May 28, 2025

Dear Friends in Christ,

Last Sunday during our sermon time,  we asked what we could do to honor those who lost their lives in war on Monday’s Memorial Day.  I suggested we could find an answer in Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia which was very divided.  To members he wrote, “you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become enslaved to one another.  For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”   I’m glad we made this connection.  

For, on Monday I received a FaceBook post from a restaurant. It featured this beautiful image: 

Above this image was this two-sentence note: 

Today, we remember and honor those who served.
We’re open Memorial Day from 11:30am to 8pm.

Now, contrast this with the United Church of Christ Memorial Day post that I read next:

Below this image, there was this short note with a link:

 This Memorial Day, we hold in prayer those who have been affected by war. We honor the lives lost and grieve with the families of the fallen. May we continue to work toward peace and a #JustWorldForAll.

Freedom allows for diversity in choice-making regarding the honoring of those who have died in war.  But, on May 30^th , the original Memorial Day date, I’m going to re-commit myself to choosing the option I think keeps faith with those who’ve died and permit them their resting in peace.  How about you? 

Blessings of Love’s Peace and Service to All,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ, 

Memorial Day – and, therefore, Summer – are upon us!

Once upon a time, these two phenomena – a civic holiday and a season of nature – were distinct. But, now, they’re intertwined.

Once Memorial Day was moved in 1968 from its specific historic date, May 30^th, to the last Monday in May, a deal of sorts was sealed.  Memorial Day became part of a long, three day-weekend and a gateway to the summer vacationing season.  But, when this happened, something was lost.

What was lost?  Citizen focus on the cost to some for fulfilling that to which we all have pledged our allegiance before our nation’s flag, namely “liberty and justice for all.”  Sometimes upholding this pledge has cost citizens – and non-citizens alike – their lives in warfare.

As if this weren’t tragic enough, there’s even more that’s been lost to history regarding Memorial Day: a second piece regarding the original purpose of  this day beyond remembrance of veterans killed: reconciliation between the families of those killed – in both the North and the South.

Now, couldn’t we use a good dose of this  Memorial Day spirit today, one which causes us to remember that this day was conceived as a way of bringing together former enemies still speaking angrily and distastefully about one another?   Only this time  around, it wouldn’t be the old “Blue and Gray.”   Instead, it would be  today’s “red and blue.”  

Blessings of Peace – with Liberty and Justice for All,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

Some beautiful Spring days have followed last week’s cool, gray stretch of rain! Such days of sunlit, blue skies and comfortable temperatures along with growing yellowish-green leaves covering barren trunks, branches, and twigs raise my spirits. What do such days do for you?

Of course, these days won’t last. Temperatures will become hotter, maturing leaves will turn greener, and, soon, only the memory of Spring’s precious, fleeting moments will remain.

So, it is with Easter. We’re now in the second half of Eastertide’s 50 days. If you’re like me you still remember the music of Easter Sunday as well as the beauty and aroma of its flowers. But these are all fading. And the question is: into what kind of Easter people will we mature?

We’ll always be Easter children of God and Christ’s church. But, in our time ahead on earth, amidst so much social disease, dying, and decay, what new life might spring forth from us for the benefit of the world around us?

Blessings of Life-raising Living!
Pastor Ed

Dear Salem FCC Friends in Christ,

Last Saturday 3 members of our newly formed Church Vitality Team: Heather Milliken, Kaddy, Ackroyd, Bridget Detollenaere, and I attended a workshop sponsored by the New Hampshire Conference. It was entitled, What Makes for a Vital Church and was led by former UCC church pastor and Massachusetts Conference Minister, Rev. Paul Nickerson. We all thought it was a worthwhile learning experience that offered us hope for the church’s future.

Soon, you’ll learn more about what we learned concerning five arenas of ministry for developing our church’s vitality: Visioning & Discernment, Connecting with New People, Funding our Future, Developing Disciples, & Retooling our Governance. After we discern our focus, we’ll develop a plan with the help of Paul who will serve as our coach for the coming six months. As soon as we have it,
we’ll share our plan with you.

