Recent Sermons by Rev. Michele

Gifts to Create the Beloved Community

2010-01-17T19:28:00.004-06:00

January 17, 2010 The Second Sunday after Epiphany
Sermon "Gifts to Create the Beloved Community"
Scripture I Corinthians 12: 1-11; John 2: 1-11

"Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Collect: Gracious God, whose miracles surround us day by day and whose revelation in Jesus Christ awakens our wonder, let this be an hour of powerful encounter with you in which our gifts are called forth for the sake of your church and for the transformation of your world. Work within us, among us, and through us, we pray, that believing minds may blossom into trusting hearts and helping hands, fully committed to your service. Amen.

Today's sermon is about what it means to be "community," a "Beloved Community" of faith celebrating God's good gifts to serve the church in the fullest way possible. I want us to mark this day with many congregations throughout our country to remember Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and the meaning he brought to the scriptures so long ago as he preached, worshipped and taught the meaning of God's kingdom. There are three words for us to focus on in this time together and they are: Attitude, Affirmation and Action

ATTITUDE Throughout all of Dr. King's speeches and writings was the theme "Beloved Community." What was this "beloved community?" In short, it was genuine intergroup and interpersonal living; in other words, integration. Yes, human existence is social in nature, he said. God made us this way. " We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."

The apostle Paul said it this way in I Corinthians 12: 4-7
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

So, what happened the course of human history in our own country that went the opposite way of this teaching? We sadly recall our history. Before the Civil Rights movement, board a city bus in Greenville, South Carolina and the sign on the front of the bus clearly read: "South Carolina Law: White patrons sit form the front. Colored patrons sit form the rear." No one ever questioned those signs. Or, if they did, they'd be breaking the law and pay the price.

Even in Sheboygan County, I understand, there was law on the books that prohibited black people from being in the city after dark. There are many examples of segregation all around our country. Sad, sad examples. Desegregation needed to happen. But, we know today is that desegregation can be brought about by laws but integration requires a change in attitude.

Attitude. Integration will enlarge the concept of sisterhood and brotherhood for total interrelatedness but how do you get people to live it? How do you get people to change their attitudes?

Unfortunately, as Rev. King said, "history will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the trident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." We are all still compelled to pay attention to our attitudes and how we are bringing about an invitation to all people to share their gifts to build the Body of Christ.

I believe we care deeply at a local level and wider global levels given our different languages, customs and cultures. Caring deeply speaks about what we affirm. I'm glad we, in our United Church of Christ, have opportunity to mark Racial Justice Sunday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on our calendars. Why? Caring implies that we'll work on our attitudes. If we forget, we need to turn to our "affirmations."

AFFIRMATION Where does affirmation begin? Being in covenant with God is like a marriage. It is a commitment to belong to God, to be faithful and to live life together. We remembered our baptism last week and were thankful. Many of you told me you appreciated the opportunity to come forward to the baptismal font and mark the "remembering" with water. Baptism is the time when we mark a beginning of the covenant and a reminder of that joy. At a marriage, after the ceremony, usually there is a party. Yes, I've been invited to a number of baptism parties in my years in ministry; we need our celebrations.

Today our gospel setting is a wedding and a party. Jesus and his disciples are invited to a wedding in Cana, a village about nine miles north of Nazareth. When we say a wedding and reception or party what comes to your mind? What do you expect? Well, we think we know what to expect with marriage, the reception and happy ever after. But, do we?

In the gospel of John the story of the wedding is like many wedding stories, there is a problem. The host has runs out of wine and risks embarrassment. Jesus is asked by his mother, who is there as well, to do something about it.

He quickly tells her that "it is not my problem for my hour has not yet come." But intuiting his desire to respond, she told those nearby to be prepared to do whatever he asked of them. It seems Jesus decides to use this occasion for showing forth his message.

Jesus asked that six stone water jars reserved for the ritual of purification to be filled with water. This was about 120-130 gallons of water. It was a lot of water. This was not water for cleansing but water that would be used as a sign of preparation for worship.
The Torah declared that people must be clean by ritual cleansing in order to get close to God and be with God. Did it take over 100 gallons for this to happen?

The Talmud specified that only about a cup of water was necessary to purify 100 men. So, what was going on? What did it mean to have all this water turned into wine, really good wine? It was a sign, a miracle, an affirmation of God's presence.

In some of Jesus' miracles he heals, in others he feeds, but this one he turns water into wine. It seems that Jesus' wanted a sign for people to remember that when he was present something extraordinary would happen. Don't get stuck on trying to figure out how to explain the change of the water to wine. That's not the point. The point is the affirmation that Jesus is the chosen one of God and Jesus could show us how to live a life of transformation.

Jesus gave a sign that affirmed God's presence with him which we can interpret as God's presence throughout history with God's people. It is a presence that brings forth the best in us, like the new wine. A sign is a window through which we glimpse an unrestricted sight of God in the flesh among us. It that moment when the heavens opened and the veil was thin between heaven and earth, God's grace was manifest. If we move this experience to the present tense, we are grateful for those times (weddings, baptisms, services of worship, even at funerals) of naming God's goodness and grace and blessing in our Beloved Community. Yes, from ordinary water we become new wine, good wine, the best wine!

When Rev. Jesse Jackson was pastor of a church in inner-city Chicago, he was reported to ask the congregation to say in worship in unison, "I was nobody. But, now, thank God, I'm somebody." I think we need to pause on some Sundays and repeat this phrase because we forget what it means to be "somebody" in God's realm.

In the presence of Jesus, we are like the water changed to good wine. Maybe you don't feel you need that message today but many people do. We need the affirmation of God with us to change our attitude and know that change means "better." "Better" leads us to action!

ACTION I believe that God's miracles were at work through Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement and continue to be at work in us when we appreciate the richness of our diversity and the power we have to do good together. Many people still need to say "I was nobody. But now, thank God, I'm somebody." Every "somebody" makes the church better. This teaching is evident in Paul's writing about the diversity of our gifts and the utilization for the good of each gift for the body. It is essential that think about what that means for us. We can read this quote from Dr. King, ""Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives" but what does it mean in a practical way?

