Join Rev. Jonathan Page for an online midweek prayer service. Jon will lead prayers, read from scripture and offer a brief reflection. You can join the service through Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/firstconghouston) … [Read more...] about Midweek Prayer Service
Adult Christian Education
Join us for our weekly Adult Christian Education class at FCC! All are welcome. No prior background or preparation is required. Starting Sunday, June 9 we will have a new curriculum for the summer, a lectionary Bible study. Just show up to the Zoom meeting and jump right in! You can join the class through Zoom. You can download Zoom at zoom.us/download. Topic: Adult Christian Education Join Zoom … [Read more...] about Adult Christian Education
COVID -19 Updates
Due to the risk of the spread of the novel coronavirus, First Congregational church is suspending all in person activities. We will continue to live stream service online every Sunday morning at 10am. If you are feeling lonely or anxious or have any other pastoral concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to Rev. Jonathan Page ([email protected]). We are here for you and will let you know as soon as it's safe and recommended by health professionals to resume normal church activity. … [Read more...] about COVID -19 Updates
Evening Worship: Cancelled
Due to the risk of the novel coronavirus, our evening service, Open Door, will be cancelled for the foreseeable future. We will update you as things change. Thank you for your patience. In the interim, you are welcome to join us for our live stream service on Sunday morning at 10am. … [Read more...] about Evening Worship: Cancelled
The Materialist Atheist Worldview, A Follow Up
Several posts ago, I wrote about the inherent limitations of a secular materialist worldview in relation to ethics and ethical reasoning. I was both surprised and encouraged by the many insightful responses I received and I wanted to follow up on that discussion. I claimed that a secular materialist who wants to create a de-ontological system of ethics must rely on the claims of science for ethical norms. If you want to create a reasoned system of right and wrong without God, there are no … [Read more...] about The Materialist Atheist Worldview, A Follow Up
The Materialist Atheist Worldview
In recent years we have witnessed the surge of the so-called New Atheists. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens, and a host of others have attacked Christianity and other belief systems. In the place of belief in a god, these writers view the world in strictly materialist terms; life is a series of physical and chemical interactions and no more. Science, and especially neuro-science and evolutionary biology, can provide the answers we need to life’s great questions of … [Read more...] about The Materialist Atheist Worldview
Gay Sexual Ethics, Part II
In a previous article I wrote about a shocker: Christians have a problem with sexual desire. I know that caught you off guard, but it was meant to surprise “traditional” Christians even more. There is the persistent and false assumption that the historical Christian ideal praises sexual desire within marriage. Not true for the early church. Not even true for Martin Luther, father of six children and passionate defender of marriage. Luther wrote, “Intercourse is never without Sin; but God excuses … [Read more...] about Gay Sexual Ethics, Part II
Gay Sexual Ethics, Part I
The line for the bar stretched down the block. Usually, I am not one for long lines at bars, but this was my first Guerrilla Queer Bar in Boston and everyone in the line was gay. The concept is simple. You put together a Facebook group and then once per month send out a message that the gays are taking over a straight bar for the night. In Boston, it worked surprisingly well. Standing next to me in line was a drag queen, or more accurately a drag nun. She wore a black habit with a nun’s hat … [Read more...] about Gay Sexual Ethics, Part I