Weekly Devotionals

By Chris Braudaway-Bauman
In a recent essay, Barbara Brown Taylor tells of a quiet wonder she and her husband Ed have encountered while walking through the woods. Ed searches for marker trees – also known as trail trees or pointer trees. Setting them apart from their arboreal kin are two distinct bends in their trunks. The first bend curves sharply, just a few feet above the ground, angling the tree to grow horizontally for a stretch, like an arm extended in gesture. Then, as soon as it’s long enough to point in a discernable direction, the trunk turns skyward once more, rising straight and tall toward the light.

By Nancy Wade

Sarah Inama is my hero. I’d like to tell you her story:

For five years, Sarah has taught middle school civics in the West Ada School District, located in Boise, Idaho. At the beginning of this school year, as she had every year of her teaching career, Sarah put up posters to create a welcoming and inclusive classroom environment. One of those posters, shown above, reflected a simple but powerful message. The poster went unchallenged during the Fall semester but in February 2025, her principal asked her to take it down. 

By Bob von Trebra
Several weeks ago, the Friday morning Men’s Breakfast group had an interesting discussion about prayer. Several of the men expressed doubts whether prayer works, because many times the things that we pray for do not seem to happen. We may pray for a person we care about who is sick to be healed, but still they die. We may pray for our nation to come to its political senses, but senselessness still seems to happen.

By Chris Braudaway-Bauman
I returned home from Spain Saturday evening, landing in Denver at 6:30 p.m. after a full day of flying and a change in Montreal. My suitcase, checked through from Madrid, was delivered to my home at 2:30 a.m. on Monday morning. Everything lost has now been found, though the experience of my missing bag offered a curious sort of education.

By Phil Robertson
When one travels the sparkling waters in Glacier Bay in Alaska, it is hard to realize that less than two hundred years ago, when Captain George Vancouver was exploring the wilderness, the long bay was still a mass of glacial ice. Then came a warming trend, and the ice receded, leaving a body of water extending more than sixty-five miles to the foot of Muir Glacier. A day’s excursion by boat between the snow-capped cliffs, with glimpses of spouting killer whales and seals riding the floating chunks of ice, makes a person feel that he is in a new and young world.

By Tiffany Thorne
God said to Abraham . . .” Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall give rise to nations. Kings of people shall come from her.” Gen 17:15-16  
Abraham seems transfixed by these words — God’s promise of Abraham and Sarah’s very legacy. He will do whatever it takes to earn this blessing.

By Scott Allman
A couple of Sundays ago, right here in the pulpit at First Congregational Church, our guest Dr. Reiland Rabaka held the congregation in his loving heart and sparkling intellect. If you missed it, stop reading this now and watch the video recording (see link below). He entertained us with a Country Preacher style – “Give me an Amen!” – as he hopscotched from Bible verse to verse. He spoke about his experience as an African American in Boulder, Colorado. Best of all, he introduced God’s Beloved Community.

By Karen Hoover
From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, we lived those 40 days in a heightened spiritual state, all the while experiencing the sensory transition from late Winter into Spring. As we celebrated Ash Wednesday with our common meal, the waning cold damp days of Winter gave us the space to shelter with our reflections and engage in devotional study in preparation for Holy Week. 

By Bob von Trebra

Happy Easter! Christ is risen! During the recently completed season of Lent, we have been invited to follow a devotional with the theme, “Everything in Between…”. The “betweenness” we were to reflect on for Easter Sunday was “Everything Between Grief and Hope.”

By Nancy Wade
During this season of Lent, sermon topics were focused on the Gospel of Luke, on the stories and parables that defined Jesus’ final chapter in ministry. As I listened to these sermons, I found comfort in the familiar words; they connected me to my childhood.