With our annual meeting coming up at the end of month, it is a good time for us to ask "who" we are and "who" we want to be as the Immanuel United Church of Christ. All of us know that our resources are stretched; every church is having problems with finances. But, that is not new. What is new is that we are forgetting what it means to be the church and let every member do their part. So, we need those 3 "A's": Attitude, Affirmation and Action.

Yes, we need to constantly be aware that it takes each member doing her/his part for our church to create the "beloved community" we long to be. It is hard work to be in the process of transformation and change and to see church health and growth develop but we know that the process is worth every effort. Why? Because our church is central to who we are and who we are becoming as children of our loving God. How do we keep focused on that growth?

John Cobb wrote a book several years ago entitled, Reclaiming the Church: Where the Mainline Church Went Wrong and What to Do . About It. He offers three suggestions for churches that want to be vital and active.
1.a vital church is one that is culturally engaged. It is engaged with society's problems, crises, trends, and sufferings.
2. a vital church will respond to how the larger society challenges the convictions and beliefs of the world of faith. How do we struggle with conflicts of faith and reason, technology, and human dignity?
3.a vital church will be engaged in theological thinking. He makes a strong point: Theology is neither an academic discipline nor a set of doctrines. It is not memorization of a creed, a prayer, a catechism or even scripture. Theology is thinking about everything and anything from a faith perspective, for us that means a Christian perspective,.

How do we measure up? Pastor Martin Copenhaver has said that "there are times when we mjust make a 100 percent commitment to a something about which we are only 51 percent certain. It is faith in that uncertainty, yet certainty, that motivates us to think about what sign or miracle we can be in the world."

Faith if living in confidence and trust in God and depending on God to give us life in its fullest measure. When Jesus left the wedding at Cana, he had along way to go on his journey. There would be less glorious moments for him; he would face rejection, humiliation, and he would be misunderstood most of the time.

"His hour" would be an hours of pain, suffering and deep loss. His hour would be the cross. The glory of his first miracle, the wedding party, did not change that.

Yet, the sign, the glory, the joy shared at the marriage, would enable him to continue. It was a sign that God would not abandon him to darkness and death. Beloved friends of the Immanuel United Church of Christ, God will not abandon us. God wants us to be a Beloved Community in Jesus name with vitality, growth and deep, abiding joy in our life together.

We know that when we leave today, that there will be less glorious moments for us in our daily lives. We know that a sweet hour on Sunday morning will not change our life journey. The gospel hymns today reflect that message. Yet, when we leave and go back to the world that is in short supply of hope, we go home quite different from the way we came.

C.S. Lewis says that "miracles are aspects of the continuing creativity of God." We are invited to use our gifts as best we are able to allow God's glory to shine in us.

As I was listening this morning to the morning news, I was grateful for a parting gift from Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles (Monumental Baptist Church, Memphis, TN) area preparing to preach his Sunday sermon. The interviewer asked him what he would preach about and he said that he'd be preaching about "knocking holes in the darkness." He was referring to the practice years ago of the lamplighters lighting the streetlights in the evening. They were in a sense, "knocking holes in the darkness."

Solutions to our problems take time; it is a slow process. But, at the same time, we take our three A's, attitude, affirmation, and action, and know that through God's help and human effort, we will make progress. God is at work in our universe and we have the gifts to create the Beloved Community. Truly as Rev. King said, "Evil dies on the seashore, not merely because of man's endless struggle against it, but because of God's power to defeat it." May we be part of that power to defeat it; may we be "knocking holes in the darkness." Amen.

(see www.wipf.org/mlksbelovedcommunity for a brief essay on Rev. King's understanding of the term "Beloved Community.")

The Blessing of Birth

2009-12-26T20:19:00.003-06:00

December 25, 2009
Christmas Day Worship
Texts: Isaiah 52: 7-10, Psalm 98, Titus 3: 4-7, Luke 2: 8-20, John 1: 1-14
Meditation: "The Blessing of Birth"

I feel blessed today to have my daughter, Ann Martha, with me in worship. Christmas is a time for worship and for families, who can be together, to appreciate one another and the gift of life. As a church family, we gather to appreciate one another and our gift of community and the bond of love in Christ we share. Even if we are alone, without family close by, we know that Christmas is a time to appreciate the blessing of birth, new babies and the potential for new spiritual birth among us.

Having Martha here reminds me of our life on Cape Cod when she was involved in high school drama and local community theatre. One year, the Nauset Honors Acting Troupe from Nauset High School performed the beloved holiday classic It's a wonderful Life; A Live Radio Play. They brought to the audience the story of George Bailey and his struggle with the ups and downs of life.

I'm sure you remember the classic line of George, when he was so discouraged with life, saying he wished he had never been born. He goes so far as to try to end his life but that "guardian angel" trying to earn his wings, Clarence, saves him from himself.

The story is of George and Clarence visiting people and places where George had lived when he was a person. He saw what his corner of the world would look like if he had never been born. Of course, in the end of the story, he is glad he was born and he looked at the struggles, the little annoyances, with a different perspective. He was able to appreciate the blessing of birth and the blessings he could bring to others with his life. He saw the bigger picture and the significance of what he could give to life with all his faults and limitations.

It is a wonderful Christmas story; a timeless theme. For, we, too, can come this morning and be grateful for the blessing of birth and the potential of each new life and each new beginning, whether physical or spiritual birth. We can be grateful for the part we may play in another's life and ways we bring healing, hope and blessing. The traditional readings for this season point us toward visions, dreams, and promises.

We heard the dreams and the visions of the psalmist and prophets in our readings. We heard the gospel writers hold to the promise that the Messiah had been revealed in the birth of a child, a child who will choose good and refuse evil. This child will cherish virtue. This child, born under threat, in secret, amid ponderings and anguish, who triggers hard decisions for those associated with him, will dispel fear and inspire hope.

The readings come alive as we yearn for hope and the revelation of God abiding with us to teach us again to be people of faith, grasped by the power of love. Today we affirm the truth that our God brings holiness and hope to a needy world, a suffering world, so we honor the blessing of birth. We honor the potential of spiritual birth among us, don't we? What can this hope mean for us, the Christmas "birth" story we tell each year? Can the story continue to dispel fear and inspire hope that our lives make a difference?

