January 25, 2015
by Reverend Wayne Arnason and
Layne Richard-Hammock
Director of Lifespan Faith Development
This month's "Church and Chapel" Sunday service for all ages will use the new format we're trying. Families are invited to come to the Sanctuary to begin the service together. Part way through, the K-6th grade children leave for a Children's Chapel service, led by Layne Richard-Hammock during the sermon segment of the sanctuary service. Youth from 7th -12th grades will join Rev. Rolenz for a program in Rooms 1-2. Childcare is available for infants to Pre-K.
The sermon will be a reflection on importance of early childhood education to the formation of our lives, and introduce some of the questions being asked in an evaluation of our own religious education program regarding how we can better integrate bias-reduction and anti-racist learning techniques .
January 18, 2015
by Reverend Kathleen Rolenz
This fall we watched a nation unravel under the on-going
evidence of racism that permeates almost every aspect of
our civic life. Protesters held up signs that said “Black Lives
Matter,” to which some, replied “Yes, but all lives matter.”
On this Sunday when we honor the legacy of Dr. King, we
also have to look at the still unfinished work or undoing
racism, with the hope that one day there will be no need for
us to remind one another that “black lives matter.”
January 11, 2015
by Reverend Kathleen Rolenz
Throughout history women have left their mark on culture and innovations, but for centuries they remained largely invisible. Women often still receive less pay for equal work. Women and girls are exploited for slave labor or sex traf-ficking. Despite many gains in women’s rights, there are times when I want to call up my government and say “act as if women’s lives matter!” How would our culture and coun-try be different if women’s lives mattered more to lawmak-ers and those in positions of power? The Outreach Offering will be received for The Renee Jones Empowerment Center for their programs to combat human trafficking. The Free Spirit Band will play I Hope originally recorded by the Dixie Chicks.
January 4, 2015
by Reverend Kathleen Rolenz and
Reverend Reverend Wayne Arnason
Even though Thomas Jefferson wrote into the Declaration of Independence, the statement that "all men are created equal," he certainly would have hesitated about whether that meant that all lives mattered equally, under the laws of the new republic, or in the ways that different lives express themselves culturally. We will begin our month of exploring the dangerous belief that all men were created equal - what it used to mean and what it would mean if we really believed it.
