First Congregational Church
164 Deer Hill Ave.
Danbury, CT 06810
Phone:(203) 744-6177

News

The Power of a Good Story

Stories bring us close to God’s truth.

Rev. Dr. Pat Kriss(Posted March 5, 2025)

Have you ever noticed when Jesus wanted his disciples to remember what he was saying,

He almost always placed the lesson he taught inside a story? That’s because as human beings, we understand how people feel when there are important life lessons they are learning. We identify with them and the tale engraves itself on our hearts.

We find reassurance and even peace in a story. The kinds of stories we tell our kids at bedtime are calming enough to even scare away even the boogeymen in the closet. As children, when we listen to the rhythmic drone of the voice of someone who loves us, it can set everything right. After all, that rhythm is itself the heartbeat of love.

Stories Bind Our Experiences Together

Probably the time we need a good story the most is when we try to bind together all of our chapters of personal experiences, both the beautiful and the horrific, into our own life story. One of the best “writers’ manuals” for this process is the Bible, and especially for us Christians, the New Testament.

Luke the Gospel writer helps us understand the human experience of temptation by telling us the story of Jesus’ temptation after 40 days of hunger in the wilderness. We are all-too-well acquainted with those who would play the Tempter in our lives. Both Luke and Matthew provide us with 47 parables that are so well-known we know what they are just by their names: The Good Samaritan, the Prodigal son, the Mustard Seed, The Pearl of Great Price, the Lost Sheep…

Stories Close to God’s Truth

Stories like this that bring us close enough to one of God’s truths is truly what we mean when we talk about the Thin Places in our spirituality. This Sunday we’re going to listen to some stories from real life that underscore how our lives themselves are being written each day by The One Who Loves Us, more than anything else.

As Jesus tells the Tempter atop the temple, “man does not live by bread alone.” Come join us in a story fest. (Remember Daylight Saving Time starts this Sunday, and be there at 10, not at 11!)

Jesus, the Mother Hen

A look at women who do God’s work.

Rev Dr Pat Kriss(Posted March 13, 2025)

A few years ago, I looked out at the bird feeders I have hanging in the forest behind our house. There was something I wasn’t expecting to see at the base: a chicken.

To be specific, it was a hen.

 Now, there is nothing in back of our home but forest for at least 300 feet. In the distance, across a couple of farmer’s stone walls and through the forest is a house, actually in the next town over. Since recently there had been clucking sounds coming from that general area, it became apparent that my distant neighbor, Buster, who had recently become interested in farm things, had added chickens to his property.

Lost and Found Chicken

Like a dutiful neighbor, I went out back and found the very tame hen, gently picked her up and put her in my car because, while I could see his place from mine, there was no way to get there. His house was actually a mile and a half away by car.

I drove there, rang Buster’s doorbell and handed him his chicken. He was vaguely grateful for the return – just as he seemed vague about the importance of protecting the animals in his charge from the predators in the woods out back. This wouldn’t be the only time I became a “chicken chauffeur” for him, because the hen liked our place better.

Animals Stories in the Bible

When we look at the whole Bible, there are many, many animals that are employed to tell the stories it presents. Horses and donkeys, yes, but also pigs, fish, and many birds, including ravens, and sparrows.

Identifying with the Chicken

But this Sunday’s Gospel is the only place that you’ll find a chicken. Specifically, a hen. What makes it especially interesting is that Jesus compares himself to this hen. You won’t find many men of his era identifying themselves as anything as female as this bird.

After all, for thousands of years in Judeo-Christian culture, women were tagged as inferior, due to “the sin of Eve.” But Jesus didn’t see it this way. He identified with the protective wings of the hen that, in spirit, with which he wished he could shield the people of Jerusalem. He sighed:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

Women Who Do God’s Work

Sunday’s service will be especially interesting in this Women’s History Month. We see time and again how Jesus made room for women not only in the symbols of his stories, but in the roles of disciples, proclaimers and prophets.

Come listen to this “thin place” story—I’m egging you on!

Encounter God in Music

Music is in the fabric of the universe.

Rev. Dr. Pat Kriss(Posted March 20, 2025)

Everything has the spirit of music in it. On this first day of spring, I can lean out my window and hear the different kind of song that the birds make, now that it’s mating season.

Music in the Fabric of the Universe

Music and its energy, as Plato alluded to, is part of the fabric of the Universe. Even galaxies play a tune. It’s a part of every culture, whether they celebrate it, or in repressive cultures, try to ban it. But you cannot ignore music. Like communications itself, music can automatically bring the feelings of one person into the soul of another. And sometimes there is so intensely a response that people begin to sing.

Music in Sunday’s Sermon

This Sunday we are so fortunate to have Music Minister Jim Moriarty back at the helm of our musical program for the Sunday March 23 service. With him is our wonderful Choir.

But this Sunday is also significant because it’s when, in our series on Thin Places where we can feel the presence of God, we share the “sermon” that this time will be the voices of extraordinary soloists. Each of them will sing songs that resonate with them deeply in their own souls, along with igniting beauty and passion in those of us who will be listening. Singing for us will be Cheryl Hill, Stephen Dickson, Nancy Wildman and  Murdina Wright.

A Joyful Noise

This is the Sunday to invite your friends to attend, or to make sure they’re listening to our live broadcast. I hope you will be with us to hear Make a Joyful Noise – reaching out for God through song, music and celebration. See you this Sunday so we can have that great experience together.

Information

First Congregational Church
164 Deer Hill Ave.
Danbury, CT 06810
Est. 1696

Phone: (203) 744-6177
Email: office@danburychurch.org​

Office Hours:
Monday Closed
Tuesday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Wednesday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Thursday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Friday Closed

Thrift Shop Hours:
Saturday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Sunday Worship:
Sunday   10:00 a.m.–11 a.m.

 

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