From Foreside Community Church

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9 As we hear the story of Jesus's Transfiguration, we are tempted to define and limit the life of the spirit to experiences of wonder and amazement… but when a voice says, “Listen to him,” Jesus speaks with a life that does not revel in mountaintop experiences, but goes down into the heart of all that may be hurting and broken in our world. The post Beloved – The Spoken Life appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Isaiah 58:1-12Guest preachers The Rev. Jeff Logan from Grace-Street Ministry and Matt Brown from Hope Squad offer the wisdom they have found with our neighbors who live unhoused. The prophet Isaiah calls the people to this worshipful way, finding the face of God and the invitation to true worship in caring presence. The post The Fast We Choose appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12Jesus proclaims blessings in “the Beatitudes,” telling of God’s closeness and care for those in the midst of struggle… and and the call to us all to do the same, drawing near to those who yearn for peace, righteousness, and comfort in times of mourning. The post The Proximity of Blessing appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Matthew 4:12-23“What are you prepared to do?” As Jesus takes on a new chapter in his ministry and begins to call disciples to follow in his way, we wonder at the gifts and skills we bring with us into the ministry of the church, and the challenge to use those gifts to “escalate in love.” The post Coming Attractions appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Psalm 40:1-11In a time of deep divisions, the psalms can tempt us into a painful duality of those who we would call friends and enemies. Yet they may also call us into that life giving tension of naming injustice clearly and holding out faith in God’s reconciling and redeeming power. The post Old Book, New Song appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12Wise ones come from away seeking a new king. They get lost, because they go looking in a palace and in a capital. When they find a child born among animals, they—and we—are left to ponder, what if nations came to pay homage to a poor child? What if nations sought to live together in such a way that all children might be welcomed as the beloved of God? The post An International Incident appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Lessons and Carols As we tell of the many characters of Christ’s birth stories, we recognize that none of them find God with Us through a path they would expect. As we come to celebrate perfect love come down, we pray to release all our expectations of perfection in our celebrations, in the season, in our lives… we find that God has come to meet us where and how we are. What Joy to the World! The post Finding the Way – Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 1:46-55The Church has adapted the story of Mary’s reflection on the coming of her child, Jesus. We say she sang these words. What changes when we sing a story of God’s love? How can the song hold our deepest hopes, even when we cannot? The post Re-Creating Love appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10As our children share Christ’s birth with us in our annual Christmas Pageant, we wonder at what gifts come to us as we turn this holy story over to our youngest members of the church. As they bring creativity, the unexpected, the silly, and wondrous to life with Jesus… how are we changed? How are we invited back into this story to hear it fresh again and again? The post Re-Creating Joy appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10What would our ancestors—and what do we—mean when we say that “a little child shall lead us” into radical visions of peace? It may be that we need to return to curiosity and wonder of that age to find our common good. The post Re-Creating Peace appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5In a time of wars, and rumors of wars, Isaiah tells of a time when weapons will be remade into tools of life and life giving. If we would seek the same, how do we warm the forge of hope? The post Re-Creating Hope appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 6:25-35The 5000 whom Jesus fed are looking for him. They are sure that he has made for them a sign of God's presence in the abundance of bread… but maybe? Maybe he has made a sign in a community of 5000 in which there is enough for all to be fed. How can ... Read more The post Believing Bread appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25 The prophet Isaiah tells of a new coming new creation in which the hurts, conflicts, and grief of the world are no more. Interestingly, the prophetic word hinges on forgetting when so much of the people's relationship with God is a call to remembering. These words land tenderly for those who are ... Read more The post Forgetting Re-Creation appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 20:27-38Confronted by a question about resurrection to a life that feels anything but freeing, Jesus reminds us that resurrection is liberation… and encouragement to live for that freedom in this life. The post Liberation After-Living appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Ephesians 1:11-23As we give thanks for the saints of our community—and of our lives—we reflect on the inheritance we receive through Christ… and the ways God, and others, pass on light and love through the generations. The post Inheritance (All Saints) appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Joel 2:23-32The prophet Joel speaks a word of transformation and hope. After a swarm of locusts consumes the past, present, and future labors of the people… God promises to plant a new beginning: visions and dreams for the people… past, present, and future. How can we, in all our generations and ages, participate in ... Read more The post Dreams and Visions appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 18:1-8, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5Jesus and the early church pass on encouragement to persist… in prayer, in calling for justice, and in responding to those calls for justice. How does the practice of prayer, even—or even especially—the prayers that we do not immediately sense an answer to shape us for the in-breaking of God's ... Read more The post Keep Coming Back appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 