Words from the Water Communion and In-Gathering, 2018   [ 2018-09-11 15:16 ]

Every year in September, on the occasion of the first service of the church year, we hold a ceremony we are now calling the Water Communion — the beginning of the process of making the holy water we will use throughout the year for many purposes, including blessing infants and sending young adults on their way. Each member of the community brings some water from somewhere their life has taken them over the summer.

We begin the ceremony by pouring some of last year’s holy water into a large vessel. This water contains traces of the water from each year before, stretching back now 19 years. Then each member of the community adds their water to the mix and speaks a single word. As we do every year, we have gathered these words together into a single image (click the link to open a new window). Larger words were spoken more frequently.

For comparison, here are our words from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008. (The words for 2012 were, alas, not recorded.)

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Audio and Transcripts of Sermons at FPCoG   [ 2018-05-20 13:48 ]

Here are links to audio and (where available) transcripts of 2018 sermons at FPCoG. All the available sermons going back to 2008 are linked from this page.

September 16, 2018: Each of Us Is More ( Audio )

June 17, 2018: Love the Hell Out of this World (Matt Meyer) ( Audio )

May 27, 2018: Keep That as a Smooth Stone ( Audio )

May 20, 2018: Reflections on interna­tional re­settle­ment by Laura Wool, Rogers Muyanja

May 13, 2018: A Great and Common Tenderness ( Audio )

May 6, 2018: Awakening (Nick Maciel) ( Audio )

April 29, 2018: Coming of Age service, cont.: Credo statements. Note: these links lead to the Members area. If you need the access credentials, please .
Julia Hudson, Olivia Logan, Isabel Stanley-Kemler, Sarah Hudson, Sarah Stram, Jai Santoro

April 22, 2018: Coming of Age service: Credo statements. Note: these links lead to the Members area. If you need the access credentials, please .
Jacob Podsiadlo, Luke Benedict, Trent Tessier, Cameron Hadland, Ivan Sturm, Jacob Tessier, Izzy Conners

April 15, 2018: Critical Yeast ( Audio )

April 8, 2018: Infinity Calling Us Forth ( Audio )

April 1, 2018: Roll Away That Stone ( Audio )

March 25, 2018: Youth service: reflections on Awakening. Note: these links lead to the Members area. If you need the access credentials, please .
Haley Watson, Lara Hill, Sara Woods

March 18, 2018: This Can Happen Anywhere: What Love Can Do ( Audio )

March 11, 2018: A Thousand Prayers of Hope ( Audio )

March 4, 2018: Love Makes Us Brave ( Audio )

February 25, 2018: Holding Hands and Climbing (Rev. Elea Kemler, read by Alyssa Dallas) ( Audio )

February 18, 2018: Fog, Dust, and Moving Forward ( Audio )

February 11, 2018: On Blessing ( Audio )

February 4, 2018: Systemic and Systematic (Sarah Iacobucci); Walking Each Other Home, Remix (Alison Chase)

January 28, 2018: The Ground of Our Hope ( Audio; Transcript )

January 21, 2018: 365 Acts of Hope ( Audio )

January 14, 2018: The Redemptive Power of Love (Not an Easy Assignment) ( Audio )

January 7, 2018: Choose a Strong Word ( Audio )

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