Our church service today was a “union” service - I.e., it brought five churches together into one service: the host church, Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro (where I was the Assistant Minister, 1957-1960), Dummerston Congregational Church (where I was the minister during those same years- 57-60), Guilford Community Church (where I was an assistant to Shirley, 1985-1997), First Congregational Church, West Brattleboro (where I have preached several times), and West Dover Congregational Church (where I have also preached many times). As you can see, I feel a strong connection with all five of these churches!
The host minister was the Rev. Dr. Scott Couper, whom I like very much. Scott came to Centre Church three years ago after 20 years as a missionary in South Africa. He is author of a biography of one of my heroes—Albert Luthuli, founder of the African National Congress and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate whom I met personally as a fourteen-year-old at a church camp in Iowa! Scott preached a provocative sermon in which he compared the fishermen disciples Matthew and John who (according to tradition) went on to become the apostolic authors of the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John, to contemporary Christians who are brave enough to tackle modern technology as a way to expand the outreach of the Gospel (such as we are doing in these Zoom services)! Scott always preaches with high energy and passion and did so today.
The service included musical pieces and hymns recorded earlier in the church sanctuary, live readings by persons from their homes, two other ministers speaking live from their churches, and Scott both speaking live from his home and playing a recording of his sermon with illustrations, all seamlessly put together - a technical skill we have learned due to the restrictions forced on the churches by COVID-19!
So - thank you Scott and Centre Church!
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