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I don’t know about you; however I have totally gotten the message to wash my hands thoroughly, sneeze into my elbow, and avoiding touching my face – or anyone else’s face for that matter. We are hearing a lot about how to keep our bodies safe so we do not overburden our health... Read More →

March 15, 2020, Online John 4:3-21, 28-30, 39-42 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman   Do you remember back to a year ago? A month ago? A week ago even? When we lamented how emotionally, socially, and politically disconnected we were. Red state, blue state, Bernie, Biden – remember when... Read More →

March 8, 2020 Mark 10:46-52 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman Just like in last’s week’s passage from earlier in the 10th chapter of the gospel Mark, in this morning’s scripture passage, Jesus is on the road again, a body in motion. In last week’s passage, a rich man ran up to Jesus and... Read More →

March 1, 2020 Mark 10:17-31 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman   Inside each one of us is this inclination to make things overly complicated. The Christian season of Lent is one of those things we have tended to make overly complicated. Give up this. Don’t eat that. Don’t eat at all.... Read More →

February 23, 2020 2 Peter 1:12-21 Matthew 17:1-9 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman   Whether your relationship with Jesus is fairly new or decades old, I hope you have had a mountain top experience with Jesus. I hope that there is at least one moment when you knew the glory, the... Read More →

February 9, 2020 John 15:1-6 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman   Despite having passed away seventeen years ago this month, Fred Rogers is very much en vogue right now. In addition to the movie and documentary about his life, there are countless books written by and about this man... Read More →

February 2, 2020 Luke 10:25-29, 36-37 Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman   Jesus calls us to love our neighbor, our metaphorical and our literal neighbor, the stranger and the person who lives beside us, our Christian and our non-Christian neighbors. Jesus calls us... Read More →

January 26, 2020 Luke 10:25-37 Ephesians 2:19-22, 4:1-6, 11-16 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman   Before I came to the First Congregational Church, I had a little association envy. My colleague who served a church in the Farmington Valley Association of the United Church of Christ... Read More →

January 19, 2020 Luke 10:25-37 Galatians 5:13-14 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman   Theme song to Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood “It’s a Beautiful Day in this Neighborhood” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL3xSctTB5c&feature=youtu.be   Before the lawyer even asked it, Jesus knew... Read More →

January 12, 2020 Luke 10:25-37 Hebrews 13:1-2 Rev. Kristen J. Kleiman   In Jesus’ time, to be a part of a community was the difference between life and death. Literally, if you were cast out of your community, forced to live on your own, you would not survive. In our time,... Read More →