Open Table UCC

Open Table UCC We are a faith community that is theologically progressive, Pottstown focused, with Jesus at the center of everything that we do.

Easter Sunday Sunday, April 5, 2026 Rev. Zack Jackson John 20:17 (NRSVUE) J...
04/05/2026

Easter Sunday
Sunday, April 5, 2026 Rev. Zack Jackson

John 20:17 (NRSVUE)
Jesus said to her [Mary Magdalene], “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Reflection: What a puzzling moment! After the horror and drama of the cross, the uncertainty of Saturday, and the momentary panic of realizing that Jesus’ tomb was empty, you’d think that the least that Jesus could do would be to give his friend Mary a hug. It’s a strange moment that has puzzled people for ages. Why wouldn’t the Risen Christ allow one of his most beloved disciples to hold on to him? In 10 verses, he will tell Thomas to touch his wounds, so it’s not like he was radioactive or something. What is it about this moment that he refuses to allow Mary to hold on to him?
I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with what happens next. She had reached out to him, presumably, to make sure that he never left her sight again, but he says, “No. Now it’s your turn. I want you to leave me and I want you to go preach the Good News”. What a job! Can you imagine being the very first person who was commissioned to bring Jesus’ message? He could have appeared to John and Peter, but he waited until they left, because this was a job for Mary and Mary alone. And she did it. She left that garden and she became the first preacher of the Risen Christ. That, by the way, is not a job that she could have done from the garden. She could not have done that while holding Jesus’ hand. She could not have stepped out that day into her fullness if she were still waiting for Jesus to do everything for her. She ran out of that garden a new woman, empowered and emboldened by Jesus to do what was hers to do.
I think we could use that example today. I don’t need to tell you that the world is a mess right now, and many of us are trying to hold on to Jesus, praying that he would fix everything because it feels too big, but Jesus is saying to us, “Do not hold on to me. Go. Do what is yours to do. Do what only you can do at this moment”. So let us go. Let us take on the power and audacity of the Risen Christ, let us believe in impossible dreams, and let us go with the conviction that Jesus will never leave us.

Prayer: Risen Christ, conqueror of death and bringer of life, give us the boldness to believe that you have truly called us to this moment. Fill us with your power and love as we go out this Easter season to serve you and the world that you love. Amen.

Holy SaturdayApril 4, 2026 Rev. Caroline Bashore Matthew 27:62...
04/04/2026

Holy Saturday
April 4, 2026 Rev. Caroline Bashore

Matthew 27:62-66 (NIV)
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Reflection: Holy Saturday is the day when doubt finally sounds reasonable. Jesus is dead, really dead, and his body has been wrapped, sealed, placed behind a stone, and for the first time in a long time, nothing is happening. After all the excitement of the past few years, after the crowds and the miracles and the hope, this ending makes the accusation feel plausible: maybe he was never the Son of God after all.
And yet, it is the chief priests and Pharisees who remember what the disciples cannot. They go to Pilate because Jesus’ words still haunt them. They begin to wonder: what if he was telling the truth, what if this isn’t the end, what if this man truly is who he claimed to be? They believe resurrection is possible enough to guard the tomb. And we are left waiting, asking our own what if.

Prayer: God, we know how this story ends, yet we linger with the what ifs. What if the guards were right, what if the tomb stayed full, what if Jesus was only another hopeful story that ended too soon. Stay close as we wait, unsure, unsettled, and still hoping. Amen.

