A Much Needed Bright Day

A Much Needed Bright Day

An editorial written by deacon David Mulholland: *** I cannot speak for children who marched in person or in spirit around the nation – actually around the world, last Saturday against gun violence.  If I learned anything from being in DC on March 24th, it was that children who oppose…
Freedom from Fear

Freedom from Fear

Greetings, We in the church have entered the season of Lent, which invites Christians to focus on the Way of Jesus, personal repentance, and spiritual practices that bring us into closer relationship with God. It’s a somber season, but can also be joyful in a quiet way. It begins each…
On Renewal

On Renewal

January 28, 2018 Charlotte Gifford   Scripture Lessons: Psalm 139:13-18 John 3:1-21 Message: God be in my head, and in my understanding; God be in mine eyes, and in my looking; God be in my mouth, and in my speaking; God be in my heart, and in my thinking; God…

Letter to the Congregation: Advent & Christmas schedule!

Hello, dear church family! Can you believe December starts tomorrow, and Advent begins on Sunday?! No? Me, either!!! I thought I'd lay out the CHURCH events of the month to make sure you all know which end is up. (There are other events in the building than the ones listed,…

Advent Hope

Greetings!   Another year has passed since the last time I tried to sum up the whole ethos of Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and the promise of a new year in one brief reflection. I wrote last year’s effort just after election day. If you had asked me then to paint…

It’s back. (Our Black Lives Matter sign)

Greetings, Well, it’s back. The “Black Lives Matter” sign, that is. We first had a sign two years ago, and it stayed planted on church property for several months even though I caught a (non-local) fellow in the act of trying to remove it because he found it offensive. Our…

… from the Whistler

Greetings, dear ones. As I sit writing this reflection (many days after it should have been done), I’m aware of sorrow. It’s June 6, the 73rd anniversary of D-Day – and sometimes it seems that we’re no closer to real and lasting peace than we were then. It’s 49 degrees…

Grief, Doubt, Hope, Choice ~ an Easter Sermon

Rev. Susie Webster-Toleno Westminster West, Vermont April 16, 2017 (Easter morning) Luke 24: 1-12   But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, [the women] came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when…

A Way Other Than Our Own (a Lenten snippet)

A Way Other Than Our Own ... pages 30 and 31   Susie and the deacons are reading a thought-provoking book together for Lent – Walter Brueggemann's "A Way Other Than Our Own." Get your hands on a copy of it (link above), this year or next! Here's today's reading, for the…

“Where Does My Hope Come From?”

Greetings! As I write this reflection, I've started my February vacation. The past few days have been in the 40s or even low 50s, and the sunlight is lingering into the five o’clock hour. On the way home from church yesterday, I’m pretty sure I saw Billy Aquaviva and his…