Messages from the Pastor

Where the Sidewalk Ends

7/28/2022

Pastor Paul

My four plus years living in Plantsville afforded me the luxury of the Farmington Linear Trail (the old Farmington Valley railroad) where I could do my daily six-mile rapid walk. From my house I would walk in two minutes to the trail then go in either direction on paved and mostly flat surface. Other than the cyclists who rode way too fast and would come up from behind, and pass with no warning, it was a great place to get in my walking workout. My new locale, Branford, is not quite as accommodating.

When I leave my “sandwiched between I-95 and U.S. 1” Condo the path of least resistance is to turn left and head up the rolling terrain of Brushy Hill Road northward toward North Branford. After I initially go beyond the Cedar Street exit and entrance to I-95 the sidewalk is lots of uphill. It leads to past a school and a park (where I do four loops around the soccer/baseball fields), and then continue north hazarding one crosswalk where the sidewalk moves from west side to east. Once on the east side I continue north until – the sidewalk ends.

At that point a decision must be made: stop and turn around for the return trip or continue north at a point where the road has very little shoulder, gets curvy and hilly and is frequented by vehicles travelling a bit faster than the 30-mile speed limit. Turning around is safe, known and provides sure footing. Continuing on involves risk and challenge. Today I needed to get in slightly more than 1/10 of a mile to hit my three-mile mark. So, I decided to forge ahead. I discovered a side street, a beautiful bed of the largest marigolds, and was greeted by a friendly elderly woman sitting in the shade of her porch (recalling my earlier meditation about air conditioning!)

I also discovered that most of the walk is treacherous and perilous for walking. So, every day I will have to choose – safety and familiarity or plunging ahead into the risky, less familiar. Ah, choices!

As my short time here at North Guilford concludes and I set sight on the place where my sidewalk of fulltime ministry ended I wrestle with the challenge -- stay put or push onward.

Who knows what I will do but pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, my attentiveness to it, and the courage to take the correct steps.

Shalom

Holding On

7/21/2022

Pastor Paul

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,[c] “Rabbouni!” (Which means Teacher.) 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’
(John 20:16-17)

On Easter morning according to the Gospel of John, Mary is at the tomb and sees Jesus but doesn’t recognize him. Thinking he’s the gardener she asks what he may have done with Jesus’ body. When Jesus says her name, she immediately recognizes him and reaches out to grab hold. But Jesus has to get on with his mission in his new reality. Mary wants to preserve the way it was. She is not ready to move on.

Being a child of the “Greatest Generation” I grew up with early television. You know – the kind dependent upon weather, the proper position of the rabbit ears, the proper direction of the roof aerial, where you lived in the country, etc. In those early days most of us were lucky to receive five major networks clearly enough to view them through the snow, fog and crackles of T.V. in the 50’s. The offerings were limited but there are some I remember well. One - Your Show of Shows – introduced me to Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Howie Morris, Mel Brooks, Nanette Fabray and Carl Reiner (and behind the scenes Steve Allen, Woody Allen, Neil Simon). I have loved them all ever since and their zany antics still make me smile (and often LOL!)

I have read much material about and by most of these pioneers and comic geniuses. In Carl Reiner’s I Remember Me he shares this story about the birth of his son Lucas Joseph.

I shall never forget that day and the heart-stopping remark Estelle and I heard the obstetrician make as he examined our newborn for the first time. He said, “This boy will never walk.” Fortunately, the doctor noticed how his remark sobered the infant’s exultant parents, and he quickly added, “I meant that he’ll never walk, because he’ll always be running!” This guy’s an athlete! Look at him kick those little legs!”

As you will see, that doctor proved to be prophetic.

At the same hospital, three days earlier, Barbara Bain Landau gave birth to Susie, a beautiful baby girl. Martin Landau and I had the experience of standing together outside the hospital nursery window and staring proudly at the newest addition to our families. Lying side by side in two plastic containers were one-day-old Lucas and four-day-old Susie.

Seven and a half months after their first meeting, the two diaper-clad pals were crawling about on the carpeted living-room floor of our house in North Alta Drive. Marty, Barbara, Estelle and I stood by and watched as the tots crawled from the center of our sunken living room toward the two steps that led up to the foyer. Just as they reached the steps, something unexpected took place – Lucas stood up! All of us saw him standing up, and all were properly amazed. He just stood there and behaved as if it were natural for him to be upright. Susie, who was sitting just below him, reached up, grabbed a handful of his diaper, and pulled him down to where he belonged, sitting on the floor with her. Undaunted, Lucas stood up again and took two unsteady steps before Susie pulled him back down. Neither tot seemed to be upset. They were playing a new game they had invented: “I stand up, walk a step, and you pull me down!”

How many times like Mary, or Susie are we grabbing hold of someone or something in our lives that we are afraid of losing? People around us change and move in new directions and we are challenged to decide if our need to hold on is about them – or us. Both Susie and Mary were not ready for the new reality Jesus and Lucas were presenting. Lucas was willing to wait around until Susie could accompany him. Jesus had to leave but with the promise that Mary would be fine.

