Due to our Puritan roots, New England-based Congregational churches have traditionally been much more reserved in their Easter traditions and expressions than other more liturgically based denominations. For them Easter was the joyous culmination of a series of elaborate rituals and observances: Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Passion Week, Grand Processions, and Great Vigils. And here’s why Bradford Congregational Church didn’t always celebrate in kind. Continue reading When Easter Wasn’t Our Thing
All posts by Marcia Mccormick
2018 Holy Week worship
Sunday, March 25
Palm Sunday morning worship, we receive our palms, 10 a.m.
Thursday, March 29
Maundy Thursday evening Tenebrae, the Last Supper, 7 p.m.
Friday, March 30
Good Friday prayer vigil, sanctuary open noon to 3 p.m.
(Evening worship at Grace UMC, time to be announced)
Sunday, April 1
Easter Sunrise Service, at village gazebo, 6:30 a.m.
Easter Family Worship, 10 a.m.
Palm Sunday Fesitival
2018 Annual Palm Sunday Choir Festival
March 25th
7pm at the Bradford Congregational Church
Festival Combined Chorus alto/bass section 2016
For more than 50 years Bradford has hosted this annual service of musical praise featuring the choirs of surrounding town churches, instrumental musicians (organists, pianists, guitarists, flutist), the Tabor Valley Singers, the Jeremiah Ingalls Singers, and the annual Festival Combined Chorus.
Many traditions have endured over the years, such as the singing of five hymns with descants and organ embellishments. Also, the final hymn is always the great “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” This year’s exciting new thing is that professional videographer Tim Swaan of Haverhill will be making a video of the festival!
Please come, join us, sing with us!
Sermon, March 18 2018
“We Wish to See Jesus”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
John 12: 20-33
March 18, 2018
“They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” – John 12:21 i
Where were you on February 16th? Did you hop a plane and go to China? I didn’t. They were celebrating the Chinese New Year but that has nothing to do with me. I don’t even know why it’s held on the sixteenth of February. Me going to China makes about as much sense as these Gentiles trekking to Jerusalem for Passover. I mean, really. Do these Greeks even know what Passover commemorates? I suppose they could have been “Greeks considering Judaism.” The text is silent on that point. The one thing we know is that they wished to see Jesus. Continue reading Sermon, March 18 2018
Palm Sunday here and world-wide
The tradition of handing out and waving palm fronds is relatively new for mainstream Protestant churches. It grew in popularity after Word War II when access to palm trees expanded. In our church, the fronds are ordered well in advance and usually originate from points south of the border.
Sometimes we have the children march in ceremoniously waving the palms. Sometimes we have handed out the palms to congregants as they entered the sanctuary. A few times the palms were strewn on the front of the altar platform and congregants came forward to get them. Continue reading Palm Sunday here and world-wide
Congregational Half-Way Covenant
The Half-Way Covenant 
Our early New England Congregational forebears became members of the church by experiencing a conversion. Their children were baptized as infants, just as we do now. When these children grew up they of course wanted full church membership and to partake of the Lord’s Supper. But, in order to be granted that membership and communion they were expected to give evidence that they, too, had experienced a conversion.
Many couldn’t report such a conversion and were therefore considered quasi-members: permitted to be baptized only because they had had parents who had experienced a conversion. The membership was partial; they did not partake of the Lord’s Supper, could not vote, and could not hold office. Continue reading Congregational Half-Way Covenant
Sermon, March 11 2018
“Loving the Light”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
John 3: 14-21
March 11, 2018
“…those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” – John 3:21i
It travels at 186,000 mi/s. As a phenomenon it has the nature of being both a particle and a wave. We arise in the morning and we behold its presence. We rest at night and the stars and Moon abide. It is with us at the dawn of day and in the contrasting darkness of night. It sustains life on earth. It illuminates our way. The psalmist would have us sing:
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it. Continue reading Sermon, March 11 2018
Sermon March 4, 2018
“A Holy Place for Anger”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
John 2: 13-22
March 4, 2018
“Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.” – John 2:15i
My brother was punched in the eye. He had taken me to his high school’s football game. Our father was going to pick us up after the game. I was around ten at the time. I don’t remember the game. I do have a vivid memory of a chain link fence, three or four guys approaching and the punch Doug took in the eye. I remember him crying and having no clue what I was supposed to do. I just watched.
Our Dad arrived to find my brother cupping his eye and crying. My Dad was livid. He wanted to know who had done this. It was impossible to know. So many people. So much confusion. Our Dad didn’t care. Someone had injured his son and that someone wasn’t going to get away with it. There was a police officer was folks cross the street safely. So my Dad marched over to him, told the officer what had happened and demanded that justice be done.The officer listened politely and told my Dad that at that time, he could do nothing to help. That is not what my Dad wanted to hear and let the officer know it. Walking away, his eyes still darting back and forth, I was just glad he never found out who had done this!
I tell you all this because I have a question. Was my father’s anger a sin? That is the question before us this morning. Is anger sinful? Continue reading Sermon March 4, 2018
Sermon Feb 25, 2018
“Satan Finds An Opportune Time”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
Mark 8: 31-38
February 25, 2018
“But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” – Mark 8:33i
Right after Jesus was baptized He was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. How many temptations did Jesus face? And do you remember how it ended? The Gospel of Mark doesn’t say much about the whole thing. It doesn’t mention how Jesus was tempted – what He had to face – and it moves from those forty days spent in the wilderness to tell us that after enduring temptations Jesus goes to Galilee. So, if you are looking only at Mark, you wouldn’t even know that Jesus faced three temptations. Matthew gives a much more detailed description of each of the three temptations faced by Jesus. In Matthew Jesus overcomes each temptation and then tells the Devil to be gone and that’s the end of it. But Luke is different. Luke tells us about the three temptations faced by Jesus – turning stones into bread to assuage His hunger; trusting God to suspend the law of gravity and protect Him if He were to jump off the pinnacle of the Temple; becoming the ruler of the world. But it is how the section ends in Luke that fascinated me. Here is how the evangelist puts it: “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.” For Luke, the temptations in the wilderness are not the last time Jesus is going to face Satan. Continue reading Sermon Feb 25, 2018
Congregational – it’s our heritage
Coming into town from any direction one knows this must be a Congregational church. It’s white, it’s in the center of Main Street, and its steeple points to heaven. This can be said of the vast majority of Congregational churches throughout all of New England. And, this is no coincidence. We are “descended” from the Puritans and the color and location of our houses of worship reflect that relationship.
Today, most people think of the word “puritanism” as something negative, restrictive, forbidding. H. L. Mencken once famously quipped, “Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Continue reading Congregational – it’s our heritage