Beloved Community, 

There is something sacred about beginnings.

They come with excitement... a few butterflies... lots of possibility... and the quiet realization that God is about to write a story none of us could write alone.

This Sunday we begin a new ministry together.

I'm looking forward to meeting many of you for the first time, worshiping together, asking beautiful questions, and discovering what God is already doing in and through this remarkable community. My hope isn't that we'll have everything figured out. My hope is that we'll laugh often, listen deeply, love boldly, and be surprised by where the Spirit leads us.

We'll also celebrate the beginning of a new school year by blessing backpacks, students, teachers, administrators, and school staff. Children and youth are invited to bring their backpacks as we ask God's blessing over the year ahead. Whether you're starting kindergarten, heading off to college, returning to the classroom, or teaching others, we'll send you into this new season surrounded by prayer and encouragement.

After worship, we will keep the celebration going as we gather for an ice cream social, and we are invited to bring our favorite rainbow topping to share. Maybe some blueberries? Maybe some strawberry preserves? Maybe some green M&M's? It'll be a sweet way to get to know one another and celebrate this first Sunday together.

I also want to take a moment to personally thank John and Kimberly for the faithful ministry they offered during this season of transition. Every new beginning is possible because someone else has lovingly tended the path before us. I'm deeply grateful for the wisdom, care, and steady leadership they shared with Plymouth.

As we gather, we'll also hold in prayer all those affected by the extreme heat and the ongoing wildfires. We'll remember those who have lost homes, those living with smoke and uncertainty, the firefighters and first responders risking so much, and all who are especially vulnerable during these difficult days. We pray not only for relief, but for the courage to care for one another and for this beautiful creation God has entrusted to us.

I hope you'll join us this Sunday.

Come with your hopes.

Come with your questions.

Come just as you are.

Let's see what God has in store.

Grace and peace,
Chris

A different kind of Baptist preacher from New York walks into a Colorado UCC church – that seems like the opening line of a bad joke. But the punchline is literal truth: that this Baptist got to serve with her dear friends at Plymouth, love them, learn from them, and have fun together.

While serving as your bridge minister, I wanted to be a “non-anxious presence,” especially when pastoral care was needed. Since I was here for a brief time, I used that skill to be present with a few of your teams and committees. I have seen the beautiful heart you have for an inclusive, affirming, and loving ministry.

I visited with many individuals throughout my time here. You do not need me to tell you how kind, caring, thoughtful, and spiritually attuned the people in this church are. What a gift you are to each other and to our community.

As a preacher, pastor, chaplain, and somatic practitioner, I wanted to share different ways of incorporating care of the soul and justice work in worship itself. Everyone is invited into all aspects of worship. The celebration of the Word is to be singable and “art-able.” Regardless of what some of you may think about yourselves, we are, each one of us, all artists.  

Scripture, tradition, and science emphasize the role music & the arts play in memory, emotion regulation, resilience, community building, and celebration. With that lens, we have explored themes of lament & laughter, fear & courage, inclusion & justice, anger & love.  We used dialogues, dramatic choral readings, original songs, mindfulness, poetry, storytelling, skits, prophetic and pastoral preaching, with many different people involved with worship leading. I hope you felt like you were a part of the stories we shared each Sunday, that you, too, were preachers of the gospel.

Plymouth has that creative spirit which allows for new explorations of the traditions that made you, and to imagine how those traditions can be birth givers of new life and transformation. I hope you feel empowered by experience to worship the God of your understanding with new or different styles, people, places, and times. May you use your gifts to plan & lead worship and other ministry practices with heart and mind connected; and in ways that push the boundaries out just a little bit, ever-widening the circle of radical welcome.  

I leave here a changed person because of your hope, wisdom, and tenacity. I am grateful to you all. As a frequent visitor and friend of Plymouth for over 11 years, I celebrate your journey with my friend and colleague, Rev. Chris Gilmore, as your new pastor. I hope you continue to grow in love for one another and all creation. As we say in some circles, may we truly see each other as we trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. And what a joyful “trudge” that can be.

Peace and love to each of you,
Rev. Kimberly 

Dear Plymouth,

In less than a month, we begin our ministry together.

That sentence fills me with gratitude, excitement, and just a little bit of holy anticipation.

