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06-19-22 Sunday Sermon

6/21/2022

 
First Congregational Church
June 19, 2022
Second Sunday after Pentecost and Father’s Day
Luke 8:26-39
“Drawing the Circle Wide”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

Luke 8:26-39
26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time, this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!"

29 For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" 31 "Legion," he replied because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.

37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

You probably didn’t expect me today. You probably never knew I existed. And no one will testify to my identity. But, I am here - now - the sister of the one you just heard about - the one that has no name to you except demoniac - the one our family called Wolf. Our mother said that even as a baby, Wolf was a little on the wild side, even though he was shy. And I adored him. We were close as babies, and I wanted to protect him - always as his big sister.

We just thought of him as Wolf, but as he grew older, Wolf became more - odd. Most of the time, he was just fine, silly, caring, loving, protective, even patient. But every so often, it was like he heard another voice in his head and he would do strange things.

At first, they weren’t big things’ stealing a fig here, breaking a cup on purpose there. Our family would brush the ‘infractions’ off and hope that our friends and neighbors would forget them. But as Wolf got older, the damage he did couldn’t be excused. And it was so hard, because one minute, he’d cheerfully take a cup of water to workers on a hot day, and the next minute, he would take a nearby tool and break the chair or overturn the pot cooking dinner.

It made no sense to us, and we couldn’t stop loving him, but we became scared, fearful that someone would become seriously hurt, himself or another, and one day, there might be no more compassion for him. It was one of the hardest things we ever did as a family - the day we told Wolf he had to leave our home. The memory of that day never ceases to bring tears to the surface of my eyes.

So he lived with the dead, although we brought him food as often as we could. He stopped caring about his appearance; dust and twigs clinging to his unmanaged hair and beard, his tattered clothes. When his sandals fell apart, they weren’t replaced. And finally, he stopped wearing clothes altogether.

People would look at us as if we were guilty of not controlling him. We tried. We tried tying him to his bed, but he got out of his bindings. We tried chains and guards, but just because he was sick in the head didn’t mean he wasn’t still smart - and strong. It seemed to become more evident that the ultimate means of controlling my little brother would be near, if you know what I mean, because I can’t bring myself to even say the word.

And then one day, everything changed. Jesus - the one the called the Son of the Most High God - came across the lake. They said that this man was a healer, a miracle worker. If anyone ever needed a miracle, it was my Wolf. But the chances of Wolf and Jesus crossing paths seemed slim at best. How would he even know that Jesus was there?

Somehow, it happened, and maybe that was the first miracle. Wolf’s sickness changed the way he thought of himself, and when Jesus asked him his name, Wolf replied “Legion.” It was about that time that I heard that these two had met, so I hurried down to the shore, making my way through the crowd that had gathered.

I cannot explain what happened next, except that I saw it with my own eyes. Wolf - Legion - began begging Jesus to leave him - them - alone. Irony: demons asking not to suffer. I have no idea how it happened, but the demons left my beloved brother and were thrown into a herd of pigs, that then ran down into the lake, drowning themselves. The whole story sounds as crazed as my brother was.

Except that he wasn’t from that point on. I don’t know where they came from, but clothes were brought for Wolf, and a comb and sandals. His circle grew a little bit, in that gifting.

His face looked so different, almost as if someone erased the frown of torture from his forehead. The big thing was his eyes. His eyes once again had the light that they had when we were children - of innocence and wonder and light.

I laughed inside because Wolf said he wanted to go with Jesus, and who could blame him. If this Son of the Most High God could heal my brother of such torment, imagine what else he could do!

When Jesus told him no, that he was to go home to tell people how much God had done for him, I thought it was the best of advice, because maybe, just maybe, this miracle would last, and I would get my brother back.

In the end, it might have seemed more kind to let Wolf go with Jesus. It wasn’t that what Wolf had to say was hard. The hard part was the listening, and taking in of his change. The pain and agony Wolf had brought to our family, friends and community was a fresh as a grape picked from a vine. We were afraid to trust this change, afraid that it was an act, and that tomorrow would find him back in the graveyard, the place that had actually become his refuge.

