First Congregational United Church of Christ Acts 16-15 “Breaking the Mold” May 10, 2015 Rev. Diane K. Hooge The Church Calendar calls this day the Sixth Sunday of Easter and the Hallmark Calendar knows this day as Mother’s Day. I’m well aware that for some families, this is a great day of celebration, while others …
First Congregational United Church of Christ May 3, 2015 “Re-rooting Ourselves” John 15:1-8 Rev. Diane K. Hooge William Sloan Coffin is known for saying that “Mother love like God’s love provides maximum support and minimum protection.” One of the surprising gifts of marrying into the Hooge family was the relationship I developed with Ken’s Aunt …
First Congregational United Church of Christ April 26, 2015 John 10:11-18 “Up Close and Personal” Rev. Diane K. Hooge My first move to Oregon took place early in our marriage. Ken’s acceptance to Willamette University Law School initiated a search for low-income housing. Ken’s Aunt and Uncle invited us to live on their “goat farm” …
Javan Reid, Josephine Wallace, Nathaniel Timoteo 19 April 2015, Earth Day Sunday I John 3:3,4 Javan Reid: Happy Birthday Gaia! Gaia is the Greek word for Earth Goddess or Mother Earth—The understanding that Gaia means oneness or wholeness. To see all of Earth as Gaia is to understand that all organisms are related: Related as …
First Congregational United Church of Christ Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015 Mark 16:1-8 “Yes to Life!” Rev. Diane K. Hooge It’s been many years since my mother’s death, but I remember very clearly standing in my parent’s bedroom on a June day going through my mother’s clothes. She had died in May, and I had …
Last November we offered our support and blessing on the delegation that went to Georgia to participate in the 25th non-violent march outside of Fort Benning. This year, which marked the twenty fifth anniversary of the massacre of six Jesuit priests and two women, brought folks from around the world to once again demand that the School of the Americas located at Fort Benning be closed.
In a past life, or at least it feels that long ago, I was in a new program in Gerontology. It was the seventh year of the then new field of study at the University of Oregon. What I appreciated was the innovative design of the program with professors who were deeply engaged and energized by being a part of creating new curriculum.
One of the most power classes was the one on Death and Dying utilizing Elizabeth Kubler Ross’s work…at that time it was considered cutting edge. Before we could be accepted into the class, we had to have references that spoke to our mental health and ability to explore death. We were then divided up into groups…groups that we stayed in within the larger class. We also had the same small group leader, a professor in the department, for the duration of the term.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world… is many people’s favorite bible verse. For others it is the greatest stumbling block. These Greek words reporting what Jesus said several decades earlier have been used to insist that certain people are going to hell.
But some people, many people, are already living in a kind of hell, where their options are so bleak they end up deciding to give their children away to someone else to raise in hopes that those children will get enough food and medical care to survive.
When I was in seminary I was blessed to have a class with the late Robert McAfee Brown, theologian, author, social justice activist. And, years later, I returned to Berkeley for the annual Earl Lectures where his wife, Sydney Thomson Brown was a presenter. She was highly regarded as a labor activist and as a teacher. She told the story of a man by the name of Theo who was an intern in her Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto. He spent three years working in Chinatown in San Francisco. He became educated about tourism, about poverty and about the misery of people who live in desperate situations in that extremely high density neighborhood.
Because our Lenten season is focused on “Telling our Sacred Stories”, I thought it would be helpful to review today’s text from the book of Esther as the Jewish community is preparing to celebrate Purim this week. They will commemorate the defeat of Haman’s plot to massacre the Jews. On Wednesday night the Scroll of Esther will be read and again on Thursday morning. I’ve always loved that during the reading of the story the Jewish community are encouraged to respond utilizing hisses, boo’s, and shouts of joy. So on this week when we in the United Church of Christ celebrate Women’s week, I invite you to hear two women’s stories from this ancient text.