Next week Christine and I will be heading north to settle into the parsonage. We'll spend some time unpacking boxes, finding our favorite coffee shop, rediscovering Fort Collins, and probably getting lost once or twice as we explore some places that weren't here the last time we lived in town.

As many of you know, this move also means building a new support system for Christine as we continue navigating life with ALS. We're in the process of meeting caregivers, learning about the resources available in the community, and finding our rhythm in this new chapter. We are deeply grateful for the work that has already gone into making the parsonage more accessible—especially the bathroom renovations—and for the many thoughtful ways you've already made us feel at home before we've even unpacked the first box.

As we settle into our new home, I also find myself thinking about the home we will build together as a church.

As summer slowly gives way to fall, congregations naturally begin thinking about a new program year. But I hope we'll also spend some time asking bigger questions.

Who is God calling us to become?

Who in our community is longing for hope, belonging, or simply a place where they can ask honest questions?

How might Plymouth become not just a place people attend, but a community that changes lives—inside our walls and far beyond them?

I don't believe the church exists simply to preserve itself. I believe the church exists to help transform the world with the love of Christ.

That work has never been more important.

One of the things I've always loved about beginning in a new place is that every conversation is an opportunity to discover a story. Every congregation has its own personality, its own history, its own saints, its own struggles, and its own hopes. I can't wait to hear yours.

I suspect I'll spend the first several months asking far more questions than giving answers, because I believe one of the greatest gifts a pastor can offer is simply to listen well. I look forward to learning what you love about Plymouth, learning what dreams are stirring in your hearts, and imagining together what God might have in store for this congregation in the years ahead.

I also hope we'll laugh together. Celebrate together. Wrestle with difficult questions together. Serve our neighbors together. And, through it all, continue discovering that faith is not simply something we believe—it is something we live.

Until we officially begin, I have one small request.

Pray.
Pray for one another.
Pray for this church.
Pray for our community.
Pray for Christine and me as we settle into our new home.

And perhaps most of all, pray that together we might become the kind of church where every person who walks through Plymouth's doors—or encounters us beyond them—leaves knowing they are a little more deeply loved by God than when they arrived.

I cannot wait to meet you, worship with you, laugh with you, dream with you, and discover together what God has in store.

The adventure is about to begin.

Grace and peace,
Chris
Rev. Chris Gilmore, soon to be your designated-term minister

Dear Plymouth,

Some things in life are rooted in science, while others remain a mystery, and some are both. Our livestream has been unreliable for much of this Lenten season, and many of you are aware that our theme for this time is Embodied.

For some, this has been a significant frustration, and my heart especially goes out to those unable to attend church on Sunday mornings because of illness, injury, distance, or because it feels inaccessible to get up and out. [I promise, we are working on it!]

As a pastor, metaphors come easily to me, and this situation has made me reflect deeply on the incarnate nature of our faith. As Christians, our human bodies are meant to gather—together, in time, in person, in the flesh, in one place. [Please don’t misunderstand this as a dismissal of modern technology.] Still, I can't help but feel that our livestream issues point to the mystery of God’s handiwork in this season of Lent—Embodied.

For the past few weeks, we have been practicing a faith that is truly in the flesh: 

• Our calls to worship have been rooted in the sanctuary, orienting us to the sacred space we gather in. 
• We’ve sung a guiding Lenten song, BROKEN BODY OF CHRIST reminding us of the unity we share. 
  
• In our 9 a.m. Embodied Group, CSU facilitators have led us through sessions on Trauma-Informed Resiliency, teaching us to care for our own bodies so that we can engage in community in healthy, supportive ways. 
• We’ve learned some key terms: like "RESOURCING" and "INTERSECTIONALITY," recognizing the diverse ways our identities intersect and influence our lives and how we show up in community.
  

All of this has been aimed at grounding ourselves—rooting our bodies in the interim/transitional work of Plymouth, so that we may continue to grow and flourish together and create a vision for the future of Plymouth.

In light of all this, the interruption of our livestream serves as a reminder of what we have been learning: the embodied nature of our faith. It challenges us to consider how we experience and live out our faith in real, tangible ways, both individually and as a community. Just as our bodies need care and attention to thrive, so too does our community, and the presence of God among us. This is where I see the hope in our world today.

If you have missed the past few weeks and are interested in catching up on some of the concepts, don’t hesitate to contact me or Pam. See you soon!