17:11-19Community can often spring up in times of challenge… so Jesus finds 10 lepers who have found a place of belonging. Yet, when they are healed, division springs up again. How can we live into—and offer thanks and praise to God for—communal health that can last in times that are bad… and good? The post The Way of Healing appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20 The Rev. Dr. Marisa Laviola of the Maine Conference, United Church of Christ, joins us to reflect on the many names in which we call for God, and the many ways God calls us each by name in ministry and beloved community. The post Many Names – The Rev. Dr. Marisa Laviola appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1The prophet Jeremiah weeps over the desolation of his land and of his people. How can we learn the prophetic role of lament, and even despair, in making room for restoration and new life? As we face a rapidly changing climate and changing ecosystem, how do we face our own grief at what ... Read more The post The Fountain of Tears appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 15:1-10Jesus tells two parables about things getting lost, and maybe invites us to consider why we put a moral lens on that, and not a communal one. As we seek right relationship with the earth, and face up to the ways in which our living on and use of the earth has had ... Read more The post Looking for the Lost appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:15-20As we begin a journey through The Season of Creation, we hear Moses invite the people of Israel to “Choose life,” joining in covenant with God, and perhaps with the land which they are to inhabit. How shall we choose life for ourselves but for our world as well? What covenant are we ... Read more The post Choose Life appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 14:1, 7-14Jesus attends a dinner and notices the temptation to seek places of honor and power close to the head of the table. How might we, even as the church, have been a part of the same sorts of temptations? How can we be a church that gives up our seat at the ... Read more The post The Guest List appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Isaiah 58:9b-14The prophet Isaiah invites us to look to the foundations of our spiritual practices: is it enough to personally keep the sabbath? Or should we strive to create a community in which all are seen as created in the image of God and worthy of rest? The post Building Rest appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 12:49-56The Rev. Kate Dalton joins us in worship and asks us, “How do we take the Bible seriously?” and, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” As we read a story of a Jesus who says that he has come to “bring division,” how do we engage, rather than avoid, the tensions ... Read more The post Guest Sermon – The Rev. Kate Dalton appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Hebrews 1-3, 8-16What we now call the Letter to the Hebrews began as a sermon to a people setting off on a new way, reinterpreting scripture and story through a new lens of faith. So we hear of Abraham and Sarah leaving home for an uncertain future in God's promise. It is a promise ... Read more The post Where We Are Going appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 12:13-21What are we “invested” in? As Jesus tells a story about a man with a lot of stuff, but apparently no one to share it with, we might ask how we “store up” connection and community which yield life, rather than the hungers of isolation. The post Self-Serving Storage appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Galatians 5:1, 13-25As we prepare for our annual traditions in which we use the word “freedom” an awful lot, what might that word mean for the people of the church? The Apostle Paul's answer might invite us to move beyond the freedom “from,” or freedom “to,” but towards freedom “for” the flourishing and life ... Read more The post Lawe Abiding appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 8:26-39Jesus meets a man who has been living cast out by his community, named by the demons that have plagued him. In freeing him, Jesus helps us to see that the man's state may have had as much to do with the fear and order of those that cast him out as it ... Read more The post In Our Right Mind appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 16:12-15, Psalm 8 In many places in our scripture and tradition we have been tempted to view creation as a hierarchy of power over. As Jesus prays for his disciples, and as we ponder the mysteries of the Trinity, how might we be freed for great love and life by remembering that we ... Read more The post Trinity: How to Live IN the World appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Acts 2: 1-21Though we often are fascinated by the “live translation” of the Pentecost story in which the disciples suddenly can be understood by diverse peoples, we sometimes miss the content of their speech: the mighty acts of God which they witnessed in their lives with Jesus. In seeking belonging and understanding, how can ... Read more The post What We're Talking About appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 17:20-26Jesus prays before he parts with his disciples. As we pray over those who are graduating, we share in his prayer… that those who go out into the world from our community may show who they are, who we are, and who God is in the unity of their love. The post One appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Acts 16:9-15We join Paul in meeting Lydia, a new and faithful friend who welcomes him into her home, and transforms the church for all the years to come. What small acts of welcome and hospitality may yet bring Christ even more clearly into our lives and the world? The post Welcomed appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Acts 11:1-18The Apostle Peter shares a vision that has led him to widen the welcome of the earliest church. Today, we are called to do the same: deepening our understanding of what is core to our faith while also welcoming difference and diversity as a testament to God's creative powers. The post Unhindered appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Acts 9:36-43We meet Tabitha, an early saint of the church who died surrounded by widows whose lives she touched. As Peter comes to restore her to life, he sees, and we see today, an invitation into an economy