United Church of Northfield
Who We Are
Statement of Purpose:
Meeting in faith, honoring diversity, transforming through love and kindness, serving the community with joy.
Vision Statement:
The United Church of Northfield places faith as the foundational building block upon which everything we work to do is placed. Faith in God, each other, and the smaller and larger community, that good will be done and that justice will prevail if we commit to it. In our church we warmly welcome all who come through our doors or whose paths we cross, and will strive to demonstrate our acceptance and openness to who they are, what gifts they bring and how they see their place in the world. Our church is known by all for both its inspiring historical presence overlooking our town’s common, and as a source of promise, hope and faith in action serving our community.
Weekly Meditations
Society does not work without faith. Think of it, imagine if we all lost faith in the value of money, or consider how Black communities lost faith in our health systems because of the Tuskegee syphilis studies. Also, the recent actions of the Supreme Court and the conduct of our nation's police and government agencies, including ICE, have given citizens reason to lose faith in our justice system.
When we lose faith in our institutions, we have no reason to participate in those systems. Why should we? Dr. King said it well: those who capitulate to injustice support injustice. This is the case for America's religious institutions. Why should we have faith in them when we can see how they are used to promote the unjust concentration of corrupt wealth and power, at the expense of women, children, the LGBTQIA+ community, and minority peoples? We consistently see the hypocrisy of American Christians who do not care about feeding the hungry or providing sanctuary for refugees. How could anyone trust such a Christian?
In Mark 12, Jesus chastised the Temple priests for taking the last coins of a poor widow. Yet American Christians rip salvation away from their neighbors, then gaslight us into believing they are holy; furthermore, American Christians force their own distorted values upon the lives of our fellow Americans through cruel and invasive legislation such as the reading of select biblical verses in schools, the banning of same sex marriages, and the restrictions of reproductive freedoms. American Christians demonstrate a deep lack of concern for the well-being of others and a profound overcommitment to their own self-comfort. As Din Djarin, the Mandalorian, would say, “This is Not the Way.”
How, then, can we, in more progressive expressions of American Christianity, build faith with our neighbors when their trust has been so deeply violated? Where is the fertile ground to plant a mustard seed when so much of America's soil has been ripped up, polluted, and exploited by a Christian theology of wealth and power?
In Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, Jesus reminds us that we are not just the seed, but also the soil. One cannot sustain the other without collaboration and trust. Faith is not just for God alone; we also need to BUILD faith with our neighbors.
How is it that the good faith built by loving and courageous Christians, such as Christian abolitionists, Fredrik Douglas, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, and Robert Gould Shaw, Christian anti-fascists like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christian civil rights leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and John Lewis, and modern Christians including Cornel West, and Rachel Held Evans, has been drowned out by the bombastic self aggrandizing hatred of the American Fundamentalist Christian Nationalist?
The roots of faith have been ripped from the soul of America's faithful, and the seeds of faith are slow to grow in a nation shown we cannot trust any of our institutions. Faith is needed for society to function, and faith cannot grow when society is unconcerned with the common good.
I do not believe we need religion to rebuild faith, but we as a people do need to make a conscious, structured effort to practice moral love in civic life if we want to remineralize the faith-producing soil of our nation.
Join Us For Sunday Morning Services
Reverend Devon Thomas will be leading the service at 9 AM.
Enhanced Church audio for the hearing-challenged. Thank you, Joe and Mary McDaniel for the gift of four assistive listening devices. If you need one please speak to an usher.
Want to view the service live with ZOOM? Contact Laura Ranker for the link- lranker@myfairpoint.net
Worship services start at 9:00 A.M. each Sunday. All are welcome! Need childcare? Email to arrange-lranker@myfairpoint.net
If you are interested in renting Howe’s Hall for an event, business meeting or other function please contact the Howe’sHall Co-ordinator, Laura Ranker, at lranker@myfairpoint.net
Open and Affirming Covenant of Faith
The United Church of Northfield is an open and affirming congregation. We are committed to making justice and inclusion a reality in our world. We embrace and celebrate diversity and the dignity and worth of every individual. Whatever your age, race, beliefs, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, or physical, cognitive or emotional abilities; we value you
and invite you to participate fully and without reservation in the life, leadership and mission of our church as we seek to be an expression of God's love in our community and the world.