There is another story that leads us to believe this is possible. Once there was a young woman who was stricken with pneumonia and slowly dying. She would look out her window at a great tree and see the leaves torn off the branches by wind and cold. She was resigned to dying and told her friends that when the last leaf fell from the tree, she would depart as well.

But, that last leaf refused to fall. It held on for dear life. It clung to that branch. And, the woman lived. It was only after the young woman lived she learned that the last leaf had been painted on the window by a friend as she slept. Her friend, someone she described later as her "guardian angel," brought hope when she was in a place of no hope.

This is the season when you may be able to look back and be grateful for a person in your life who has painted a leaf on the window while you slept. It is the season to be grateful for people, places, kindness, mercy, hope, promise and, even, guardian angels. It is the season to turn to faith believing that the blessing of being born and reborn in Christ's spirit always gives new birth, new perspective, and for some, a new day. You may be that person who pains the leaf on the window of your friend.

The story is about faith, for the birth of Christ brings us back to faith. And, if you are not sure where to begin, remember these words from Rev. William Sloane Coffin who said, "I love the recklessness of faith. First you leap, and then you grow wings."
(Credo, p 7)

I believe George and Clarence would understand the meaning of this wisdom saying.
I understand it to mean, from my own experience, that faith gives us invitation to be open to new ways that God will help us be a person of faith in the world. When we allow God to dwell with us, life takes on new meaning and purpose. Like George, we see life from a different angle. Are the problems still there? Does death still come even when we are not prepared? Yes.

Are the struggles going to continue? Yes. But, they are manageable because we are not alone. Through the story of Christ's birth, we learn again and again to cling to the dreams and possibilities of making God's reign a reality in our time. Through the story of Christ's birth, we recognize that, if at Christmas, Jesus became like us, it was so we might become more like him.

Through the story of Christ's birth, we renew our commitment to justice and peace and extravagant welcome to all who have received the gift of life, the blessing of birth. May we live Christmas peace every day of the New Year in our churches, in our homes, in our communities, in our places of work and leisure and, especially, in the wider world where God dwells. Hope is now a person, a child born in our midst, Emmanuel, God with us.
Amen.

We Give Thanks

2009-11-15T20:28:00.000-06:00

November 15, 2009
Sermon: We Give Thanks
Texts: I Samuel 3:1-19, Mark 13: 1-8

As I begin to look forward to Thanksgiving and time with my family in Mississippi, I found this article I had clipped about a family getting ready for the holiday.

The author asks, "Does anyone really enjoy this holiday? Ever since I can remember the third Thursday in November meant that my grandmother was coming to stay for a week, my father would retreat into the tool shed for the day and the rest of us would seek cover from the wrath of the head chef, my mother."

He goes on..."much like what I imagine boot camp to be, our iron-fisted sergeant would begin barking commands just after the rooster's crow. Vacuum the rugs, clean the bathrooms, scrub the floors, dust, wipe, disinfect, and on and on and on. My mother had pretty much perfected the art of stressing out before a holiday." (Boston Globe, Letter to the Editor, L. Besteni)

Why did I clip this article? I guess I could relate. There was a time when our family hosted big family reunions and our job, as children, was to help the parents get the house and yard ready for all the relatives. We were all pretty stressed out by the time the extended family members arrived.

But, as this writer stated, "We all knew one thing for sure, once the first guest arrived we were golden." I also remember those "golden" occasions of spending time with family members I know now only through faded photographs, fuzzy memories and stories that are told with remaining living elders from bygone Thanksgiving reunions. When I spend time with my Mom in the coming week, I know we'll be recalling those days.

What about you? Do you remember any stress over coming "holidays?" Any family squabbling or disasters? Maybe sadness? Special joys? Were there any "golden" occasions to remember?

Life, generally, is about asking "where we've been, where we are now and where we are going?" It is good we can go back and recall days of being "stressed out" and days that were "golden." It is good that life moves on and we make new memories and we live in the present and look forward to the future.

We give thanks for scripture that reminds that people have had the same questions we have and the same struggles to know that God was with them. As we have felt God's absence, so we know that people of scripture had the same experience.

In today's lesson we read that "the word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread." Would God speak to someone, somewhere, somehow?

The story from I Samuel is a glimpse of Hannah longing for a child and promising this special son, Samuel, to God. The story unfolds to show us Samuel as a boy in the temple serving the priest, Eli, and God speaking to Samuel giving words of hope and words of warning.

Yes, looking back, the writers of the story could see that God did speak and God's message was revealed. Would they move into the future with hope and promise knowing that God, indeed, was with them on this windy path?

In the passage we read from Mark, the same message is related. The disciples worried about what would happen in the future. They asked Jesus for a sign so they could be prepared if something unexpected happened. They wanted to know the future and were persistent to ask him. And, what did he say to them? The one who endures will be saved. "Beware that no one leads you astray."

Verse 31 is in this chapter should be read with theses verses. "Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away." In other words, be faithful and keep focused on God in your life, God's words to us and God's way of showing us how to live life as a blessing. Live with courage and hope for present and the future.

Life is packed with promises, with hopes and with fears. This simple poem communicates in a few words our human condition!
"We shake with Joy" (Mary Oliver, Evidence, p 13)
We shake with joy, we shake with grief.
What a time they have, these two
Housed as they are in the same body."

This truth became real to me as I focused on the remembrance given to the celebration of forty years of Sesame Street. What wonderful messages for our children and youth. "Sunny days sweepin' the clouds away, On my way to where the air is sweet, Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?"

How many of you grew up singing this song or the many songs that taught us to be hopeful and forward looking? Remember the one "It's a long hard climb but I'm gonna get there, I am climbing to the morning sun." Of course, my favorite is Ernie singing about his love for home. "Well, I'd like to visit the moon, On a rocket ship high in the air, Yes, I'd like to visit the moon, But I don't think I'd like to live there."

All of our favorite characters from Sesame Street, Ernie and Bert, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Grouch, Elmo, the Count, had some great wisdom and theology for life. Surely, we look back and recognize where we've been and know the reality of our neighborhood (the sadness, the grief, the despair) yet we look forward to see the world with God's eyes, God's hopes and God's plans for the future.

