Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. His joy is gone, his heart sick.  He quotes must what have been a proverb, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."
The reality of life has come crashing down upon Jeremiah and the people. The hoped-for future has not come and is not around the corner. Where is the balm, the healing presence? He surveys the wreckage of life all around them and despairs. This week we watched the Colorado flooding and the shooting in D.C. Lives were changed forever in those tragedies. To grieve is to honor what was lost and to recognize the frailty, the precious nature of our lives. 

And yet, the important part is the yet; the tragedy, the brokenness. The loss is not the final story. Hope comes slowly but it comes into the wreckage. It's the glimmer of light that shines through the clouds. It's the will to pick up and start again. But, we can't forget the but.....lives were lost and other lives were changed forever. Why, O God, has summer past and we are not saved, restored, made whole?

I wish I had a complete answer, but we see only dimly into the mystery of suffering. We know that God is with us in our despair and is the source of new life and restoration.

May God be with the people in Colorado, the families of those whose lives were lost at the Navy Yard and with all that struggle with lost dreams, broken futures. May we be a people of hope, not a pie in the sky hope, but a hope that tells the story of a God that picks us up and walks with us again and again. 

Blessings, Beth

It was so good to see so many of you last week at worship and the Victorian Fair! I'm so glad another season of worship and church school has begun!

This Sunday, we celebrate the educational ministries of the church. If you have not registered your child for Sunday School, please join us this Sunday. We will bless Bibles, children and teachers and launch another year. There was a time not so long ago when you could count on the culture to raise your child into a Christian. It is not so anymore. It takes dedicated parents, a community and a willingness to be a bit different than the culture. We aim to teach children that God loves them and is as close as their next breath. We hope they leave each year filled with Bible stories to sustain them all their days, and we strive to teach practices of prayer, mercy, outreach to those in need, generosity and peace.

It does, though, take each one of you to do this. Please come committed to being a support to parents and a role model to children. Please also give thanks for our staff of dedicated teachers. We have a wonderful Sunday School program thanks to so many that work quietly behind the scenes. 

Peace, Rev. Beth

  The church year is about to begin! It will be so good to see all of you and to share our stories of the summer: the trips, the garden plantings, the friends made, the golf outings, bike rides and the sandcastles built and dissolved by the waves. New England summers are so precious in their brevity. I had visitors from Texas this summer that had never been to New England. It was so wonderful to see my world through their eyes. They exclaimed at the greenness of everything, the winding confusion of our roads, the sweetness of our lobster. They reminded me yet again, how blessed I am to live in this place. 

We gather this Sunday for another season of worship and Church School. There are so many other things you could do on a Sunday morning. I am so glad you choose to worship with us. It's in community that we garner strength and gather courage to meet the challenges we face, and it's in community we find ways to meet the needs of those impoverished in body or spirit. We also gather each Sunday to worship, to bless and give thanks for the bounty of our lives.  I am so grateful to be your pastor, walking with you in community.

I hope to see you Sunday at church or at our booth (#53) at the Victorian Fair.

Peace, Rev. Beth