#Broomfield brave church update

This inspired the desire for an impactful sound reinforcement system in their new Broomfield sanctuary that could more than keep up with BRAVE Church’s unabashedly contemporary services, as well as defining the need to update the audio infrastructure at their main sanctuary in Englewood, Colorado. The story cloth will be a special part of the service Sunday, and it is worth attending just to see how special this framed cloth is.BRAVE Church, located in Colorado, USA, is a church on a mission. The story cloth is indeed beautiful, and the detail work that went into the cloth boggles my mind. The framed story cloth temporarily hangs at the church as part of the Memorial Day celebration. The story cloth is framed with hundreds of small stones Stevens polished in a tumbler as a boy. It is an H’mong story cloth celebrating the seasons, showing the mountain people of Laos planting and harvesting their crops, their wealth of chickens and pigs feeding along the paths. The Christmas gift he received from the H’mong student is precious to him. Stevens stated “Mai insisted we not burden ourselves with regret, but heighten our shared intelligence, capping it with reachable, concrete dreams.” Stevens is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and they discussed his experience, as well as her family’s uprooting, boat escape from Laos, and overseas resettlement and where that fit in with the American dream. The next semester, they researched the psychology of war while contrasting their findings with learned principles of progress and peace. They delved through Huxley’s “Brave New World,” and traded Christmas gifts. Stevens and Mai discussed war, and decided war is part of being human and taking nature seriously. He is an instructor at a local college, and one of his students was a young lady named Mai, from Laos. Stevens will be part of a special presentation at worship this coming Sunday.

I also should mention the choir sang “In This Very Room,”and it, too, was special. “I’ll Fly Away” has been one of my favorites for a long time, and “Let There be Peace on Earth” was a wonderful conclusion to a service that emphasized peace and love for our fellow man. The service concluded with two familiar hymns. The message was a dialogue between Stevens and Garland, as well as other members of the church. It was a visual service, as Stevens used props that included his accordion, a wheelchair, and a wagon and a globe. The scripture of the day was Matthew 26:47-56, and that led to the sermon, “Missives and Ambivalence” led by Stevens.

I would like to think all houses of worship would be open and affirming, but in the real world we know that it is not always the case for the gay/lesbian/transgender communities. The service at United Church of Broomfield is “progressive,” and it has made a public statement that it is an “open and affirming” church. The Lord’s Prayer followed the opening portions of the service, and it, too, was very different than the Lord’s Prayer I grew up with. The opening songs on Sunday included “I’ve Got Peace Like a River,” and in true Memorial Day tradition, “My Eyes Have Seen the Glory” with different words than those with which many of us are familiar. Director of music is Stephanie Gastelbondo, and Paul Shinn plays and is talented on the piano. He is good on the guitar, and he plays with the band that plays a mixture of contemporary and traditional songs. The church, by the way, is at 825 Kohl St. United Church, on the other hand, made the decision to have a special veterans/refugee service on Sunday at its regular 10 a.m. Most churches had Memorial Day services on May 24, since it was recognized as the holiday weekend. Admittedly, Mark was the main reason I was there, since he was involved in last Sunday’s service and also will be involved in this coming Sunday’s service. Still there was Pastor Greg Garland, and still there was my friend Mark Stevens. Many members of the church are still there, and I was made to feel at home when I walked into the United Church of Christ worship center. On more than one occasion, I was a guest speaker at a worship service.

Over the 29 years my wife and I photographed weddings in the area, many of them were at United Church of Broomfield. I have to admit I had a feeling of nostalgia when I attended the Sunday service at the United Church of Broomfield.

Broomfield brave church