Reflections

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” Many of us have heard this saying before, probably from the mouth of our mother or grandmother. But where did it come from and what does it mean?

This Fourth of July, we as a nation celebrate our 243rd year of declaring our freedom from Great Britain. On June 9 we as a Christian church celebrated over 2000 years of another kind of freedom, freedom from sin in the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (see II Cor. 3:17). The Apostle Paul said, “you have been set free from sin. . .” (Romans 6: 18). So how is this possible? Rich thinks that perhaps we first have to understand what freedom is and isn’t.

This month Rich Pollock reflects on the National Day of Prayer theme centered around Jesus' command for us to love one another. Rich says, "Indeed prayer is a powerful agent for change." And we need some changing.

We celebrate for more than a month at Christmas anticipating the birth of Jesus. Shouldn’t we be even more excited about Easter and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ? This month Rich Pollock, retired Presbyterian minister and our Worship Committee Chair, shares a poignant personal story from college and what the resurrection means to him.

This month, Rich uses familiar spring imagery-- "in like a lion and out like a lamb" -- in a new and powerful way, explains our self-directed time of reflection and repentance on Ash Wednesday, March 6, 9-10 a.m., at the chapel, and recommends ways to get new perspectives on the Cross.