Central News

January 2023 Vol. 31, No. 5

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From Rebecca

Dear Friends, how about this story for a new year’s challenge?

Famed orchestra conductor, Arturo Toscanini, was leading a rehearsal. During the rehearsal, it was obvious that the orchestra was bored and not putting forth much effort. After struggling with them for some time, Toscanini laid down his baton and leaned over the rostrum. “Gentlemen,” he said, “God has told me how He wants this symphony played and you … you hinder God!”… [Read More]

Central News

December 2022 Vol. 31, No. 4

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From Rebecca

The path to heaven doesn’t lie down in flat miles.
It’s in the imagination with which you perceive this world,
and the gestures with which you honor it.

So writes poet Mary Oliver.

Advent’s theme, of course, is all about waiting with patience and, certainly, with imagination. Just imagine if we could see “the other” without our usual frames. Imagine if we could put ourselves in the shoes, or rather sandals, of a frightened and pregnant peasant girl.… [Read More]

Central News

November 2022 Vol. 31, No. 3

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From Rebecca

Dear Central Friends, the Greek word “metanoia” has a root meaning of “a transformational change of heart, a fundamental change in one’s character or outlook on life.” It means to think again, to ponder in a new way, to change your mind, to start over. Poet Mary Oliver put it this way in her poem “The Swan”:

The path to heaven
doesn’t lie down in flat miles.… [Read More]

Central News

October 2022 Vol. 31, No. 2

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From Rebecca

Friends, what do you think about this quote? “People are very open-minded about new things – as long as they are exactly like the old ones.”

This was in a cattle farming newsletter I receive, but I think it applies to all of us in our various endeavors and initiatives! While we all appreciate the comfort and reliability of our routines, sometimes we just need to change things up a bit.… [Read More]

Central News

September 2022  Vol. 31, No. 1

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From Rebecca

Dear Central members and friends,

In writer/ theologian Frederick Buechner’s obituary in the New York Times (Aug. 17, 2022), he was quoted: “God does not go around changing things in the sense of making bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people, or of giving one side victory over the other in wars, or of pushing a bill through Congress to make school prayer constitutional….… [Read More]

Central News

August 2022      Vol. 30, No. 11

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From Rebecca

Dear Friends, I saw a bluebird the other day. Or did the bluebird see me? At any rate, he was gorgeous, a pure blue gem perched on an oak branch.

Was he looking for something to eat? Or for his mate? (I never saw her.) Or was he, like I was, just taking a moment and enjoying the cloudless day?

While I do love the respite of summertime, that bluebird makes me wonder … why don’t we take more time just to perch somewhere?… [Read More]

Central News

June / July 2022              Vol. 30, No. 10

Summer Worship Begins June 19 at 10 am!

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From Rebecca

Dear Friends, one of you sent me a poem based on Exodus 33:12-23 – “God’s Breadcrumbs,” by Jennifer McLean – because it spoke to you.

The forest is dark and scary.
We are afraid!
We don’t know the way!
What shall we do?
How do we go on?

God: Think! Remember!
I have told you the way!
You are not my equal
so FOLLOW me!… [Read More]

Central News

May 2022              Vol. 30, No. 9

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From Rebecca

Dear Central friends, Easter has come, and with it new life. We see the world, old and tired though it may be, with a new lens of wonder, amazement, and hope. While we are in this in-between time of spring, summer is coming, and so I offer this Mary Oliver poem.

The Summer Day

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.… [Read More]

Central News

Apr 2022              Vol. 30, No. 8

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From Rebecca

Dear friends, Easter comes, as it does, on the dark heels of Lent … carrying with it the strength of hope and new dawn, the power of God’s grace, the invitation to each of us for new life – here and now and forever.

While we need that strength and power and invitation every year, this year seems especially important to shout “Alleluia. Christ is Risen.”… [Read More]

Central News

March 2022 Vol. 30, No 7

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From Rebecca

Dear Friends, in this letter, which you are receiving at the very beginning of Lent, I offer a poem and a prayer.

First the poem – “What If You Slept…” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) – which helps remind us that hope blossoms in all sorts of different ways … some of which we simply do not yet know.

“What if you slept
And what if
In your sleep,
You dreamed
And what if
In your dream
You went to heaven
And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower
And what if
When you awoke
You had that flower in your hand
Ah, what then?”… [Read More]