And, so we are in a season of giving thanks. We give thanks for the homes, the people, the places we love and we know that God will welcome us home when it is our time to leave this earthly home. We pray there will be "golden" moments in this life and next.

And, so we give thanks. I want to share these words in closing, written with some of my adaptations from my dear friend, colleague, UCC minister, Maren Tirabassi. I hope it will help us as a church as we go into our budget discussion after worship. What privilege to remember where we've been, where we are now and where we are going and be grateful for the gift of God's Eternal Spirit to guide us.

"We give thanks for the tumbled piles of broken leaves, grey geese in voyage, grey pond mirror of their flight, and all around it the solemn stillness of evergreen.
For the torn shrouds of ragged clouds promising cold rain or wet snow, a (lake)-chill wind, silver-shaded sun, and the bare-branch vista of mighty sky, stony mountain.

For the stern faith and plain prayers of the (reformed) people, a November people, who confess they need a warming by God's love and a loosening to dance in harvest celebration.

For remembrance that a pilgrim is never home, that thanksgiving comes in want and plenty, that the Great Spirit before the covenant-God walked these dark shores and made blazing beauty in late-autumn nightfall of black rock horizons and vermilion sunset."

(Rev. Maren Tirabassi wrote this poem when she was Interim Pastor at Dane Street Church, Beverly, MA. I've adapted for our setting. Thank You, Maren!)

And so,
"We shake with joy, we shake with grief.
What a time they have, these two
Housed as they are in the same body."

And we lift our words of praise and thanks to our Creator. Amen.

True Greatness

2009-09-20T21:24:00.001-05:00

September 20, 2009
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Sermon: True Greatness
Text: Psalm 1 and Mark 9: 30-37

"Who is the greatest?" was the question asked of Jesus by his disciples that prompts our asking about the meaning of "true greatness."

This whole conversation about greatness is not one you would expect from the disciples. Maybe you expect this conversation from your favorite coach and team or from the ESPN web site. I would imagine some of you in the congregation could talk long hours about "greatness" in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR and College games. I know my son misses this conversation with his dad because they would talk non-stop about "the greatest" sports players for the particular sport they were watching. In that conversation would be the discussion about what it took to get there. And, we know it is not just sports; it could be music, the arts, science, land, animals, you name it! We are people who admire greatness and may have greatness as our secret ambition. I believe most parents hope their children will aspire to some level of greatness, whatever that may be. Isn't that good?

The first thing to see in this passage is that Jesus does not criticize the disciples for their desire to be great. He does not say "If you were really spiritually minded, you would want to be nothing much." No, we think Jesus believed that God wants each of us to aspire to greatness, to make something much of the life God has given us. But Jesus has to turn us in the direction of "true greatness."

"True greatness" may need to be defined. That is what Jesus was doing when he took a child, put the child in the midst of them and told the disciples that the littlest among them are to be cherished. Because children in the Greco-Roman culture were "tolerated" until they grew up, we learn that children were considered a burden---dependent, helpless, nonproductive. The message Jesus gave the disciples which survives for our telling is that by caring for the "least of these," we can approach greatness in the eyes of God.

Greatness in the eyes of God, we learn, is not about popular opinion nor is it about being first; it is about our convictions, integrity, working with what we have, knowing our principles, building on our strengths, caring about our character. It is also about service to those who are last, the least, the lost and the little. Can you think of someone who has taught you about "greatness" in the eyes of God?

I have always enjoyed the story of the "greatness" of Theodore Roosevelt who lived from 1858-1919. We are told he was a sickly, weak child of a wealthy New York family. He could certainly have found plenty of excuses to fall into a life of rich, idle ease. But that is not what he did. With unyielding determination, he committed himself to rigorous physical exercise, turned himself into a devoted outdoorsman, and threw himself into a life of public service. Roosevelt gave a popular speech in Chicago in 1899, a few months before becoming governor of New York. It was a time when our nation was just beginning to feel tremendous wealth and power. He cautioned against the temptation in life of what he called the "ignoble ease" that prosperity and security can bring. He talked about character and the need to encounter strife with these words: "for it is only through strife (not easy peace), through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness." (William J. Bennett, The Book of Virtues, p 418)

Greatness for Roosevelt was about having a "satisfactory" life that involved sacrifice, caution and humility. We admire what he taught us as a public leader those years ago; in these difficult economic times, his words come back to remind us of our need to be careful and aware of the pull of "ignoble ease."

Another former President some of us have watched over the years and admired for the life of "greatness" he leads is Jimmy Carter. If you were to travel to Plains, Georgia, on most Sundays you would find him at his own church, teaching Sunday school, volunteering at a church work day or swinging a hammer for Habitat for Humanity. He takes his Christian faith seriously and understands Jesus' teaching about true greatness. The words he gave when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in December 2002 reflect his definition of "true greatness" in God's eyes.

He closed his acceptance speech with these words: "War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes---and we must." (Jimmy Carter, The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture,
c 2003, Simon and Schuster)

God has given each of us the unique gift of our individual selves. God has made each of us with all the tools of greatness. God has given each of us capacity for choice. What are we doing with our opportunities? How are we investing this one life and aspiring to greatness the way God would approve?

Jesus had one life, as we do. He gave it away, he did not lose it. His disciples wanted him to do as they or others thought he should. But here, as he began his ascent to Jerusalem, he was prepared to show his greatness by facing rejection and a cross. Jesus tells us that if we want to be first, we have to be last. If we want to be great in God's eyes, we have to be a servant. The pressures to be what others tell us to be may be good or they may be bad. In the end, we have to ask if we are living the way God would be pleased. This was the choice Jesus made for his own life. He cared deeply about the last, the least, the lost and the little. How do we follow him on this path?

I believe we inspire each other. I've been speaking about well known people in the public eye who served the highest public office in our land. Their words and example certainly inspire us. But, the people who may inspire us most are those with whom we share life from day to day, from week to week, in the church, at our places of work, in our homes, our schools, and our community gatherings. We are grateful for ways we learn from each other about "true greatness" in God's eyes.

