An Open & Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ
This Week at MCC
10:00am Sunday, March 1st, 2026
Second Sunday in Lent
Open & Affirming Anniversary
Scripture: Psalm 139:1-18; Genesis 12:1-9
Sermon: Covenantal Living
Services will be streamed: https://www.youtube.com/c/middleburycongregationalchurch
Click “continue reading” for this week’s worship bulletin.
Continue reading “”Lent Study
The Last Things: A Look at Death, the Second Coming, Judgment, the Afterlife, and the End of the World
Wednesdays during Lent in the Social Hall 6:30pm Supper, 7pm Discussion
“The Four Last Things” in Christian theology are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. These are topics people often have a lot of questions about, and often Mainline Protestants like us tend to talk about them much less than other denominations. So, this Lent we’re going to take a look about what the Bible says about the last things and some of the common views from throughout the history of Church. Bring your questions and curiosity!
2/25: Sin: What is sin? What does the Bible say about sin? Are we born sinful? We’ll look at different ways the Bible talks about sin and some of the main ways the Church has talked about sin.
3/4: Death: What happens when we die? Do we go right to heaven or hell? Do we simply fall asleep? Do our souls stay with our bodies or do they separate? We’ll explore some of the ways the Bible talks about death and go over some of the ways the Church has understood what happens when we die.
3/11: The Second Coming: Some of you are likely familiar with a line that’s often in communion liturgy: “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” What does it mean for the Church to proclaim Christ is coming again? When does Christ return? What happens when he does return? We’ll look at various answers the Church has posed to those questions and key Bible passages about Christ’s return.
3/18: The Final Judgment: What does the Bible actually say about the last judgment? Who does the judging? What are we actually judged on? We’ll look at the main scenes of the last judgment in the Bible and some of the ways the Church has understood them.
3/25: Hell: A number of people have asked over the years what to think about hell since we don’t talk about it much in worship. So, we will look at some of the main biblical passages about hell and explore some of the traditional and more modern ways the Church has tried to make sense of the question of what happens to evil people and nonbelievers when they die.
4/1: Heaven: What does heaven look like? Who goes to heaven? Do we have bodies in heaven? What is eternal life? We’ll look at Bible passages describing heaven and heaven on earth and explore some of the views in the Church on heaven and resurrection.
St. Patrick’s Day Dinner!
Dear friends in Christ,
In looking at the weather, we have decided for this Sunday to move the Annual Meeting and Potluck to 2/1. Sunday School and Choir for 1/25 is also canceled.
If you had a volunteer commitment for this coming Sunday, you’re off the hook.
Since I live on the property, I will lead worship for whoever makes it here. We will also livestream worship so you can watch from home if it’s not safe to go out.
Peace,
Pastor Katrina
