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"Holy Humor Sunday" sounds like a modern invention, but actually it’s a practice with deep roots, particularly in the Eastern Churches. In those traditions, the joy of Easter is extended to the Sunday after Easter Sunday with a celebration called “Bright Sunday” or “Smile Sunday" or Holy Humor” Sunday. It’s a way of understanding Christ’s Easter resurrection as God’s own last laugh, a kind of practical joke on sin and death and the powers that be, when the world goes knock-knocking on the tomb door only to find that Jesus is not home but has risen. It’s a reminder that joy and laughter really can change the world. (John 16:16-22) Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

We’re taught that Jesus’ Easter resurrection is a good thing–that, in fact, it’s the very best thing: the death of death, the springtime of souls, the divine affirmation of Jesus’ Gospel ministry of justice, peace, and compassion. But the guards who witnessed it firsthand were so frightened they “shook and became like dead men.” That doesn’t sound good. How do we let go of whatever may be keeping us from embracing the resurrection as truly Good News, and not just for us but for the whole world? (Matthew 28:1-10) Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

The first Palm Sunday wasn't just a parade. It was a protest. The  crowds that took to the streets with Jesus were there to lift their "Just no!" against the life-stealing, death-dealing powers of imperial politics and religion. And when their frightened leaders told them to quiet down, they only became more unruly. Now it's our turn to become unruly and lift up our own just no against the same forces in our world today. (Matthew 21:1-11) Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

ou·​bli·​ette (ˌü-blē-ˈet) noun, a dungeon with an opening only at the top; from the French, oublier, to forget (related to oblivion) When their brother Lazarus died, it may have seemed to Mary and Martha that God didn’t care, that Jesus had forgotten him, and them. But Jesus never forgets anyone, and God’s eye isn’t just on the sparrow but on each of us, particularly those the world might prefer to forget: the last, the least, the lost, the lonely, the dying, and the dead. Jesus weeps with us and holds us close until our own resurrection arrives. (John 11:1-45) At the heart of this reflection is the poem "Lazarus" by Edward Arlington Robinson. Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

Jesus heals a lot of people, but the story usually called “Jesus and the Man Born Blind” is one of the longest and most detailed meditations on illness, disability, and healing. And it’s one of the few times where the experience of the disabled person–in this case, the “man born blind”--is centered in the text. So it’s fitting that our guest preacher, a person who lives with disability themselves and has a ministry centering the needs and gifts, the whole personhood of disabled people, will share their experience with us. (John 9:1-41) Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

In the Sunday school classic story from Matthew's Gospel, Jesus approaches Peter and Andrew, James and John along the lakeshore and offers them a choice: To follow him, or not. But there's definitely more than just a Sunday school context to that invitation: Jesus' prophetic mentor John the Baptizer has been arrested and soon will be executed by the state, and Jesus is headed deeper into Galilee to speak truth to power and liberation to the "least of these" and put his own life on the line for the Gospel of love. Do the fishermen want to follow him to that same end? Do we? The choice is before us.(Matthew 4:12, 17-23) Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

It's the end of the world... at least the end of the world as we've known it. How can we have hope with everything falling down around our ears? We can't. Because hope isn't something we have (or don't). Prophets and poets and our neighbors in communities who've already witnessed the end of their worlds show us us that hope is something we make, together, one step at a time. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10) Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

As followers of Jesus, our ultimate allegiance is to the God Who Is Love, and we are called to manifest that love in justice and peace for our neighbors. But that commitment is being sorely tested these days with the rise of fascist ideology and violence supported by Christian nationalism in our country. This Sunday, we will reflect how we can meet this challenge with faith and courage. We will share the stories of the Prophet Daniel and his three friends who refused to bow to the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar or his commands and of August Landmesser, believed to be the German man refusing to salute in this historic photo. (Daniel 3) Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

