Ken Baily
“Do not be afraid; good news; great joy; all the people.” The Angel in Luke 2 Dear Friends in Christ, Have you read Luke lately? Christmas is coming. So if it has been a while since you have read a whole Gospel (which means Good News, as opposed to Daily News), and if you want to enjoy this Christmas …
Newton Highlands Congregational Church, UCC, September 2026 From the Salem Church Covenant, 1629, adapted each year One: Our Jewish ancestors and our Christian history know the best of times and the worst of times. Birth. Delight. Grace. Blessing. Wars. Tyrants. Floods, droughts, fires, lies, and ill health brought on by these. Yet none if this is new to God, or to scripture. And throughout …
Never ever leave grace out. Kirk Byron Jones Dear Friends in Christ, Summer is not over. God may rest on the seventh day, but works for at least six. We may find ourselves seasonally resting each summertime and sometimes distracted in a culture of distraction, but as Jones says in a book called Soul to Self, never …
On the seventh day God finished the work of creation, so God rested. Genesis 2:2 Dear Friends in Christ, An old-time chestnut asks, “How can you be most like God? Take a day of rest.” In some ways, in some parts of New England, it’s called August. But — there are deeper meanings, too. Obviously …
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. Isaiah 25:6 If you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. Galatians 5:15 Dear Friends …
The First Sunday of August is the sixth year of a tradition organized here at NHCC: We invite all the other UCC clergy from Newton to gather for worship (it started because we have air conditioning, and we’re friendly…) and we celebrate a guest preacher.* Last year Newton Presbyterian members joined us as well, and worship …
People of Galilee, why do you stand looking to the sky? Jesus) has been raised from death and now goes ahead of you… Dear Friends in Christ, The words above are a combination from Acts 1 and Matthew 28. But the point is the same: God’s Word is always moving ahead of us, to familiar …
God is love. 1 John 4:8 Dear Friends in Christ, Years ago at another church an active leader in that parish told me that I was “fundamentalistic.” I think he made up the word. I asked, why did he say so? He replied that I always read scripture in worship and quoted and explained it …
I’ve come to view Jesus the way I’ve come to view Elvis. I love the guy, but some of his fan clubs terrify me. John Fugelsang Dear Friends in Christ, If you read this before Good Friday, forgive me my quoted levity. Our Tenebrae worship with Taizé chants has sufficient gravity and darkness, as do …
On March 15, 2026, in worship we explored a series of scriptures regarding the meaning of blindness in our Gospels. On the fifth Sunday of Lent we held up a variety of texts where Jesus is offensive. Maybe even insulting. These are inspired by Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1, where he calls the Christian …