April – And Yet (Easter) The Sufi tradition and Jewish folklore have stories about a phrase that is true in all situations; these words bring joy to sad moments and sadness to joyful moments. This profound phrase is: “This too shall pass.” Find ways to say “this too shall pass” in sad and happy moments … Continued
March 12, 2020 Dear Follen members and friends, Since last week, The COVID-19 pandemic has spread rapidly around the world. Our MA Department of Public Health has now advised that we avoid large gatherings. More information and requests from the Lexington Department of Public Health and Lexington Public Schools may be shared tonight via … Continued
February – Loyalty This is a juicy one. One synonym of loyalty is fidelity: faithfulness. We can be faithful to a person, an ideal, a promise, a way of life… We can be faithful spouses, faithful friends, faithful recyclers… there are a lot of ways to practice loyalty and fidelity. Faithfulness is something many humans … Continued
Has life taught you some hard-won lessons? Do you have a story to tell? Has your spiritual life grown and deepened over the years? Have you ever watched someone preach and thought “I could never do that!” This class is for you! Rev. Claire will lead you through a 6 session course, during which participants will support each other … Continued
March 3, 2020 Dear Follen Members and Friends, As infections from the COVID-19 coronavirus spread, it is important that we also spread information on how to prepare for and prevent this disease in our community and congregation. There is information about COVID-19 everywhere; two excellent resources are a recent New York Times podcast, and … Continued
January – Perspective “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” That’s what the side-view mirror in the car tells us every time we check our blind spots. This exercise is to check your blind spots—that is, the ones you know about. How has a change in perspective (or in knowledge, experience, age, authority, etc) … Continued
October Spiritual Exercise: Faith Let’s reflect on a very personal component of faith. Have you ever had a mystical experience? An experience, most likely quite brief, in which you felt something like: one-ness, connectedness, euphoria, deep joy, deep peace, epiphany, ecstasy, flight, presence, understanding, communion with God, ultimate reality, oceanic feeling? (To list just … Continued
Regret; repent; return; renew; and begin again. In honor of the Jewish holy time of Rosh Hashanah, beginning this month on September 29, have an encounter with the ritual Tashlich, Hebrew for “cast off.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashlikh. You can do this ritual on your own, or with your covenant group. (Rev. Claire does it with her … Continued
I love Question Box Sunday. Below is the list of questions, some from adults, some from kids! To see my answers to the first ten questions, watch the video here! Answered: What about Follen keeps you up at night? Before you were a minister, why did you go to church? How do you define “prayer”? … Continued
Rev. Claire Feingold Thoryn In the first books of the Bible, God spends six jam-packed days in the throes of creation, and then on the seventh day, God rests. That rest must have felt pretty good, because later, God includes rest in the 10 commandments, created to help humans live good lives. The commandments tell … Continued
