Rev. Megan
Berkowitz
Rev. Amy
Clark Feldman
Pastor Amy
April 4 2025
Dear Church,
This Sunday is our final Sunday before Palm Sunday and Holy Week. There is one week left before Jesus, with boldness and intention, arrives in Jerusalem to take a stand against forces of corruption, oppression, violence, fear, and hate.
For the last five Sundays we have been wandering in the wilderness with Jesus. For Jesus, his forty days in the wilderness were a clarifying, purifying time of preparation — a time to draw nearer to God, and to get clear about who he stood with and what he stood against. It was a time of wilderness simplicity and spaciousness.
We too have been making space and seeking clarity. Our invitation this Lent has been to let go of that which does not give us life; and to grow and nourish all that does. We have found life and strength in pillars of our faith: Compassion, Discernment, Generosity, Humility, and, this week, Prayerfulness.
I wonder how Jesus spent his last week in the wilderness? What beauty and hope did he see around him? What signs of life and clarity? What were his prayers?
May you take this week as a gift. There is much Holy Week and Easter work ahead of us. May this week be one of hope and clarity for you. Gather with friends at the April 6th Community Dinner; consider your pledge to the life of this beloved community for the year ahead; take time for prayer and spaciousness; sleep well; eat well; notice the flowers – that we might travel with joy and courage together with compassion, humility, discernment, generosity, and prayer in the weeks and months to come.
With Lenten Peace,
Pastor Amy
Past Posts
- From Our Pastors
Rev. Megan Berkowitz
June 27, 2025 As our regular church year draws to a close, we look towards the summer, when we are usually one Body scattered to many locations. Whether we are traveling, visiting with family, focused on different schedules with children, or simply living at the slower pace of the summer months, we see less of one another. It can seem like church is “off” for the summer as well. Learn More - From Our Pastors: June 6, 2025Rev. Megan Berkowitz
June 6, 2025 It’s very fitting that our Annual Meeting falls on Pentecost this year. As we remember the Holy Spirit filling the early church and moving them into meaningful action, following in the Way of Jesus, we, too, experience the movement of the Spirit in our own church community. Learn More - From Our Pastors : May 30, 2025Rev. Clark Feldman
May 30, 2025 The Psalmist wrote so many centuries ago (or maybe just yesterday), “As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” It’s such a vivid image – this poor deer panting in thirst and exhaustion. How far has it run over dry and scorched land? What a relief to dip its head towards a cool stream; its thirst quenched. Learn More - From Our PastorsRev. Megan Berkowitz
May 23, 2025 We’re heading into a season of joy, celebration, community, and preparation for the future over the next several weeks, and I wanted to be sure to lay it all out in one place so you can plan and save the dates. This weekend, we’ll celebrate and dedicate our new accessible pews in worship and have the second meeting of the spring New Members class immediately following. Learn More - From Our Pastors: May 16, 2025Rev. Amy Clark Feldman
May 16, 2025 As some of you know, I was away for part of this week at a program for clergy and spiritual directors. Each morning began at 7:45 a.m. with worship; and ended around 9:00 p.m. with worship. Spiritual leaders from around the country each led one of the first five services; with each service focusing on one of the five senses – taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight – knowing that Jesus engaged and experienced all the senses in his very human, embodied, incarnate ministry. Learn More - From Our Pastors: May 9, 2025Rev. Megan Berkowitz
May 9, 2025 I had a lot of interest in the prayer structure I shared during last Sunday’s worship, so I wanted to write it out for you here. If you’re feeling like you’re not sure how to pray or what to say, sometimes a little scaffolding can help get you started. Don’t think that this is the ‘right’ way to pray though — any way to pray that leads you to open your heart to God is the right way! Learn More - From Our Pastors: May 2, 2025Rev. Megan Berkowitz
May 2, 2025 There is very little in the Gospels that tells of Jesus after his resurrection and before his ascension. This period gets 5 weeks in the liturgical calendar, but only one or two stories in each Gospel at most. As Pastor Amy shared in her sermon last Sunday, after the Resurrection, Jesus spends some time eating with his disciples, even sharing a grilled fish breakfast on the beach with them one morning. Learn More - From Our Pastors: April 25, 2025Rev. Megan Berkowitz
April 25, 2025 On Easter morning, we sang the hymn “Now the Green Blade Rises,” with its refrain: “Love is come again like wheat that rises green.” While it raises questions for me every year about how much pronunciation has changed in the last hundred years (did been/green and again/lain really rhyme?), it so beautifully captures the confluence of Easter and the coming of Spring in the Northern hemisphere. Learn More
