past Sunday that our world shut down. At the church, we felt prepared. Weeks before, when we heard about this strange virus that may visit us, we had assembled a task force of church leaders, scientists, and public health...

Eastern Christianity speaks of the season of Lent as a time of “bright sadness.” It’s bright because we know the promise of resurrection waits for us on the other side. But there is nonetheless sadness because in order to see the light of Easter morning we must first...

In his introduction to the third edition of “Prayers for Private Devotions in War-Time,” a collection of prayers produced by The Memorial Church at Harvard University, Rev. Peter J. Gomes writes,  “Prayer is most needed when we are most divided, and we need the...

I’ve heard from many of you over the last few days how much you appreciated hearing from Rev. Kasey Jones, who was invited by our Baptist Identity Committee to help us celebrate Baptist Heritage Sunday, a more focused approach to our old “Founders’ Day,” aimed at...

Last Sunday the New York Times published an op-ed by Rev. Tish Harrison Warren, a priest in the Anglican Church in North America entitled, “Why Churches Should Drop Their Online Services.”   She writes, “Online church, while it was necessary for a season, diminishes...

In a recent column he shares with Gail Collins, New York Times opinion writer Bret Stephens offered the following description of the internet’s effects on our ability, or often inability, to form meaningful community and a healthy interior life—noting the connection...

In his beautiful new book, Northwind, children’s author Gary Paulsen tells the story of a boy named Leif who finds himself on a solo journey through the northcountry in a dugout canoe. Leif was born to parents “of no remembered name,” and quickly became an orphan....

I’ve been thinking this week of an episode of StoryCorps from a few years ago. StoryCorps, you may know, is a national nonprofit that records conversations between two people and then archives them in the Library of Congress. You can go to their website and listen to...

"Give me some light!" cries Hamlet's uncle midway through the murder of Gonzago. "Light! Light!" cry scattering courtesans. Here, as in Denmark, it's dark at four, and even the moon shines with only half a heart.   The ornaments go down into the box: the silver...

Christmas was illegal in Massachusetts from 1659 to 1681, and anyone caught celebrating would be subject to a fine of 5 shillings. Who knew “the war on Christmas” was that old! Of course, the irony is that it was Christians who outlawed Christmas, specifically the...

A few years ago when the boys became old enough to participate, we started to keep a more regular practice of lighting an Advent wreath at home--and I say this with all the necessary qualifiers about what “regular” means in our home. But this has become something we...

You can prepare but still it will come to you by surprise,   crossing through your doorway calling your name in greeting, turning like a child who quickens suddenly within you.   it will astonish you how wide your heart will open in welcome   for the...

Since 2015, the central part of our Thanksgiving celebration here at the church has been to gather with our friends and neighbors from the First Baptist Church on New St. for a potluck. Perhaps more than any other activity or event we have shared, this annual meal has...

A Last Beatitude   And blessèd are the ones we overlook; The faithful servers on the coffee rota, The ones who hold no candle, bell or book But keep the books and tally up the quota, The gentle souls who come to ‘do the flowers’, The quiet ones who organise the...

It was on a Sunday in March of 1984 that a group of seven church members gathered to create a new Sunday School class to be called “The Seekers.” Joan Godsey, who would go on to become the central leader of the class for the next nearly 40 years, wrote in the original...