Leaders of Faith Community

Small child in a boat looking out over the water

A Child Can Lead Us

August 17, 2023
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Over and over this summer I’ve experienced the ways children bring us into an awareness of the presence of what is holy. Whether you spell Spirit with an ‘S’ capital or lowercase, children slip into ours hands small and treasured and take us wading. They splash us with the serious and the surprising.  With their imagination, their wonder,…

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Blessing the Backpacks (with bubbles)

July 31, 2023
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(The worship leader could say the words of the following prayer alone or it could become an echo prayer with the children and any who bring backpacks repeating the line after the leader.)   Loving God,You are with us in every placeAt homeAt schoolOn vacationIn places that feel wonderful and places that feel scaryYou are…

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WelcomeToHemOfTheLightwithCatherineSmith

Stars and The Breathing Land

June 22, 2023
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Last week I gathered with a group who had come together from many places to imagine landscapes old and new. We did that by recalling our ancestors, those who had inspired us, but also those who had knotted the rope of our past, those who had wounded us or gone astray. We opened to the…

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Peace Holds Us

March 3, 2023
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Holy One, yesterday in the woods, the late afternoon light was so tender and strong, the shadows made art on the snow and the sky prepared to relax into the night.

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A Carol for the Longest Night

December 13, 2022
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    Silent Night, Holy NightHere we long for your LightHere your Presence is achingly nearHere your Love gently touches our fear Hold our tears in your heartHold our tears in your heart

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A Prayer for Our Return to School

August 31, 2022
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Holy One, May our school year begin with compassion for where we are,uncertain,tired,and glad to see one another. May we begin with a thirstto learn ——students from teachersand teachers from students.

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The Presence in Absence

May 25, 2022
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The absence of his presence, the presence of his absence, like a palpable thing.

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Was there birdsong?

April 5, 2022
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Was it a morning like this one, when birdsong was as sweet as can be after days spent longing for light? Was it a morning when everything seemed new and the disciples, rousing themselves, stretched their arms wide and welcomed it?  Was it a morning like this one when Jesus looked down from the Mount…

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Simeon and Anna: Life-Rubbed Glory

February 2, 2022
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It’s evening as I write.  All day I’ve been accompanied by two evening figures.  They shine these two, not with the untried brightness of the morning, but with the heart-breaking beauty of late day light.

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Rest Beloved

January 16, 2022
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Let the darkness heal and tend you ~   There is so much weariness in these days when Covid fills the air and the hospitals.  Perhaps you are exhausted.  Perhaps you laugh with a sharp edge, or sigh at the thought of rest.  Perhaps it makes you angry that rest could even be suggested when…

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A Carol for the Longest Night

December 3, 2021
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All of us held

March 6, 2021
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