Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am in awe about how a person’s situation can change so much in just a short time. About this time last year, John and I were arriving back in Florida after taking an eight-day cruise to the Caribbean. It was a great trip to Anti qua, St. Kitts…
Category: Pastor’s Letters
Pastor’s Letter – August 2015 – A Time to Say Goodbye
I am approaching a transition in my ministry. I am about to leave the longest pastorate I have been in since my ordination just short of my 10-year anniversary. I have been at the Congregational United Church of Christ, Farmingville, NY for almost four years, first as pulpit supply and then as Interim Pastor. I…
Pastor’s Letter – April 2015 – Rooted in the Lord
Dear Brothers an Sisters in Christ, Everything on Earth is rooted. Now that spring is breaking into our lives, we may be preparing to plant flower and vegetable plants in our gardens. Normally though I doubt we spend too much time thinking about the roots, only the beautiful foliage that those roots help to create….
Pastor’s Annual Report – January 2014
It is typical in the church to put together an annual report to the congregation. It is a way of looking back so that we can see more clearly how to move forward in the coming year. Below are my renderings fo the past year and what I look forward to in 2014. As I…
Pastor’s Letter – September 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This September is a big month for me. It is the month that I enter the third act of life. I have been thinking about this important milestone for the past year. I have moved through times when I just wanted it to pass unnoticed to throwing a big…
Pastor’s Letter – July 2013 – Peripheral Vision
Dear Friends in Christ, I have been playing a game on my tablet called Marble Saga. The game consists of a series of colored marbles that go around a variety of mazes. The goal is to clear the marbles before the front marble falls into a hole. When the stream of marbles does reach the…
Pastor’s Letter – April 2013 – It Only Takes A Spark
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, A new movie came out April 12 (“42”) about Jackie Robinson. If you are not old, enough to remember the Brooklyn Dodgers or what it was like to live in the midst of segregation in the 1950s, you might want to go see it. It might just inspire you….
Pastor’s Letter – February 2013 – Beloved Community
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, The church was closed Sunday, February 10 due to a record-breaking snowstorm that hit Suffolk County and the area around Farmingville hard. As Newsday reported, according to the National Weather Service in Upton, “The blizzard unleashed up to 33 inches of snow as recorded in Medford, and wind gusts…
Pastor’s Letter- January 2013 – The Inaugural
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Inauguration Day felt like a day that God has wanted for all of its creation and creatures. It felt like a day that Jesus prayed for when he helped a Samaritan woman, healed a cripple, touched the eyes of the blind and allowed officials to nail him to the…
Pastor’s Letter – December 2012 – First Snow
Dear Friends, Usually the first snow is a welcome sight, not today. Nerves are frayed as we go into this holiday season. Many people are dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and now a snowstorm. It sounds as if it may be a couple more weeks before everyone has electricity. It could take well…
Nealand Ministries: A Ministry of Revitalization 