Matters of Consequence
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Therefore, for the child, the imaginative inner life is unending. To them, from the midst of that inner life, their decisions and choices seem grand and consequential—and we adults watch in loving (and maybe even in envious) amusement, as they work through their great matters of consequence.”
All Saints Day Worship Service

This worship service the All Saint’s Day worship service of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Niagara Falls, NY. Since Pastor Mark at Community Missions has been (virtually) providing supply preaching for them, the church kindly invited the Mission to be part of their service today. The All Saints Day service (in many Protestant…

Snippets of Hope
By Rev. Wendy Depew Partelow: “Hope is the green shoot that refuses to be hindered by the cement surrounding a crack in the pavement..”
Gentle Restoration
By Rev. Wendy Depew Partelow: “We bear one another’s burdens and we restore and are restored in a spirit of gentleness and love. But we also have to carry our own load and take responsibility for our actions against others.”
Fence vs. Tree
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Over that time I waited and kept hoping the tree would not break the fence. But, eventually, the pressure of the roots and the trunk lifted and then snapped off the nearest fence post at the ground and the fence sections broke apart. ”
To What Lengths Will We Go
By Rev. Mark Breese: “what lengths we will go to in order to have our own selfish (and often misguided) ways and our own selfish (and often misguided) desires—and often at the expense of others and even ourselves. But there is a remedy”
Yellow Brick Road
By Rev. Mark Breese: “It feels a little magical and it helps float the troubles away for a time. Each step feels like I’ve entered the magical Technicolor world of OZ and I’m walking down my own ‘Yellow Brick Road’.”
Hope Is Built Into Struggle
By Rev. Wendy Depew Partelow: “Hope is built into struggle. We do not struggle or wrestle with something unless we have the hope of change. Our text does not say why Jacob wrestled with this stranger it only says that he did, all night long, and he wasn’t going to let go until…
“Good Intentions” Chapel Worship September 2, 2020
Good intentions are generally…. well, good. But sometimes we miss the mark and so things don’t go as we expect. Peter had good intentions one day, the best actually. He just got is wrong on this occasion. The question becomes what does he, or we, do about it when we miss.
Reverend Fun
By Reverend Fun: “Sometimes you just need a little laugh.”
Life Is Like A Dance
By Rev. Wendy Depew Partelow: “An important step in any dance that requires a partner is that the follower let the leader lead. In life, there are times when we are called to be a leader, and times when we are called to follow one. We always have a choice to follow or to…
Reverend Fun
By Reverend Fun: “Sometimes you just need a little laugh.”
“So Many Boundaries” Chapel Worship August 19, 2020
The world often sets up so many boundaries….well, let’s be more honest than that. WE humans set up boundaries that are pointlessly driven by our selfishness. We create all these “Other-isms”: racism, sexism, classism, nationalism, etc., etc. Even Jesus faced this and fell into expected patterns and behavior– until he broke the patterns and…
“Walking on Water: Faith and Doubt” Chapel Worship August 5, 2020
In our current times even small choices can affect our life and the life of others in out-sized ways. From wearing masks to taking a stand on racial justice, acting with wisdom is what is required of us. In today’s message we will look at a series of short parables of Jesus and at King…
God, Birds & The Universe
By Rev. Wendy Depew Partelow: “We sometimes make God so small, don’t we. As human beings we feel we are superior to other life forms on earth – but a bird’s ability to see what we human beings cannot see causes me to believe that each of God’s creatures have their own unique superiority in…
“Choices and Wisdom” Chapel Worship July 22, 2020
In our current times even small choices can affect our life and the life of others in out-sized ways. From wearing masks to taking a stand on racial justice, acting with wisdom is what is required of us. In today’s message we will look at a series of short parables of Jesus and at King…
It Shouldn’t be a Secret
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Really, when you think about it, why would they be silent! And in this particular story, it is totally improbable that people would keep mum. The dude could not hear or speak. Then suddenly he could! If he kept quiet, that would kind of defeat the purpose of being healed in…
Living the Faith
By Rev. Wendy Depew Partelow: You can also read the Bible in a way that speaks the love and mercy of God, forgiveness for all who seek to know him, and God’s preferential treatment of the poor and destitute ON EVERY SINGLE PAGE, if you’ve a mind and heart to read it that way.”
Remembering The Dance
By Rev. Mark Breese: “I have actually only seen the very first moment of the sun rising into view a handful of times. There was period of time in my early 20’s that I decided I was going to make sure I experienced this exact moment of the sun first coming into view.”
The Gift of Half-Full Summer Evenings
By Rev. Mark Breese: “What was I doing, like, looking for something to bummed out about? Why in the world would I do that? So I sat for some time thinking about that, till long after it got dark.”
Reverend Fun
By Reverend Fun: “Sometimes you just need a little laugh.”
Weekly Chapel Service – Choices: “What We Plant Matters”
There are always lots of choices that we make everyday. Some are small some are large. These days, it seems there are small choices that can make a big difference, not just for ourselves, but for others. All these choices, our choices, can determine what kind of world we live in. To get into our…
For Father’s Day: Fishing and Faith
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Then the line broke. At the time, I never wanted to fish again. It was too tragic of a sport. But in my memory of that day, my father seems to stand there as a pillar of faith.”
