"No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here."
First Congregational United Church of Christ is an Open & Affirming community
SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:30 AM
NURSERY AND SUNDAY SCHOOL 10:30 AM
From Pastor Jay:
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday. Understanding the Trinity can be challenging. Come and contemplate the dance of the Trinity and what that means for us.
From Karoline Lewis, Associate Professor of Preaching and the Marbury E. Anderson Chair in Biblical Preaching, Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minn.:
There are a lot of binitarian believers out there. Even unitarian. As if Jesus can be extricated from the God of the Bible. As if Jesus can be separated from the God of Scripture who could not NOT be in relationship and therefore calls to Abram. As if Jesus showed up and erased the history of God’s relationship with God’s people. Relationship, you see, is rather inconvenient truth about God, especially when God is simply a vehicle for your own power and the way of Jesus is justification for decisions meant only to keep your own power. “Jesus is the only way” is an anti-trinitarian statement. Any kind of speech or act that even hints at antisemitism is anti-trinitarian. Any kind of belief system that asserts a rapture theology with deliverance for true believers with the rest of us sorry souls left to wage battle on evil is anti-trinitarian. A millenarian mindset, a binary in its insistence that some will be saved and others will not, is anti-trinitarian. So yes, the Trinity does matter -- it matters a lot. Without the Trinity, people can make claims that justify the hatred of entire peoples and call them animals. Without the Trinity, people can validate their leadership as a manifestation of a self-fulfilled prophecy. Without the Trinity, churches that claim to be church will carry on with self-centered, naval-gazing programs, eschewing hospitality and decency, collaboration and community. An expectation that we experience the love of God in relationships that are good and whole and solid and loving.
The Sanctuary Choir and Mark provide music; Roxanne is liturgist; and I ask the children where they can find God.
First Congregational Church of Prescott, United Church of Christ, is an Open and Affirming congregation. We include all persons without regard to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender identity, faith, marital status, or personal ability. We welcome all to share the celebrations and challenges of our congregation. No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.
