Two things seldom happen in worship: listening for the word of God in the Creation, and listening for the questions of kids in the words of a puppet. Both are happening on Sunday. Worship will allow for the reading of the entire first story of creation -- the one about the seven days and seven nights -- with breaks for music between each day. Day one will be read in Hebrew. Day seven will be followed by a piano/organ duet featuring a pianist who will make his Carnegie Hall debut in June. We'll sing a couple of verses from some grand old tunes with a theme of nature.
Then, just when a sermon ought to be preached, a puppet will ask a bunch of questions of the pastoral team. Hope we can answer them! We're looking forward to this Creation Celebration!
Bobbie and Chuck
P.S. If you are curious about our "City Vespers," please consider this your personal invitation to discover it for yourself. Just come in the front door of Skinner Memorial Chapel. We start at 6:30 pm, each Thursday. If you are a few minutes late, that's okay. More information on the church website: www.uccholyoke.org
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Flames and Flowers
Our church tradition recognizes some holidays that occur on different dates each year. Christmas, for instance, is always on the same date, but Easter and Pentecost "float" back and forth on the spring calendar depending on formulae that others know better than we. This year, we have two big holidays to celebrate on the same day: Pentecost and Mother's Day.
Pentecost, the day when Jesus' disciples first experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit, is often symbolized by flame. It was said that tongues of fire danced over their heads; a metaphor suggesting a sudden enthusiam for God. On pentecost, we wanted to hand out flames to everyone who attended, but the fire risk was overwhelming. Thus, we are handing out red carnations to symbolizing the fire of pentecost. (We are also inviting people to wear clothing with the color red.)
Mothers Day, while it isn't one of the traditional religious holidays, is never-the-less quite dear to people in our church traditions. We typically celebrate Mothers Day with flowers. In our congregation, (the United Congregational Church of Holyoke, MA), the tradition is to hand out flowers to all the mothers who attend worship on that day. Mothers Day is an occasion for all in attendance -- male and female -- to honor their mothers.
Worship with us on Sunday. Everyone gets a flower (unless we run out)!
Pentecost, the day when Jesus' disciples first experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit, is often symbolized by flame. It was said that tongues of fire danced over their heads; a metaphor suggesting a sudden enthusiam for God. On pentecost, we wanted to hand out flames to everyone who attended, but the fire risk was overwhelming. Thus, we are handing out red carnations to symbolizing the fire of pentecost. (We are also inviting people to wear clothing with the color red.)
Mothers Day, while it isn't one of the traditional religious holidays, is never-the-less quite dear to people in our church traditions. We typically celebrate Mothers Day with flowers. In our congregation, (the United Congregational Church of Holyoke, MA), the tradition is to hand out flowers to all the mothers who attend worship on that day. Mothers Day is an occasion for all in attendance -- male and female -- to honor their mothers.
Worship with us on Sunday. Everyone gets a flower (unless we run out)!
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