Lucas and Susie are friends to this day. And we, like Mary discover that newness blooms around us like the lilies at Easter because Jesus beckons us onward.

Prayer Tactics

7/14/2022

Pastor Paul

(I had neglected to write something for this week and the deadline came crashing down. I am grateful for Joan Bel Geddes and together this is what we concocted.)

Surely it isn’t the most sensible tactic, when you want favors from a male, to keep telling him you doubt that he’s smart enough or nice enough to give you what you’re asking for! Instead of arguing with and acting suspicious of God, I should probably try to flatter God and get on God’s good side. . .on the other hand, that wouldn’t do any good, actually, because they say God can read our hearts and knows all of our hidden secrets. So, if I pretended to have more faith and love and hope than I actually do have, God would know perfectly well that I was faking.

That kind of phony prayer would be useless. That really would be self-delusion, as distinguished from real prayer. (Hmmm? Have I reached the conclusion that real prayer is not self-delusion? Maybe I’m beginning to understand something important!)

The nation that claims loyalty to God is chastised in Amos, Chapter 5 for the ways that they have ignored the needs of the poor, the marginalized, the vulnerable and how the powerful have abused their status for their own benefit. God will have none of it:

I hate, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

If it’s true that God hates hypocrisy more than God hates almost anything, then it’s good that I am being honest with God and not giving “false worship.” You can’t honor Truth with lies.

Oft Asked Question ~ Part Two

7/7/2022

Pastor Paul

Perhaps God is more interested in having us learn how to use, intelligently and creatively, the freedom and knowledge we are given than God is in protecting us from our errors. (When a parent or teacher is unwilling to let children risk failure she/he prevents them from ever doing anything important on their own and in fact, stifles learning.)

Freedom and power and knowledge are glorious things, but dangerous too. They can (and are often) misused. They entail risks. Are they worth the risks involved? God seems to think so! Certainly, people who have been deprived of them think so. Anyway, everything worth doing involves the willingness to take risks and the real possibility of failure. Even babies, as they take their first steps, have to be brave enough to accept the possibility that they may fall down and hurt themselves, or they would never learn to walk or to standing up and try again.

Please give me the courage I need, God. And stamina. And perseverance. And faith.

Oft Asked Question ~ Part One

6/30/2022

Pastor Paul

(With thanks to Joan Bel Geddes)
The question: “Why is there such a thing as evil?” is really much too big a question for any one answer to explain. There are so many different kinds of evil – physical (pain, sickness); emotional (sorrow, fear, anger, resentment); moral and spiritual (bigotry, selfishness, crime, hate, sin) – and each of them, and each example of them, has different causes.

Some evils are simply due to the fact that we are finite creatures living in a still unfinished, evolving world. The limitations on our understanding and abilities make us suffer. For example, the diseases we haven’t yet learned to conquer, and the injustices we haven’t yet learned (or firmly enough decided) to prevent. Those are challenges we haven’t yet surmounted. But as humanity (both the individual human being and the human race as a whole) grows and becomes wiser, such evils can be diminished, even abolished. (Can be but might not be –because we are free to do things or not do things, and evils can’t be abolished until people are willing to do what is necessary to abolish them.)

Our love and knowledge are still very incomplete (“now we see in a glass dimly”), but maybe that isn’t the fault of love or knowledge (in short, God’s fault). Love and knowledge must be discovered, appreciated, understood, and applied before happiness can be complete.

Maybe that’s why we’re here: to learn to do that.

Oh No, I Insist!

6/23/2022

Pastor Paul

When I was interim pastor in Westport at the Saugatuck Congregational Church they had a summer tradition of moving their 8:30 am chapel service to the beach where they held a service in cooperation with another UCC church and the United Methodist Church. While I loved it because we rotated preaching responsibilities I was not a fan. I am not a beach person, didn’t appreciate the sand, having to have two sets of clothes (one beach suitable and one for the 10:00 am service in the air conditioned sanctuary), competing with the sound of boats, gulls, picnickers (in a place where to be heard already required a LOUD voice) and the beating sun causing salty sweat to roll into my eyes. Did I mention I was not a fan? My co-pastor colleague was attempting to get our involvement to cease. He argued that we had air conditioning and it was far more comfortable to worship in the church. I agreed largely because the folk who attended at 10:00 am were like me not fans of heat, sweat or sand, had mobility or hearing issues and, like me, find the place of worship is important to our sense of sacredness. I love churchy places. I have rarely found outdoors worship – no matter the specifics -- to support worship, lovely and interesting though they may be. But for the two summers that I was in Westport I did those services and then happily rushed to the church for my “real” worship.

I happened to mention my feelings regarding the beach services to a member of the church who was a regular attender and donor of a sound system because he found hearing a challenge at the beach without it. He was a bit taken aback by my lack of enthusiasm for something he found so wonderful. Why did I do them if I disliked them so much? And therein is my point.

I did those services week after week not because I liked them or because when I wasn’t preaching I didn’t wish I was anywhere else. Week after week I did them because he and others did love them and to be supportive of them. I did them because there are times in life when it is right and good to do something not because I want/need/like to do it but because it’s important and meaningful for someone else who is important to me. Although I get a much fuller sense of God in a “church building” than on the beach doesn’t absolve me of the demand to be gracious out of love. Just because music doesn’t always “do it for me” doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it for the fact that people I love, are moved by it.