Strength That Holds Us Up
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Have you ever stood in a strong wind and leaned into it? You plant your feet, face the wind and then lean forward, let your center of gravity move out in front of your feet, and let the wind hold you up from falling forward.”
The Power of Yet
By Brent Rinehart: “Where is God in divorce, disease and death? Where is He when war rages? These are age-old questions humans have struggled with for centuries. . . Habakkuk wrote his prophecy at time when he and God’s people were asking the same questions.”
Weekly Chapel Service – “Spirit and Hope”
Pentecost is the celebration of the arrival of the Holy Spirit. It is a pivotal moment for the Disciples and the Christian movement. For the Disciples, it is the moment when something happens that gives them the courage to go out and carry on the work of Jesus and proclaim the Good News. That was…
Broken Radio
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Life also continues to happen for everyone. For some, that has been the biggest part of the challenge—how to manage the way life keeps happening …”
Prayer For Memorial Day
We lift up to you our hope and urgent plea—the very hope and plea of those we honor today—that violence and war may pass from the face of the earth and your divine justice and peace shall envelope all creation.
Prayer For Healing
By Rev. Mark Breese: “O God of all the universe, let your healing fall upon us in all these many ways. Let your love that is the source the healing of mother earth, the healing our bodies and minds, and the healing of justice flow across your created world. ”
Weekly Chapel Service – “All Kinds Of Stuff”
It has been heartening to see how so many people are looking towards spiritual practices to help them through this time. I think that is wonderful that there are so many options. Of course, this has also raised in my mind a thought I have considered many times over the years. So, in a pretty…
Oatmeal
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Let’s be honest: on the face of it, there is not much to recommend oatmeal. Personally, I can confidently say that oatmeal is among my least favorite things to eat. And yet, nearly every morning, I eat oatmeal. Go figure.”
A Prayer For Uncertain Times
By Sister Cynthia Serjak : “In the midst of our growing awareness that all life on Earth is connected, we ask for the heart to respect and cherish all life. That all peoples recognize that we are all your children, hear our prayer!”
Future Justice Moment By Moment
By Rev. Mark Breese: The question is, “What will the future look like now that this has happened?” The reason this is so up front in my thoughts is because this pandemic has stripped away some of the glossy surface of what had been a long stretch of rosy economic news.”
The Way of Love
By Rev. Helen Harper: “We do good works but sometimes we suffer for what we do, which just doesn’t seem right. So what keeps us from giving up and caring only for ourselves?”
Prayers For When You Can’t Sleep
With all the stresses these days are bringing, it’s no surprise that some people are having trouble sleeping. Sometimes prayer can help.
Mothers, Love and Laughs
By Rev. Mark Breese: “For myself, and I think for all of us right now, this is the Mother’s Day to dig deep and really reflect on what our mothers, and motherhood in general, means to us. So, by way of example, I’m doing just that in this, a reflection about the two mothers I…
Blackout Drive
By Dr. Robert Bennett: “Blackout drive reminds me that no darkness can stop the light and when I trust in the process the light will win. Jesus is our light. Trust the light and you will find your way. ”
Weekly Chapel Service – “Need vs Want”
We are hearing the phrase “essential workers” a lot right now, and the reality of what that means is coming into focus in a new way for society at large. But for Christians, it should not be a surprise. This raises the question “What is essential?”. It comes down to understanding and unpacking what we…
Day Will Follow Night
By Rev. Patricia Ludwig: “One of my favorite poems, written by Lois Blanchard Eades, is one that has inspired me often throughout my life and my ministry.”
Good Words To Think About
By Rev. Helen Harper: “Our feelings of being off course without our usual makers is very real. Our longing for something unmovable and life-giving, solid, creative, concrete has become the norm. Even with all these realities God has given us a way that is steadfast when all else feels like sinking sand. ”
Sometimes Should Is Not A Bad Word
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Who among us does not feel a bit defensive when our parents or significant other tells us pointedly “You should…!” Let’s face it squarely– we do not like people telling us what to do. ”
Your Home Is Bigger Than You Think
By Rev. Mark Breese: “God’s house has many rooms prepared for us, we are told in the Gospel of John. We walk in and out of them every day—most of the time probably not knowing we are doing just that.”
The Violets Have Arrived!
By Rev. Mark Breese: “Let the fields be jubilant; the violets have arrived in my front lawn! I LOVE the violets. I love the way they make these little dots of color in the blanket of bright green that one sees only at the start of spring.”
Weekly Chapel Service – “Good Shepherds?”
Message title: “Good Shepherds?”. The image of the shepherd is an indelible image in the human imagination. The metaphor and image of Jesus as The Good Shepherd is also strongly rooted the Christian imagination. In the Gospel of John chapter 10, the main place this image comes from, the text IS NOT, as most people…
Expect the Unexpected
By Rev. Mark Breese: “The old adage “Expect the unexpected” can come in many forms. One form that it came in for me back in high school, was an older gentleman (well older to a teenager) who was the super-fan for our cross country team. Let’s call him Mr. B.”
The Road To Emmaus
By Rev. Helen Harper: “The location of the story in Luke’s Gospel called Emmaus has never been identified with certainty. However, Luke tells us it was approximately 7 miles from the city of first-century Jerusalem. This story begins with two men, who are not part of the eleven disciples who are left…
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