Sermon, March 6, 2016

Becoming a New Creation  
Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder
The Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ,
Bradford, Vermont
March 6, 2016   Fourth Sunday in Lent
Psalm 32; II Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

I assume we have no perfect people among us today. I assume we all fall short of the glory of God. I also assume we all aspire to do better. So I assume you are as encouraged as I am that today’s scriptures promise we can become a new creation, we can walk in God’s ways as purely as Jesus did, we can be transformed by the grace of God. God will not be done with us until that happens.
Continue reading Sermon, March 6, 2016

March 5th Healthy Communication Workshop

March 5th was the first of three workshops presented by Nancy Brown who specializes in helping beloved communities seeking to listen and communicate with intention and love. Folks came from 5 different worshiping bodies, 2 municipalities, several Associations, and the VT Conference!

The next workshop is April 2nd and the third is on April 23rd. Find out more information and register for either or both at http://bradforducc.org/calendar-page/healthy-communication-and-beloved-community-events/

Some photos from March 5th:2016-03-05 01.18.49 2016-03-04 23.20.582016-03-04 23.38.27 2016-03-04 23.18.40 2016-03-04 23.15.36 2016-03-04 23.14.54

Upcoming Service Notes, March 6, 2016

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is known as “Refreshment Sunday” or “Laetare Sunday,” laetare being Latin meaning “rejoice.” Traditionally things lightened up for this one Sunday of Lent and then went back into the lugubrious wilderness until Easter.

This Sunday we will certainly have refreshment and rejoicing, if you love beautiful scriptures and hymns. We have an all-star lineup. We begin with one of the most uplifting and reassuring Psalms, number 32, which has one great line after another. Read it slowly, pausing after each verse, and you will feel the power of it. We will follow that by singing the great poet John Greenleaf Whittier’s beloved hymn that starts, “Dear Lord and Father of mankind,/ Forgive our foolish ways./ Reclothe us in our rightful mind;/ In purer lives thy service find,/ In deeper reverence praise.”

That is the theme of the day: God forgiving our former ways, restoring us to our rightful mind and accepting us in the beloved community of the church to serve and worship. It starts in the Psalm and continues in the other two scriptures, the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, and that great passage in 2 Corinthians where Paul says, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (5:16-21)

We will sing the classic response to being saved and transformed by God, Amazing Grace. We will also sing a communion hymn that deserves to be better known, Bread of the World, in Mercy Broken, set to a tune attributed to the same composer who wrote our Doxology, Louis Bourgeois, who is an extremely important figure in protestant hymn history. Listen to the youtube recording of the hymn below.

The choir will sing “If I Have Been the Source of Pain, O God,” from the New Century Hymnal, and Ralph Vaughan Williams communion classic, “O Taste and See.” John Atwood will play organ pieces by Frescobaldi, J.L. Krebs (a pupil of J.S. Bach) and Paulus Hofhaymer.

Here is the recording of the communion hymn we will be singing. It is clearest when she plays it the second time through, so be sure to listen at least that far.

Sermon, February 28, 2016

Metanoia: Choosing Higher Thoughts and Higher Ways  
Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder
The Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ,
Bradford, Vermont
February 28, 2016   Third Sunday in Lent
Isaiah 55:1-9; Luke 13:1-9

The Prophet Isaiah delivered a beautiful message to the people of Israel. All who were hungry or thirsty would have an abundance of food and drink better than money could buy. God’s love was steadfast and sure, and God would raise them as a light to the nations. All they had to do was turn to God’s higher thoughts and ways, and they would have richness of life and abundant joy.

If we were seeing this as a movie, the camera would be focused on Isaiah’s face full of passionate urgency and exuberant hope. Then the camera would draw back and show the people listening. We would see that they were dressed in stained and tattered robes. They had looks of weary disbelief or stone cold resistance. They were exiles in Babylon. None believed they would ever see their homeland, and besides, it had been utterly destroyed decades ago. What Isaiah was saying was absurd. They were as far from a condition of glory that could inspire the nations as they could possibly be.

Yet Isaiah’s prophecy came true. As Psalm 126 says,

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced. Continue reading Sermon, February 28, 2016

Upcoming Service Notes, February 28, 2016

This will be the Third Sunday in Lent.  Repentance appears in the Lectionary readings for the day.  That is a traditional Lenten theme, but one that has been widely misunderstood.  Repentance brings up images that focus on guilt, shame and suffering for our sins.  That could not be farther from what Jesus and Isaiah are calling us to experience!  (Isaiah 55:1-9; Luke13:1-9)  The word translated as repentance is metanoia in the Greek, which means to change our heart, mind and soul, to turn them in another direction.  As Isaiah puts it, it is to choose God’s higher thoughts and higher ways.

We cannot move higher if we are wallowing lower in our wretchedness!  Lent is hard, but not because we need to inflict self-denial and deprivation on ourselves.  It is hard because breaking our old habitual thoughts and ways and turning to God’s is hard.  Even admitting that we need to change challenges us to our core.  That is what happens in the Lenten wilderness, but the progression of the church year reminds us that after the wilderness and cross , after the letting go of our old thoughts and ways of life, comes the resurrection into new and greater life.  Lent is about transformation into our true self, which is God’s Spirit of love and life and light flowing through us as it flowed through Jesus.

This Sunday we will explore more about making this joyous transformation.  We will sing the hymn “They Did Not Build in Vain” set to the tune of “The God of Abraham Praise.”  We will also sing two old favorites, “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” and  “I Would Be True.”  The choir will sing an Introit from the New Century Hymnal, “Each Winter as the Year Grows Older” with these words: “But I believe beyond believing, that life can spring from death;/That growth can flower from our grieving;/that we can catch our breath and turn transformed by faith.”  They will sing the Anthem, “Hear Thou My Prayer, O Lord,” by Jacques Arcadelt. John Atwood will play organ pieces by Pachelbel, J.C. Bach (J.S. Bach’s uncle) and Palestrina.

Sermon, February 21, 2016

Seeing the Goodness of God in the Land of the Living    
Rev. Thomas Cary Kinder

The Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ,
Bradford, Vermont
February 21, 2016   Second Sunday in Lent
Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35

Jesus said, “You will not see me until…you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Paul wrote, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” and Paul invited people to “observe” the example of those who lived like citizens of God’s realm.

The 27th Psalm said, “I believe that I shall see the goodness of God in the land of the living.”

These passages are about looking, observing and seeing a whole different realm of reality within and around us. More than that, they are about our making that reality our own, being citizens and participants and models of it for others.

But practically, how can we see the goodness of God in the land of the living, and how can we be the goodness of God—we as individuals and we as a people? Continue reading Sermon, February 21, 2016

Palm Sunday Choir Festival on March 20

Started more than 50 years ago by organist Katrina Munn and her musical group of friends throughout the Upper Valley, the annual Palm Sunday Choir Festival has become a favorite event in the Bradford area. This year’s festival will be on March 20, at 7 p.m. Many area church choirs, groups, individuals and musicians come to sing anthems. The choirs join together for a combined presentation. This year it will include Mozart’s “Ave Verum” and Gaul’s “They That Sow in Tears.” The high point of the festival are the hymns, lifted up in glorious voice by more than 200 gifted singers, always ending with “All Hail the Power of Jesus’Name.” The festival is now the last of the six Sunday evening Lenten services sponsored by the Bradford Inter Church Council. The culmination of the evening this year will again be Organist John Atwood at the console.