It seems that our society is moving away from the altruism that is required for communal and faithful living. So much seems about me and what I want. Jesus is always challenging us to love God and self and neighbor equally. In Mathew he instructs that if a neighbor demands your coat, give him your shirt also. That is a requirement of our faith to value the needs and sensibilities of others as highly as our own. It’s an embodiment of the traffic stalemate that often happens when I reach an intersection at the same time as another driver and we both indicate to the other that they should proceed. I always chuckle to myself when that happens, respecting another and having it returned and I wonder why all of life can’t be like that?

We should insist as Jesus does.

Gosh Darn Air Conditioner !

6/16/2022

Pastor Paul

A few years ago, I remember hearing an architectural anthropologist talking about something so obvious that it completely escaped my attention. However, upon hearing it I smacked my head with an “of course.” He was saying that one of the most significant changes to the sense of neighbor and neighborhood came with the advent of the air conditioner.

His point made me immediately flashback to stories my mother told me about growing up in the 1920’s in New York City, and matched by my experience growing up in Milford, Connecticut in the 1950-60’s. In the spring and summer weather when it was warm/hot most houses were uncomfortably warm, even with fans in the windows. In New York the stoop became the “comfortable room” and on a hot summer day/night stoops were crowded with people, streets filled with kids playing stickball, ringolevio, jump rope. People in multi-family New York apartments (my mom’s was a three-family house) often sat on the stoop with their housemates and folk from houses on either side, parents of playmates and others would gather to chat, share a drink, a little “nosh” and the local gossip. People knew one another, people knew everyone’s kids and their names. Recipes, opinions, tools, cups of sugar were shared, home maintenance tasks were discussed, and problems solved by the collective wisdom. They were an informal “block watch” before the term existed. They knew about and cared for one another. They got to know people, who like them were from foreign countries, spoke English through thick accents. And they learned about “the other” and they learned about their common longings, dreams, and struggles. They turned foreigners into friends.

It was repeated in 50-60’s Milford. Even the elderly couple next door and the one across the street were often porch (houses in Milford didn’t have stoops!) mates of my parents. All the people within shouting distance of my mom, knew our family. But slowly air conditioners began to appear, and the neighbors began to disappear. Now the cool comfort of the den lured my neighbors to relate to their television on a hot summer night rather than the families around them. We were one of the last to get an air conditioner – but so many had already disappeared it went virtually unnoticed. My dad preferred to stay in, my mom, a New Yorker at heart, continued to prefer to sit on the porch/stoop. But very few joined her. When she left that neighborhood in 2017 no one was on the porch and she knew the names of only a handful of the people on either side of her house.

The lawyer in Luke asks Jesus, “and who is my neighbor” because he doesn’t know. We sadly don’t either. The architectural anthropologist noted that our sense of community began to break down at that point and we are now a culture of folk who prefer being inside our own homes to being outside where others are. (I might add that I heard this analysis 25 years or more ago and the use of cell phones, internet, streaming services and Covid have compounded the issue.) Oh, the loss when we installed the new Fedders air conditioner!

Churches stopped stoop sitting a long time ago. We know folk inside the doors. We spend lots of time in the hallowed, sacred, traditional walls. We love our church home and are quite welcoming to folk who venture in. But we don’t spend a lot of time sitting on the porch, seeking out our neighbor, getting to know the folk around us and consequently creating a curiosity about what happens in our home. I am not just referring to those on Ledge Hill Road, but those on the street where we live. What do we know about our neighbors in other parts of Guilford, or Durham, or Branford or (agh) New Haven, Hartford or Waterbury? What do we know about our neighbors in Mexico, Somalia, Ukraine or Malaysia?

Too often our churches prefer living in the air conditioned comfort of our habitat and decline Jesus’ mandate to go out into the heat of life, where people cry out for a genuine engagement that leads to understanding, compassion, caring. We avoid going into the places that may make us sweat for the Gospel. And we therefore rob the world full of our neighbors of the joy of the Gospel of God’s love and we deprive ourselves of the fullness of life in getting to know and love those outside our doors.

We should try it – the air out there is rich with possibility. Anyone for a neighborhood game of stickball?

Knit 2, Purl 2 - Repeat

6/9/2022

Pastor Paul

In 1962, the year I turned 10, my Nanny (Rebecca – my maternal grandmother) who had been working her way through her nine grandchildren offering the chance to learn to knit – offered my cousin Leslie and me the opportunity. Despite my father’s rolling eyes and negative comments and the fact that my two older male cousins had shown zero interest, Leslie and I eagerly accepted. The four cousins who were older had taken to the art easily. Leslie and I thought it would be a cinch for us as well. What Nanny and we hadn’t taken into account was our handedness. Both Leslie and I were the only lefties in the entire family. She had an advantage in that she was actually ambidextrous with left handed leanings. I am a true lefty who according to my mother from the very beginning always reached for things with my left hand.