The time ahead will engage all of us in important work as we prepare for the arrival of a new Designated Term pastor. For now, I simply want you to be aware of this team’s work so you may pray for us. And, I want to invite you to prepare for your own coming participation in this church vitality work by asking you to ponder this question: What is God calling us here to do next?

As you await to learn of our plan, please hold on to your responses to this question or let one of us know of them anytime.

Blessings of Promptings by the Holy Spirit,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ

Holy Week and Easter are behind us.  But the Spirit of Easter remains with us!   

Easter Sunday is but the doorway into a new season of life and living.  We are Easter people for a lifetime!

So it is, the church has given us the season of Eastertide.  Eastertide – I like the name, and I especially like its second syllable, tide.  For, like the ocean tide itself, Easter ebbs and flows with varying degrees of power and reach in our lives.  Some high tides are stronger and higher than others; some are lower and weaker.  Sometimes Easter’s tide – or Spirit – touches us powerfully and deeply; other times it hardly touches – or doesn’t even touch – us at all.  We need a season of exposure to Easter’s shoreline for its “seas” to  reach us and become a stronger force for resurrection in our lives and world! 

I hope you’ll find times and ways to walk Easter’s shoreline in this season – and beyond.  I hope you’ll even intentionally wade into – or go for a swim in – Easter’s “waters.”  

So, too, do I hope we’ll walk “Easter’s shoreline” as Christ’s church here in Salem!  Maybe we’ll even wade – or take a dip together – in its “waters” of new life!  We’ll see…

Blessings of Eastertide,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

In a year when we are reflecting during worship on our stewardship – taking care of the creation God has made, we’ve come to Holy Week. It’s a week when we focus on Jesus’ final life-giving deed that will be followed by God’s miraculous life-giving grace. So, what’s our stewardship got to do with it?

Gospel author Luke gives us a clue in his story of Jesus’ encounter with a rich young leader. He writes in his gospel:
A certain ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him …“You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother.’ ” He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (Luke 18:18-22)

And, you may know the rest of this story: But when the ruler heard this, he became sad, for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him sadly and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! (Luke 18:23-24).

From this encounter, we learn that our stewardship of generosity in our sharing of money and resources with those less fortunate and having basic human needs may be hard, but matters – not only in the short-run, but in the long run, not just in the temporary “kingdoms” of this world, but in the “Kingdom of God” that is eternal.

Perhaps, this is why Paul, in his farewell speech to those in the congregation at Ephesus, encouraged them to work hard at helping “the weak” because “the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35) And, maybe this is why Jesus said this in the first place: because giving matters now and for always!

Blessings of Easter’s Eternal Promise,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ

This upcoming Sunday is the first day of Holy Week. Now, I wonder: What comes to mind when you think of Holy Week?

Many worshipping Christians think of palm branches, the Maundy-Thursday Service of Tenebrae, and Easter. But, Holy Week is much more – even though it doesn’t include Easter! (Easter is the first day of the week after Holy Week!)

So what constitutes the “much more” of Holy Week? It starts with what we have called Palm Sunday. On this day, we’ve mostly – or exclusively – celebrated Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. But, it’s a more complex day, and there are two other “P’s” that constitute Palm Sunday: Passover and Passion. On the day of palm waving, Jesus entered Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. In doing so, he showed his passion: his desire for the deliverance of his people from Roman oppressiveness. He also displayed his willingness to risk his life for this deliverance, and it would lead to his Passion: his giving of his life his passion.

The “much more” of Holy Week also includes remembering Jesus’ righteous indignation and his overturning of tables in the Temple courtyard. It also includes remembering his expression of worry and sorrow: “If only you, Jerusalem, knew the things that make for peace,” he lamented (Luke 19:42).

Holy Week also includes what came after his celebration of Passover and constitutes part of our Maundy-Thursday Last Supper remembrance: his prayer and arrest in the garden followed by his confrontation with Herod and Pilate, all of which led to his execution on a Roman instrument of capital punishment, the cross.

Finally, there’s Holy Saturday with its prayer vigil and remembrance that because it was the Sabbath his grieving followers waited until early Sunday morning to make their way to Jesus’ tomb to prepare his body for burial.