It didn’t seem right for him to go back to the tombs, so he came home. And anguish moved in with him. None of us had changed, but the more that Wolf spoke about what Jesus did, the more suspicious people became - not only of him, but of our whole family. It took a while for him to fit back into the family, reassigning chores and roles. And we got to functioning pretty well. But outside, in our neighborhood, in the market and synagogue, that was a different story.

And I certainly wouldn’t blame them for being afraid of what Wolf might do. They should absolutely be on guard should harm happen. But regaining trust was hard - for Wolf himself, for us his family, and the larger circle of friends and community. But I’ve learned a few things I share with you, so that the circle of my brother’s healing continues to widen.

It’s not that there are no distinctions in this world, that we are somehow all alike. We are so very different, but we are not separate. This same Jesus that restored my Wolf also said that we ought to love our neighbors as ourselves. What I’ve come to understand is that we love our neighbors because we are part of them and they are part of us, and all of us part of a much greater whole.

I also learned, and I give to you what you probably already know, that demons, like those that infested my brother, point to invisible powers, powers that recognize Jesus, who has greater power. And sometimes that power is hard to trust, even though it is good.

I have also learned that this Jesus gave a prayer that we can use, and it mentions those who “sin” against us. I won’t attempt a list of sins, but point out that this prayer doesn’t include healing of physical, spiritual, social or psychological issues, but deliverance from evil. The sin of evil that separates and drives into herds of people that think of themselves as superior over others - to the detriment of all.

Lest you think that I am arrogant, I have questions after Wolf’s deliverance. Why doesn’t Jesus heal all people? If he is the Son of the Most High God, why aren’t we all free of pain and sorrow and agony? —- I suppose it wouldn’t be right for this Most High God to leave us without work to do - work like prayer, extending comfort, drawing the healing of the Most High God’s circle wider.

I have begun to see small changes in our neighborhood, people beginning to lower the fence of their suspicions about Wolf, as they begin to embrace that which Jesus did that day. I’ve noticed it in little things, like when our neighbor, Tova, died. We’re learning not to ask “what can I do” - which can seem distant, but to say, “I’m so sorry this happened,” which draws us closer to their pain.

And you probably already know - that it takes a village to grow us - more often than not - well past our childhood years - and that denying the need for such help is perhaps closer to sin than anyone would like to admit.

There are perhaps a great many more things I could share with you, but I leave you with this last one. I saw it. I still don’t fully understand it. I don’t know if I ever will. But what happened to my brother has opened the door to the possibility that mind-boggling things happen, which can help us open the door to more possibilities - drawing ever-widening circles of protection and shelter and restoration. I think that your pastor would now like to pray.

Most High God, thank you for your circles of love and inclusion because we well know that on any given day, choices and decisions can or would have us on the outside looking to come into your love. Thank you for infinity and revelations and miracles and all the other aspects of life that seem so far beyond us, and yet we are “in” them. Forgive us when fatigue and burdens and fear limit our energies and awareness. So we pray for your restorations of us and your church, that we continue to draw wider and wider circles around your heart. And all your people say, Amen.

06-12-22 Sunday Sermon

6/12/2022

 

First Congregational Church
June 12, 2022
Trinity Sunday
John 16:12-15, Romans 5:1-5
“Elephants in Rooms”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant, And happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl: "God bless me! but the Elephant Is very like a wall!” The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried, "Ho! what have we here So very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!”

The Third approached the animal, And happening to take The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake: "I see,” quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a snake!” The Fourth reached out an eager hand, And felt about the knee. "What most this wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain," quoth he; “ 'Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: "E'en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan! The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, "I see,” quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong! So oft in theologic wars, The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen!

John 16:12-15
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Thank you, Beth and Mike. So why are elephants bad dancers? They have two left feet. What sport will an elephant always beat you at? Squash!

Human beings, being what they are, all have inward delights of odd things. And one of those goofy things particular to me, is that when I hear a story, I tend to make up images of that story in my mind. Maybe that is much more common than I realize, but it is also, perhaps, how I really, inwardly, love the phrase, the elephant in the room.