Leslie was able to adapt enough to learn the basics. But despite Nanny’s best attempts at reversing her handedness to accommodate mine it was a challenge all around. I just couldn’t get my fingers to do what my eyes saw my Nanny attempting to get her fingers to do in the reverse of her normal knitting method! Frustration won the day. My knitting career a blip on the screen.

Fast forward to 2016 when Barbara, a member of the Plantsville Congregational UCC Prayer Shawl Ministry and expert fabric artist, bored by the same prayer shawl knit with the same yarn to the same size and look, challenged the group to try a few new things. She publicized the start of a new group open to all knitters of all ability levels. Barbara – a retired Special Education teacher in Waterbury – was always someone who loved to teach. She got some of the women to join her and started them on some new projects. During a coffee hour one Sunday, three of us guys cornered Barb and started ribbing her: “Hey, what about the guys! “Where’s the equality?” “How come it’s only for women!” We all laughed – we were so proud of ourselves.

Barbara didn’t miss a beat. “You guys can join us – or do you want to have your own group?” We all looked at one another and her (with her cat swallowed the canary look that we would discover was a standard affect). She had called our bluff. We all started joking and then one of the guys said he was a lefty and that his wife won’t even try to show me how. The other man said, “I am left handed too!” “Ditto!” I added. Barb started to nervously laugh, “Well, it’ll be a challenge, but I am willing to give it a try.”

Well, when I retired four months ago, the Men’s Knitters (four of us known as the Knit Pickers) were still gathering for two hours every Monday afternoon. Sadly, our guru, instructor, cheerleader, risk taker, and dear friend Barb died in December of 2021 following heart surgery. She has left a tremendous hole in the fabric of my life. This Saturday will be her memorial service – a gathering of people on the lawn of the Plantsville Church when we will sit under a tent on the occasion of “National Knit in Public Day.” We will knit, talk, laugh, share, and honor Barbara who taught me not only how to knit but also demonstrated the blessing of how to knit people together.

Now, whenever I knit two, purl two I am in communion with Nanny, Barb, the Knit Pickers, and God. They are incorporated into every stitch, part of every project I keep, gift, or donate. They are all manifestations of love and therefore too valuable to hoard. Such love is a blessing that needs to be spread around – gifted to others.

(And by the way all three of the Knit Pickering lefty guys knit right handed much to Barbara’s relief!)

The Worst of the Seven?

6/2/2022

Pastor Paul

As a recent retiree I find myself in conversation with others who are “retired.” Most find this new phase of life challenging, provocative, exciting, relaxing. Occasionally, however, I have heard post-career living described as “awfully boring” or “deadly.”

I am perplexed by the concept of life as “boring/deadly” and one of my favorite author/theologians Frederick Buechner has this to say:
As ACEDIA [apathy, disinterest, inertia] BOREDOM is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. It deserves the honor.
You can be bored by virtually anything if you put your mind to it, or choose not to. You can yawn your way thorough Don Giovanni or a trip to the Grand Canyon or an afternoon with your dearest friend or a sunset. There are doubtless those who nodded off at the coronation of Napoleon or the trial of Joan of Arc or when Shakespeare appeared at the Globe in Hamlet or Lincoln delivered himself of a few remarks at Gettysburg. The odds are that the Sermon on the Mount had more than a few of the congregation twitchy and glassy-eyed.
To be bored is to turn down cold whatever life happens to be offering you at the moment. It is to cast a jaundiced eye at life in general including most of all your own life. You feel nothing is worth getting excited about because you are yourself not worth getting excited about.
To be bored is a way of making the least of things you often have a sneaking suspicion you need the most.
To be bored to death is a form of suicide.+

Oh Lord, I know that death comes to all of us, but it seems particularly sad when it is due to our own unwillingness to see life with eyes of wonder, amusement and involvement. Aid me in the gracious pursuit of everything gifted me, every moment I live – that I might be fully alive.

+ from Listening to Your Life, © 1992 Harper San Francisco, page 142

I Am Weary

5/26/2022

Pastor Paul

“I am weary with my groaning; every night I drench my bed; I melt my couch in tears.”1
Nineteen children, three adults killed at Ross Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. I am transported back to my desk in Trumbull, CT when on December 14, 2012, eight miles to the north, twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
I am weary. These nine and ten-year-old children robbed of the opportunity to watch the sunset, marvel at a great book, the taste of an ice cream sundae, the excitement of flipping the tassel at graduation, walking the aisle to wed the love of their lives, to experience their childrens’ birth, the joy of singing and dancing and sampling all that makes life worthwhile. And the adults who will not be present for the significant events in the lives of those left behind. The loss is unutterable, the grief profound.
I am weary. In moments of intense emotion in the face of such evil, all my emotional and biological systems short-circuit in a state of temporary chaos and disorientation. Our ability to shed tears is something unique to humans. They bind us together. They remind us that we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. At this moment all I can do is weep, sit with the numbness I feel and shed tears about which Augustine remarked: “The tears…streamed down, and I let them flow as freely as they would, making of them a pillow for my heart. On them it rested.”2
I utter an appeal to God : “Why don’t you do something.”
I am answered: “Why don’t YOU?”

