"Holy Humor Sunday" sounds like a modern invention, but actually it’s a practice with deep roots, particularly in the Eastern Churches. In those traditions, the joy of Easter is extended to the Sunday after Easter Sunday with a celebration called “Bright Sunday” or “Smile Sunday" or Holy Humor” Sunday. It’s a way of understanding Christ’s Easter resurrection as God’s own last laugh, a kind of practical joke on sin and death and the powers that be, when the world goes knock-knocking on the tomb door only to find that Jesus is not home but has risen. It’s a reminder that joy and laughter really can change the world. (John 16:16-22)

Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.

We’re taught that Jesus’ Easter resurrection is a good thing–that, in fact, it’s the very best thing: the death of death, the springtime of souls, the divine affirmation of Jesus’ Gospel ministry of justice, peace, and compassion. But the guards who witnessed it firsthand were so frightened they “shook and became like dead men.” That doesn’t sound good. How do we let go of whatever may be keeping us from embracing the resurrection as truly Good News, and not just for us but for the whole world? (Matthew 28:1-10)

Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.

The first Palm Sunday wasn't just a parade. It was a protest. The crowds that took to the streets with Jesus were there to lift their "Just no!" against the life-stealing, death-dealing powers of imperial politics and religion. And when their frightened leaders told them to quiet down, they only became more unruly. Now it's our turn to become unruly and lift up our own just no against the same forces in our world today. (Matthew 21:1-11)

Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.

ou·​bli·​ette (ˌü-blē-ˈet) noun, a dungeon with an opening only at the top; from the French, oublier, to forget (related to oblivion)

When their brother Lazarus died, it may have seemed to Mary and Martha that God didn’t care, that Jesus had forgotten him, and them. But Jesus never forgets anyone, and God’s eye isn’t just on the sparrow but on each of us, particularly those the world might prefer to forget: the last, the least, the lost, the lonely, the dying, and the dead. Jesus weeps with us and holds us close until our own resurrection arrives. (John 11:1-45)

At the heart of this reflection is the poem "Lazarus" by Edward Arlington Robinson.

Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.

Jesus heals a lot of people, but the story usually called “Jesus and the Man Born Blind” is one of the longest and most detailed meditations on illness, disability, and healing. And it’s one of the few times where the experience of the disabled person–in this case, the “man born blind”--is centered in the text. So it’s fitting that our guest preacher, a person who lives with disability themselves and has a ministry centering the needs and gifts, the whole personhood of disabled people, will share their experience with us. (John 9:1-41)

Our guest preacher: Rev. Manda Adams is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ with 15 years experience serving 4 churches both as a settled and an interim/transitional pastor. For 20 years, she’s lived with an autoimmune disease and then, since 2020, long COVID and deepening disability. She is now in the beginning stages of organizing a new church start called (Dis)Embodied Church–an online faith community by and for disabled people.

Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.

In the Sunday school classic story from Matthew's Gospel, Jesus approaches Peter and Andrew, James and John along the lakeshore and offers them a choice: To follow him, or not. But there's definitely more than just a Sunday school context to that invitation: Jesus' prophetic mentor John the Baptizer has been arrested and soon will be executed by the state, and Jesus is headed deeper into Galilee to speak truth to power and liberation to the "least of these" and put his own life on the line for the Gospel of love. Do the fishermen want to follow him to that same end? Do we? The choice is before us.(Matthew 4:12, 17-23)

Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.

It's the end of the world... at least the end of the world as we've known it. How can we have hope with everything falling down around our ears? We can't. Because hope isn't something we have (or don't). Prophets and poets and our neighbors in communities who've already witnessed the end of their worlds show us us that hope is something we make, together, one step at a time. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)

Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.

As followers of Jesus, our ultimate allegiance is to the God Who Is Love, and we are called to manifest that love in justice and peace for our neighbors. But that commitment is being sorely tested these days with the rise of fascist ideology and violence supported by Christian nationalism in our country. This Sunday, we will reflect how we can meet this challenge with faith and courage. We will share the stories of the Prophet Daniel and his three friends who refused to bow to the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar or his commands and of August Landmesser, believed to be the German man refusing to salute in this historic photo. (Daniel 3)

Join us for worship Sundays @ 10am Eastern Time, on-site & online via Zoom. Connect at www.NeedhamUCC.org
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming, radically inclusive congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA. www.NeedhamUCC.org

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.