Our stories

I don’t see it very often, this little treasure of mine. I keep it in an old jewelry box with so many large pairs of earrings from the 90s and lots of gaudy Christmas jewelry I must have worn in the past. The treasure is from the 60s and early 70s – a pin from Sunday School at Calvin Church. It has four pieces, designating my attendance for four years. (Did I lose a few pieces? I was there for more than four years!) The first piece has a cross, a crown, and the words “Christi

Hi everyone! I’m Calvin Church’s Community Connector. What does a Community Connector do? I have to admit, I used to introduce this position as being something nebulous…I knew the ultimate goal was to help Calvin Church be a good neighbor. But how to do this? Two years later, and I finally feel like I fit. I see God’s plan for this job, as it unfolds in small steps. I think I can best describe my work with one illustration: Last summer, under the special care of the Creation

For as long as I can remember I have been attending church services. As a kid, that building was a most impressive space, one large room with stained glass windows, a balcony, a raised platform on which the minister stood, a choir loft, and a pipe organ. Two things stood out about being there: the predictability and the music. When you are ten years old, you live largely at the mercy of others. Their wishes are your commands, no matter how odd (or unwanted, or unfair, or wro

Sunshine, blue skies, and warm temperatures welcomed around seventy-five friends, volunteers, church members, and neighbors to the spring community event on Sunday, April 26. Thanks to the vision and effort of Jan Wilkins and the events committee along with many volunteers, kids and adults painted rocks, nature pictures, and a community outdoor mural. They also learned the art form Tataki-Zome in order to print plants on paper, and they played frisbee golf, explored the art o

My parents grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, and they both came from Christian families. For them, church was one of the only activities outside of school. On Sundays, they went to church in the morning, had Sunday school right after the morning service, and went to church again in the evening. One day a week after school, they went to church for catechism class, which was another hour or two. My dad also took piano lessons during the week, but my mom’s parents were small busin

We mostly worship in the morning these days. So in the early evening in the deep midwinter of Michigan the sun does not shine through the stained glass windows and the sanctuary looks dim. The parishioners shuffle in a column to the front where two pastors stand holding small bowls. The clergy dip a finger in water then in ash to draw a cross on each forehead, softly naming each person and murmuring, “consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” It is a so