Palm Sunday at Eliot
I will post my Palm Sunday Sermon soon. Things are rolling along at the church as we get ready for Easter morning. If only there were less snow! The RE committee is planning for the egg hunt to be indoors just in case...
The Palm Sunday service was well attended and we had a good time. It is always interesting during Holy Week here because everybody has a slightly different idea of how things should go. Christmas is easier since, really, it is pretty much a big party. Easter, however, is something that stirs up various emotions and memories. It is, although it can be hard to imagine sometimes, the real deal. It is the climax of the story. At Eliot, it also brings our theological differences to the front of our minds. I am not only speaking of the multiple resurrection theologies! We also have, as many churches do, some variety in liturgical expectations.
We are a community church affiliated with the UUA and the UCC. It is interesting how this "Low Church" tries to accommodate both our tradition and our desires for some "High Church" ritual. Unlike virtually all UU Churches and many in the UCC, we do the liturgical colors of the Christian Year. In the past, some of Eliot's ministers preached weekly from the Revised Common Lectionary. This makes us different from many of the churches with whom we have the closest relations and the most in common theologically. This is not to downplay the conversations some of us are having about the actual meaning of the day. We are talking and we are learning from each other. Ah, the life of a Liberal Christian Congregation in the opening days of the 21st Century!
It is fun, actually, to deal with these things and to talk about the place of tradition and, in fact, of Jesus in our church. I am truly blessed. In fact, I am blessed in many ways to be serving here in Natick. Easter is a good time to say "Thank You" to God and to the church for all that they have done for me. I appreciate it. Thank You.
Over at Peacebang there is an interesting conversation about teaching Christianity in a "more UU" UU church.--"More UU" sound like "our trinitarian connection." I really need to work on these things. It is under the heading "I am Convicted." I suggest you take a look if you get the chance...
The Palm Sunday service was well attended and we had a good time. It is always interesting during Holy Week here because everybody has a slightly different idea of how things should go. Christmas is easier since, really, it is pretty much a big party. Easter, however, is something that stirs up various emotions and memories. It is, although it can be hard to imagine sometimes, the real deal. It is the climax of the story. At Eliot, it also brings our theological differences to the front of our minds. I am not only speaking of the multiple resurrection theologies! We also have, as many churches do, some variety in liturgical expectations.
We are a community church affiliated with the UUA and the UCC. It is interesting how this "Low Church" tries to accommodate both our tradition and our desires for some "High Church" ritual. Unlike virtually all UU Churches and many in the UCC, we do the liturgical colors of the Christian Year. In the past, some of Eliot's ministers preached weekly from the Revised Common Lectionary. This makes us different from many of the churches with whom we have the closest relations and the most in common theologically. This is not to downplay the conversations some of us are having about the actual meaning of the day. We are talking and we are learning from each other. Ah, the life of a Liberal Christian Congregation in the opening days of the 21st Century!
It is fun, actually, to deal with these things and to talk about the place of tradition and, in fact, of Jesus in our church. I am truly blessed. In fact, I am blessed in many ways to be serving here in Natick. Easter is a good time to say "Thank You" to God and to the church for all that they have done for me. I appreciate it. Thank You.
Over at Peacebang there is an interesting conversation about teaching Christianity in a "more UU" UU church.--"More UU" sound like "our trinitarian connection." I really need to work on these things. It is under the heading "I am Convicted." I suggest you take a look if you get the chance...
posted by Adam Tierney-Eliot | Tuesday, March 22, 2005
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