Rev. Danielle Bartz

Vacationing on the North Shore in MN. View from the happy hour location at our rental is not too shabby.

UCC General Synod watching with wine. The crazy Friday nightlife of a UCC minister.

“Shallowness in the Body of Christ is what’s destroying the Church today.” - Rev. Marilyn Pagan-Banks

🏳️‍⚧️ Happy Pride! This month (and year-round) we proclaim "Love is Louder!" Join us in celebrating and loving our neighbors OUT LOUD!

🌈 We offer a variety of Pride resources here: ow.ly/HJT050W29nU

⭐ How are you celebrating Pride Month this year? ⭐

#LoveIsLouder

A Church Wants a Homeless Shelter. The Mayor Wants Space for Pickleball.

When Christianity is at its best, it fulfills the commandment to love God and neighbor. But far too often the response is ‘no thanks.’ Razing a church that wants to build a shelter so pickleball courts for the privileged can be built instead is appalling. My prayers are with Christ Episcopal.

"Christianity is being co-opted globally. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last that Christians find themselves grappling with what it means to be Christian in a contemporary context."

-Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson, GMP/CEO, UCC

New blog: ow.ly/ueSG50VRqXz

What’s the hold up on developing the technology to allow us to remove ourselves from a group text? I mean, we’ve got to be getting close. Right?

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Live orchestral music helps…with all of it.

This thread is giving me, and so many others, life and hope today!

March 11, 2020: The day everything changed The WHO declared a pandemic. The NBA shut down its season. President Trump banned travel from Europe. Tom Hanks tested positive. On one day five years ago, the coronavirus became very real in America.

The WHO declared a pandemic. The NBA shut down its season. President Trump banned travel from Europe. Tom Hanks tested positive. On one day five years ago, the coronavirus became very real in America.

Dumpster fire

A blessing

REPEAT AFTER ME:

NOBODY VOTED FOR ELON MUSK

PASS IT ON.

Hopelessness Is Submission - United Church of Christ “Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans

"Hopelessness is Submission"

A message from Rev. Shari Prestemon, Acting Associate General Minister, UCC and Co-Executive of Global Ministries.

👇🏾 www.ucc.org/hopelessness...

What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘Holiness?’ It’s my Star Word for 2025.

2021 tweet by Michael Bird that reads, "Mary did you know that your Magnificat makes you sound like a raving Marxist Mary did you know that powerful men consider your words alarmist Mary did you know that governments will censor the song you sang And although I'm a Protestant, I really want to join your gang."

I'm looking for a few #clergywomen to create a #MarysGang Starter Pack of #holytroublemakers willing to preach/teach/carry out the #radicalgospel of Christ If you're in, comment below. #neverthelessshepreached
#BeUMC #UMC #ELCA #PCUSA #UCC #Episcopal #Protestant

Pro Tip: 12/16 is not a good day to tell your pastor you don’t like the church website and it needs to be redesigned.

For the church member who texts ‘Give me a call when you have a minute’ and then promptly turns off their phone, we pray.

We do Taize-style services during Advent at my church. So peaceful and calm. Just what a weary world needs.

Let’s see your Advent shoes!!

You know what’s hard? Sitting at my desk to write a sermon on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I estimate I have just about three more hours of productivity in me before I decide all of this can wait. Come Holy Spirit and save me from myself!!

This is incredibly helpful data to have on hand for ministry.

I was unaware of this and just created a report for my church’s region. This is so helpful! Thank you!

The Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of color in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. The pillars look like arches and spires rising out of a desert landscape, but are filled with semi-transparent gas and dust, and ever changing. This is a region where young stars are forming – or have barely burst from their dusty cocoons as they continue to form. Newly formed stars are the scene-stealers in this Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image. These are the bright red orbs that sometimes appear with eight diffraction spikes. When knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, slowly heat up, and eventually begin shining brightly.

The Pillars of Creation captured by the James Webb Space Telescope

A member of my congregation ‘quotes’ a recent sermon of mine in her Christmas letter. Mostly it is a summary of what she heard. Which isn’t really what I preached. But, she also described it as transformative. So, I guess I’ll take the win.

What's happening in the sky above Stonehenge? A meteor shower: specifically, the Perseid meteor shower. A few nights ago, after the sky darkened, many images of meteors from this year's Perseids were captured separately and merged into a single frame. Although the meteors all traveled on straight paths, these paths appear slightly curved by the wide-angle lens of the capturing camera. The meteor streaks can all be traced back to a single point on the sky called the radiant, here just off the top of the frame in the constellation of Perseus. The same camera took a deep image of the background sky that brought up the central band of our Milky Way galaxy running nearly vertical through the image center. The featured image was taken from Wiltshire, England, being careful to include, at the bottom, the famous astronomical monument of Stonehenge. Although the Perseids peaked last night, some Perseid meteors should still be visible for a few more nights. Image Credit & Copyright: Josh Dury

A meteor shower

Help Protect Our Right to Speak Out Against Injustice! Urge Your Representative to Vote NO on H.R. 9495 Congress will be voting this week on a bill that would allow nonprofits to be stripped of their legal status without due process, simply because the Administration does not agree with their work. Th...

Please take EMERGENCY ACTION and tell your Representative to vote NO on H.R. 9495. This dangerous bill is being fast-tracked to a vote and would directly affect the ability of non-profits, including faith communities, to speak truth to power. Read more in the link.

The apocalyptic key that ends one church year and begins another reminds us that in a world that is falling apart, full of reasons to fear, God’s reign of love looks like disruption. The hope of new life emerges as the stones in which we previously trusted fall away.

Søndergård Conducts Mendelssohn and Brahms - Minnesota Orchestra To paraphrase Randall Goosby’s mentor Itzhak Perlman, “If you want to capture the attention of the audience, you have to be moved by the music yourself.” Taking those words to heart, this rising artis...

Randall Goosby is simply extraordinary. His talent is amazing and his joy in sharing music is infectious. A highlight of my year, truly, to see him perform.