I’m positive there are oodles of cartoons and drawings in the world about that idiom, and most people are familiar with its meaning in reference to an obvious problem that no-one wishes to talk about. And I’m also mighty sure there are some folks wondering what an elephant in the room has to do with Trinity Sunday, the day we give time to the idea of God as parent, redeemer and comforter, Mother, Child, and Breath of God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Put all that together, and it’s one strange mixture of ingredients. Let me make it even a little weirder. We celebrate this Sunday that follows Pentecost in calling it Trinity Sunday. But the word trinity isn’t found in the Bible. There are numerous verses that speak about two of the three persons of God that were just mentioned. God as God, relational in nature, manifested in three distinct ways as an example of perfect communion, to get our heads around it, our scope has to be broader than one sentence.

The last two sentences of the passage from John: All that belongs to the Father is mine (Jesus). That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. Within the five verses of the Romans passage, you can also find the three names of the Godhead, which isn’t even a real head, but a divine nature or essence. While all that is that, I felt that the Spirit moving - all of us - toward that part of the Romans passage that speaks about rejoicing in sufferings, that produces perseverance, character and hope.

Incidentally, elephants display ‘right-handedness’, not in their limbs, but in their
tusks. Close examination will reveal one tusk to be thicker, with a blunter tip. The thicker, blunter tusk is the one they use to dig for water and gather food, just in case you need to know that.

Actually, the elephant in the room is that sometimes this passage from Romans is not helpful or healing, even harmful to the soul. Methodist author and preacher, William Willimon put it perfectly. “It’s a rather risky thing to state that God uses even our present suffering to cultivate virtue.” Thank you, Rev. Willimon.

He also said, “I don’t think that the statement we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope is the sort of thing you want to say to someone who is in acute pain, particularly when you are not in pain.”

Sometimes a person will empathetically say, “I know how you feel,” when they never experienced divorced parents or a family member with severe mental health issues, or had a car accident as a teenager, driving too fast during a blizzard, not that I would personally know anything about that. Granted, the suffering of such “hypothetical” trouble eventually led to the character of being a better driver, and that’s a good thing. But I digress.

For the most part, when someone is in trouble or troubled, even though the Holy Spirit is never apart from us - or them, we can feel as if we need to respond to someone’s pain. In discomfort, we can say things that are not particularly helpful, even hurtful. So sometimes we revert to saying nothing, which feels empty, too.

But Rev. Willimon offered a great insight - that Paul - in speaking to the Romans - wasn’t so much preaching “this is how you should feel or be,” but “this is what I’ve found to be true."

Instead of preaching, he’s giving testimony, like a witness in a trial - giving what he has seen or understood in his own life. Still not always helpful to those whose lives are a struggle or flat out as close to not living as a living person can get.

And in times of pain, upon reflection, most likely not immediately, Paul discovered that there were moments in his life when trouble or pain produced endurance for him, that endurance produced greater character in himself, and that character produced hope - through God, Christ and the Holy Spirit - in Paul.

Even if Paul’s testimony about himself isn’t helpful, there is an element - maybe the most important part - that this great growth of character attributes - had nothing to do with Paul pulling himself up by any bootstraps or by his own ears. It was through the Holy Spirit.

Maturing in our faith is not something we do on our own but with the Holy Spirit. We are not left to our own devices when strengthening faith, because we are never left alone. The Holy Spirit is always with us.

The peace that Paul spoke about, “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” is also not our usual understanding of peace. There is the world’s peace and there is the peace offered to us by Christ and this two are very different sorts of peace. So strangely strong is that peace, it takes a Trinity of persons, that come together under the name of  God, manifested in different ways for different purposes, to enable us to get our heads around such peace of spirit.    

In some ways, this idea of peace - amidst the dis-ease of our world - is about truth - the kind of truth that is worthy of our time and energy to understand its power. And I’m guessing that the hunger for real, meaningful truth is becoming ravenous these days.

In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho Falls won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair. His project was to show the influence of fear through unhelpful language by urging people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "Dihydrogen monoxide.”

