Dear Friends in Christ,

This upcoming Sunday, we’ll have our Annual Business Meeting.  Amongst other business items, we’ll review and approve our 2026 budget.  But what’s our business?  And what’s a budget? 

Jesus essentially told his parents when they found him in the Temple that he was there to be about “his Father’s – or God’s – business.”  He would “budget” his life’s time, energy, wisdom and love – not to mention his life itself – for this purpose as he understood it to be. 

But what of us as Christ’s people and church?  I think our business is doing ministry after Jesus’ manner.  And, a church budget, I think, is more than just numbers to be balanced; it’s a reflection of our understanding of our ministry and purpose. How we budget our money expresses what we value and deem important as Christ’s people and church. 

So… I wonder: What would you say our church budget reflects?  And, what does it suggest we think our business to be? 

We’ll consider these questions in our worship service which will serve as a kind of prelude to our “business meeting.”  So, I invite you to come with these questions on your mind, your perspectives, and see – in the end – how you answer.  

Blessings, Christ’s “Businesspeople!”
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
As I mentioned last week, we now find ourselves in Epiphany season. It’s the season between Christmastide and Lent. It starts on the 13th day after Christmas, lasts four to nine weeks depending on the date of Easter, and ends on Transfiguration Sunday, just before Ash Wednesday.

Epiphany literally means “appearance.” In the church, it refers to the appearance and manifestation of Christ Jesus to the world. In essence, it refers to a growing awareness that Jesus, the ”babe born in Bethlehem,” was more than he appeared to be – one who grew up to be “in the league of the highly esteemed Abraham and Elijah.” And, he would be one to hold many titles ranging from Rabbi or “Teacher” to Savior and Lord.

Epiphany is a season for asking ourselves, ”What do we make of all of this? And, who does this Christ-child grow up to be for us?”

For me, Jesus is divinely “human.” He’s the one who teaches me of my purpose as a human being and shows me how to fulfill calling as one of God’s chosen stewards of creation. But this baby born so long ago in Bethlehem, who – and what – is he for you?

Blessings of Epiphany Season,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
An epiphany is a sudden, profound realization or insight triggered by an ordinary – or extraordinary – learning experience. It’s a “Eureka!” or “A-ha!” kind of moment that produces a new or deeper understanding of something.

In the church, after Christmastide, we now find ourselves in the season of Epiphany.  It’s a time when we’re called to grow in understanding of what’s happened at Christmas in the birth of God Emmanuel or “God with us.”  This we do by focusing on the experiences and growth of the baby born in Bethlehem become our teacher and savior, Christ Jesus who is the Light, Life, and Lord of our world.     

So, on this upcoming Sunday – which commemorates the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, we’ll share communion – and more.  The more?  A renewal of our Baptism by reaffirming our promises and experiencing a “sprinkling” of water. (No raincoats necessary!)

Ours will be, as it were, a “Sacramental Sunday,” a time when we celebrate Baptism and Communion as signs meant to give us “a touch and taste” of the holiness of God’s love in Jesus.   

I hope you can join us!  And, if you do, I hope you’ll experience your own “Eureka!” or “A-ha!”

Blessings of New Year’s Wishes – and More: Blessings of an Epiphany!
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

During Advent Worship this year, we’ve reflected on aspects of Jesus’ nature. We’ve considered his humanity, his divinity, and his being called savior, one who delivers us from our sin – some form of separation from our full humanity and our divinity.

Like Jesus himself, we’re a mix of humanity and divinity. And the question is always: To which of these aspects of our nature on this spectrum are we more closely aligned?

I believe Jesus was always closer to his full humanity – and that, on many occasions, he was divine. Sometimes we’re closer to our fuller humanity, or maybe even divine; at other times we’re closer to our lesser humanity, and maybe even inhumane.

But wherever we are on this spectrum, the question of where we are always remains. And, Christmas is a reminder that Jesus comes to us again and again amidst this drama to save us from our sin, to be born in us – which happens when he becomes Lord of lives.

As we celebrate Christ’s coming yet again, we can only hope that he’s born anew in us this year – and in many others, too. For a people delivered from their sin can add up to the ushering in of life closer to God’s intended realm of shalom on earth. So, let’s hope, and let’s pray for this.

Blessings of Advent Preparation unto Deliverance,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
In a secular Christmas song, Andy Williams first sang of the Christmas Season, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” But is it? Certainly, Christmas season brings a lot of happy experiences for children and adults. But, it can also bring disappointments and, as the “Christmases past” pile up, sadness regarding memories of “glories so long ago.” What does the Christmas season conjure up for you in your memory and heart today?

Sometimes such feelings come against the backdrop of a darker world – such as the one we’re living in today in our own nation. We live in a very divided society and culture, no thanks to current political leadership in Congress and the White House.

Given this, you might think, feel, and say, borrowing from another secular seasonal song written by Jerry Herman, that “We need a little Christmas.” Or, you might even say, as a Christian, “this year, we need more than just a little Christmas; we need a lot of Christmas! What do you say?