So it is, Holy week contains more elements from Jesus’ life than we often remember, but we’ll encounter all of these during our Holy Week worship. And, whatever it is you generally think about when you think of Holy Week, I hope you’ll experience hope and joy, disappointment and anger, worry and patience, sorrow and courage – passions and a Passion that are ancient, but also relevant to your life, and our common life together, in this world today.

Holy Week’s Blessings,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

Last week, we had an interesting conversation in the Wednesday evening study group. It was prompted by the Rev. Matt Laney’s devotional reflection entitled, Favoring Choice. His reflection was about Mary’s receiving the word from the angel, Gabriel, that she would become pregnant with a
divine child.

Rev. Laney wrote, “Mary had a choice. Before she became pregnant, God sought her consent”. None of us in the group had quite thought of the story in this way. How about you?

It’s an interesting perspective and especially relevant during Lent. This is a season for reflection on repenting: making different choices than we have in the past. And, it can be hard to make choices about changing our ways.

Some, of course, find this choice-making harder than others, maybe even impossible. Even our legal system recognizes that some people cannot be held responsible for their actions because they are not freely chosen.

So, it is during Lent I believe we’re called to pray not only that Christians make better choices; we’re called to pray, that if it’s necessary, God heal people so they have the capacity to make better choices. How about you? What do you believe about choice-making – and repenting – during this season of Lent?

Blessings of Choice-making and Responsibility-taking,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

A great theological concern is occasioned by a powerful challenge of faith. Theologians call it “the problem of evil.” It’s prompted by this question of faith: ‘If God, who created life is so good, why does evil exist?’

Many have attempted to answer this question. But most answers are less than satisfactory. For instance, most people commonly answer this question by saying, “Evil exists and bad things happen because God has given us free will. While this sounds sensible, it doesn’t solve the problem of evil because it doesn’t address the fact that many bad or evil things occur as a result of natural disasters that typically “just happen.”

So where does this leave us? While pondering this question, this phrase popped into my mind: “Nature just is, but human nature isn’t?” What do I mean by this?

I mean to say, “nature is both evil (awful might be more accurate) and good” (Or, nature is neither.) Thus, we might say, “nature is (simply) what it is – a structure of God’s creation that permits both what we call good and bad or evil things to happen.

On the other hand, “human nature isn’t simply what it is,” because we can make choices, good or bad, life-giving or life-taking. And, we can change; we can make better – or worse – decisions that either enhance or thwart what’s good. Another way of saying this is that our choices matter – sometimes even with respect to nature itself – because they make a difference in the amount of good – or evil – in the world.

Ultimately, we can ignore or address “the problem of evil.” But, regardless of whether we answer its question to our satisfaction or not, we can simply live a life of more faithfulness – making choices that maximize goodness and minimize what’s bad or evil.

Lent is a time for journeying toward Easter not so much to answer theological questions as faith-related, moral questions. So, it is, on the coming Sundays before Easter, we’ll continue to consider our stewardship of sin by addressing what may separate us from doing more good with our lives. I hope you can join us.

Blessings of the Lenten Season,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
Having been away for two weeks, I haven’t yet attended our Wednesday night study group during Lent. But I have been reading what attendees have been discussing in this year’s UCC Lenten Devotional, “Into the Deep.” Have you?

If you haven’t, you’re missing out on some thoughtful reflections that can help you prepare for Easter. One example is Rev. Vince Amlin’s reflection entitled, “Are you Chicken?” It’s based on Luke 13:31-32 & 34-35. This text describes the moment when some Pharisees informed Jesus that Herod intended to kill him. To them, Jesus said, “Tell that fox, I am casting out demons and performing cures, and in three days I’ll finish my work.” Then, he cries out to all: “Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

Of this text, Amlin suggests we’re often so “seduced” by the comforting metaphor of Jesus as a mother hen that we miss his challenge and “take our eye off the fox.” In other words, we don’t name and confront the sources of evil in our lives – evil which sometimes lurks within us and sometimes in others – especially in those to whom we give too much power.

The ultimate point here is this: those who follow Jesus are called to identify and take on evil despite any fears they harbor because they are held securely by Jesus’ – and God’s – love. The Lenten question is: to what degree will we trust in this love and set the stage for Easter’s coming?

Blessings of Faith,
Pastor Ed