1Psalm 6:7 (The Jewish Bible, Tanakh the Holy Scriptures, ©1985 Jewish Publication Society)
2Augustine, Confessions IX, 12

Smashing the Printer

5/19/2022

Pastor Paul

Last night as I was attempting to complete some tasks (paying bills and some research), I had one of those moments. A moment when I was transported back to March-May 2020. A moment that brought my gut back to the sensations I experienced on many a Sunday morning when my Zoom worship would go haywire. (And yes, on two occasions I did say “Oh, s*#t” clearly and distinctly into the microphone – for which I got more positive feedback than any sermon I have EVER preached.) Last night the modem was acting up, and then my computer kept freezing. I ran antivirus and scanned and went to YouTube on my phone looking for possible solutions. Things would resolve and then moments later unresolve and the final straw was the failure of the printer when I had a window of opportunity of everything else settling down. “Error” messages with blinking red lights are never, ever a good sign for the technologically challenged (who doesn’t have a 10-year-old handy to walk up and do her little magic!) I lost it, shut everything down and went to bed.

This morning, of course, I nervously fired up everything and signs of last night’s horror show are non-existent. Everything is running just as smoothly as it should. Go figure.

So, imagine the giggle I got when I went to the office and after putting down my things (including the offending laptop), noticed a book Pastor Judith owns We Pray With Her: Encouragement for All Women Who Lead.1 Though I don’t officially fully qualify I opened the book -- it opened to the following:
“A Prayer in the Midst of Technical Difficulties”
(Or God, I have already smashed the patriarchy today, please don’t make me smash the printer too!)
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me.” [Psalm 139 -- my personal favorite] But I wish you would search and know this machinery so I don’t have to pull out my hair trying to figure it out. And yes, I already tried shutting it down and turning it back on again. I have important things to do, and so I just need your wisdom dealing with technology so I can go about the rest of the day – because the day will not stop!
These frustrations build and build, and I don’t have the time or the energy for it. Help me transform this moment into a space for breath and reconnection. Soothe my aggravated nerves and help me see clearing in the midst of the mess. Amen. ---Rev. Shannon E. Sullivan

“O Lord, I am thankful that you made Pat sleep through the whole episode, and you didn’t let me smash the printer! But next time could you send me the message I need before I need it?” Amen ---Rev. Paul Goodman

1We Pray With Her: Encouragement for All Women Who Lead, copyright ©2018 Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN.

Let it Rip

5/12/2022

Pastor Paul

When I was in 3th grade at West Main Street School in Milford, auditions for the school chorus did not go well. I attempted the song requested and my throat wouldn’t cooperate (too much yelling during dodgeball an hour earlier). So the music teacher (more politely than Simon Cowell) told me that I should try again next year. So, a year later I auditioned again. This time my voice or my ear or something else decided to play tricks and once again I failed to make the cut. The real cut however came from the teacher: “Paul you really shouldn’t sing in public – you don’t have the voice for it.”

Those words shaped my view of my singing ability that remains in remnants to this day. I will do most anything in front of an audience as an amateur thespian, a pastor and a teacher have often delivered. But the one thing that I do in public that causes me sweaty palms, anxious stomach, and interrupted sleep – sing a solo! As President of the Jonathan Law Drama Club in 1968-70 I sabotaged efforts to produce musicals in favor of various straight plays (because there was no way this boy was going to sing!) When I joined an amateur community theater group while I would sing in the chorus and jump into roles that didn’t require singing at all, I can remember my anxiety whenever I did have to sing. It made performance work rather than joy.
Then I started attending church on a regular basis. At first, my singing was subdued. As a non-music reader and unfamiliar with the church corpus of hymns, I missed more notes than I nailed proving that I didn’t “have the voice” for public singing. Barely audible I plodded through although it wasn’t any worse than most people around me who also seemed to have had the same music teacher in grammar school! One Sunday a guest preacher did something we didn’t regularly do – he read a psalm, Psalm 100 – Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. It didn’t say to sing on key or in time, or hitting each note. It only requires joy! The words sat with me so that each time we opened the hymn book the spirit reminded me that the reason for, the object and audience of my singing is God – not the people in the pews around me or even myself – but God. God already knows my voice gifted to me in my creation. There was no divine judgment on the quality of my singing – only God’s pleasure and appreciation of the joy and gratitude that propelled it!
Now the place where I sing most unashamedly, most lustily and least concerned about others is in church. It is part of my worship and praise of God. It helps me to express deep things deeply to the One whom I praise. My joy has led to acceptance of my singing resulting in having learned (somewhat) to read music – enough so that unfamiliar hymns are welcomed rather than dreaded! The Psalmist has become the antidote to my music teacher and singing has ceased to cause me the tears of fear and stress replacing them with tears of joy.
Are you planning to worship with us this Sunday? Come and make a joyful noise to the Lord!

All Aboard

5/5/2022

Pastor Paul

In the Friday before I started here at NGCC, I rode Shoreline East into New Haven, transferred to CT Rail north to Springfield, MA. After a 50-minute layover I returned by the same route. I was doing something I love.

