404-633-4505 | Join Us On Sundays at 11AM!
404-633-4505 | Join Us On Sundays at 11AM!
Read the latest news for our church.
May 30, 2025
Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,
As you will remember, our guest preacher on Sunday will be Rev. Dr. Luther E. Smith, husband of our own Rev. Helen Pearson Smith, gentle and loving spirit, distinguished theologian and educator, and dear friend. Dr. Smith’s latest book is Hope is Here: Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community (Westminster John Knox, 2023). After worship, he will join us for a Community Conversation in the Fireplace Room. The book will be available for purchase.
I trust you are making plans to be with us on Sunday and to stay for our time with Dr. Smith. This is an opportunity I very much look forward to and you don’t want to miss.
In The Monthly magazine that was issued earlier this week, you read about the “Summer of Exploration: A Journey Inward Together” that begins in June. With journeying inward fresh in my mind, I happened upon the following excerpt in Hope is Here and wanted to share it with you here. Under the subheading “Questions for the Quest,” Luther writes:
“Journey” is frequently used to describe how one is living the spiritual life. It evokes images of movement, seeking, engaging new realities and new meanings, the risk. The journey is a quest. A quest inspired by hope. A quest to feed the spirit’s hunger for fulfillment. A quest, whether or not we are aware of it, to give ourselves to God’s dream of beloved community.
A journey’s realities and our feelings about those realities are known and not known. Reliable maps? Maybe. Trustworthy testimony from previous travelers? Maybe. Support from others? Maybe. A strong desire to have a successful journey? Yes. Certainty that it will match our desire? No. Will I be safe? Maybe. Will I be the same at journey’s end. No. Is there an end to the journey? Begin and see.
The questions evoke more questions. Even answers evoke more questions. Questions are not our nemesis. Certainty may be our downfall, but not questions. With questions we quest with a searching heart and humility that are crucial to being alive to wisdom and confusion. The work of hope is accomplished with our embrace of the questions that inform and form us.
We will look to see you on Sunday for worship or Streamers, you can look for us. It will be a great day to be together around the Table of Communion (Streamers, have your elements ready) and to visit with Dr. Luther Smith for questions and conversation. We’ll do our best to stream that, too.
Love and hugs,
Rev. Liz
PS Please don’t forget the 700 cans of black beans for the Toco Hills Community Alliance until June 15th. THCA reminds us that “Hunger doesn’t take a vacation.” We can help keep the shelves full.
May 23, 2025
Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,
Anna Dorn is a writer and contributor to The Medium Newsletter. I don’t know her but the headline to her entry this week caught my eye: “Joy is the radical belief that the world is worthy of love.” (Oh, ho! There’s a thought.) She goes on to write:
For a long time, I saw my reluctance to participate in politics as a personal flaw. But German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt might have seen it differently… [P]hilosophy professor Roger Berkowitz draws from Arendt’s work to argue that joy — not outrage, not vigilance — might be the most radical response to political collapse. By “joy” he doesn’t mean cheerful activism or mindful news consumption. He means the kind of joy that shows up in music, in raising children, in watching a lover’s face. He explains that joy is “not naïve optimism,” but “rooted in the radical belief that the world, even as it is, is worthy of love.” And in dark times, that belief can be a way of staying human.
Joy as radical belief, accessed in music, in laughter, in loving eyes–knowing (certainty?) that originates in what Henry James called “the verges of the mind”–not really thought or reason and certainly not proof. Oh, my.
In John 14:27a, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” Is that peace like joy? Does the peace Jesus offers reside in that kind of radical belief, evidence notwithstanding, in some sense beyond belief? The sort of thing that only the Holy Spirit can teach? (John 14:26) What does this ask of us, followers of Jesus?
They say questions are better than answers because they last longer. I’ll be with these for a while and perhaps you will, too. Sometimes we read the Bible and sometimes it reads us. And sometimes it chases us around the room.
Join us for church on Sunday, Streamers and Gatherers, where we will continue the conversation. And sing and pray and worship together–where we work these kinds of questions out in community. Rev. Thomas is taking time away but I look forward to seeing and being seen with you.
Grace upon grace,
Rev. Liz
PS Anna Dorn says important things about speaking up, too. Find her post here.
