Lessons: Matt 13:31-33, 44-52
Message: The Kingdom and The Church
It’s November which, at UPA means… Stewardship! This month we’ll spend all four Sundays talking, reflecting, and thinking about stewardship: of our relationship with Jesus, of this church, and of this world. Our theme is “Be The Church” through which we’ll consider what this post-pandemic church might look like and, maybe moreso, we’d like it to be for the community.
On November 20th, as an off-shoot of our work in Stewardship, I’m excited to welcome Demie Stathoplos, a member of the First Unitarian Universalist Society in West Newton and a passionate speaker and activist on climate change and, particularly, our responsibility as people of faith to respond to this crisis. The theme for this week will shift to our Stewardship of the Earth while holding fast to the component of faith as the driving force of our action.
This week, November 6th, is Communion Sunday! We’ll begin our Stewardship conversation with Jesus’ efforts to describe to his disciples the Kingdom of God. At the time Jesus was preaching there were small communities of faith or synagogues, similar to our local churches, each of which served their smaller villages and towns with support and care. When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom, we often imagine a utopian society of faithful, peace-valuing citizens. Or sometimes we conjure images of a sort of worldly paradise in the sky that is void of all which stress us out here on Earth. I hope to guide us to seeing something very different from both of these; something that is unwritten and unimaginable while also being necessary for our lasting hopes and faith.
See you Sunday!
Peace,
Cheryl
Music:
Prelude: “Chorale Prelude in E Minor” Dietrich Buxtehude
Anthem: “Holy, Holy” Jimmy Owens
Meditation: “Sweet is the Day” Mary Alice Amidon Sung by Marina Khankhalaeva, mezzo soprano
Postlude: “Chorale Prelude in E-flat” Johann Pachelbel
Live Stream Information
We will continue streaming our worship on both Zoom and Facebook Live. Please share these links with your friends. Bear in mind that we cannot share the Zoom links publicly (to keep from being Zoom bombed), so please share it person to person rather than posting it on Facebook/Twitter, or other public social media. It’s fine to share the Facebook link broadly and publicly. For Zoom log in information please reach out to Pastor Cheryl at cheryl@newtonchurch.org.
Zoom Link: UPA Sunday Morning Worship
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81334929545?pwd=S1lsRlRmSnlkTUE0cHRlWWQwWUJndz09
Facebook Livestream Link: https://www.facebook.com/upanewtonma/liveNote: that we continue to work on streaming as we make improvements to the sanctuary sound system.