My mother dubbed me a “train nut” at the age of 4 when I got my first train setup and started a life-long love for anything on rails! Some people get it – others don’t. The idea of just buying a ticket to ride a train for the sole purpose of riding the train seems foolish. On longer trips (like taking Amtrak to Boston) I will plan for a longer layover and have lunch at a well scouted vegan eatery. But Friday it was a ride for the ride’s sake.

A major part of my affection is the ability to look out the window and watch the scenery, the landscapes, the buildings, junkyards, beaches, shopping malls, downtowns and farms, in fact, all the things I can’t see when I am driving or flying. The sounds of the horn, bells, the unique soundtrack of steel wheels on steel rails, the squeak of bouncing of the cars or that of cars rubbing one against another, conductors calling for tickets and the announcement of station stops. Immersed in the entire experience and atmosphere I can fully relax. Others are in charge and responsible for the safe conduct of the train and its precious cargo, me (and a lot of others). It is a happy place for me. It is something in my life that I like to say, “makes my heart sing!”

Everything about railroads is a happy place for me and makes my heart sing. I carve out time just to ride the rails. I am rewarded mentally and spiritually for my effort. I am fed. Getting your heart to sing is a self-care priority and a way of nurturing the divine spark God implanted in me – in each of us.

What has God planted in you that causes your heart to sing with awe, excitement, or relaxation, letting go and the sheer joy of going along for the ride?

Sabbath and Sabbatical

4/28/2022

Rev Judith Cooke

In just a few days, my Sabbatical will begin. From May through July, I will be taking a break for spiritual renewal and personal study. As I’ve told you previously, I will be attending a writing conference in Ireland, compiling puppet scripts for other churches, continuing my work as a Coach through the International Coaching Federation.

Taking a Sabbath break is important for all people. How do you best care for yourself? What nourishes your soul? Where do you most enjoy time with God?

While I am looking forward to having this time away, I have to admit that it is tough to be away from the church I love. I am grateful to have the Reverend Paul Goodman covering for me. His fun, funny, and faithful ways will be a great gift to NGCC. I am also grateful NGCC has such a dedicated and talented congregation, and I am confident that your ministries will continue smoothly. And I am grateful to our wonderful church staff, who are so capable and competent that I know their work will continue well.

I look forward to seeing you all in August!

Blessings, Judith

New Life

4/21/2022

Rev Judith Cooke

Ah, Easter! The pinnacle of the Christian year, when we celebrate the greatest triumph of our God: The Resurrection of Christ! How was your Easter Sunday? Full of Alleluias and flowers, chocolate bunnies and colored eggs, feasts, and festivities? I hope it was!

Now it is four days later. Easter Sunday is glorious. The following week feels harder. For those people who are struggling with their health, or finances, or a relationship, or uncertainty, it can be difficult to cling to the Easter’s promise of new life. All too soon we return to life as usual.

For those who feel that Easter is over and done this year, Psalm 136 reminds us of a powerful truth.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
            for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the God of gods,
            for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
            for his steadfast love endures forever.

And these are just the first three verses. All 26 verses of Psalm 136 end with the words “for his steadfast love endures forever.”

During the Season of Lent, Christians take up a spiritual practice, often a sacrificial discipline. This year, I invite you to take up a spiritual practice for the rest of the Season of Easter. What could you do to remember God’s promise of new life?

You might choose a mantra to repeat throughout your day, such as “God’s steadfast love endures forever.”
You might intentionally compliment a different person each day, to share the love of God with others.
You might pay attention to God’s creation, looking for springtime signs of rebirth.

Easter is not over! Even after the 50 days of the Season of Easter end, still Easter is not over! As people of faith, we celebrate that every day is full of new life!

Dark Days

4/14/2022

Rev Judith Cooke

On Maundy Thursday, Christians commemorate the Last Supper that Christ shared with his disciples in the upper room. At NGCC, we honor it with worship that celebrates communion, as well as a service of Tennebrae when we read the story of the last days of Jesus’ life while extinguishing candles as the story grows darker. (This powerful service is at 7:00 this evening. I hope you will attend.) One of the elements of Maundy Thursday that is often ignored is the washing of the feet, which we follow Christ’s example of washing the feet of his disciples.

When I was in seminary, I worked as a chaplain intern at the Trenton State Psychiatric Hospital. On Maundy Thursday, we were encouraged to participate in worship which involved washing the feet of the patients. Many of the patients behaved in unpredictable ways, plus many were hygienically challenged. Washing their feet was both risky and unpleasant. I opted out. The other chaplain interns reported how it was a profoundly meaningful service. Did I regret not attending? No. Would I participate if given another chance? Also no. But fortunately, there were others God called to that work.

I do believe, though, that being a person of faith involves participating in some dirty work. Personally, I’ve done more gross things than I ever thought a pastor would do, from scrubbing black mold off walls to helping clear out a hoarder’s house to playing “find that smell” in a church basement. As awful as some of these jobs were, I am glad I did them.

What are some dirty jobs you are glad you did?
How have they been a blessing to others?
What tasks are you not called to do?
When has someone helped you with an unpleasant but much needed work?

