Rev. Dr. Curran Reichert, Pastor

The slightly irreverent Reverend Dr. Curran Reichert has been stirring up “good trouble,” and serving up questions that challenge us to grow spiritually for the past ten years at FCC. She believes in the power of Spiritual community to be a force for good in the world. Curran is highly educated and dedicated to making Sonoma Valley a more just and equitable place.

Throughout the Valley, Rev. Reichert lends her perspective as a faith leader to addressing the need for fair housing and worker justice. She has been a leading voice concerning fair treatment of those without permanent shelter. She is committed to doing her part to end racial bias and deconstruct colonialism in the church and in our community.

Rev. Reichert understands that Christianity can be scary for people who have suffered abuse, or oppression due to bigotry and religious intolerance. She creates what she hopes will be a safe entry point for those seeking the support of a radically inclusive community of faith. Her motto is “Purpose, Presence, and Practice,” she embodies all three.

We love our pastor, and we think you will love her to. If you would like to make an appointment to meet with Rev. Reichert, receive prayers, or a visit from our support team, send her a message or call the church office at 707.996.1328.

Rev. Reichert often says, “FCC is the place you would want to go to church if you went to church.” We are a gathering of spirited people who care about earth justice, speaking out about injustice, tending to the vulnerable, and learning to find common ground, these are the relevant earmarks of our congregation. We invite you to join us on Sunday mornings either contemplative at 9:00am or regular in person at 10:30am. Here is the Zoom link for our 8:30 a.m. service.

Thoughts from the Pastor

1/12/2026

The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
 

The poems of Wendell Berry invite us to stop, to think, to see the world around us, and to savor what is good. He writes hymns to the land, inviting our attention to the cycles of nature and the seasons as they ebb and flow.

The darkness comes on so strongly in the late afternoon these days. By 5pm it feels like time to bundle up inside by a roaring fire, at least that is what our ancestors would do. Today many of us burn the midnight oil (or at least until 10pm) scrolling on our phones, computers, or TV screens imposing a kind of false light, manmade light that all to often carries with it such dark images and thoughts. Perhaps this wintertime is an opportunity to choose more intentionally the light and the darkness we let in.

I remember my first time reading Berry’s image of the “day-blind stars waiting with their light.” It was a jaw dropping revelation, an epiphany to think of their brightness as inextinguishable. The concept gives new depth to the role of the Christ light that shines so consistently, so brightly that the dark can never overcome it. I find great comfort in those images.

Beloved, there is the same light in each of us. A Christlight that burns with such ferocity that even the gloomiest political predictions cannot darken the flame. Remember that as we step mindfully into a new year. May the light of Love be for you a felt sensation, a lived reality and may you trust it’s truth even when shadows loom and there is darkness on the horizon.

Turn up your Christlight.

With love,
Curran