It was a very sweet Sunday on September 11, 2016. We welcomed back those who had been away for the summer with balloons, the children escorted the big Bible to its home on the lectern, and we enjoyed ice cream sundaes at coffee hour!
We will be worshipping this week in the context of the 15th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. It might seem strange to have a service of celebration and quiet joy on such a day, but Christ leads us there with his teaching in the lectionary for this week. Luke 15:1-10 has the recurring theme (Sunday’s sermon title), “Rejoice with Me, For I Have Found What Was Lost!” We live in a world that gets lost, as we did on 9/11, and we ourselves stray from the Way of Christ over and over. We can rejoice that Christ rejoices every time we turn back, and welcomes us with his loving, forgiving, shepherding arms. The 51st Psalm is also in the lectionary with its moving, poetic affirmation of the same spiritual truth.
We will celebrate Welcome Sunday with the children helping to wheel the big lectern Bible into the sanctuary as they start up a new school year of Sunday School. The choir will have us rejoicing as it returns for its first Sunday after summer vacation. The Diaconate is hosting once again its fabulous Welcome party after worship with make-your-own sundaes in the vestry, as well as delicious non-sweet foods. Please invite friends, old and new, to join us this week! Continue reading Upcoming Service Notes, September 11, 2016, Welcome Sunday, Sundae Sunday
Choose Life So That You and Your Descendants May Live
Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder
The Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ,
Bradford, Vermont
September 4, 2016 Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Psalm 1; Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 14:25-33
The First Psalm says that God’s way makes us happy and fills us with delight. Deuteronomy says that choosing God’s way brings us prosperity and progeny, a long and blessed life possessing the Promised Land.
Then Jesus comes along talking about hating our family and hating our life and giving up all our possessions. Jesus was a Jew, and he was preaching almost exclusively to Jews. They knew the First Psalm and the book of Deuteronomy better than we do. So how could they make sense of Jesus turning the scriptures upside down like this? Why would they ever follow someone who told them it was wrong to be loving and happy and full of delight in possessing life? Continue reading Sermon, September 4, 2016
Since there was no official Sunday School this past week, the kids made their own fun! 
The Apostle Paul had a slogan in his churches, “For freedom Christ has set us free!” Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” I have been inviting the congregation in my Epistle articles to think about the positive difference our church makes in our lives throughout the week. Clearly one difference church is meant to make is to lead us to the freedom to have life and have it abundantly. Jesus does not want anything to hold us back. This Sunday in worship we will think about what this means for our lives as individuals and as a congregation. The scripture readings helping us do that will include Psalm 1, Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and Luke 14:25-33. We will celebrate some of the ways in which we are not holding back from a life rich in meaning, love and joy.
We will be singing some of our most beloved hymns: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, Be Thou My Vision, and Let Us Break Bread Together. Continue reading Upcoming Service Notes, September 4, 2016
Please join us for our monthly Community Dinner tonight (Wednesday, August 31) at 6 p.m. in the vestry. Free, delicious homemade food. Bring a friend!
Come one, come all to the
9th Annual All-Church Yard Sale
Friday, August 26th – 9:00am-3:00pmWe were very pleased to celebrate the baptism of Arabella DiLorenzo on Sunday, July 31, 2016. Arabella is the daughter of Nicholas and Valerie DiLorenzo and the granddaughter of Lynda and Frank DiLorenzo and Daniel and Anita Perry. Arabella’s great-grandfather, Deacon Dan Perry, assisted in the baptism.
On July 17, 2016, it was a great joy to welcome new members into our congregation! They are pictured below (L-R): Carol Stickney, Willow Smith, Wren Smith, and Kim Frydman, with Rev. Tom Kinder and Morgen Wilson-Collins assisting.