Maundy Thursday is a day to remember that being a person of faith sometimes involves dark days and dirty jobs. And while they may be difficult at the time, God blesses our efforts to bring blessings to us and to others.

Palms

4/7/2022

Rev Judith Cooke

One of the church traditions is giving children palm fronds in church on Palm Sunday. I remember way back to my own childhood, marching through the sanctuary waving the palm as the church sang All Glory, Laud, and Honor. Another yearly tradition involves the children using their palms to poke and prod one another, or to use them as swords or light sabers.

This behavior is actually somewhat appropriate for Palm Sunday. Christ enters Jerusalem to cheering crowds and waving branches, but the crowd is temperamental. Very quickly, their excitement surges into loud praise and cheers; a few days later, their voices will raise just as fast, but this time to shout “crucify him.” The hard part of Palm Sunday is that we know what happens next. We know that the path to the empty tomb goes through the cross.

In our own lives, we see this difficult dynamic as well. When we look ahead to something we want for our future, often it involves going through a difficult time to get there.

What do you wish for your life?
To what is God calling you?
What challenges or obstacles must you overcome to get there?

The good news of Palm Sunday is that as we move to a future God intends for us, God will guide us through the difficulties and help us endure them.

As you approach Palm Sunday this year, may you hold fast to the promise that God is continually with you and bringing you to a place of meaning, fulfillment, and blessings.

Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Beauty

3/31/2022

Rev Judith Cooke

Every now and then, I receive a random act of kindness, which always touches my heart. I have found anonymous tea left on my desk, a book of prayers, a picture colored by a child. While I always wish I knew who to thank for such thoughtfulness, not knowing moves me to see everyone around me as wonderful givers.

Life has been challenging for quite some time, and the result has been stress and strain on countless people. And these people need kindness. The Bible speaks again and again of God’s “loving kindness.” As followers of Christ, we are to share in the ministry of offering kindness to bless others.

This week, I invite you to choose a random act of kindness to share with another. Perhaps it could be leaving cookies for a coworker, mailing an encouraging card, returning a stranger’s grocery cart. And as you share your random act of kindness, pay attention for the caring gestures others offer to you.

The world can be a tough place, but with the grace of God, we can play a part in making it a more loving, kind, and beautiful place.

Spring Renewal

3/24/2022

Rev Judith Cooke

Ah, springtime! The weather is getting warm, gardens will soon be planted, and the world will become green soon. After the dormancy of winter, new life is happening all around us.

This year, Spring feels even more precious to me. Life during the pandemic has felt like a form of dormancy with so many things being suspended and with the theme of death all around. Now Covid is becoming less threatening; yes, there are new variants, but they are decreasing in severity, which is how we will move from pandemic to endemic. As we continue moving through Covid, we are now seeing signs of new life all around us – people are reconnecting in person, mask requirements have lifted, life is beginning to feel more “normal.” While NGCC has gotten through the pandemic better than many churches, we still experienced our own winter with decreased attendance and finances.

But now, we are entering Spring! Yes, we have some metaphoric mulching and garden prep to do, but NGCC is getting ready for God to bless us with a springtime of newness! NGCC has work to do, and I am grateful that we have such a gifted, dedicated, and hard-working congregation. We will need all of us together to faithfully bring restoration and renewal to the church and its ministries.

Think about your own life.

What metaphor Spring do you need?
What will you plant to bring new life?
What symbolic garden tools will you bring to the church?
At the end of the springtime, what do you hope to see?

God has blessed us with the cycle of the seasons in countless aspects of our lives, and God is guiding us forward through the Spring that is beginning all around us.

Questioning

3/17/2022

Rev. Judith Cooke

More times than I can count, I have had conversations with four year-olds where their entire half of the exchange was the word “why.”
          It’s time to eat. Why?
          So you won’t be hungry. Why?
          So your body is healthy. Why?
          And on and on it goes.

While I used to think that these were pointless conversations, I now see the importance of asking questions that make us think deeper.

Over the past two years, I was sent by the Southern New England UCC Conference to be trained as a clergy coach. Last month, I was officially accredited PCC (Professional Certified Coach) through the International Coaching Foundation. Coaching is both a philosophy and an approach, in which the client works on goals to create their future. It differs from counseling, which looks back to address issues affecting the client now; coaching begins with the client’s “now” and focuses on how they want to move forward.

One of the key components of coaching is asking questions that get the client to think deeper, and often what sounds like a simple question involves complex reflection. Jesus was the master of these kinds of questions: Who do you say that I am? Do you want to get well? What is truth? Why did you doubt? Do you love me? In your own spiritual journey, I invite you to reflect on the depth of these simple yet complex questions that Christ asked, and think what answers you would give.

May through July 2022, I will be away on Sabbatical, and part of what I will be doing with that time involves clergy coaching. The coach training I was offered has been a great gift, and I am excited to be able to work with people who endeavoring to move forward in positive ways.

