March 20, 2022

Lenten Travelers,

Welcome to your Sunday Worship Connection for March 20, 2022. I first want to draw your attention to a couple photos that were sent in by folks who have planted their seeds from their Lent boxes. Indeed, new life is coming forth! Thank you for sharing these with me! Also, I want to thank Mary Benbow, Ann Wentink, Kristin Bean, and Suzan Seery for helping us make a beautiful memorial to Ukraine right in front of our lectern. In case you are not on the church’s Facebook page I have included a photo as well as my announcement regarding it. It is stunning. And it connects us in this community to all of those who we don’t know but who we stand in solidarity with as they struggle for justice and dignity in the face of oppression.

Nina has offered us this week very aptly timed selections celebrating Spring Equinox which occurs at 8:33 am this morning! There is no more fitting way to begin Spring than by listening to a movement from Vivaldi’s iconic “Spring,” from The Four Seasons.

Aside from our ongoing Lenten journey, (which lands me in your email inboxes every day) we have just finished our second session of our book study of Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor. We’ve had some great conversations about darkness and the lessons it has to teach us. We’ve talked about dwelling in caves, the difference between physical and spiritual darkness, times of unknowing, and learning to find the light that can only be found in the dark. You are welcome to come to our next session on April 2, 2022 at 4 pm! Here is the Zoom link we use:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84544479038?pwd=cGVwV2RxQk5yV09TeDgzRzFDY2NPQT09

In case you want to see Barbara in action I wanted to offer you this video as part of our worship connection for this week. I also think it fun to see how the authors we read come across as preachers in the pulpit. This is a more recent sermon when she was a guest preacher at a congregation of the United Church of Canada in Ontario. The United Church of Canada is the Canadian expression of the United Church of Christ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhImqnHtBUg In the beginning of her sermon she mentions Swedish bishop Krister Stendahl (1921-2008) who is deeply responsible for the curriculum of Harvard Divinity School, where he spent his career teaching. It is because of him that HDS is an interfaith theological school and through me as a product of that institution, his beliefs, thoughts, and world-view have touched this life of our church.

I speak on this more in my message for this week. After you listen to my message, watch this clip where you will see Krister Stendahl himself explain the concept of “holy envy.” This is taken from a video produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints. So the order should be: first watch Barbara Brown Taylor’s sermon, second, listen to my message, and lastly, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qGv00w1zus

Enjoy all that is on offer this week. I will continue to show up in your inboxes every day this week with a Lenten moment.With grace,

Rev. Tim

PERFORMANCE NOTES
Nina Gilbert, music director and pianist
Bronwyn Allen-Kaeser, office manager and soprano

Antonio Vivaldi, Allegro, from “Spring,” from The Four Seasons
Composed along with a sonnet, depicting Spring’s merry arrival, specific bird songs, flowing streams, and gentle breezes. Vivaldi (1678-1741)’s violin concerto transcribed by Justin Bird, 2016.

Sing a New Song Unto the Lord: Psalm 98
Words and music by Daniel Schutte (b. 1947), 1972
A joyful paraphrase of Psalm 98, invoking other Psalms and Scriptural allusions.

Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, “March: Song of the Lark,” from The Seasons, 1875
From a set of twelve month-named pieces published in respective issues of Nouvellist, a music magazine. Composed while Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was also working on Swan Lake, his first ballet.

 

 

 

 

 

March 13, 2022 Sermon

 

Lenten Travelers,The message you will find attached here. In case the file is too large you can also listen by clicking the following link:

https://byta.com/u/dWxRPuT/rev-tim-seery-message—march-20-2020

With grace,Rev. Tim



 

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