Dear Friends,
The refrain of the 80’s/90’s song “Back to Life, Back to Reality” was the theme for many this week. For some, it was the first “normal” rhythm that any of us had in a few weeks.
But was does it mean to live life and what is our reality? It’s a question that we ask often, especially as we return to the rhythms of our lives and work. And where is God in all of this? As we explore the themes of the epiphany season – the theme of seeing where God is manifest to us—it is an incredible time to not only be aware of God in it all, but to see God’s love reaching directly out to us so that we can share that with the world.
This week we will hear the story of Jesus’s baptism by John in the Jordan River. God declares to Jesus “You are … the beloved; with you I am well pleased.” The question for us is whether we, as we go about our daily lives, are able to hear God’s voice declaring that truth about us. And how we can use this epiphany moment to better live our lives, better serve our community and better love a world that needs it. When God says, “I love you,” we don’t have to earn this love, prove our worth, or fear that we don’t measure up. We need only accept it, receive it, rely on it, and share it.
This week we welcome back the Rev. Jake Miles Joseph to the THCC pulpit. Jake is a UCC minister and the Associate Director of Alumni Engagement at Yale Divinity School. For two years prior, Jake was at the Anti-Defamation League, where he served as Associate Regional Director for Connecticut. He has served churches in Georgia and Colorado, and, most recently, two churches in Connecticut: First Congregational Church of Guilford and First Congregational Church of Fairfield where he is currently Preacher-in-Residence. A Grinnell College alumnus, Jake served on Grinnell’s Alumni Council from 2021 to 2023. He has also been a leading advocate for fair housing, LGBTQ equality and creating change through an equity lens. In addition to his undergraduate degree from Grinnell, Jake has an M.Div. from Emory University. He has also earned a Certificate in Business Management Essentials from Cornell University and a Graduate Interdisciplinary Certificate in Human Rights from Emory.
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!
Love,
Cheryl