From the River's Edge

by Rev. Dr. Dale Azevedo,  Sr. Minister With the recent announcement of my retirement from church ministry, I thought it might be helpful to talk about how pastoral transitions typically work in congregational churches. Now, every Christian tradition handles a change in pastors differently. In some traditions, like Roman Catholic and United Methodist, the local congregation has little to no say...

by Rev. Racquel Ray, Associate Minister of Congregational Life Happy New Year! The change of the calendar and the change in the weather bring also remembrances and renewals. Many of us review the previous year and resolve to make changes in the coming year. Some may choose to release actions that are not beneficial. And some may choose to add aspirational activities. I tend to ‘reset’ toward a...

by Rev. Dr. Dale Azevedo,  Sr. Minister Almost all of us in the church office are sick or have recently been sick. That's strange…although perhaps not unexpected. What's interesting is that none of us have the same thing, meaning we didn't all give it to one another. That would be explainable. But each of us, in our own personal way, has been ill recently. I say this is not unexpected because it...

by Rev. Racquel Ray, Associate Minister of Congregational Life The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.~ Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 4:16 Behold. Behold, beloved, is a term often used in the scripture to announce the presence of the Divine or the work or word of the Divine. ‘Behold’ informs the biblical reader that...

by Rev. Dr. Dale Azevedo,  Sr. Minister Dear friends and members of BCCUCC, Did you hear Kim Fernandez share in church on Sunday? She did a wonderful job talking about the IMPACT BCCUCC has had on her and her family. From growing up in the church singing in the children’s choir, to attending mission trips with the youth group, to the tremendous support her family received following the death of...

by Rev. Racquel Ray, Associate Minister of Congregational Life   Are you feeling particularly uneasy these past few years? We are in unstable and sometimes scary times. When we watch the news, we see images of natural disasters, violence, political discord, pandemic, and war. We are conditioned to be afraid of pending tragedy with commercials for life insurance, car insurance, home title...