I was grateful, recently, to receive an email from a friend that gave me inspiration. He wrote inviting me and others to join a walk for peace from The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA, to the State house in Boston on Sept. 11. He said the walking group would be carrying a stone that symbolized awareness of people who have lost their lives through war and violence.
This friend made me and others aware of the web site, eated in 1999 as a way of honoring ordinary people in all parts of the world who are killed as a result of war. For more information please go to www.stonewalk.org. "Stonewalk: A global pilgrimage honoring civilian casualties of war. " The poem on the web site tells more about the meaning of the stone.
Two Stones
"One stone travels throughout the world to serve as a reminder of
the true cost of war.
The other, which remains on the grounds of The Peace Abbey, serves as a touchstone where prayers for peace are continually offered and commitments to the peace movement are strengthened.
Together these stones link the suffering of innocent victims of armed conflict.
If stones could weep,
surely these two would,
as they pay respect to the Unknown Civilians Killed in War."
Of course, I was not there to join this walk, but it reminded me of the little ways we can pause and encourage one another to practice "true greatness" in the eyes of God. Sometimes when I'm taking walk along Lake Michigan in Sheboygan, I turn to walk toward 8th street. I pass a marker with the word "peace" in many different languages. The marker raises the awareness of our need in our local community to pray, work and live peace. After I read my friend's email, it reminded me of the importance we must place on joining others all around our world who have commitment to this global pilgrimage. We must encourage each other and teach each other through the avenues that link across miles and cultural divides; how grateful we are to be part of the wider United Church of Christ that fosters these efforts.

I'm grateful for the specific, practical ways we, in our local church, may encourage and teach each other about "true greatness" the way Christ taught with his words and his actions. Our fall schedule in the coming months will encourage our support of CROP Walk, Neighbors in Need, children who need sponsorship for food, clothes and school tuition. Our call will be to give to our church financially and in other volunteer capacities. Our call will be to encourage worship, study, and faithful attendance of our children, youth and adult members.
What will our response be?

What can we learn from each other about how to live lives of "true greatness?" This is where it starts...right where we are. This is what the Psalmist encouraged with those words, "Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of God and on God's law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do they prosper." (Psalm 1)

We are grateful that Jesus, the Good Teacher, the Wise Teacher, took the disciples where they were and helped them understand the way to "true greatness" in the realm of God. May the lesson to the disciples be the lesson to the church of every age. We are needed; God is counting on us! Amen.

The Way of the Wise

2009-08-16T21:33:00.002-05:00

August 16, 2009

Sermon Texts: I Kings 2: 10-12; 3: 3-14, Proverbs 9: 1-6, John 6: 51-58

As I was taking a walk along Lake Michigan in Sheboygan one overcast, cloudy afternoon a couple of weeks ago, I saw many sailboats in the water rocking in the waves. It made me think of the days my daughter took sailing lessons on Cape Cod. It wasn't her favorite summer course but she learned how to appreciate those who were good at it.

Richard Bode was just twelve but he longed to get off land into a boat, to raise the canvass, to let it fill with wind, and to let the boat take him soaring like a bird across the water. He finally got up enough nerve to approach the legendary sailor, sea captain, Harrison Watts, who was standing by his boat at the shipyard. He began, "I'm looking for a boat."

Captain Watts asked, "What sort of boat?"
"A sailboat" Richard replied.

Captain Watts asked, "Can you sail?" This was the question Richard dreaded. He'd have to confess his ignorance. "No," he said.

Captain Watts continued to question him. "Have you ever been in a sailboat?" "Not Really." Richard answered.

"You've never sailed. You've never even been in a sailboat. Yet you want to get yourself a boat. How do you figure that?'

"Oh," said Richard, "I guess I'll manage."

Captain Watts reached into the cockpit of his boat, pulled out a couple of oars and walked down the pier to the snub-nosed dinghy he had tied up against the dock. He handed Richard the oars. "Get in!" he said. "The first thing you have to do is learn to row a little boat." (First You Have To Row A Little Boat, Richard Bode, Warner Books)

This was Richard Bode's starting place-his beginning, of learning to do something he loves-sailing his boat. He attributes his start to the wisdom he learned from Harrison Watts, a sailor, and master of his art. "The first thing you have to do is learn to row a little boat."

Reflecting on this story brings back the importance, for me, of the need to value the collective wisdom that has been passed to us from generation to generation. We should pause and remember those who have walked us through the steps of growth in our lives and taught us to value the experience of beginning with a "little" boat.

Richard Bode shared what this learning meant for him in the little book he titled First You Have to Row A Little Boat. He said learning to sail a boat was not just about developing a skill. It was the development of a consciousness, an acute awareness of the relationship between himself and the elements over which he had no control.

Can you think of someone this morning who has given you this introduction to a "development of consciousness, an acute awareness" of the relationship you have to the elements over which you have no control? What wisdom has been passed on to you that you cherish so much you may pass on others ?

As you are thinking about this person and what you have received from people who have taken time to pass on their wisdom, let's study our texts and glean wisdom from their teaching. First, we'll look at the story of Solomon becoming King, second, the meaning of wisdom, and, third, the gift of wisdom that belongs to each of us.

We begin with the story of Solomon. Perhaps Solomon thought of the wisdom his father David had given to him as he looked over his life. Do you remember the story of the time when Solomon came to be the ruler over Israel?

While King David is sick and dying, others clamor for the honor of being his successor. Out of that process, Solomon, David and Bathsheba's son, emerges the choice to succeed his father.

We have now passed out of the history found in the books of Samuel into its continuation in the books of Kings. (Deuteronomist historians) After David has instructed his heir, he dies and Solomon succeeds him. Although the first segment of our lesson says that Solomon's rule "was firmly established," the following episode in the remaining verses of chapter 2 show Solomon making efforts to solidify his kingdom.

It is in chapter 3 that we pick up the gem for this morning's meditation. Our reading describes Solomon's religious devotion. As young man of about 20 years old, Solomon says, "O Lord, My God, you have made me king in the place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or to come in." (Verse 7)

We see a very human Solomon struggling for how he will do the job he has been given. Solomon continues his prayer, (verse 8) "O God, give me your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil."

God is impressed! Of all the things he could have asked for, Solomon requested gifts that will benefit the people he rules Solomon has his heart in the right place; he knows he needs God's wisdom and guidance to be God's servant.