Peace,
Marta

Grace, mercy, and peace to you all!

It is my honor and delight to be joining Plymouth Congregational UCC for a time as your Intentional Interim Minister. I come to you from places from afar such as New York, Connecticut, Montana and most recently Idaho. I have been a frequent visitor of the Vail Valley over the past 2 decades as I’ve watched my son, Kevin, grow from ski bum to adventure seeker to father, and now he gets to visit me here on the Front Range with his daughter, Kora. Joining me on this journey are my overly friendly and very energetic dogs, Buddy and Bonnie.

There will be much to learn about each other over this transitional season of your church. I am an adventurer myself (Kevin doesn’t take it back very far!) and look forward to finding some favorite hiking and camping spots. As a musician I am excited about the opportunities to share my flute in worship and the local community bands. Inspired by nature, I pen two regular columns, “The Spirit’s Nudge” which is a weekly devotional, and “Notes from The Sky Pilot’s Page,” my monthly musings of church life, scripture, and nature. As an avid reader you will often find me in a library or on a park bench with a book or my Kindle in hand. I enjoy all kinds of sports, community events and entertainment venues. As a life-long Buffalo Bills fan, my optimism for life is deeply rooted in the belief that we will, one day, win a Super Bowl.

As we walk together in this liminal place of transition for the church, I welcome questions of curiosity and difficult conversations. I look forward to getting to know all of you and sharing my vision for creating a unique place for laughter, healing and grace.

Peace,
Pastor Pam Peterson,
Intentional Interim Minister

P.S. My first official day is Saturday, February 1, and I’ll be attending Youth for Change that evening. If you can’t be at that event, please introduce yourself at coffee hour on Sunday, February 2.

Dear Plymouth,

We are heartbroken. Not because the election turned out a certain way – democracy is democracy. We are heartbroken because we fear what may come.

This past Sunday, we asked the following question: What would make today good? Amid the grief and anxiety, we still ask, what would make today good? 

We know that some will be in despair, some will wear their fighting gloves, while others will avoid and hide, and some will find themselves stunned and in shock. At Plymouth, we have room for all of these responses. We will hold space for all these responses and allow the wells of grief to simply be. 

Our vision for the community is one where all might flourish and be safe. The threat of mass deportations, the threat against women’s reproductive rights, and the threat against LGBTQ+ siblings make a whole part of our community vulnerable. People on the margins fear for their well-being and safety in new and intensified ways.  

A good day looks like steering clear of the news and social media. We invite you to be present with each other. Have good, long conversations with your Plymouth people. Attend to your hearts and souls. Let today be a day of caring for yourself and your neighbor, friend, and colleague. We are not alone, Plymouth: God’s love is with us, God’s presence is real, God’s work is strategic. 

In 1957, the United Church of Christ was created in the merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches, and the Afro-Christian Convention. The UCC has been among the “first” on many justice issues [see here]. We will open our doors. We will extend radical hospitality and lean into a mission of mutual aid and care for all. We will center relationships with all of our siblings across barriers and bridges. At every decision, we will ask, “How does this meet our mission and vision as a progressive Christian community in Fort Collins?”

God is with us in the midst of all of this. Our call is to love — to love our neighbors and pray for those who persecute us. We will model this Love for the whole world. We will rise.

In Peace and Grace, 
Marta [she/her, x113] ,
Brooklyn [she/her, x118], and
Delaney [they/them, x119] *

*For post-election (or other) pastoral care, contact one of us by calling the church at (970) 482-9212 and entering the extension of the person you want to reach, which will forward to our cell numbers. You do not need to listen to the outgoing message first.

Instructions on Living in a Broken World

lean into community
seek out love
applaud the good you see
keep paying attention
talk to your neighbors
dance to the music and embrace art
look for love and small joys
take breaks and relish in nourishing your body
donate what you can
linger at the dinner table with friends
check in with your people
let yourself grieve
love one another as deeply as you can
the storm is upon us and we must hold on
don’t give up, we’re here together.

- still we rise

In 2020, Indian novelist Arundhati Roy penned her viral essay “The Pandemic is a Portal.” Describing the dual threats of COVID-19 and religious and caste-based prejudices to her home country, Roy urges:

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred… Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”

This election season, I have often thought of Roy’s “portal” metaphor. Every presidential election is consequential, but it feels that we have reached an especially dangerous precipice. We have reached a gateway. A doorway we must go through. A portal in which the destination remains unknown. Today we anxiously await the results of this election, many of us fearful of the possibility of increased political violence.

