Cleveland Park Congregational UCC
Nurturing love of God and love of neighbor in the world
I invite you to read my bi-weekly newsletters below for reflections on Sunday worship and updates on congregational life. I hope, and believe, you will also enjoy my Sermons. I look forward to seeing you and sharing worship with you.
- Blessings,
Pastor Ellen
Here are some spiritual resources that I find myself returning to time and again. I hope you will also enjoy them.
UCC Feed Your Spirit
Bite in the Apple
Patheos.com
The Listening Hermit
RickMorley.com
Larry Patten.com
Dear Church Community,
Each year, I take off the month of July, and this year I’ll be on staycation from July 4-August 2. This is such an important period of rest and restoration for me, and I’m grateful to the church for making it possible. If you have questions about programming or member care during this time, please email Meg at info@cpcchurch.org, and she’ll connect you with the appropriate lay leader. If you have a pastoral emergency, don’t
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Dear Church Community,
This year, the Summer Solstice occurred last Saturday, June 20. And what a strange summer it is! We’re still Zooming for worship, kids’ camps have been cancelled, many of us continue working from home, and, of course, most vacation plans have been altered or put on hold.
A few weeks ago, there was much talk about “reopening,” and, in fact, many regions (including our own) are in one phase or another of this process. Yet, this
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Dear Church Community,
This Sunday, we’ll “take two” on the Joint Worship Service we’d originally planned for May 17. I’m excited to gather with four other UCC congregations to focus on debt relief (a very biblical theme!). The Zoom link is below, and you can access the worship bulletin here.
Former member, David Finnegan-Hosey, will preach in the context of his new book, Grace is a Preexisting Condition: Faith, Systems, and Mental Healthcare, followed by a book talk
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Many thanks to everyone who has been taking action—through protest, prayer, private conversation, financial contribution, and personal confession—as we work to create God’s Kingdom (kin-dom) of Love, Peace, and Justice on earth.
Last Sunday, Grandon Purnell, our church’s Teen Group Leader and a member of First Congregational UCC, gave our sermon, A Change Is Gonna Come. Preaching from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (“for everything, there is a season”), Grandon challenged us to consider this time of change and the ways we
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Dear Church Community,
My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.
– Adrienne Rich
As I read these lines, I see they could be misconstrued. To be clear, I’m not (nor was Adrienne Rich) overly concerned about material objects that can be replaced or repaired. Rather, I’m moved by all the lives lost, thrown
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