Then, there is an epiphany. God appears. God answers his prayer. "Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for understanding to discern what is right, I give you a wise and discerning mind. Added to the promise God said, "If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statues and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days."

Surely the kind of wisdom Solomon sought for his life is as important today as it was in Solomon's day. Surely, wisdom is as necessary for Christian discipleship as it was for faithful kingship. From the story of Solomon we learn the blessing God when we seek to live the way of the wise.

So, we ask, "What is the meaning of wisdom?" How do we attain it? Is there something magical that can produce it?

Is it as Richard Bode suggested in his experience of learning to sail, the development of a consciousness, an acute awareness of the relationship between ourselves and the elements over which we have no control?

This is actually a good place to start in defining what the Bible terms as wisdom. The female figure of Wisdom, Hokmah in Hebrew and Sophia in Greek, is used in the wisdom writings of scripture to depict God's strong, loving outreach to the world. In other words, we read that God wants relationship.

There a history in the development of this concept that is helpful. When we look at the history of this word, we read that "Sophia", or Wisdom, was originally introduced into the Scriptures to solve a spiritual and theological problem. Jewish theology emphasized the transcendence of the one God to such an extent that it could give rise to the idea that God is far beyond this world. The impression was, sometimes, that God was personally distant and uncaring.

To offset this conclusion, Jewish wisdom writers introduced a host of symbols to describe this one God as more; God is an intimate presence and action in the world. God is Spirit, Word, Angel, Name, Torah, Shekinah, and Wisdom. Wisdom speaks of the transcendent God's saving relationship to the world.

Wisdom's teaching focuses not so much on God's once-for-all mighty acts in history, although these are remembered, but on God's presence in our day to day, ordinary world. Wisdom is not knowledge; it is not data, or facts, or abstract ideas or formal education. Rather, wisdom is perception, understanding, discernment, discretion, and good judgment. It is knowing how to interpret and utilize real life facts, as well as philosophies.

As Alfred Lord Tennyson, said, "Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers."
We can relate to this truth and desire for wisdom "to linger" in our lives. Truly, it was God's gift to young King Solomon. And, it was God's gift to young Richard Bode who learned to row the little boat first. As wisdom lingers there is intimate relationship and understanding. How we want wisdom and need it, but we know it can't happen by magic as much as we may wish it so.

But, we like "magic" don't we? We like instant messaging and high speed internet answers. We dream of finding a message in a bottle, don't we?

The story is told of a woman walking on the beach in southern California when she spied a bottle which had washed up on shore. Picking it up, she had no sooner begun to examine it when a genie floated from its open end and appeared before her.

"I'm so glad you let me out of here," he said gratefully. "I'd like to grant you any wish you might have. But, I am a bit rusty, you know. I'd like to give you three wishes but I'll have to limit myself to one. What can I do for you?"

The astonished woman collected her wits and then paused for a moment of thought. "I've always wanted a vacation in Hawaii, but since I am afraid to fly, and get seasick on ships, I have never been able to go. Now, if you could build me a highway from L.A. to Honolulu, I could drive over and have the vacation of my dreams."

The genie, too, was thoughtful and somewhat frustrated. "Lady, do you know what you're asking? Putting a highway in over the Pacific Ocean would require incredible engineering. Do you have any idea of the problem of setting caissons and pilings in these kinds of waters and in this kind of depth? I'd like to help you but maybe you'd better ask for something else."

The woman nodded sympathetically. "Well," she said, "I wanted to vacation with my husband. I think it would be good for the two of us. We've been married for 20 years and I still don't understand him. I've read books, attended seminars, and just when I think I have him figured out, he does something really stupid and I'm back to square one. What makes him so competitive and distant? What makes him so controlling and arrogant? My wish is that I would like to have a complete understanding of my husband."

A moment of silence passed between the two of them. Then the genie asked, "Would that be a two-lane or a four-lane highway to Hawaii?"

No, wisdom is not attained by "magic" or "wishing" it would appear. It is a gift to each of us but takes some developing, some honing, and some appreciation for its potential. That means relationships are important for how wisdom comes into development but we must be patient.

Long term relationships can see this benefit. Sometimes those "long term" relationships are not always possible with loved ones, family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances but a long term relationship is always possible with God. I believe that when we foster this "long-term" relationship with God, that we are able to develop more long term, meaningful relationships with others. God's wisdom teaches us how to perceive more clearly the "way of the wise" and apply this wisdom to our choices in how we relate to others.

Communities of faith have special opportunities to encourage its members to utilize our gifts of scripture, collective stories and resources to pass to future generations. We don't have to limit ourselves to the plethora of self help "wisdom" out there. We've all gained help from books like Life's Little Instruction Book, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff but what about the ancient scripture, the wisdom from our texts?

For me, much of the greatest wisdom comes from trusted biblical texts which guide us toward living the way of the wise, the life of transformation that Jesus pointed us toward. We must use all of our gifts of perception for what will help us. Let's include the study of scripture and be students of this great gift from our spiritual ancestors.

We don't read every Sunday from the book of Proverbs, but this morning the wisdom from Proverbs is a gift. It talks of perception. Verse 6 reads, "Leave your folly and you will live, walk in the ways of perception."

Ellen Davis was asked to lead a study group on the book of Proverbs at a church in Beverly Hills, CA. She said she was surprised to see how many people attended and were engaged by the topic. When she asked the audience where the energy was coming from, a woman replied: "Oh, most of us work in Hollywood. We write commercials and advertising copy. And when we were in training, they told us to read Proverbs. It dawned on Davis that both Proverbs and advertising are trying to shape and stimulate desire. Where they differ is on the object of desire. (Christian Century, 8-11-09, p 8)

Who and what is the object of our desire? As Solomon prayed for discernment and wisdom, God heard his prayer and granted the gift of wisdom. As the writer of Proverbs pondered the meaning of life, the desire was to walk in ways of perception.

Gospel of John tells us, we can be among the wise when we take Christ, the bread of life, into ourselves to live within us and enable us to live within him. Our biblical wisdom tradition teaches us to see divine presence in the very midst of life; it shows us the path toward making daily life holy, it teaches us to value the development of consciousness.