In moments as unsettling as this, many of us yearn for a return to “normalcy.” We seek a sense of stability, civility, and sanity. We want to know that the ground beneath our feet is solid. Many of us feel that if we can vanquish the worst political actors, we will have been successful and we can all move forward.

And many of us also recognize that a return to normalcy is not only out of our reach, but that this strategy would fail to respond to the underlying problems we face–the interlocking crises of poverty, racism, war, and extractive capitalism. Regardless of this election’s outcome, transgender people are still under attack (though one side is significantly better than the other), racism is still killing Black and Indigenous people, and people of color, and the decades-long struggle for Palestinian liberation is still ongoing.

So what are we to do as people of faith in a moment such as this?

We must seek justice and embody peace. No matter the results, as people of faith we must commit ourselves to the ongoing work of achieving peace through justice.

We must pray. Many of you have “prayed with your feet” these past weeks, hitting the pavement to doorknock or making calls to voters. Spoken words of prayer are not enough, especially when political solutions exist, but our raw and honest prayers remain critically important in a moment such as this.

We must walk through this portal together. After you cast your ballot, you are invited to join us for our Election Vigil, 4:00-6:00 p.m. here at Plymouth. There will be prayer, singing, and youth activities. Please help us make this space one of comfort and care by bringing a baked good, a prayer, or a poem to share. Part of the evening will be livestreamed, from 4:15 to 5 p.m. here.

If you can’t join us tonight, make a plan to check in with a friend or family member tonight. A phone call or a loving text can go a long way.

This election is a portal–and regardless of the outcome, we must choose to walk through it. Breaking with the past to imagine the world anew. This will require great courage, tremendous faith, and an unshakable commitment to living in solidarity with those society considers the “least of these.”

I’ll end with these words of prayer from Sunday’s service.

Gracious God, today, we pray for the future of our country. We pray that decency, integrity, and truth prevail. Ease our anxious thoughts. Protect our election officials and poll workers. Strengthen us so that we may lean into Hope, pursue Justice, and embody Peace, no matter the outcome.

And all God’s people said, AMEN!

Delaney Piper
Ministry Coordinator (Designated Term)

I believe many of you will have by now experienced the beautiful Casa Del Sol prayer of Jesus in our services. It is a sung paraphrase of The Lord's Prayer written by John Philip Newell. An ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, former Warden of Iona Abbey, Companion Theologian at the American Spirituality Center of Casa Del Sol at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, and noted scholar of Celtic spirituality, his works and wisdom have become infused into Plymouth's worship life. 

It was a pleasure to lead his "Prayer of Jesus" (as we have come to call it) in Mr. Newell's presence upon his visit to Plymouth several years ago. I have gladly shared this prayer and musical setting with several colleagues and people throughout the world. It is good to know others can experience this meaningful paraphrase of perhaps the most ecumenical of all prayers in Matthew 6.9-13. And many more can experience the poetic text in Mr. Newell's publication The Ground of All Being: The Prayer of Jesus in Color, a small tome presenting each line of the nature-oriented prayer with a scene from the deserts of New Mexico.

This contemporary paraphrase of Jesus' ancient words is quite special to me. It speaks to universal truths that one can relate to regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof. Inclusive to the core – as Love is.

Below you will find the original version as conceived by Mr. Newell (a few slight changes were made in our sung version to more elegantly accommodate the melody). I find these words to be especially poignant today as we wade through strange landscapes as a people far and wide  — and close to home.  

Mark

Ground of all being,
Mother of life, Father of the universe,
Your name is sacred, beyond speaking.

May we know your presence,
may your longings be our longings in heart and in action.
May there be food for the human family today
and for the whole earth community.

Forgive us the falseness of what we have done
as we forgive those who are untrue to us.

Do not forsake us in our time of conflict
but lead us into new beginnings.

For the light of life, the vitality of life,
and the glory of life are yours now and forever.

Amen.

Check out our guest preachers/wisdom sharers for this June. We are all about celebrating and beloved community.