May 16, 2025
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Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All, As papers are gently unearthed from the piles in my office (home or church!), some things noted years ago seem to speak to right now in spooky ways. Here’s a note to the congregation I served when we were learning to live with “social distancing.” It is a reflection on a piece written by Walter Brueggemann in 1977 on the evangelical (small “e”) and what he termed “face-to-faceness.” “[Face-to-faceness] was that practice and that common presence which told them who they were and what they were to do. Without too much romantic jargon, I suggest it had to do with the corporate interiority of sisters and brothers, the space between and among folks in community which provided energy and stamina for faithfulness.” That was so many years ago and, yet, names perfectly what I have been feeling in these last weeks of sheltering in place and social protocols necessitated by the Covid-19. pandemic. Perhaps you have heard me say, “I go to church for the hugs.” Yes, the music and the preaching, the prayers and all are good. But it’s the hugs, the greetings, “the space between and among” us; the love that grows, the catching up, the noticing “how you’ve grown!” and even the telltale signs of illness and grief we see on one another’s faces–that’s what Sunday worship has always offered to carry on in my life and this faith. Face-to-faceness–“it was that practice and that common presence which told them who they were and what they were to do.” Those are my italics, for sure. Congregations are where we learn together who we are and what we are to do, what our faith requires of each of us and us together. That’s why we come. That’s what congregations are for–to work out together who we are followers of Jesus Christ and what we are to do because we are. (NB: it’s not to get it right; it’s to work it out together over a lifetime.) In our reading for Sunday is John 13:31-35, Jesus addresses the congregation of his disciples because they would be working out the life of faith and could be helped by a few guidelines. And don’t miss this: one of the first things Jesus does after he comes up from the waters of baptism is to gather his congregation for face-to-faceness; Jesus needs a congregation. And then starts the conversation among friends, going along together, as life happens, between meals (sacraments). But I’ve said that before. Come to church, Streamers online and Gatherers in this sanctuary. This is an important space for face-to-faceness, for exploring who we are and what we are to do. Besides, we’ll miss you if you don’t. And, of course, we’ll look for you next time if the Memorial Day weekend takes you out of reach. Before I go, a Wonder Question: What does love look like? Do you have a story to tell about it? Love and hugs, Rev. Liz |
May 09, 2025
Dear Siblings,
This weekend, I invite you to think about your faith journeys. In particular, who are the key figures in your journey of faith? Why might you consider them as key to your engagement with the Divine today?
Our worship focus will be the opening lines of a letter from Paul to Timothy, in which he acknowledges Timothy’s faith development as the product of his mother and grandmother.
Yes, I chose this text for Mother’s Day! Although our service will not focus on Mother’s Day, it will acknowledge the idea of “Mother God.” In our unceasing and unfailing efforts to fully know and understand the Mystery of God, we apply human language as best we can in the hopes that we’ll find our way. For the vast majority of the history of our faith, God has always been “Father.” It’s still somewhat new to view God as “Mother.” That distinction is slight, but it matters. And, I think it opens up a whole new way of imagining, engaging, and understanding God.
So, come! Our Story for All Ages will talk about the Lord’s Prayer and our sermon will dive into the “grammar of the Spirit.”
As we approach Mother’s Day, it’s important to acknowledge all of the joy, celebration, and “best mom in the world” feelings! I pray that we will also keep in mind folks who don’t have the best relationship with their mothers, folks who wanted to be mothers but were unable due to circumstances and situations that they couldn’t control, and for those who are grieving the loss of their mothers too.
See you Sunday,
Thomas.
May 02, 2025
Dear Ones,
Happy Easter! I know, you’ve put away your Easter bonnets and eaten all the chocolate bunnies that were hiding in the “grass” in your Easter basket. And, yes, everything Easter is marked down to 70% off. But we have eight Sundays in the Season of Easter, including Resurrection Sunday, before we get to the Day of Pentecost. So, I insist:
Blessings on you in this season of New Life and Possibility!
In worship on last Sunday—”the Second Sunday of Easter”—Rev. Thomas took us back to the earliest congregations we would call “Christian” today to remind us that they had very different practices when they met for Communion. He reminded me that we have not always done it this way, even though it may seem like it. Because there was no tradition, they were free to use their imaginations and find their way into what honored the experiences they’d had and their intentions to embody The Way of Jesus. Underline free.
To my surprise and as though summoned forth, a little book by Diana Butler Bass jumped off my bookshelf and opened before my eyes to this page. In The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), Bass urges mainline congregations to develop “the emerging congregational style” that she outlines, and to cultivate the
imaginative power of congregations to move beyond normative patterns and programmatic fixes into a place of doing and being church that embodies the enchantment of the Christian story in the practices of faith.
