Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Dear West Cummington,
Writing from a well of gratitude that echoes a bit with loneliness, here is a simple Wednesday Message.
01) Prayers for
02) Message "Learn To Lose And Live"
03) "Blues In Thirds" Sidney Bechet, clarinet; Earl "Fatha" Hines, piano; Baby Dodds, drums.
My parents had a 78 of this song. The first music that spoke to me. That and Bessie Smith.
Miss you,
Steve
We are:Listener supported WCCC
PO Box 148
Cummington, MA 01026
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Christmas Eve
Thursday, December 24, 2020
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Dear West Cummington,
After the Candlelight Service, after the Blue Xmas and before the big Christmas Eve Zoom, 7 pm HST (Hilltown Standard Time, where evening comes early) I feel like a migratory bird, a good way along on its journey, a good depth into the winter.
It’s good to perch on a pine bough in a sheltered place and celebrate a quiet Sunday before Christmas. Someone said this is “an orphan Sunday.” We’ve put togther a quiet service with a hymn by Elric Walker, “Snow On Christmas Morning.” It is local and modern. Relax into it and let it enter you.
Completing the service is “Don’t Try So Hard” a poem originally written as a blessing here. Then Alice Walker re-printed it as “A Blessing” in her We Are The Ones we’ve Been Waiting For.
We’ve been learning from the success and frustration of the Zoom services. Be looking for an email invitation to the Christmas Eve service, which is already packed with music, readings -- so much.
Stay Safe, Stay Sane, Stay Strong – and when in doubt, Stay Home. Spring is coming!
Love,
Steve
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Blue Xmas
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Candlelight Service
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Now is the dark time of the year, from Thanksgiving to the solstice.
It is also Advent, the season of anticipation, a quickening sense of “soon; soon.”
While it is important to visit the darkness in our hearts and it is impossible not to feel keenly how weak humans can be, don’t linger there; don’t dwell in indwelling.
Your spirit seeks the light, like a green plant. The world needs your little light. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
And remember the “Hilltown Pantry." Put it in the memo line, make out a check to WCCC and send it to PO Box 148 Cummington, MA 01026
Thank you!
Steve
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Dear Friends,
Here’s a simple prayer service for this stretch between Thanksgiving and the solstice. The prayers include scripture. The song is along version of an old favorite, “Farther Along” performed here by The Black Ace, from the piney woods of East Texas.
And, as ever,
here are prayers for you.
Steve