• This Sunday, June 9, church member Bill Thompson will preach, joined by worship leaders Rev. Marta, Brooklyn McBride, and church member Rev. Laura Nelson.
• Sunday, June 16, Queen (of New Eyes Village) will be joined by worship leaders Rev. Roger Butts and Brooklyn McBride as we celebrate Juneteenth. [Rev. Marta is out of town]
• Sunday, June 23, Rev. Nicole Garcia will be joined by worship leaders Rev. Marta and Brooklyn McBride as we celebrate Pride!
• Sunday, June 30, Rev. Dr. David Petersen will be joined by worship leaders Rev. Marta and Brooklyn McBride.

Marta

Last Sunday
It may have been a three-day weekend, but Plymouth showed up to worship together on May 26th.

Pentecost Sunday
On May 19th, the children's chorus "Kids Will Sing!" was part of our Pentecost service and at Fellowship Hour we had our first "Fellowship That Transforms" gathering. (More will follow at intervals over the summer.) A pray ground at the front of the sanctuary provided space for kids to worship in their own way.

Sunday Celebrations
In May there were two special coffee hour celebrations: on May 12th we celebrated Joyce Sjogren's 98th birthday and on May 26th, Tricia and Jim Medlock's 50th wedding anniversary.

Confirmation
On April 28, six youth were confirmed. The Kids Will Sing! group participated in the service.

Last week, I wrote this reflection as part of a visionary care assignment for my Justice & Spiritual Care course at Iliff. The prompt was to imagine my commitments and how to bring them into alignment within my care context. I wanted to share these reflections with you, and I invite you to share your own commitments with me. Much love. - Brooklyn

I am a commitment to wholeness and integrity. I am a commitment to radical, courageous, unconditional love for all people. I am a commitment to truth-telling, liberation, and flourishing. I am loved apart from my importance. I am important because I am loved. I am exactly where God wants me. I will be fully present here until God moves me. To be a peacemaker, I will show up as an empowering cheerleader and empathetic advocate.

Small is all – how we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale. If we want the turmoil in the world to stop, we need to address the turmoil in our small circles. Our church is one of the greatest and most important spaces where we can practice the world as it should be. If we allow dysfunction and other destructive practices in our church, then we cannot expect those problems to change at the large scale. Instead, when we see people speak truth to power, we should respond with empathy and love. That same empathy and love should be extended to all people in pain, and I know there are people in pain across the whole spectrum of the issue we are entrenched in right now.

To care for our community, I will lean into mutual aid, where we “work to build a new world, where people create safety through community building and support each other to stop harmful behavior through connection rather than through caging.” Instead of “caging” ourselves and each other, we need to be connecting with each other. We need to be having these complex conversations in the context of our relationships rather than putting our ideas of people into different boxes of right and wrong.

Recently, a ministry coach and dear friend of mine taught me about the idea of backpacks and baskets. Her eight-year-old daughter says that God wants us to store in our backpacks things that we always need. Her friends tell her stories that they want her to put in her backpack, but her backpack cannot get too heavy. So at the end of the day, she puts it in a basket. She can carry the basket when she needs to, and she is still holding their story, but she is not carrying it in her backpack. Maybe some of the pain of our congregation needs to go in baskets, not in our backpacks.

Now is the time to get abundantly clear about our values and our hopes, as this time requires “the combination of adaptation with intention, wherein the orientation and movement towards life, towards longing, is made graceful in the act of adaptation. This is the process of changing while staying in touch with our deeper purpose and longing.” I wonder what it would look like to ask our congregation: what are we committed to? I wonder if we would find ourselves in alignment.

"May our wonder outmatch our wounds," prays Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Black Feminist love evangelist. I want to lead from my wonder, not my wounds. May our wonder outmatch our wounds, and may we recognize that there are deep wounds that need to be healed.

- Brooklyn

Works Cited

• How To Survive the End of the World podcast, December 11, 2023. (1:26:09). The language of “I am a commitment to” is inspired by Adaku Utah from minute 28 on. Andrea J. Ritchie. Practicing New Worlds: Abolition & Emergent Strategies. AK Press, 2023, p. 76.
• Dean Spade. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next). Verso: 2020, p. 46.
• Mariame Kaba, “So You’re Thinking About Becoming an Abolitionist?” in We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transformative Justice (Haymarket Books, 2021): p. 5
• “Foreword” by Alexis Pauline Gumbs in Practicing New Worlds: Abolition & Emergent Strategies. AK Press, 2023, p. 7