From Me to You

Rev. Megan
Berkowitz

Pastor Rick
September 11, 2026


I welcome your responses at [email protected] to the following meditation.

The genesis of us all.

Oh Lord, you made such a good start
having deemed Creation very good
But discovered soon
It wasn’t perfect
Not the human part anyway.
We went from a kiss to murder,
From murder to concupiscence,
From concupiscence to myriad, teeming broods
Till you stomped the whole darn anthill
With the satisfaction of knocking our hubris
Down to size.  Only fruitlessly,
Because next it became necessary
As a last resort to flood it out
Yet regretting it enough
To adjust your own
Extravagant expectations
And get on with the business of
Loving us into shape
For some love of your own.

What kind of a start to the Bible
Would you say that is, Lord?  Hopeful?
From there, your first book doesn’t get any better—
A wandering Aramean with an infertile wife
Faces starvation and obliteration,
Resorts to impregnating a slave,
Except at the last minute
You save the day
And legitimacy is restored,
Then ordered that father 
To sacrifice that firstborn son
Except again you intervene on yourself
And save the boy’s—hence the people’s—future.

This divine zigzag has a human mirror, methinks,
Because later, brothers gang up on their youngest
And is sold off for dead,
And though briefly imprisoned
He soon triumphs in a foreign land
Then reconciles with the guilty scoundrels
And reunites with the grieving father.

Plenty of material here for a mini-series
Starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Lupita Nyong’o
But your script was rejected
In favor of Odysseus’ odyssey.
All was not lost, Joseph’s descendants 
Borrowed your copyright to explain
The coming and departing of Jesus,
The latest in this series of interventions
Into your mangled relationship
With the human race.
You sure didn’t give up on us,
Despite our record of giving up on you.
Who’s the fool, the one who loves,
Or the one who says, “There is no God?”

Rick Chrisman


  • From Me to You
    Rev. Rich Chrisman
    October 2, 2026
    An Open Letter Dear Mr. Bible, I thank you for being there In hotel bedside tables, in the prison libraries In beautiful translations and paraphrases and especially in our hymn lyrics. Learn More
  • From Me to You
    Rev. Rich Chrisman
    September 11, 2026
    The genesis of us all.

    Oh Lord, you made such a good start
    having deemed Creation very good
    But discovered soon
    It wasn’t perfect
    Not the human part anyway.
    We went from a kiss to murder,

    Learn More
  • From Me to You
    Rev. Rich Chrisman
    September 4, 2026
    Hi UCW friends and members,  my name is Rick Chrisman, and I am an old friend of yours, once upon a time a member, way back before Covid, when Stacy was still minister here.  Way past retirement age, I’m just a preacher who has to have a congregation, so thanks for inviting me to fulfil my vocation with you, even if just for a few months. Learn More
  • From Pastor Megan
    Rev. Megan Berkowitz
    July 24, 2026

    Big news from our partners at GBIO! The “Not with our money, Citizens!” Campaign has succeeded, and Citizens Bank has committed to severing ties with the private prison companies building and operating ICE detention facilities. Read more about it on the GBIO website: HERE

    Learn More
  • From Pastor Megan: July 17, 2026
    Rev. Megan Berkowitz
    July 10, 2026
    Introducing our Bridge Pastor
    I am delighted to share that Rev. Rick Chrisman will be joining UCW as the parental leave Bridge Pastor this fall, from September 1st until my planned return at the start of Advent. Rev. Rick’s bio is below, though some of you may know him from a period some years ago when he was a member of UCW while serving as an interim pastor elsewhere. Closest to home for UCW, Rev. Rick has twice served as interim at the Eliot Church in Newton. Learn More
  • From Pastor Megan: July 3, 2026
    Rev. Megan Berkowitz
    July 3, 2026
    We had a lovely first summer service this past Sunday! Though we won’t meet this upcoming Sunday, 7/5, summer services resume the following week, 7/12 at 10:00 a.m. Worship Committee Chair Julie Heffernan will lead us in worship that morning. And though Katie Brown-Bright is off from her role as Bridge Associate for Children, Youth, and Families for the summer and there’s no Sunday school, she did put together an amazing activity cart for kids to participate in worship (crafts, streamers for some liturgical dancing, and more!). Learn More
  • From Pastor Megan: June 19, 2026
    Rev. Megan Berkowitz
    June 19, 2026

    I want to thank everyone who presented, contributed to, engaged in, and attended last Sunday’s Annual Meeting. You took seriously the invitation to let the Holy Spirit speak through you to others, and to you through others, and our church is better for it. For those who were not present, you can still engage with the Annual Meeting via the Annual Report, which we sent in this email last week, and by looking over the presentation from the Vision Team that was offered during the meeting: view HERE or click on image below.

    Learn More
  • From Pastor Megan: June 12, 2026
    Rev. Megan Berkowitz
    June 12, 2026
    My goodness, it has been a busy year at UCW! I hope you take some time to sit with and read the annual report for 2025-2026. Come to the Annual Meeting ready to discuss the budget and nominating slate, yes, but also to thank our committee chairs and members, to connect with someone over something you didn’t even know had happened at church this year, or to learn more about how you can get involved in different projects and programs. Learn More