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
I’ll be on sabbatical through Sunday, September 25, and I’m deeply grateful for this opportunity to rest and rejuvenate. My sabbatical theme is What Next? and I encourage us all to consider this question while I’m away.
Rev. Aubra Love, our Sabbatical Pastor, will preach most Sundays, and the Worship Committee will cover the rest with some wonderful preaching from our congregation. Please give Rev. Love a warm welcome this Sunday; you can read her short bio here.
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Easter Greetings,
Yes, it’s still Easter, the Season of Resurrection and New Life. And there’s been a great deal of Life happening at our church the past couple of months. As the children’s song goes: The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.
Our Children and Youth have enjoyed a wonderful springtime of events. From filling cleanup buckets for Church World Service to a festive Easter Egg Hunt to an amazing Art Fest, there’s been ample meaningful fun. To
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Happy Easter!
In Christian tradition, Easter is a season that lasts until Pentecost (June 5). This year I’m especially glad we have fifty days to celebrate resurrection and new life.
One way we can do this is by practicing a more embodied faith. With its emphasis on incarnation, Christianity is, at core, a religion that embraces physical being. Yet, far too often, our tradition has spiritualized human existence and denied or rejected human bodies in this world.
As our congregation
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Greetings this Holy Week,
As we progress from Palm Sunday to Easter, I’m mindful of the many facets of life this story mirrors: friendship and betrayal, suffering and joy, cruelty and love, hope and despair. In one short week, Jesus goes from the “high” of entering Jerusalem, cheered by his followers, to state execution on a cross. But that’s not the end! Though the powers that be try over and over to kill the spirit of freedom, crush the
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Spring Greetings,
In like a lamb, out like a lion. March is typically a month of extremes, and this year we’ve seen it all: snow, heat, rain, sleet, sun, and temperature changes over 30 degrees in 24 hours. Yet the cherry trees and daffodils still bloom! Early spring flowers seem to have a special ability to withstand whatever weather arises. I’m grateful for their hardiness and choosing to model my own resilience after theirs.
Last Sunday, I preached on the
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