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Central News

Sep 2021 /  Vol. 30, No. 1

Gathering Sunday: September 12 at 10:30 am!

From Rebecca

Dear Friends, what a summer it has been.  My thoughts these past few days keep circling back to the people in Afghanistan, particularly the girls and women whose future is so uncertain.  And then to Hong Kong and the brave protestors for freedom there.  And our own country so filled with anger and division.

It has been an inspiration to be reading Jon Meacham’s new biography of John Lewis. … [Read More]

Central News

Aug 2021 Vol. 29, No. 11

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From Claudia

Albert Camus once wrote, “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”  We are certainly looking back on a winter that was different than all the winters that came before it. Sometimes it seems rather unreal. Sometimes we need to check in with one another just to be sure that we haven’t been mistaken in our memories.

As we enter August, summer does seem to be invincible. Even in the midst of all the virus news in the world – of variants, travel openings, closings and relaxing and reinstating of restrictions – there is much uncertainty.… [Read More]

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Central News

June/July 2021  Vol. 29, No. 10

From Rebecca

“And you – what of your rushed and useful life? 
Imagine setting it all down – papers, plans, appointments, 
everything – leaving only a note: ‘Gone to the fields to be lovely. Be back when I’m through with blooming.’” – Lynn Ungar

During lunch the other day, one of you shared with me that you had taped these sentences to the wallboard above your desk. We agreed – it is perfect for these days.… [Read More]

Central News

May 2021

From Rebecca

Dear Central friends,

It is Monday afternoon and you can sense spring is here.  The wicker furniture is back on the screened porch, and I’m planning to take the time to sit there with Ted Widmer’s splendid new book, Lincoln on the Verge.  I’ve been savoring this history and looking forward to the final chapters.  (See below to learn about Ted’s talk at Central in June!) Meanwhile, the cat has her own ideas of what should be going on in the screened porch, and this would involve checking out all the corners for any stray mice….Of… [Read More]

Central News

April 2021

From Rebecca

Dear Friends,

Easter would break your heart, if your heart weren’t already broken.
Which is why the cynic, the atheist, the pessimist, all of them, cannot touch Easter.
Easter is, quite simply, out of their league.  Out of all the brokenness on every bare hilltop and from every broken heart, Easter  rises.

Just where the cynic, the atheist, the pessimist thought they had won, proved their point, had the last word, put promises to be kept forever away — there on that hill where losers lose, in that heart that felt it would never mend — there God kept the promise that God had made at time’s cradle.… [Read More]

Central News

March 2021

From Rebecca

Dear Friends, we are entering the season of Lent, a time of thoughtful contemplation of our lives and the journeys we are all on. Given the complexities of this past year’s pandemic consequences, political upheaval, and racial divisions, it is good to take a moment and ponder where we are and where we want to be … as individuals, as this Central community, as a country, and as world citizens. We people of faith in particular have much to offer as we contemplate the mysterious ways of God’s working among us, within us and through us.… [Read More]

Central News

Feb 2021            Vol. 29, No. 6

From Rebecca

Dear Friends, One of my new year’s resolutions, (Every year, this is a resolution, actually!), is going through papers I’ve saved because they spoke to me at the time I read them. One of these is the poem, “To the New Year,” by W. S. Merwin, U.S. Poet Laureate 2010-2011. I share it with you in this new year of 2021.

With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down …
to the hush of the morning
so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible.… [Read More]

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Central News

Jan 2021
Vol. 29, No. 5

From Rebecca

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! This is the two thousand twentieth! The three hundred and eighty-fifth for the city of Providence. The one hundred and sixty-ninth for dear Central Church! Never mind which for some of the rest of us!

Nostalgia is the risk in counting, and the boon! Your pastor remembers long ago nights staying up and watching TV to see the ball drop in Times Square…that was a big deal!! And then there were First Nights downtown with small children and then dinner parties and quiet evenings…all good…all different.… [Read More]

Click here for the PDF version of December 2020 Newsletter

Central News

December 2020
Vol 29 No 4

From Rebecca

I write this on a dark November Monday morning. Rain is coming in sheets sideways and thunder pushes poor Hedwig further into her dog nest under the table.

All of us are figuring out how to reconfigure Thanksgiving and in so doing, I think we are getting ever closer to its essence… of thanks living. That is, living each day in gratitude for life itself, for love and moments of forgiveness and grace. … [Read More]

Central News

November 2020
Vol 29 No 3

From Rebecca

“Sometimes at that moment, a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, ‘You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for anything now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything.… [Read More]