A VALENTINE AMONG THE ASHES
This year, Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day, one of only three times this century it lands on February 14: 2018, 2024, and 2029. A quick Google search reveals that this poses a serious dilemma for Roman Catholics—what to do when February 14 is both a feast day and a day of holy obligation when one is supposed to fast? Answer:
Advent 3
O Holy Night
And so, the story of “O Holy Night” is a story of outsiders, outcasts, misfits and broken people: a disabled socialist poet, a bankrupt Jewish vaudevillian, an agoraphobic abolitionist, and a ridiculed crackpot inventor playing his violin into a microphone that might—or might not—be transmitting his song to anyone.
Advent 2
Silent Night
The story is a familiar one. “Silent Night” was sung (in German, Stille Nacht, heilige nacht) for the very first time on Christmas Eve, 200 years ago, in a tiny Alpine village church in Austria, accompanied only by the priest’s guitar. That story is true, though legends that have grown up
Advent 1
O Come, O come, Emmanuel
For five weeks every year, songs about the incarnation of Christ can be heard playing everywhere—on your radio and TV, at the car wash, in the grocery store. And just about everybody knows the words. They might not be able to tell you what the first book of the New Testament is (just for the record, it’s Matthew), but they can tell you that all is calm, all is bright on a silent, holy night in the little town of Bethlehem where away in
New Mission, Vision, Values and Strategy statements
MCC’s Board of Directors adopted new mission, vision, values and strategy statements on June 22, 2023, enthusiastically committing to moving boldly forward into the organization’s future while treasuring its 85-year history of faithful ecumenical witness and work in… Read More
Let us all join our hearts in prayer and our hands in action
As our State begins the long and arduous journey toward healing and recovery after the devastating mass shooting that took place in Lewiston on October 25, we at MCC are especially mindful of the 15 local churches who are part of our member denominations and who are directly impacted by this tragedy. Let us all join our hearts in prayer and our hands in action to support our grieving and traumatized siblings in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead:
How long, O Lord? How long?
MCC statement on Lewiston mass shooting
As Maine now joins the devastatingly long line of places that have suffered a mass shooting incident, we at the Maine Council of Churches lift our voices with the psalmist to lament, “How long, O Lord? How long?” How long must this scourge of gun violence destroy lives and tear at the fabric of beloved community? And we pray
Connect, Equip, Provide, Advocate
We’ve come to the last post in this series about MCC’s new mission, vision, values and strategy statements, adopted by our Board of Directors this past June.
Reflection by Marge Kilkelly
First Parish Church in BrunswickSeptember 17, 2023 I realize that many of my friends are not involved in religion, and some have been injured by religion. I understand that. However, for me, it is a critical part of… Read More
Reflection by Ed Rea
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Cape ElizabethAugust 20, 2023 From the first reading: “I tell you this to break your heart,by which I mean onlythat it break open and never close again to the rest of the world.” When your… Read More
