GOD AND GARDENS Francis Bacon was not only Lord Chancellor of England under King James I, but in 1625 wrote the essay Of Gardens. He begins, “God Almighty first planted…

THERE AND BACK AGAIN It was good to be home last Thursday and to be with everyone at Saturday’s Food Truck fundraiser as well as in Sunday’s worship. I had…

LIVING WITH THE RHYTHM OF LIGHT AND DARK Earlier this week, our neighbors needed a ride to Bradley to catch a flight to visit their new grandbaby in California and…

CATCHING THE WIND OF THE SPIRIT “Rounds of fierce storms swept over Texas and the southern Plains on Tuesday,” the news report began, “uprooting trees, overturning semi-trucks, damaging buildings and…

ADD SOME SALT TO SWEETEN LIFE I was doing some baking this week and wondered why all the sweet, sugary concoctions that I was making included salt as one of…

PENTECOST AND FIRE AWARENESS One of humankind’s first and greatest achievements was mastering fire, learning to control and harness potentially destructive power for human good. Almost all the technological innovations…

UP, UP, AND AWAY On Sunday, 12 May, we observe the feast of the Ascension that celebrates the end of Jesus’ resurrection appearances and his ascending to heaven. Ascension itself…

SOMETHING THERE IS THAT DOESN'T LOVE A WALL I’ve used the mild days this week to pick up winter’s debris around our yard and to mend some of the damage…

LOVE AND THE HARROWING OF HELL If you notice our worship bulletin’s headings thus far in April, they all describe the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Sunday of Easter. Easter is…

DOES EAST LONGMEADOW NEED A HOG REEVE? This week I couldn’t resist reading a story in the Boston Globe that had the headline - “Pork and politics: Towns offer sweet…