His “evidence” for this restriction was 1. It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting. 2. It is a major component of acid rain. 3. It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state. 4. Accidental inhalation can kill you. 5. It contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape. 6. It decreases the effectiveness of automobile brakes. And 7. It is found in tumors of terminal cancer patients. He asked 50 people if they support a ban. 43 said yes, six were undecided and only one knew that the chemical is ... water.

It struck me that in reality, there are a lot of elephants in this room today - including those who are with us from a distance. Or maybe it is that we are all from Indostan, each with our own way of experiencing our elephants in rooms, our own unique paths in this life, and our individual ways of understanding our experiences. In terms of time and breadth around the world, that’s a whole big ‘memory’ of elephants - as a group is properly called.

In fact, there is great irony in that name, because the elephant's memory is legendary. And the special ceremony for greeting a long-lost member of the herd is also
distinguished. In that greeting ceremony, both elephants flap their ears, trumpet, and generally express joy.

When we are struggling - with pain or trouble - it may be hard to summon ear flapping, trumpeting or joy, much less all three at once. We get that we all experience pain or trouble, and we can better appreciate similar situations of pain and trouble. What’s really important, is that regardless of how we feel, how many elephants there are in the room, we 1. don’t always have to have words when a pat on the arm and a look into the other’s eyes will speak much louder and eloquently, and 2. in embracing the Holy Spirit’s presence, knowing that we are never alone, so comes the fullness of the Trinity - with Christ and God. And all that together makes for a good place to pray.

Almighty, All-Wise God in Three, thank you for enlarging our lives through your Trinitarian relationship with all your people. And even if it sounds strange, we thank you for the comfort that comes through that relationship. Forgive us when we fail to think before speaking hurtfulness, even innocently, as well as our insensitivities to your need of us in this world. When we fail to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit, give us greater nudging, that we see the elephant, the room, the people there and the tender hearts that all need healing and comfort - at some time or another. As you continue our educations and maturation through your Spirit, Son and yourself, all your people say, Amen.

06-05-22 Sunday Sermon

6/5/2022

 
First Congregational Church
June 5, 2022
Pentecost Sunday
Acts 2:1-12
“Dreaming God’s Dreams”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

When trains were popular transportation there was a little girl who was taking her first train ride with her parents. As night descended, the mother took the girl, who was clearly quite anxious and placed her on the upper bunk of the sleeper. She told her little one that up there she would be nearer to God and that God would watch over her.

As silence enveloped the young lady she became afraid and called softly, "Momma, are you there?” "Yes dear," came the response. A little later, in a louder voice, the child called, "Daddy, are you there, too?” "Yes dear," was the reply.

After this had been repeated several times one of the passengers sharing their sleeper car finally lost his patience and shouted loudly, "Yes, we're all here, your father, your mother, your brother, and all your aunts and cousins; now settle down and go to sleep!"
There was a moment of silence and then, in hushed tones, a little voice asked, "Momma, was that God?"

In a like manner, one could imagine the disciples asking the same question on a particular day, a couple of thousand years ago in Jerusalem. It was a big day, a feast day that commemorated the Passover of the Angel of Death a thousand years before, as well as being the Festival of Harvest, also known as the Feast of Weeks when sheaves of winter barley were brought to the temple each day between the Passover and Shavout - the beginning of the harvest season. Because the festival was fifty days long, it has become known as the Jewish Pentecost. As one of three major festivals, this one was also known as a pilgrim festival because it required that all Jewish males observe it at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment,
because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"

Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine. " Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: " 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

Thank you, Jeanne. As I was doing my homework for this message, I came across a sermon title, “The Howling,” by Lori Wagner, and well, you know I couldn’t let that one go by.

She starts her message, “This isn’t a story about wolves, although it sounds like it could be. It isn’t even a tale about noises in the night or a particularly powerful storm. It’s a ghost story. A true story. A relaying of unexpected events within a room full, no a town full, of people with a boatload of witnesses, an experience that defied all reality, a recorded testimony about an unexplained, uncanny manifestation of a Spirit that not only spooked those present but changed their lives completely thereafter. A phenomenon so weird that it startled an entire city and started an entire movement.” I think that is actually a really good way of understanding that famous day.  

