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From the Pastor


Lectionary of the Day: Mark 8:14-21
Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
Twelve,” they replied.
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
———
Dear Community UCC and Friends,

This week, like so many others, if we choose to we can read headlines and listen to podcasts and fill our screens with news of yet more scandal and deception while our angst about these circumstances continues to grow, or we can choose to “hear” and “see” a different story. The story of abundance where there is more than enough “bread” to feed the multitudes.

My week invited me into community conversations and one-on-one discussions with good folks who are committing to do good works.
Today, I sat around a table with SAGE volunteers at Raleigh’s LGBT Center with area UCC clergy and representatives from United Church Homes discussing the development of a housing community for LGBT seniors in Wake County. Even with the sting of scarcity lingering in the air as one of Raleigh’s affordable housing developments closed this week, the creative birthing of new bread as if falling from the sky is taking hold in our midst.

At Community UCC we reiterate the United Church of Christ’s theological statement in worship each week: Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. This kind of radical and inclusive Love is the very bread that we are called to embody, offering to all with whom we share the journey.

 May you take and eat, may you be filled to overflowing, and may you share with all who have need.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” John 6:35

Spirit is leading the way,

Rev. Jenny Shultz-Thomas