Lenten Sacrifices

3/10/2022

Rev Judith Cooke

This year for Lent, I am giving up smoking, soda, and Twitter. Unlike other years when I caved in quickly to my Lenten sacrifices, I am 100% confident that this year I will not indulge in any of them. The reason I am absolutely certain of this is because I don’t smoke, drink soda, or use Twitter anyway. Cadbury eggs are on sale right now, which is great for those of us who did not give up chocolate this year.

Personally, I have never found giving things up for Lent to be spiritually enriching. As you think about how to connect with God during this sacred season, I would like to make a suggestion. Make Sunday worship a priority. During the pandemic, many have fallen out of the habit of attending worship in person; as Covid decreases, it is time to return. Worship is the heartbeat of the church; it is a time to connect with God, to spiritually renew, to join in relationship with other believers, and to prepare ourselves to face the week ahead. Worship is your time with God, and it is the perfect Lenten spiritual practice.

May your season of Lent draw you closer to God.

With Hope

3/3/2022

Rev. Judith Cooke

My ninth-grade math teacher talked to the class one day about war. I’m not sure how the subject came up, but it was a powerful conversation that has stayed with me. He said that he had registered as a conscientious objector because he believed that killing anyone for any reason was immoral. But, after he studied World War Two his mind changed. He told us that sometimes it the only ethical thing to do was to fight against evil.

The crisis in Ukraine brought to my mind that conversation. There are times when fighting back is the right things to do. As much as I am heartbroken and outraged by the attack on Ukraine, I am also inspired by the countless civilians who are fighting to protect their nation and one another. I am also moved by the tremendous numbers of Russians who are protesting the war, despite the threat of six years of imprisonment.

In times like these when solutions are hard to find, we rely on prayer. We pray for guidance, for healing, for peace, for hope.

Sharing the Load

2/24/2022

Rev. Judith Cooke

As I prepare to be on Sabbatical this year from May through July, it is becoming increasingly clear how much I love my work at NGCC. With the stresses of pastoring during a pandemic, I am truly in need of this time. Yet, the idea of being gone for three months is difficult. As Covid looks like it will move from pandemic into endemic, the church may be opening up for more in-person events. The idea of not being available to help with this crucial shift bothers me.

When I feel this way, I remind myself that in the book of Exodus, Moses was struggling to let go of being responsible for everything. His father-in-law Jethro pulled him aside and said, “You’ve got to do things differently, Moses. You have to learn to delegate. Let go, and then others will hear God’s direction.” What a vital message this is. We do not have to do everything on our own. Think about your own life for a moment. What do you need to delegate? What task are you called to accept as another delegates?

North Guilford Congregational is blessed with capable, creative, hard-working, caring, intelligent, faithful people! God has been working with you and through you, and God will continue blessing you and your work, and I am continually grateful that I am the pastor of this congregation!

Embracing Mistakes

2/17/2022

Rev. Judith Cooke

Most of us dislike making mistakes. We often feel bad about ourselves when we say the wrong thing, make a blunder at work, break something special to us, accidentally hurt someone’s feelings. How often do we beat ourselves up for mistakes we make? People will often say more terrible things to themselves than they would ever dream of saying to another person.

However, not all mistakes are bad. Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate chips, after a mistake making chocolate cookies. An engineer at GE named James Wright tried to help the government during WW2 by making rubber from silicon, which did not work; but, his mistake became the creation of Silly Putty. Penicillin, microwave ovens, fireworks were all the result of mistakes.

Throughout the Bible, God valued people who made mistakes: Noah, Moses, David, Peter, and Paul – to name a few. This tells us that not only does God accept us when we make mistakes, God even uses us with all our shortcomings and slip-ups.

When has a mistake you made turned out to be a blessing?
When have your faults be accepted by another?
How does God use your shortcomings in positive ways?

While it is true that you are not perfect, you are still “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) by God, who loves you, values you, and utilizes you – just as you are right now.

Lewis Lovers

2/10/2022

Rev. Judith Cooke

For as long as I can remember, I have been enamored with The Muppets. Sesame Street drew me right in with Cookie Monster's messy eating and Ernie with his rubber ducky. Years ago, when I was asked to help add puppets to the children’s ministries, I jumped in eagerly. While I own a few puppets, my favorite is Lewis, who is a church-loving, eager to help, overactive kid.

My biggest problem with puppets was finding scripts. Virtually every script I could find had theology with which I disagreed. I am unwilling to use scripts that teach children that they are all terrible sinners who displease God or that their Jewish neighbor is doomed to hell or that God loves Americans more than people in other countries. It is lessons like these that people were taught as children that affect their faith for a long time.

Pastors spend a lot of time helping people unlearn damaging lessons from their Sunday School years. This may be true for you as well. What were you taught as a child that you needed to relearn? What faith messages have you been told that do not sit right with you?

Over the years, I have written dozens and dozens of scripts, mostly for Lewis. Realizing that there is a need for puppet scripts with theology like our denomination’s, I am going to use some of my Sabbatical time to compile scripts into a collection called “Lewis Lovers.” My hope is to create a resource so others can have a meaningful puppet ministry.

While I will be away May through July on Sabbatical, I am excited and grateful to have the opportunity to work toward sharing my love of puppets with other pastors and churches.

<<Previous

Messages from the Pastor

Archives