I've been a pastor for a long while, near twenty years now.  Being a pastor was once considered an honored profession, but with scandals and clergy abuse, hard line doctrinal adherence to measure if a person is in or out and fundamentalists often being the loudest voices in the room, that era has long since faded.  As Moff Tarkin once told Vader, the Jedi are all but extinct...

I found that at nearly every wedding or funeral I would officiate or any community service we'd do out and about I'd encounter people who had a great sense of spirituality and God, but who had great apprehension and fear about being at a church. Many had been wounded by the church. Some found the dogmatics just too difficult to swallow and irrational. Others had had enough of the politics of the institution vs. the politics of Jesus. I felt like all these conversations were God's seeds of something new and that is where Grounds of Hope was born. 

Grounds of Hope is a Wednesday night coffee house gathering. There are no altar calls, no offering plates, no structured liturgy. Instead, you'll find a warm atmosphere, soulful coffee house style music, a message geared at daily living and inviting us all into conversation about God, the world and every day life. 

We do have a few "Ground rules" -- speak to our own experiences and not down on any others. Be present for one another and hear one another's stories. Share if you want or not at all.  The aim of our time isn't to express how anyone has to be before God. 

We aren't here to "fix you" or "save you" or even recruit you, just here to invite people into a community space that leads with love. A non-churchy place to talk God for people who have grown tired or disillusioned with all things "churchy." If this strikes a chord  with you, I hope you'll come and check us out one Weds. 

Yours-  Scott Oberle
 Senior Minister
 First Congregational UCC