What? Embody the enchantment of the Christian story? So, that’s what the first followers were doing! I’m in. What Bass says next, I take as an invitation:
The lack of imaginative and fluid retraditioning in a new cultural world “caused” mainline decline. After all, imaginatively fiddling around with tradition is one of the things congregations do.
OK. Let’s do it. Come to worship on Sunday, the Third Sunday Easter, for a slightly “fiddled” Service of Word and Table in a way that opens us to what we do and why. You will notice that the order of worship is shifted a bit for Communion Sunday.
Attention Streamers—all of you will be with us online—please prepare the “bread and wine” of your choice to be consecrated so you can share in the meal. If there are other “elements” needed, we’ll be sure to give you time to be prepared.
Love and hugs, and grace upon grace.
Rev. Liz
(This feels risky. Do you suppose it felt that way for those first followers? We didn’t get the liturgies most Protestants use until the Reformation. What did they do before that?)
Apr 25, 2025
Dear Siblings,
Alleluia! What a wonderful Holy Week and Easter we shared together. Of course, none of this happened on its own.
A little more than two dozen folks joined us on Maundy Thursday, and shared the story of the Last Supper before serving communion to one another. The same number joined us for a dramatic recounting of the story of Good Friday. In those spaces, we sang old and familiar hymns, while introducing a few new ones too.
On Easter Sunday, almost 20 kids hunted for eggs on the playground and in the memorial garden, 80 people were in the Fellowship Hall for the Easter Breakfast, and 180 people joined us for Easter worship.
Again, none of this happened on its own. It took people baking and bringing food for breakfast, folks who stepped out of breakfast to help the Easter Bunny hide eggs, people to buy and cut the bread for communion, an AV tech, singers, banner hangers, greeters, Zoom worship hosts, someone who smiled and said “peace” to a new face in the room, dedicated folks to hang back in Kids Space, an invitation to combine the Story for All Ages and the sermon, a stirring in the heart and mind to simply show up, and whole lot more!
My heart is glad that we are a church of a whole lot more.
Someone with us on Sunday didn’t believe that a church like ours could exist… and now they do. Thanks be to God!
Historically, folks take a short break from church on the Sunday after Easter, but I hope you’ll join us. We’ll talk about the first supper after the Resurrection.
Be well,
Rev. Thomas
Apr 18, 2025
Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,
“We welcome glad Easter when Jesus arose!” And we look forward to welcoming you for worship on Resurrection Sunday in the sanctuary or online. It’s always like a family reunion in the best possible way.
This Holy Week has been wonderful at Central, beginning on Palm Sunday. We know these stories, of course, but they reveal newness each time we hear and tell them. You’d think by now there is no more to say. Somehow, there is. The mystery of this season–everything I cannot explain or understand fully–is what I like best about the space between Ash Wednesday and the Season of Easter.
The Maundy Thursday service inspired us to look deeper within. Our Good Friday service should make the journey to the Cross come alive, and we will take time to honor the grief that surrounds us. For Holy Saturday, you may find the two poems here to be helpful in your devotions between today and Sunday. I have.
Easter Sunday will be a day of rejoicing as we greet the resurrected Christ and each other. We’ll look for you in worship online or somewhere around this place. Until then, grace to you and peace. Also, love and hugs.
Rev. Liz
Apr 01, 2025
Mar 28, 2025
Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,
I can’t help it. This piece still has me stunned and rooted to the floor. So, I must share it. It’s from the UCC Daily Devotionals this past week. If you don’t get them, you’re missing a treat. www.ucc.org/daily-devotional/
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday. Rev. Thomas will be away, and we’ve been left in charge! On our best behavior, of course. We will have our fourth Lenten Lunch following worship—where does the time go?—and we’re uncovering Central’s “imaginal discs” (see below). One Great Hour of Sharing is this Sunday. That’s in our DNA, too. Please make your plans to give as generously as you can.
See you on Sunday and be seen streaming. We’ll be looking forward to it. Love and hugs,
Rev. Liz
Imaginal
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NRSV)
Come Easter, much will be made of butterflies. The inching, munching caterpillar transforming into the bright, soaring butterfly is just too good a resurrection metaphor for some of us to pass on.
