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Searching for a New Organist
Starting June 2021, Florence Congregational Church is searching for a New Organist!! If you play the organ or know someone who does and are interested, please contact Diane Barrett at the Florence Congregational Church. Office Number: (413) 584-1325
Farewell to Kathy Marks
We wish Kathy well as she embarks on the next step of her musical journey. We will be having guest organists at Florence Congregational (and Kathy will be subbing with musical mp3s that will be appearing on our website) as we start the search for a new organist. We were able to have our first coffee hour and farewell party just last week and below you can see some pictures taken that are also posted on our facebook page.
Mini Sermon #59
Sermon Lesson: John 3:1-12 Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 6:1-8 Psalm: Psalm 29 In A Nutshell Some of you might recognize the sermon lesson as an extension of Sunday’s lesson and I thought I would take the opportunity of June’s Pine Grove News to expand on Sunday’s Sermon. For a quick recap for those of you who were not in church on Sunday: Nicodemus was a learned Pharisee, one of the Sanhedrin (or high court), and considered Jesus a teacher. However,…
Mini Sermon #58
Sermon Lesson: Romans 8:12-17 (NRSV)Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 6:1-8 (NRSV)Psalm: Psalm 29 (NRSV) Today we return to the Epistle of the Romans but we are going to be speaking more broadly to gain context of our passage. Paul begins as he often does, addressing his fellow Christians as “brothers” as “sisters” for we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, but then expands upon that idea… more specifically, that we, as Christians, are all the adopted sons and daughters of…
Yemen Blues Concert on June 11
Yemen Blues June 11, 2021 New Culture Music blending Yemenite, West African, Latin & Jazz Ravid Kahalani’s Yemen Blues project begins and ends with the singer’s rhapsodic voice and a Yemeni accent acquired from childhood religious singing — but everything in the middle is global, funky, and outrageous. Kahalani is part Prince, part James Brown, and his music reaches into Moroccan gnawa, Nigerian afrobeat, ecstatic jazz, and global soul. Traditional folkways and devotional song intersect effortlessly with heavy grooves and…
Announcement & Mini Sermon #57
Mini Sermon #57 Sermon Reading: Romans 8:22-27 (NRSV)Alternate New Testament Reading: Acts 2:1-21 (NRSV)Psalm: Psalm 104:24-34 (NRSV) Quick Note The subject of our “Mini Sermon,” Romans 8:22-27, will serve as the First Lesson at Florence Congregational this Sunday. Hope to see you there! Preamble We move to Paul’s Letter to the Romans, which is perhaps the most well-known of his letters. Paul is writing to Christians in diaspora—or Christians who live outside of Israel. We know, just by looking at…
Concert this Friday @ 130 Pine Street
Friday, May 21st – Sophia Rei. Check out her Tiny Desk performance. She’s delightful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKSjxfYbxzcTickets and more info at: https://thirdrow.live/events/sofia-rei/ DESCRIPTION: Folk-futurist and award-winning vocalist, songwriter and producer, Sofía Rei weaves a deft and complicated tapestry of musical styles — a self-described pond-hopper when it comes to genre — whose training as an opera singer, fascination with Argentine folk traditions, and profound immersion in the multi-cultural mecca of New York City have all contributed to the music she plays today. Her collaborations are wide-ranging and studded with…
Mini Sermon #46
Sermon Lesson: 1 John 5:9-13 (NRSV)Alternate Sermon Lesson: John 17:6-19 (NRSV)Psalm: Psalm 1 (NRSV) I’m going to be honest with you. If someone comes up to me in the street, usually all smiles, and asks me point blank if I’ve accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I’m secretly wondering if God’s playing some perverse joke on me. It’s not that such well-wishers are ill intentioned—they certainly aren’t. I just don’t want to get into the questions or…
Mother’s Day Message
Sermon Lesson: Ruth 1:16-17 (NRSV) Some of you at Florence Congregational (and I do know our readership presence on the web is beyond that) have been fortunate enough to meet my mum. She rarely gets to come up because she, like me, (or rather I, like her) is a minister, and on Sunday she is in her own pulpit, tending to her own flock. However, I bring her up because this week marks Mother’s Day. For those of us who…
Mini Sermon #55
Sermon Lesson: 1 John 4:7-21 (NRSV)Psalm: Psalm 22:25-31 (NRSV)Referenced Sermons: The Love Map & The Love Map (Pt II) & The Love Map (Pt III) Today, we are returning to what I like to call “The Love Map.” For those of you who were in church on Sunday, I eluded to it briefly in my sermon about the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18). Little did I know when I was standing in the pulpit, promising that I would eventually make a…