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Faith Matters: Invoking God in politics: Learning from Lincoln’s humility
02-07-2025 10:39 AM

By THE REV. RANDY CALVO

This coming Wednesday is Abraham Lincoln’s birth anniversary. In his Second Inaugural Address, as the President of a divided Union, he realized that people of faith were praying to the same God for different outcomes. Lincoln was humble enough to dare not equate God’s will with that of either side, saying, “The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”

Displaying articles 1 to 20 out of 73 total.
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Faith Matters: Faith mattered to Jimmy Carter: Mourning the loss of the former president who had the soul of a prophet
01-31-2025 9:40 AM

By BEN TOUSLEY, M.DIV

Listening to Jimmy Carter’s funeral service on Jan. 9, a national day of mourning, I found myself choking up as they brought his casket into the cathedral. My emotion certainly wasn’t because Carter’s life, at 100, had been cut short. He had lived out his calling as peacemaker, house builder, disease preventer and the like.


Faith Matters: Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly: Taking the steps to return to God
01-24-2025 9:50 AM

By THE REV. DEREK IRVINE

Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! Allow me to introduce, or shall I say re-introduce, myself, as I’ve had the opportunity to write for this column a few times before. My name is Pastor Derek Irvine and I have the privilege of now serving as the new senior pastor at the Advent Christian Church in Vernon, Vermont, after serving on staff for the past nine years as associate pastor. My family and I have settled in the beautiful town of Gill and we have loved living in Franklin County and serving in this area.


Faith Matters: Envisioning the only perfect government: True peace on earth will come from Jesus Christ
01-17-2025 9:52 AM

By PASTOR BRETT REITENBACH

History is filled with the rise and fall of governments. Some leaders stay in place for many years, but even those who stay in power a long time must eventually depart. In recent weeks, major leadership changes have happened in various parts of the world. Here in the United States, we are just two days away from Inauguration Day which will see our 47th president enter the office. Despite America’s political divisions and trying times throughout its history, the relative stability and consistency of elections and transfers of power for more than 230 years is remarkable.


More than 30 groups to participate in Saturday’s ‘Our Projects for 2025’ event in Greenfield
01-15-2025 11:40 AM

By CHRIS LARABEE

GREENFIELD — A coalition of more than 30 groups from around western Massachusetts will gather in Greenfield Saturday to lay out their plans for the incoming Trump administration.


Faith Matters: God lives among us: And the message of Christmas belongs at all times and in all places
01-10-2025 9:21 AM

By THE REV. JASON A. BURNS

It always amazes me at how quickly the joy and excitement of the Christmas season subsides. I suspect it is because the joy of Christmas does not come from the virgin birth, from shepherds in their fields, from kings following a star, or from angels singing with the heavenly hosts. It isn’t about the beautiful decorations, the gorgeous music, the happiness of seeing and being with family, or watching our children open gifts from Santa. All of these wonderful things are byproducts of the fact that God lives among us.


Faith Matters: The sacredness of ordinary days: Every morning is an opportunity to encounter God’s presence
01-03-2025 10:53 AM

By THE REV. CANDI ASHENDEN

As the holiday glow fades and January settles in, the humdrum of daily life returns. The decorations are boxed up, the festive meals are a memory, and the calendar flips back to workdays, school schedules, and to-do lists. For many, this transition...


Third annual donation drive collects supplies for homeless
12-30-2024 9:50 AM

By DOMENIC POLI

GREENFIELD — The third annual “Give the Gift of Living” gear and goods drive, organized by the Franklin County and North Quabbin Emergency Services for Unhoused Individuals Task Force, collected 26 tents, 23 sleeping bags, 27 sleeping pads and three...


Faith Matters: Mary knew. Do we?: What faith can be when we imagine a world of love and belonging
12-20-2024 9:50 AM

By THE REV. DR. CHRIS DAVIES

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was radical — a prophet, even, in a world that offered little hope for an unwed pregnant teenager.For many Christians, Sunday, Dec. 22 is the Fourth Sunday of Advent — the day that symbolizes love — wherein Mary’s song of...