Whatever your answer, next Wednesday, December 17th at 6:30pm, we’ll host a gathering in our sanctuary to acknowledge that “We need a lot of Christmas this year.” Ours will be a 45 minute service of secular and Christian music, reflections, and light. And, whatever you’re feeling as you come to yet another Christmas, I hope you’ll be touched in some meaningful way by the Spirit of our God!

I hope you might join us because we’re in this darkened world together as God’s children with this potential and powerful Good News: Christ is born, and God Emmanuel is here – to be born in us!

Blessings of Advent Season unto Glad Tidings for Christmas,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

This week between the First and Second Sundays of Advent, we find ourselves between having lit the Advent Candle of Hope last Sunday and the lighting of the Advent Candle of Love next Sunday.  So, I find myself thinking about Paul’s writing to the Church at Corinth about faith, hope, and love.

Maybe you remember this passage, often read at Christian weddings.  Of divine spiritual gifts from God, Paul wrote: “And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.”  (I Corinthians 13:13)

His ranking is interesting.  He sees love rather than hope as the ultimate gift…  If he were to express it like a mathematician might, he might write: The sum of faith plus hope is love.  Or he might offer  this equation:  F + H = L! 

It makes sense to me.  If, as a 1955 movie title implied, “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” and if, as Frank Sinatra sang in this movie’s theme song, “Love is nature’s way of giving, a reason to be living,” then maybe love is, indeed, the most splendid and divine of all human expressions.

Why, maybe love is even the essence of God Emmanuel, God with us!  But, what do you think of this spiritual gift of Christmas – and any time of the year – during this week between the First and Second Sundays of Advent, this season of a “divine coming?”  

Blessings of an Advent Faith’s Hope and Love,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ, 

It’s ironic in a sad and tragic way:  As we come to Thanksgiving when many of us stuff ourselves with food and love of family and dear friends around our tables, SNAP recipients and travelers headed home face a grave challenge: living with the ignorance, callousness, and cruelty of some of our nation’s political leaders.

But as Christians, we can do something about this sad, tragic situation.  While we can’t replace and relieve unpaid air-traffic controllers, we can provide food and funds for local and regional organizations that provide food for SNAP recipients who are victims of hard-hearted, MAGA-minded leaders. 

So it is, we’ll receive a special Thanksgiving offering of financial contributions and food items during the next two weeks.  The offering of these will help us support a local family as well as other people who live with uncertainty about having sufficient food on their tables this Thanksgiving.  

I hope you’ll join us in this effort as well as pray for the healing of those in leadership circles who abuse their political power.  For then, we’ll be putting “meat” on Jesus’ vision of blessing those who are hungry for food on their tables and for righteousness in our nation. 

Blessings on Your Giving,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

During last Sunday’s worship service, I reported receiving an e-mail from the New Hampshire Council of Churches asking us to pray for those receiving SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) benefits during the ongoing political crisis in Washington, DC. This e-mail also asked us to monitor Presidential and Congressional decision-making and be prepared to send extra assistance to area organizations serving those living with food insecurity.

As I write, I’ve read that recipients will receive half of their November allotments. If so, some 42 million adults & children across our nation – including 77,000 in New Hampshire will depend on more assistance from non-profit organizations. So, I’m going to increase my contributions to relevant serving organizations, and I hope you, as you’re able, will, too. (I also intend to propose that we as a church receive a special Thanksgiving offering designated for food assistance.)

I invite you to give because feeding those physically hungry is a part of our Christian stewardship. For, Jesus taught that as we bring God’s Kingdom to earth, those hungry will be blessed with being fed unto their satisfaction (Luke 6:21). And, he later added: those who feed the hungry will be paid at the “Resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14). Now, how about that?

Blessings of Faithful Stewardship and Resurrection!
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
Who or what do you most treasure in your life?

I ask because our All Souls’ and Saints’ Sunday is before us. And, on Sunday, we’ll remember and celebrate memorable persons in our lives who’ve “gone on before us.”

Sometimes, there are things we treasure very much in life, experiences unique or repeated. But, typically, its people we treasure even more. We may “love” some of our experiences, but the love others give to us can be even more powerful. And, when such loving people are in our past, we grieve our loss with all our heart.

With respect to treasuring things or people, Jesus teaches:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where treasure is, there your heart will be as well…

This is his way of saying, “Be careful of who or what you treasure for life on earth is brief, and you ought to spend your time and energy on what will last beyond your life.

The question, “What matters most to us?” is a starting point for reflecting on how well we’re living into Jesus’ wisdom. But, “Is what matters most to us worth treasuring?” is the final question.

We’ll reflect more on these questions as we remember the saints of our lives on this upcoming All Souls Sunday. I hope you can join us in-person or virtually from home.

Blessings of a Lifetime,
Pastor Ed