Something you may not know: once the caterpillar hangs itself up, a grand drama plays out. If the caterpillar itself can’t imagine the butterfly it will become, its cells sure can. As soon as the chrysalis closes, tiny structures called imaginal discs (that’s really what they’re called!) form in its body. Inside these discs are the genome of the butterfly, largely separate from the genome of the caterpillar. As such, the caterpillar’s body sees them as invaders. Its immune system attacks and kills them. But the genetic image of the butterfly will not be denied. The imaginal discs keep coming.
Eventually, the caterpillar’s immune system becomes overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. By then, the struggle has basically liquefied the caterpillar’s body. The imaginal discs then use the caterpillar soup to build a butterfly.
Maintaining homeostasis is often the way to go. It’s usually the best way to survive. Fighting unto liquefication can seem preferable to changing. But what if the thing you’re fighting is the seed of a great transformation?
What if the thing you’re attacking so hard is the image of what you were always meant to become?
Prayer
I may not be able to imagine my future, but I know you already have. When the image of you that you’ve implanted inside me makes itself known, help me to not fight too hard. Amen.
Quinn G. Caldwell is Chaplain of the Protestant Cooperative Ministry at Cornell University. His most recent book is a series of daily reflections for Advent and Christmas called All I Really Want: Readings for a Modern Christmas.
Nov 03, 2024
A Pastoral Note on the End of the 2024 Election Season
All Saints Sunday | November 3, 2024
Dear Ones,
We continue to hear from many of you about your anxieties for the end of our election season. As a “swing state,” we have been blanketed by advertisements and commercials, inundated by phone calls and text messages, and visited by the major candidates more times than some of us would like to count.
Our state’s flurry of political activity has made clear that our country and culture are very divided right now. These divisions may be felt in our neighborhoods, rec leagues, jobs, schools, churches, and even our families. People from all parts of the political spectrum view this particular election as life or death.
It is okay for your heart to feel heavy. For your mind to be exhausted. And for you to feel the weight of your anxieties in this election. It is okay to be overwhelmed.
As we write this letter, there are poll workers in Vancouver, Washington who are painstakingly combing through burnt ballots, in the hopes that they will be able to identify persons whose right to vote was almost stolen from them.
Here in Georgia, our courts and our state election officials are working hard to counter misinformation and foreign threats.
All across the country, there are thousands of people knocking on doors, calling and texting folks, organizing rides to the polls, and more in support of their party and candidates.
This is the work of democracy. May we protect it.
May we also acknowledge that our faith in God is(and should be) greater than our faith in any candidate, party, or platform. Existing in the already and not yet is hard. Believing in a bright and wonderful end while living through difficult times is not easy. And yet…
Whether our preferred candidates or parties win or lose on Tuesday, God’s call for the world remains the same:
Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly with God.
That’s what the Lord requires of us. May we accept that obligation.
While there is great significance attached to Election Day, ultimately the work of our democracy and faith doesn’t rest on one day alone.
Each day, we are given opportunities to bend more towards justice and mercy, to reject cynicism and fear, and to sow seeds of love.
It’s that kind of work that builds a more just world for all. That work is carried out by ordinary people who dare to believe that we have a stake in the work of God and Christ.
Tuesday may be a day of jubilation or deep lament. While we pray for peace, violence is not out of the question. Although we hope to know the election results quickly and confidently, it may take several days before the results are clear.
In the in-between times, please take care of yourself. If you need to turn off the tv or radio, log out of Facebook or Twitter, or ignore a text from that one friend who keeps trying to engage in a debate… do that.
Go for a walk. Break bread with friends. Take a nap. Read a book. Sing a song. Pray.
May God grant us peace and calm in the days ahead. May we have the courage to face whatever challenges may come with the strength of our faith and the teachings of our tradition.
Even in our bleakest moments, there is room for hope. Resurrection is just around the corner.
If this election is life or death, remember that death does not have the last word.
If you haven’t yet voted, and you’re able to do so, please exercise that privilege on Tuesday.
You can visit the GA My Voter Page to find your polling precinct.
Our Sanctuary will be open on Tuesday from 9am – 4pm. If you would like to come and light a candle or sit in our worship space, you’re more than welcome to do so.
If you missed or want to rewatch our Faith & Democracy or All Saints services, you can watch them here: Recent Services
Praying for a more just world for all,
Rev. Liz and Rev. Thomas
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