Pulpit Previews (all services start at 10:30am unless otherwise noted)
April 2: A Holy Disruption, Rev. Joan Montagnes
We recently changed our church By-Laws. We said that although we will not tolerate destructive behavior in our church, it is perfectly fine to be disruptive. Disruption means conflict. Surely, no church wants conflict. In fact, we resist conflict – to our detriment.
April 6: Maundy Thursday, Rev. Joan Montagnes
Sometimes called Tenebrae or Holy Thursday, this service of music, candles, darkness and meditation carries us into a reflection on sorrow and passion before our joyful, hope-filled rebirth on Easter.
April 9: Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem, Rev. Joan Montagnes and Jess Pond
Easter and Passover fall close enough together this year that we can celebrate the whole epic story in one service. This multigenerational service will weave together the tales of Palm Sunday, Passover, the arrest of Jesus as civil rights activist, Demeter and Persephone, and the rebirth of spring.
April 16: What it Means to Create Safe Spaces, Dr. Erin Vearncombe
There were no Christians or Christianity in the first two centuries after Jesus death. Rather, there was a kaleidoscopic diversity of Jesus’ people, communities, associations, parties, and schools spread across the eastern Mediterranean. What these groups held in common was a drive to find new ways of belonging and being in community while trying to survive under the violence of the Roman Empire. Their search for belonging offers us models of hope that have potential to shape and strengthen our own ways of belonging together.
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trinity Episcopal Church and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo are proud to bring Dr. Erin Vearncombe to Buffalo for a weekend of three presentations. Vearncombe, author of After Jesus Before Christianity, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. A specialist in writing instruction, she worked for five years as a faculty member of the Princeton Writing Program at Princeton University, and is currently designing a program for the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto to ease the transition to university-level writing for incoming undergraduate students. Her research specialty is the social origins and histories of Jesus movements in the first centuries of the common era. She will host a book signing after the service.
April 23: Same Old Beginnings, Youth Group
As many of the Youth Group graduates this year, we explore themes of moving forward in life and the proverbial passing of the torch to the next set of youth.
April 30: Change is Hard, Rev. Joan Montagnes
We resist change. We will do handstands and back flips to keep old systems in place. We resist change even when it is in our interest to change. Why? Because change means making ourselves vulnerable to the unknown. As people of faith, it is time to leap into the abyss!