Simon’s Says ~ from Alan “Into the Mystic” is a lovely Van Morrison song. It is also the title of a regular podcast by United Church of Christ Minister & President John Dorhauer. Imagine my surprise when I opened this week’s podcast to learn that John’s topic is the same as our sermon this Sunday – and neither one of us is using the lectionary. Without giving too much away, John shares an obscure story from Numbers 27 and marvels that even after all his years in church and seminary, he had never heard of the five daughters of…
The Villager Voice ~ from Alan I’ve known Tiffany Vail since she began working as Communications Director for the UCC’s Massachusetts Conference. Lately her role has been expanded, and she serves in the same capacity for both Massachusetts and Connecticut. (She is in the process of adding Rhode Island to her portfolio as the southern New England conferences develop the Tri-Conference model.) Tiffany wrote a piece last week on the importance of language. As a newspaper reporter for twenty years before she came into her present role, she recognizes the ways in which words matter as language evolves. She writes,…
The Villager Voice ~ from Alan (A moment of silence, please, for the demise of the real Village Voice, the venerable, pugilistic and once firmly counter-cultural New York newsweekly that ceased publication last week. In a day and age when honest, no-holds-barred journalism is under fire, the Voice’s voice will be sorely missed.) It’s an overcast morning as I sit outdoors at the Villager, a handful of villagers sitting to my left weighing in on the issues of the day, and I think of a conversation I had a few days ago with Connecticut Conference Minister & President Kent Siladi…
The Villager Voice ~ from Alan I suppose I should have guessed something was up when I heard Lynette shout, “The Car Wash isn’t over until the Pastor is wet!” I did get plenty wet…
Thoughts from a Thinking Cup ~ from Alan (Working remotely this morning from one of my favorite Boston coffee spots: The Thinking Cup in the North End) After thirty-eight years in ministry, first experiences are rarer to come by, which makes me even more grateful when they still occasionally do. I married Tim and Diane in 1985. They were nominally Episcopalian, but neither ever attended church, and…
Simon’s Says ~ from Alan You may have seen the photo in this morning’s paper; it happens every year at this time. As the rising summer solstice sun shone…