Mark 5: 21-43
Rev. Bryan Travis Hooper

Walking the streets of Hartford, one is likely to wonder what is going on in this town. The answer is: an awful lot. We have everything from drug deals to prostitutes to fine dining and theater. We have gang members walking the streets at night and insurance company executives walking them by day. Hartford is a city with a split-personality. We have all the sad troubles of a poor urban city, and most of the glorious wonders of a historic New England community. We have both. And it’s easy to get blinded by the bad news or overcome by the challenges or depressed by the statistics and overlook all the good that is around us. (more…)

Mark 4: 35-41
Rev. Bryan Travis Hooper

Life gets stormy sometimes.

Most of us have had our share of stormy moments. I certainly have. And when life gets stormy we get unsettled. One stormy time in my life, I remember was my first year in college. Off in a new environment I was eager to make friends. And in a moment of insecurity, I decided to impress one of my friends by driving my car in a most reckless manner. The end result was that my car got smashed. Not very impressive. Everyone was ok, but I didn’t get my car back for months. And my new friend wasn’t all that impressed with me. (more…)

A group from our church participated in the first Longest Day of Service project organized by Hands On Hartford. We worked with Rebuilding Together to repair the home of an elderly woman in the Behind the Rocks neighborhood of Hartford. Thanks to our great team for their excellent work. We repaired doors, painted, cleaned, fixed a deck, and made basic improvements. We definitely left the home in a better state than we found it!

Our church has a small endowment that helps us through tough times. The money we earn from the endowment is spent on our operating budget and building maintenance. And the truth is that over the years there have been moments when the endowment kept us going…

A recent article by Jason Byassee asks some good questions about the nature of religious institutions and endowments. It raises some good points.

The question that always pesters me: if my church can’t raise enough money to operate, then why does it deserve to operate? Isn’t it a good measure of our value to rely on the contributions of our community? I know of many churches (several right here in Hartford!) that have become so dependent on their endowments that they no longer engage in ministries that are relevant or effective. They just don’t need to bother.

And that gets the cart before the horse. I am grateful for our endowment because it has allowed us to continue our ministry when times were tough. But I am also fearful that our endowment might become a bit of a crutch for us. Hopefully, we can use all the resources available to us for our mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world. Hopefully, we will never be content to siphon funds off of the endowment just to keep our institution going. The focus should always be on our mission – and we should not be afraid to measure our effectiveness in tangible and concrete ways.

An endowment is a useful tool. But it can also be a dangerous distraction that lulls us in to a false sense of security. Our job has never been to maintain buildings. Our job is to create followers of Jesus who transform the world.

Mark 4: 26-34
Rev. Bryan Travis Hooper

A few years ago I decided that I needed to lose weight. What I had realized was that I was overweight, and I wasn’t really sure how I had gotten there. What made matters worse was that my doctor said that my health was clearly being affected negatively by my weight. Now all of us are different, and I’m not suggesting that any of you need to lose weight. Consult your doctor is my advice. But I needed to lose weight for the first time in my life, and I really didn’t know what to do. So, my doctor gave me some tips – the familiar ones of watching what you eat and increasing your physical activity. And I committed myself to this course of action. (more…)

John 3: 1-17
Rev. Bryan Travis Hooper

There’s no such thing as a stupid question. My teachers in school would always say that right after someone had asked what I was sure was a stupid question. And ever since I heard that idea – no stupid questions – I’ve wondered if it is true. (more…)