Faith Matters: A light that the shadows cannot overcome: Blue Christmas services offer us a space to bring our collective grief
12-13-2024 1:57 PM

By PASTOR BENJIMAN DURFEE

During the last two months of the year, we’re usually overwhelmed with messages to be jolly, we’re expected to show up for events with cheerful smiles, and we’re constantly surrounded by the joyous sounds of the holiday season. And while this is a...


Faith Matters: Civility still counts: A call for respect and dignity in our discourse
12-06-2024 11:33 AM

By THE REV. JULIE G. OLMSTED

I have watched and listened over the past several years, as public discourse and the language used by elected officials and their followers has steadily slipped into a kind of exchange that once would have never been allowed to see the light of day....


Faith Matters: Has our faith been swallowed up in our politics?: If we don’t love our enemies, we become what we deplore in them
11-22-2024 11:24 AM

By THE REV. ALLEN M. COMSTOCK

Because faith matters, we need to ask ourselves whether, in this time of political stress, our faith has gotten swallowed up in our politics. If so, we need to rescue our faith from our politics so that maybe our faith might come to the rescue of our...


Interfaith Council brings people of varying religious, political backgrounds together on eve of Election Day
11-05-2024 2:24 PM

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

GREENFIELD — On the eve of Election Day, the Interfaith Council of Franklin County welcomed people of all faiths and political backgrounds to the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew for an evening of prayers, songs and conversations about the...


Faith Matters: The importance of waving: Recognizing one another, post-pandemic, pre-election
10-25-2024 10:12 AM

By HETTY STARTUP

Have you, like me, noticed a spate of large, at least twice-human-sized skeletons appearing around the Valley in time for Halloween this year? They sure are creepy and quite threatening even if they are completely fake. As signifiers of our mortality,...


Faith Matters: The urgent need for a prophetic ministry for peace
10-18-2024 11:46 AM

By THE REV. DAVID JONES

I’ve been re-reading “The Prophetic Imagination,” a classic by biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann. In it he talks about the prophetic ministry of churches as being the result of two essential ingredients.The first ingredient is that a church must...


Faith Matters: Let us be more curious than certain: Each person, whatever their political views, is made in the image and likeness of God
10-11-2024 10:01 AM

By THE REV. HEATHER J. BLAIS

Recently, we took our oldest child on a tour of my alma mater, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Our oldest has always navigated life with an insatiable curiosity and desire to know more. I was eager for them to have a taste of the...


Faith Matters: An alternative to anger and hatred: Hatred blinds people so that they can only see evidence that supports their beliefs
10-04-2024 9:18 PM

By THE REV. RANDOLPH CALVO

Today is Oct. 5. Election Day is Nov. 5.A recent survey found that 90% of Americans can name a recent news event that made them angry while only 50% could name something that made them proud. This is a worrisome comparison of numbers as we approach...


Faith Matters: The importance of welcoming strangers: Remember that you were once an alien in a foreign land
09-27-2024 9:48 AM

By THE REV. ALISON CORNISH

When a message runs through the whole of scripture, it’s worth taking notice. The ancient imperative of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures — to welcome the stranger — is one of note for its insistence, its timelessness, and timeliness, too.First...


Faith Matters: Are you ‘spiritual enough?’: Activities that fill us up or connect us to others on a deeper level are actually spiritual
09-20-2024 10:23 AM

By THE REV. CINDY LAJOY

Have you ever judged yourself for not being “spiritual enough?” And what does that even mean? Today in America we often find people speaking more about their spiritual journeys than their faith or religious journeys, and for many that is a much better...


Faith Matters: Divine activity out in the farm fields: Reflections from an agricultural Anglican
08-30-2024 10:20 AM

By THE REV. JIMMY PICKETT

I have on my right arm a tattoo that reminds me every day why I serve as a priest in the Episcopal Church.I grew up in Leicester and spent nearly every weekend at my Great Grandmother’s house, an old red farmhouse with a big barn and a large field...


Faith Matters: A call to enjoy this life: Sometimes we all need to be nudged out of our comfort zones
08-16-2024 9:45 AM

By THE REV. JULIE G. OLMSTED

Recently, I saw a video featuring a performer named Rhiannon Giddens. The video was called “Another Wasted Life,” and featured a group of exonerated prisoners through an organization you may have heard of: The Innocence Project. I looked it up...

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