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Monday 1pm - 4pm Tuesday 1pm - 4pm Wednesday 1pm - 4pm Thursday 1pm - 4pm Friday 1pm - 4pm

Rosedale United Church of Christ, 1301 E Bellevue Avenue, Reading, PA (2026)

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.

04/04/2026

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.

04/03/2026

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.

04/02/2026

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.

04/01/2026

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.

03/31/2026

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 Rev. Matthew Hoover

John 12:20-26 (NRSVUE)
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

Reflection:
The time for us to honor Jesus’ death grows ever closer. As we approach this time the spirit of contemplative prayer and meditation, may we ask ourselves, “what has died within us this Lent?”
What have we needed to let go of this season? What have we lost? Lent teaches us that salvation and resurrection are only possible if we allow death to happen. It is not an easy task to lose something; it is not an easy thing to let go. If we’ve been resisting that death and that loss, there is still time. With the power of the Holy Spirit, let it go; let it go with tears and the necessary grief. Let it go and plant it in God. When we give it to God, we allow for the possibility that it can be reborn. It is only in God that we can be reborn. Sometimes to see Jesus and God, we need to enter the places of death and loss. If that’s where you are this Lenten season, go into that place knowing Jesus has gone before us.

Prayer:
Holy God, strengthen for this journey towards death and the cross. Give us peace for the necessary losses and deaths in our spiritual lives and help us to trust in the new things that are planted. Amen.

03/30/2026

Monday, March 30, 2026 Rev. Becky Grace Sausser

Hebrews 9:11-15
But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), 12 he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! 15 For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

Reflection:
Man! I feel like I could talk about the letter to the Hebrews for hours! These four little verses pack such a big punch! This letter was written to an audience of people who understood the Jewish customs and traditions that Jesus would have been raised with. Sacrifices had to be offered for the forgiveness of sins, but now because of Jesus Christ everything is different! This is because Jesus Christ has offered his own blood and created a new covenant! This new covenant, this new promise from God not only frees us from sin and death, but also invite us to become part of the Royal and holy family of God! This new covenant makes us children of the light! And it is all possible because of Jesus!

Prayer:
Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for making away for me to be free and made holy. Thank you for creating this new covenant that welcomes me as a child of God. Amen.

03/30/2026

Join us for worship throughout Holy Week!

Wednesday, April 1
12 PM in person only, with a luncheon after worship

Maundy Thursday, April 2
7 PM in person or online

Good Friday, April 3
7 PM in person or online

Holy Saturday, April 4, The Great Vigil of Easter
7 PM in person or online

Easter Sunday, April 5
9:30 AM in person or online

03/29/2026

Sixth Sunday in Lent

Sunday, March 29, 2026 Rev. Kim Stryjak

Matthew 21:6-11 (NRSVUE)
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the c**t and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Reflection:
Matthew’s story of Palm Sunday stresses that Jesus is a different kind of King. He is a King who serves rather than a conqueror who dominates. As Pilate clanged and crashed his imperial way into Jerusalem from the west, Jesus approached from the east, deliberately countering what was happening on the other side of the city. A political move on his part, he is making a statement that he brings a different kingdom, a different form of leadership.
These paradoxes are what give Jesus’s story its shape, calling us at every moment to hold together and recognize the discord of our culture of power vs God’s world of peace. This Palm Sunday Jesus calls for a change in our hearts—a shift from being ruled by the world's power to being ruled by God’s kingdom power. May we trust the unknown future to the God who works good out of every circumstance and remember that God is with us.

Prayer:
Compassionate God, as we prepare to enter this Holy Week, may we remain hope-filled and courageous to continue on with the steadfast assurance of your Still-speaking voice. Amen

03/28/2026

Saturday, March 28, 2026 Rev. Leslie Mamas

Lamentations 3:55-66 NRSVUE
"You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause. You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me. The whispers and murmurs of my assailants are against me all day long. Whether they sit or rise — see, I am the object of their taunt songs. Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord, according to the work of their hands! Give them anguish of heart; your curse be on them! Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the Lord’s heavens."

Reflection:
Forgiveness is rarely a single decision that occurs once and is then complete. This is why in many indigenous languages, forgiveness is an active, ongoing process rather than a final, one-time act. As people of faith we are called to forgive, but may feel incapable of doing so. We instead hold on to the feelings we cannot give voice to; the anger, hurt, and vindictiveness. Many years ago someone I cared about was the victim of a hate incident. The incident was traumatic, and its repercussions lingered long after the harm was committed. In the immediate aftermath, my prayers to God resembled those of today's lament: "Pay them back for what they have done! Cause them anguish! Curse them and destroy them!" My pain was raw and all I wanted was divine retribution. However, as weeks began to pass my prayers began to soften a bit: "Make them pay! Cause them pain! But maybe don't destroy them... After all, that would only leave their loved ones with the same grief I am experiencing." A while later: "Make them pay. Ensure they give an equal measure of goodness and beauty to this world for the harm that they caused." And finally, after many months: "Soften their hearts and heal them. Fix the systems that taught them to hate, and heal their wounds where that hate festered and grew." The transformation from pain and rage to forgiveness was nothing I could take credit for. By being honest with God, and sharing even the ugliest thoughts and feelings in prayer, God was the one who transforms us. The authors of Lamentations knew this truth. God does not need chaste platitudes and sanitized recitations. God does not require us to censor ourselves. (After all, God already perceives our thoughts and knows our words before we speak them). If we instead bring to God our most honest pain and anger, God sews the seeds of forgiveness within our souls.

Prayer:
Patient and loving God, like the ancient writers of Lamentations I bring my true self in prayer. I offer you my jagged edges, knowing that only you can soften my heart and smooth my rough places. Help me to forgive, just as you continuously forgive me. Amen.

Rosedale United Church of Christ

04/05/2026

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