of grace and compassion that may yet call us into Christ's new life together. The post Woven appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 21:1-19The disciples, in the mystery and uncertainty of the days after the ressurection, find themselves drawn back to what they knew: their old lives of fishing. Yet Jesus appears to them, offers them a more filling meal than what has been, and calls them into what will be. For us as the church, ... Read more The post Fed and Feeding appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 20:19-31The disciple Thomas misses a resurrection appearance of Jesus, and can't quite believe the news. Is Thomas's yearning to touch and know Jesus a failure of faith? Or could he be a model of drawing near enough to others to touch the places that have been pained or wounded, and being willing to ... Read more The post Believing the Body appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 20:1-18 Easter's resurrection and new life are often told in flashes of light and blaring trumpets… but the Easter story begins in a garden when all is quiet, and waiting, or merely hoping for growth and life: seeds growing in darkness. Just as those seeds need time and care, God's resurrection promises and ... Read more The post Seeds and Gardeners appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 20:1-18 Our Confirmation class meets a moment of change alongside Mary Magdalene on Easter morning. Like Mary meeting Jesus by the tomb, they will be invited to look for the presence of the risen Christ with new eyes, and to remain open to the transformations of life, relationship, and calling that will lead ... Read more The post Confirmation: To See and to Hold appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 19:28-40, Philippians 2:5-11 Palm Sunday invites us to see the two parades: Jesus's triumphant entry and Pontius Pilate's military show of force. Through the Holy Week story, it may look like one of those parades was the victor and the other lost everything… Yet Easter will come, and with it a reversal of ... Read more The post Cross Words: Victory † Loss – Palm Sunday appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 12:1-8, Philippians 3:4b-14 In the Gospel of John, Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus with costly ointment, a ritual for death, and a gesture of love and care… one familiar to her, having recently buried her brother Lazarus. The two of them share this intimate scene as those touched by and close with death. ... Read more The post Cross Words: Death † Resurrection appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32We explore the parable of the prodigal son: a father's unconditional love and two sons' self-imposed limitations on that love. How can we break free from self-limiting stories and embrace God's grace and forgiveness? In part, the cross may be a place and symbol to which Christ takes our old stories to ... Read more The post Cross Words: Reconcile † Regret appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 13:1-9, Isaiah 55: 1-9 Jesus confronts that old tendency to blame victims of tragedy for their misfortune, and shows us that we are all equally vulnerable. On the cross, Jesus shows us the end of all this chain of scarcity, and calls to us repent from that “logic” of suffering to the wonder ... Read more The post Cross Words: Abundance † Hunger appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18, Philippians 3:17-4:1Promises liberate us to collaborate and explore new frontiers. The covenant promise between God and Abram creates a bond that will carry blessing to a strange new land, and throughout generations. But promises also ask us for us to live into trust, and so the new covenant affirmed in Jesus's ... Read more The post Cross Words: Promise † Trust appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Romans 10:8b-13, Luke 4:1-13This Lent, we explore the many meanings and tensions of the cross. Tested in the wilderness, Jesus confronts not just the devil, but our own tendency to seek and wield power over… In freely giving these things away, we find the true power of God. The post Cross Words: Gifted † Tested appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10We begin the season of Lent with the reminder of all that is broken… in our world, in our lives. We know the fragility of human life, but trust that God can hold all the dust and debris we bring… and, in fact, can use that dust to create ... Read more The post Ash Wednesday: The Crack in Everything appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)On a special day for our congergation, we hear about a high holy day high on a mountaintop for Jesus and his disciples. Like the disciples, we may be tempted to linger in the glow, but Jesus calls us down the mountain and into the fullness of human life, and to bring ... Read more The post The Way: Down and Out appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scriptures: Genesis 45:3-11, 15, 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50 Joseph and the Apostle Paul tell stories of grace and forgiveness, and how they may lead us into resurrection life. These stories are not simply important for us as individuals who may harm or be harmed by one another, but in telling God's greater cosmic story of ... Read more The post Coming Back to Life appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13The Rev. Cheryl Anderson joins us, and invites us to join with the church of Corinth in the important practices of attention and love which can draw us deeper into relationship with God, even with those with whom we disagree the most. The post Loving People We Don't Like appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13Paul's metaphor of the church as a body, emphasizing interdependence and mutuality, challenges the hierarchical structures of his time. This understanding of unity and diversity, grounded in love, may be what is necessary in this moment. The post A Place in the Choir appeared first on Foreside Community Church.

Scripture: John 2:1-11The Rev. Joan Murray reads and responds to a sermon from Pastor Geoff… When Jesus starts his ministry with a miracle at a wedding, is it small or frivolous in comparison with the problems of the world? Maybe it's meaningful to see God's salvation start to work itself out in everyday celebrations and ... Read more The post The First Signs appeared first on Foreside Community Church.