Dear friends,
Every Sunday something powerful and holy happens here at Edwards Church. Occasionally, there are Sundays that stand out in the way they embody our values. This Sunday, April 28, is one of those.
The morning begins with an invitation from the Green Team to walk, bicycle or carpool to church as an expression of our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint. Once we get there, we welcome Rabbinic Pastor Matia Angelou who will join me in offering an interfaith baby blessing to Memphis Applebaum, son of Gretchen and Todd Applebaum.
Following worship, we will gather in Sue Dickerman Hall for a congregational meeting, where we will vote on a nominating slate and a solar panel contract. We will also review some of the new things we tried during Lent, to consider what we might do in the future. There will be soup and crackers to nourish us for the rest of the day!
Then, at 1:00 p.m., there will be several cars leaving our parking lot to go to the Islamic Society of Framingham on Union Avenue for their Open Mosque Day. Our friends there have invited us to visit them to learn more about Islam, enjoy some delicious food, and even get henna tattoos.
We will return to campus in time to prepare for the third in Open Spirit’s Inspiring Courage: Stories of Passion and Compassion series. This event features Buddhist lay renunciate Joti Royster, who will lead us in meditation and then in a conversation about finding peace and clarity as we work to heal our violent and confusing world.
From there, some of us will head up the hill to Sue Dickerman Hall for our Seeds of Grace worship service, which will feature the Just Peace Players’ performance of their new play, Extra! Extra! This play uses stories from the newspaper to challenge us to reflect on how our faith calls us to respond.
Each of these events is important in a different way; together, they reflect some of these things that we value:
- We value God’s creation, caring for our planet by seeking earth-friendly transportation and putting solar panels on more of our buildings.
- We value children and families, and so we create new rituals to celebrate children who are part of interfaith families.
- We value our congregational polity, in which we recognize that each of us has wisdom to contribute to our community decisions.
- We value our neighbors from different faith traditions, and we look forward to what we can learn from one another that enriches all of our lives.
- We value the connections between spirituality and social justice activism, and we together seek insight into how to find peace amidst the struggle.
- We value creative worship, and we value our friends who dare to use drama to illuminate our faith.
Wow! It will be a very full day. I hope you will come celebrate our values for as much of the day as you are able.
Peace, Debbie