Outdoor worship with Covid precautions began on October 18 at FCC. We gather at 10am in the park in the center of the parking lot to read scripture, pray, listen to a sermon, and make a joyful noise with masks on at distance from one another. All are welcome to join! Bring your own chair and come wearing a mask. … [Read more...] about OUTDOOR WORSHIP
Advent Festival
ADVENT FESTIVAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 11AM ON CHURCH LAWN To get ready for advent and to spend some time with each other, we are planning to have an Advent Festival on the FCC lawn. We will be making Advent Wreaths for our homes and decorating a Christmas Tree on the Church lawn. We are hoping to use materials gathered from our natural environments and garden – so if you can delay pruning your holly, yupon, pine, and magnolia until closer to that time, we would be very grateful … [Read more...] about Advent Festival
Midweek Prayer Service
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. We'll be using a lectionary-based Bible study, entitled "Feasting on the Word" as a guide. 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. Time: This is a recurring meeting Sundays at 7pmJoin Zoom … [Read more...] about Adult Christian Education
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