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Continuing a Legacy of Activism in the Southern Tier

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Pastor's Message - August 2025
The film opened with summer league baseball, and not just any summer league. As the camera followed a home run ball over the fence, I...


Pastor's Message - July 2025
As the New York Times recently noted, it is getting harder (and more expensive) to be a sports fan in America. Athletes and their agents,...


June 2025 - Message of Inclusivity
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) — June marks Pride Month across the country. Ahead of Pride celebrations in the Twin Tiers, one Elmira pastor talked...


Pastor's Message - June 2025
I am grieving. If you are reading this column, you already know that. I might mention it in conversation on occasion. And I took some...


Pastor's Message - April 2025
On the next page, you'll find Jenny's monthly "President's Message," where she reflects on an important discussion at our recent Church...


Pastor's Message - March 2025
I grew up long before kids were hiding under desks to avoid shooters with assault weapons, and after people finally figured out that a...


Pastor's Message - February 2025
During my time at Harvard Divinity School, I noticed a number of classmates who arrived as members of other Christian traditions, but...


Pastor's Message - January 2025
One of our close ecumenical partners in the New York Conference of the United Church of Christ is the Evangelical Church of Hesse and...


A Message from the President & the Pastor
This month, Rev. Gary and I will merge our “columns” in Cross Currents – reflective of the partnership we share in the leading of our...


Pastor's Message - November 2024
By the time you read this, the World Series will probably be over. As of this writing, before I leave on vacation, we know who is going...


Pastor's Message - October 2024
“The Word of God stands alone and is inerrant!” This is the mantra of so many selective literalists, dishonest folks who claim to follow...


Pastor's Message - September 2024
Jesus was not a free-market Neo-liberal capitalist. Obvious, right? There were both small-hold and commodity economies in Galilee and...


Pastor's Message - August 2024
“Monty Python's Flying Circus” had flown long before I ever needed to shave, but their films were still coming out during my teenage and...


Pastor's Message - July 2024
We do not know how Jesus understood himself and his role in what we now call salvation. He left nothing in writing, and accounts of his...


Pastor's Message - June 2024
Years ago, I was active in university and community theater, including a stint as the Artistic Director of the historic Arden Shakespeare...


Pastor's Message - May 2024
We have not always had the best PR. There was that whole thing at Salem, a footnote in history until Arthur Miller mapped it onto the Red...


Pastor's Message - March 2024
I am sure none of us were surprised when Alexei Navalny died in a Russian gulag. After all, Vladimir Putin’s assassination squads had...


Pastor's Message - February 2024
And the Oscar goes to... not “Barbie.” I saw “Barbie.” I liked it, thought it clever, and it certainly spoke powerful truths about...


Pastor's Message - January 2024
A few days before Christmas, Linda at City Hall reached out to ask me what I wanted on my business cards. As a new City Council member,...


Pastor's Message - December 2023
In Times Such as This The image shows up in my social media news feed almost every day in recent weeks, three boys with clothing and...
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