Lent 2025
Look, how good and how pleasant
is the dwelling of siblings together.
Like fragrant oil on the head
coming down over the beard,
Aaron’s beard that comes down
over the opening of his robe.
Like Hermon’s dew that comes down
on the parched mountains.
For there the Holy One ordained the blessing –
Life forevermore!
—Psalm 133
My dear siblings in Christ:
I don’t think I have to tell you that the motto of the United Church of Christ is “that they all may be one.” What you may not know, however, is that Lent is traditionally a time when communities seek deeper unity with one another. The Sunday before Lent, which we celebrate as Transfiguration Sunday, marks the beginning of the one hundred days before Pentecost, a mystical time where we ask God to help us grow together as a community and then celebrate and use our various gifts in service to the Realm of God.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about one of our two partner communities, Living Water, whose members often come to worship with us. As you probably know, I first started coming to Keystone when, as the leader of the Living Water community, I called up Rich Gamble and asked if we could worship there. The leadership of Living Water – including Dixie and Jo Anne – met with the leadership of Keystone – including Barb and Rita, and they discovered they were like peas in a pod! Since that time, Living Water has celebrated Mass in Battson Hall on the second and fourth Sundays of the month.
Of course, the Masses that Living Water hosts are somewhat different from more traditional Masses celebrated by the institutional hierarchy. Living Water members decline to use the sanctuary, because they prefer to sit in a circle, emphasizing the equality of all believers. They also decline to listen to a sermon! Instead, after Scripture is read, people engage in a “shared homily,” in which different people share short, spontaneous reflections about how the readings touched them. On the second Sunday of the month, Living Water holds a “People’s Mass,” in which there is no priest presiding. Instead, the liturgy - which, by the way, means “work of the people” – is led by two “ordinary” members, following a model from the Iona Community in Scotland. All are welcome at these liturgies, and Keystone members are especially invited to visit Living Water sometime!
Both Keystone and Living Water enjoy remarkable music, especially given their relatively small sizes. As an experiment, I asked Rose Morrison, the cantor of Living Water, and our own Elliot Kraber if they would try teaming up one Sunday to provide music to both congregations at once during a service on the fifth Sunday of the month. Those of you who were able to attend the celebration of the Season of Creation on September 29th and hear the “combined cantor quartet” of Rose, Elliot, Chris Ronk, and Sherry Tuinstra, know how special it was. And the four singers had such a wonderful time they asked if they could do it again! That is how the special “fifth Sunday” combined services began – we had a second one on December 29th and we are planning yet another special musical fifth Sunday for March 30th.
Living Water and Keystone are not planning to “merge.” Each congregation enjoys its own unique identity and flavor of liturgy. However, we have celebrated potlucks together, sang together, and engaged in days of justice-centered social action together. The members of Living Water host our Ash Wednesday service this year, with members of Keystone, Prospect UCC, St. Paul UCC, and the Seattle Taiwanese Christian Church attending. As small congregations, it is easier for us to enjoy the wonderful fellowship that is, according to the Psalmist, the dwelling of the Holy One.
With Lenten Blessings
Pastor Adina