Editor’s note: The following is a talk James Athearn gave on Sunday at the West Tisbury Congregational Church as part of the church’s farm-to-faith initiative. Mr. Athearn is the owner of Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown. The Hebrew Center is partnering with the church on this program and will be holding a farm-to-faith shabbat service tonight, April 26, and a panel discussion afterwards entitled The Art and Faith of Farming.
Joining congregations across the country, members of the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury and the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center gathered Friday to participate in an interfaith service addressing gun violence and peacemaking in light of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
There could be as many as 592 pipes playing at the West Tisbury Congregational Church on Sunday, Dec. 16, at the 50th anniversary celebration of the church organ beginning at 3 p.m. And among those in the audience will be the man who built the organ, Fritz Noack, of Noack Organ Company, now located in Georgetown. Mr. Noack was 25 years old then and this was his fourth original organ.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the secular articulation of the deepest truths of all spiritual traditions. It is the best, deepest and highest ideals of all traditions,” says Rabbi Brian Walt, a founder and former director of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America. Three years ago, that organization began to produce prayers, sermons and teaching materials linking the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to core Jewish values for use by Jewish congregations to celebrate International Human Rights Day. Today, Dec.
It was standing room only Sunday afternoon for the installation of the Rev. Cathlin Baker as the 50th minister and first woman to lead the 336-year-old First Congregational Church of West Tisbury. On hand to participate in the celebratory event were 22 clergy and delegates from the Barnstable Association of the United Church of Christ, Island clergy and friends and supporters from Union Theological Seminary in New York city. It was there that Cathlin Baker received her master of divinity degree.
The Rev. Cathlin Baker was busy. It was something of a day off from activities at West Tisbury’s First Congregational Church, of which she is the new minister. It wasn’t her sermon-writing day. But there was still unpacking to be done at the parsonage in Island Farms. Then Eirene (who was born on St. Patrick’s Day and whose name means “peace” in Greek) needed to be nestled and four-year-old Hardy had to be greeted when he came home from the Rainbow Place preschool in Edgartown.