Good Friday Friday, April 3, 2026 Rev. Selina Hamilton John 19:25b-27 (NRSVUE...
04/03/2026

Good Friday
Friday, April 3, 2026 Rev. Selina Hamilton

John 19:25b-27 (NRSVUE)
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

Reflection: In one of his final acts on the cross, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus looked at his mother and at the beloved disciple, and not wanting them to be alone he told his mother that the beloved disciple is her son. He told the beloved disciple that his mother would claim him as her own.
Yes, in this moment Jesus is ensuring that his mother will be cared for and supported without the security of her own son, who would be expected to take over when Joseph died and she became a widow. I think that there’s more to this moment, though. Looking at these two people who loved him deeply, his mother who loved him first and the disciple whom he loved best, he recognizes the grief that they are going to have to survive when he dies. He knows that they will need a loving and caring companion in the valley of death. He offers them that in each other. He tells them: you will love each other through this like a mother and a son.
This is one of the blessings of living in Christian community: knowing that we, like Jesus’ mother and Jesus’ beloved disciples, will always have a companion by our side in the valleys that life brings. We always have someone loving us through it. We will always be invited to be that person, loving a friend through their own grief.

Prayer: Holy Jesus, our companion and our friend, help us to see and recognize the beloved friends who you have sent to walk with us through the hard days of this life. Help us to be beloved friends to those who are suffering. Help us to recognize one another as siblings, as parents, as children, and partners on the journey. Amen.

Maundy Thursday Thursday, April 2, 2026 Rev. Frances Chester Read: Exo...
04/02/2026

Maundy Thursday
Thursday, April 2, 2026 Rev. Frances Chester

Read: Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10), 11-14; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19;
1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35 in your favorite translation.

Reflection: Exodus inaugurates the festival of Passover, with the blood of a lamb on doorposts signaling to God to pass over the Hebrew households on the night they are freed from slavery in Egypt. In 1 Corinthians Paul describes how the body of Christ joins together in memory of the body given for them, in symbols of bread and wine. John’s gospel brings us to the table with that body who bends down to wash dirty, stinking feet, before breaking bread and passing around the cup, offering them like he will his very flesh and blood later that night.
On Maundy Thursday our senses are soaked in the ways God delivers us. On this night, allow your feet or hands to be washed and feel the hands that touch your skin, the coolness of the water or cloth. Notice the texture of the bread and the sting of cheap wine or sugary grape juice that hits the back of your throat. Notice and know: God is here, choosing vulnerable flesh as the place of our salvation.

Questions for reflection: On a scale of one to ten, one being “at peace” and ten being “extremely uncomfortable,” where are you as you sit with the images of Jesus washing your feet, and of Jesus passing to you bread and a cup? Does your scale shift from one image to another? Sit with each moment, allowing Jesus to serve you.

Holy Wednesday, April 1, 2026 Rev. Linda Kozlowski Hebrews 12:1-3 (NRSVUE) Therefore...
04/01/2026

Holy Wednesday, April 1, 2026 Rev. Linda Kozlowski

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NRSVUE)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls or lose heart.

Reflection: Friends, for many life right now seems overwhelming. We turn on the news, we log onto social media, we turn on the radio, and we are bombarded with despair. The divides seem to keep widening. The incivility seems to keep growing. Perhaps in our exhaustion and weariness, we want to hide, to give up, to ignore the bombardment of doom which surrounds us.
Jesus faced betrayal from a friend. Jesus faced shame and rejection. Jesus faced the Cross. Through all of this, Jesus endured and stayed true to God’s way. Jesus lived through everything we will ever live through. Jesus experienced all of the feeling and emotions we experience. Jesus’ life and death remind us to keep moving forward, to breathe deeply, to persevere.
As we come close to the end of Lent, as we move forward toward Holy Week, may we release what is too heavy for us to carry. May we hand over to Jesus whatever stands between us and God; whatever stands between us and our neighbors. May we take to heart the words from the Book of Hebrews: “Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls or lose heart.” Rest as you need to, friends. Breathe deeply. Keep moving forward following the One who is grace, who is love, who is peace, who is justice.

Prayer: Oh, Holy One, remind us afresh to keep taking one more forward step. Remind us anew to release whatever we no longer need to carry. Help us continue this journey through life. And help us care for those we meet along the way. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Address

724 N Adams Street
Pottstown, PA
19464

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Open Table UCC posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category