Moderator's Memos

Silence, Gratitude, and Praise

I usually sit down to write my Moderator’s Memo on Sunday evening and then finish it up on Monday evening. This week was no different and I was reflecting on Pastor Ellen’s sermon about “Why Church?” and, in particular, “Why OUR Church?”. For me, it was a rather logical extension from my last Moderator’s Memo on Being Grateful.

But then Monday morning Pastor Ellen shared this post from the Clergy Coaching Network on our Cleveland Park

Read More

Being Grateful

Last week, Pastor Ellen shared on our church’s Facebook page a striking visual with the message “What if today we were just grateful for everything.” I was thinking of that this past Sunday, as we held our Midyear Congregational Meeting, which gave us the opportunity to get an update on our congregational goals, accomplishments, and plans for the future.
 
Reflecting on the meeting and on the midyear committee reports, I thought about what I am grateful for

Read More

“And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.” – Mark 10:16 (NIV)

After our Children’s Sunday in May, I wrote my Moderator’s Memo about our wonderful and amazing group of children here at Cleveland Park Congregational. That Sunday was a fun and joyful experience and what a pleasure it was to see our children so full of life. The images are with me still.
 
Increasingly, however, those images compete with other

Read More

Summer Reflections

August has arrived, which means that summer is two-thirds over. For those of us who love summer, that can be a rather unsettling thought. So, I choose to focus instead on the fact that we still have one third of summer left to go – still more time to spend with family and friends, indulge in at least an occasional lazy summer afternoon, carve out a couple of days at the beach, catch up on that “to read”

Read More

“The Power of [Our] Words”

While Pastor Ellen is on vacation this month, we have the opportunity to hear our July Preaching Fellow, Kerwin Webb, as he considers the concept of legacies. This past Sunday’s sermon focused on the legacy of words, in particular “The Power of [Our] Words.”
 
During the sermon, I was reminded of the old adage: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” This was quite a popular taunt on

Read More