Enjoy a guided meditation reflecting on the story of Anna and Simeon, the elderly prophets who greeted Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus in the temple in Luke 2:22-40. Remember: YOU are a child of God, gifted, and a gift.  Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

Somewhere along the way, Christianity become professionalized. All too often these days we look to clergy to tell us all about God--most particularly, about where and how God is allowed to show up in our lives. And those "allowed appearances" have become more strictly filtered through the church: "A 'God moment" must look like this but never that, here but never there." But, really, God is everywhere-- even outside the church! even in you! even in the people you like the least!-- and you don't need special training or special glasses to see Them. You just have to be willing to notice the way the trees move when God passes by. (John 3:1-8). Rev. John MacIver Gage, preaching. Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am EDT, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

We're pivoting this Sunday to address what's shaped up to be a pretty stressful and painful week (in the midst of a stressful and painful season) for a lot of folks, what with the occupation of Washington, DC by federal law enforcement, a formal request to the Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality, the ongoing starvation of Gaza, etc. etc. etc. and God only knows what's going on in your life. This isn't a preaching service but a praying one, with a lot of help from author Cole Arthur Riley's Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human. It's a reminder that, like Jesus himself and his disciples, we need to take time together, with God, to "learn to rest, not to quit." (Mark 6:30-32). Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am ET, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

"How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity," sings the Psalmist (Psalm 133:1). Sure, it can be, but it's also really hard. In fact, sometimes the closer we are with our family, the harder it can be to "live together." But finding ways to live together in unity--not uniformity-- with our wider church family is an important part of following Jesus and a sign of the way and reign of God he preached and embodied. This Sunday we'll reflect on that work in light of decisions made at General Synod this summer to move into closer relationship with churches around the world and right next door. (Psalm 133) In Worship 7/27-8/24" "Big Picture: Themes from General Synod We'll spend these five Sundays exploring themes and issues informing the work of General Synod, the triennial national meeting of our United Church of Christ denominational family, held in Kansas City, MO in July. Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am EDT, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

The political conflict between the state of Israel and Hamas is complicated by history, religion, anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hatred, the entangling alliances with both parties, and, not least, the special place the state of Israel holds in the theological fantasies of American Evangelical Christians. But the moral calculus is much simpler. Israel isn't just conducting a war against Hamas but carrying out a campaign of genocide against the entire Palestinian people--men, women, and children--and we in the the U.S. are helping to fund it. Just stop it. (Jeremiah 31:15-17) In Worship 7/27-8/24, "Big Picture: Themes from General Synod We'll spend these five Sundays exploring themes and issues informing the work of General Synod, the triennial national meeting of our United Church of Christ denominational family, held in Kansas City, MO in July. Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am EDT, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

The ancient city of Sodom has been synonymous with sin and the consequences of sin for thousands of years. These days it’s sexual sin they’re most associated with and infamous for, specifically homosexuality. But that’s a modern development and not what the Hebrew prophets or even Jesus meant when they considered the city. For most of history, Sodom’s sin was understood to be the hoarding of resources and inhospitality to immigrants. So watch out, United States of America. Given how we’re treating the foreigners among us, fire and brimstone might be in the forecast for us, too, consequentially speaking. (Luke 10:1-12, 16)     In Worship 7/27-8/24, "Big Picture: Themes from General Synod We'll spend these five Sundays exploring themes and issues informing the work of General Synod, the triennial national meeting of our United Church of Christ denominational family, held in Kansas City, MO in July. Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am EDT, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.

Since at least the time of the ancient psalmists, God has been described as a king... and kings described as gods... and the rest of humanity (and, let's be real: men) as "a little lower than God," and called by God to exercise dominion--power over--creation by "divine right." But with the Spirit's help and Jesus' example, we can imagine a "more excellent way." The key is there in the root of the word "dominion" itself: God and human beings not as tyrants but domestic partners, sharing power with creation and building a commonwealth for all and not a kingdom for some. (Psalm 8) Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am EDT, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org —- The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org Church is the practice. Love is the point.