Ms. Wagner did’t say “It was a dark and stormy night,” because it was daytime, but she did lift up the idea of a tornado or a foghorn, loud, low, and deep to shake the shutters. And while her description is nice and all, I think it’s more important to dive into its meanings.

When thinking about or dealing with the Day of Pentecost, sometimes another particular day comes to mind. We may have heard of the Tower of Babel, but it may have been a while since we visited it. The Bible doesn’t use that title for the tower that would 1. be the focus of a city built by humans with a single language that would 2. explain the existence of so many different languages, when confusion and disunity came in to play .

There is an element of bringing sameness back to God’s people - through Passover - in that those there that day became the same in mission, as followers of Christ and witnesses to faith. But it wasn’t so much sameness as understanding. The mention of all those names of people groups represented at least six different languages, and none of the people lost their native tongues but understood the message through those languages.

It’s not just understanding the words of what might have happened that day back then, but because of our relationship to Christ, as brothers and sisters, it is the understanding of our heart, mind and soul, too. As siblings of the King of Kings, we might be tempted to have a top-down look at this event and this day. Except, that it’s a horizontal understanding that invites us to the honor and undertaking of purpose in sync with Christ’s mission.

If we are honest, sometimes our prayers are a little more about control than they are about God’s desire. Maybe a lot more often than we’d like to admit. Today reminds us that we yield our “needs” to have life on our terms, to join our hearts and minds to dream God’s dreams.

And what dreams - from this passage - understanding through differences, the miraculous, and that seemingly impossible - happening on a day when our focus may be elsewhere. Dreams - of more than expected - happening at one point, against the backdrop of history - to something greater, far bigger than what we might have imagined - with repercussions that ripple far into the future - far past our own lives or generations.

At any point in history, we might be tempted to say that “this” is the worst time - in the 1940s, in the 1860s, in the 1770s, and on back. It certainly seems like we are in the midst of some hard times - and we are. But we are also people who stand in the legacy of a God who dreamt of us for so long, of a people that would do amazing things through faith. So on this day, as we celebrate dreaming God’s dreams, we bring part of those dreams to life as we share the gift Christ gave us in our Lord’s Supper.

Our taste buds operate differently, our body systems digest differently, our hands dip the bread into the cup differently, but it is the same meal - not just here - but all over the world, when we take time to recall the

night when Jesus took bread and gave thanks, took
the cup and gave thanks for it.

Let us pray. God of all time and dreams, we thank you for this day as well as that day as described in the book of Acts and all the other days throughout time. We thank you for that place where time doesn’t matter and where we all will live in your dream more perfectly. Forgive us and help us to avoid giving in to temptation of hierarchy or betterment and inspire us to delight and flourish in differences. Thank you for this meal that reminds us of the vividness of your dreams of us living as your people and may it sustain us in the days ahead, as we strive to be the people you have always dreamt us to be. And all your people say, Amen.

    Author

    Just the messenger.  And the collector and arranger of that which has been received.  References available upon request.

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    • How to Find Us
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  • Weddings
    • Basic Wedding Information
    • The Wedding Service
    • Some Practical Suggestions
    • Vendors
    • Historic Weddings
  • Special Events
    • Baptisms
    • Block Party
    • Cake Walk
    • Celebrations of Life: Funerals & Memorials
    • Christmas: The pictures say it all
    • Cookie Decorating (for the Silver Tea)
    • Flotilla Party
    • Fourth of July Koegel Hot Dog Sale
    • Halloween Open House
    • The Lord's Supper
    • Women's Fellowship Silver Tea
  • Our History and Other Things
    • Historic This and That >
      • Historic Quilt
      • New Minister Ads: 1998
    • Previous Pastors
    • The Church Building
    • Religious Education
    • Congregationalism
    • Congregational Summer Assembly
    • Historical Marker of 2017
    • Newspaper Articles
    • FCCF Historic Television