I'm thankful that we may affirm that this gift is for all people. Every level of giftedness comes from the One who is no respecter of persons. The gifts of true wisdom may be found among all classes of society and levels of formal education. God has so fixed it that great leaders may arise out of any class or race, any culture or tribe. It's the beauty of God's creation.

So, relax and bask in wisdom. Ecclesiastes 8:1 says "Wisdom makes one's face shine, and the hardness of one's countenance is changed." Let's enjoy each new beginning, each new step along the way.

Gustav Mahler in a letter to a friend while he was working on his Fourth Symphony wrote, "This one is fundamentally different from my other symphonies. But that must be; I could never repeat a state of mind---and as life drives on, so too I follow new tracks in every work.

He concludes the letter with, "So one remains everlastingly a beginner! It is and always will be a gift of God---one that, like every loving gift, one cannot deserve and cannot get by asking." Such is the gift of wisdom.

We thank God for answering our prayers for discernment and leading us in the way of the wise. Amen

From Generation to Generation

2009-07-20T19:45:00.003-05:00

July 12, 2009
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Sermon: From Generation to Generation
Texts: Mark 6: 14-29; Ephesians 1: 3-14

I discovered recently that one of my favorite authors has written a book that reveals some of her autobiographical story. After reading her for many years, now I get a glimpse into why she is so passionate about her subject matter. The big question that appears often in her writing tends to revolve around what our ancestors (generations) pass on to us that becomes part of our identity?

Mary shares that she grew up with a strong Irish inheritance and taught a peculiar "national pride." She recalls her parents wanting her to have everything they did not have because they were poor and deprived of education. Her mother was raised by aunts and uncles because her grandparents were too poor to take care of all their children. That was typical for many immigrant families to the United States in those years.

Her mother recalls her duties: lots of house work and the task of cleaning kerosene lamps. She recalled trudging by foot to school on cold and windy winter days. She remembers being "yanked out of school," a sophomore in high school so she could earn money as a telephone operator and contribute to the family income.

Mary's grandmother had it worst; she had to leave her beloved Ireland when she was fourteen because of the potato famine. Her life? She worked as maid, married and had twelve children. She never learned to read or write. Mary tells us in her biography about her father's side of the family being similar in terms of an Irish heritage and a necessity to leave school early in order to work and provide a living for the family.

But, from both parents, she always heard the rhetorical question, "Aren't we Lucky to be Irish?" From generation to generation what was passed on? Yes, there was hardship, but there was pride in the gifts passed to them from their ancestors. They passed on secrets about nature and weather and the possession of a gift for healing. They helped take care of other Irish immigrants and their families in their neighborhood. (Mary Daly, Outercourse: The Be-Dazzling Voyage, pp 28-29)

For Mary, the gift from her father, who made it to about 8th grade, was his way with words. When she was small he wrote a book and published it; it was on how to sell ice cream equipment. The book even had photographs. She recalls him winning prizes on his slogans for advertising and using all his creativity in those slogans.

Mary, being a teacher and author, herself values this rich heritage passed to her from her Irish ancestors. I believe there are many of you here this morning who can recall what has been passed to you from your ancestors, many of whom were from the German immigration wave to settle this land in the mid-1800s. I recall and value what generations of ancestors have passed to me from their English Protestant roots, many from the Anabaptist traditions.

We understand what the Apostle Paul is speaking of in Ephesians when he talks about God's goodness being passed from generation to generation. Yes, there was hardship and there was survival, yet there was this wonderful gift of God's presence and blessing recognized and honored. This beautiful church, Immanuel United Church of Christ (Evangelical & Reformed), where we sit this July morning is testimony to that recognition.

Paul's writing is a gift to us of that blessing he knew. In Paul's training in Judaism, he recalls what happened in the past and what will happen in the future. What we see in Ephesians is an old Jewish prayer pattern (berakah) or "blessing."

God is blessed as the giver of blessings. In this blessing (or benediction) we have God's gifts to us named: election, adoption, redemption and forgiveness, revelation and the gifts of the Spirit. All of these gifts are about our inheritance, or what God has given to us. Truly, we are in powerful hands, so to speak. The rich heritage of God's presence through the years is evident in the story we share.

We still know this ancient blessing today. Another way to appreciate the text is to remember that this passage from Ephesians is sometimes explained as giving us the basis for our understanding of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, another gift to our Christian expression of faith. Whatever the interpretation, we know that it gives us a glimpse of God's powerful presence and goodness being passed on to us. The blessing of God's activity in the past is known in the present and will be known in the future.

What else is passed to us as a spiritual blessing from the ancient text? It is a sad story but a story that needs to be remembered about the man we call John the Baptizer. Why is this story from the past a story to be treasured for the present and the future? It is a story of boldness, courage and conviction. Yes, it is a story of sacrifice and death but so many stories that have given us courage to be bold in our speaking and our actions have come from those who have suffered and lived God's truth in difficult times.

We read and are grateful for the life of John the Baptist. This man, truly a threat according to the ancient historian Josephus, was thought to be too popular among the people, threatening the powers of Rome and religious authorities who wanted to keep the peace, whatever the price.

Herod feared a revolution and suspected John's growing popularity, therefore he was expendable. What was passed on to future generations? We know that the legend of John's death inspired courage and a living into that blessing God gave God's people in that time and place. What an inheritance! Even today, we are given that inheritance of a written word to inspire us and help us be committed to God's teaching through the prophets and those we would call Christian martyrs.

How wonderful to hear the recent news of the gift of the oldest scripture fragments from four institutions across the globe being reunited digitally so that we can see it on the Internet. The 1,600 year-old-work, the surviving pieces of the world's oldest known Christian Bible (Sinai Bible), can now be seen on the web. "The Codex Sinaiticus Web is a veritable treasure trove for researchers and others." (NPR, "Global Effort Puts Oldest Known Bible Online," www.npr.org, 7-7-09)

We may be those "others" to appreciate this gift of learning what was happening in the fourth century and how God was speaking to the people of that day to bring forth God's goodness and blessing. Whatever the century we live in, we know that there is this great inheritance passed on to us. It is something we want to give to future generations.

Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ." The passage goes on to talk about what it means to be chosen to be holy and to live Christ's love in our lives.

I believe Paul, who wrote the letter we call Ephesians, wanted to convey this picture of how God wants us to be in life. God wants our lives to reflect God. To do this, we must remember our inheritance. God has given us blessings to enjoy and pass on to future generations.

Life can be gone in a flash! We know this. So, we are always waking up each morning to say "thank you" O God for this new day. We ask how we can show God we are grateful for this gift of life. We know the answer, when we pause to pray, to worship, or to extend kindness in Christ's name.

We are blessed people and God wants us to recognize those spiritual blessings as invaluable to living life. Spiritual blessings affect all of the others parts of who we are. We want to treasure those blessings and know more about what they are. We can do it when we are young, old, or just right in between. We can receive God's blessings of understanding, compassion, healing, insight, kindness, and give them away, whatever work we do or whatever career we choose. What matters is that we remember the spiritual blessings are not to be taken for granted.

As Jim Wallis points out in his book God's Politics, our faith does not allow us to live in a way that is self-centered and self-indulgent. Followers of Christ are commanded to care for the poor and vulnerable, and to act as good stewards of God's creation.

We are challenged to be peacemakers and to respect the image of God in every person. Our views on abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, weapons of mass destruction and AIDS cannot be determined by our personal preferences, instead they have to reflect a consistent ethic of human life, in line with the biblical challenge to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God." (Jim Wallis, God's Politics, New York: HarperCollins, 2005)

Our spiritual blessings encourage us to be thankful God has chosen us and wants us to respond by blessing others. With God's help, we will pass it on. Amen.

Prayer: O God, we know that scripture tells us to be very careful how we live, not as unwise but as wise. Help us to make the best use of every opportunity to know and understand your will for us. With thankful hearts we receive and give your blessings. Amen.

A Living Faith

2009-06-21T21:18:00.002-05:00

June 21, 2009
Third Sunday after Pentecost
Father's Day Sunday
Text: Mark 4: 35-41
It was December 1982 when Bill and I were given a book by friends who welcomed us to our new home in Bangkok ,Thailand. The book was Mai Pen Rai. Translated in English, the words mean "never, never mind." It was a book about the experience of Carol Hollinger who moved to this Southeast Asian country with her husband and young daughter to make their home among a new people, new language and very new culture.

I smile when I read her writing. Not only have I experienced some of what she writes but I think we all have had some kind of similar experience. She writes, "One evening as we were expecting ten people to dinner within the hour, Uthai announced pleasantly that both water and electricity had vanished." Or, when she writes, "the air conditioner was installed, they sealed us in with glass, and since the bedroom had no insulation, when the electricity failed we found ourselves inhabiting something very similar to an oven." (Mai Pen Rai, Carol Hollinger, 13)

Much of Carol's writing is about the journey. It was a journey that presented her with all sorts of unexpected events to make sense of in her life. I begin this morning by asking us to think about our journey; our life and what has unfolded as the years have gone by.

The primary image in the gospel is a journey. Jesus is on a journey. Jesus invites a group of ordinary people to travel with him. We believe that the invitation is also to us. The Spirit of God invites us to be Jesus' disciples on a journey.

On one particular day on this journey with Jesus, Mark records a crossing of the sea so Jesus can get a break from his teaching and the press of people around him. What happens as the disciples cross the sea? It was a time when they desperately needed a break; it was simply a boat ride to the other side. But, that was when these disciples learned that the journey, the simple boat ride, is never what we expect.

Carol Hollinger found herself deflated, purposeless and frightened on her journey as she followed her husband's government service job to Thailand. She had read books, taken courses, and thought she was prepared for her meeting with this new people and new country, but she was fiercely unprepared for what life brought.

What happens to us on our journey when we encounter tragedy, death, disappointment, illness or some such storm that comes upon us quickly?

A great storm came upon the disciples on this crossing and they feared they would drown. The irony is that Jesus was asleep through this storm and had to be awakened. This prompted their question of whether or not Jesus cared that they were about die. "Do you not care? We are going down!" are the words recorded in Mark. (vs 39)

"God, do you care about our suffering?" "Do you care if I am drowning?" These are central questions for people of faith. That makes this gospel lesson constantly relevant to our lives. We might want to assume that being committed to the Christian life will shield us from difficulties and the storms in life. But, of course, we know this is not the case. Jesus never promised his disciples smooth sailing! There is no exemption from bad storms.

But, there is the assurance through this wonderful story that Jesus cares. There is the message that God in Christ can still the raging storm. Our God can rebuke the wind and the waves when it is dark and all hope seems lost.

Humanly speaking, I believe that Jesus must have been terrified. He was terrified yet he was able to give assurance and comfort that there would be quiet and calm. His action was remembered. "Quiet now! Be calm!" he said to the wind and sea. And the wind dropped, and all was calm again.

"Why were you so frightened?" Jesus asked his friends after the storm. All they could do was look at each other in awe and amazement and ask "Who can this be?"

Sometimes this is what we expect our parents to say to us. Even when they are frightened themselves, we expect them to give us comfort and reassurance that all will be well. On this Father's day, we think of relationships that nurture and calm us in the middle of our storms and we pray that, as far as humanly possible, our parents or others who care for us in this way, will teach us that it is our God who rebuke the wind and the waves when it is dark and all hope seems lost.

Why? Because God does care for us, whatever our situation in life, and God wants us to find comfort and strength for our journey.

The famous quotation about parenting children says, "Wise parents can give children only two things: roots and wings." Wise parents know that they can only do so much for their children and then their children have to take the next steps. The part the parents do, though, is very important.

I once talked with an older man who told me about his childhood. He had endured a difficult relationship with an emotionally distant and demanding father. This man agonized over what happened years ago. He said he never measured up, in his estimation. Whatever he did, it was not good enough. Though he constantly tried to please his father, he was put down.
The man carried a desperate wish that he could have somehow pleased his father, somehow gained his approval, somehow known his love. But, it was not to be. The man said to me, "It does not matter how old we get. The wounded parts inside us are always very young." (Adapted from Pulpit Resource, June 2006, p 43)

Yes, the wounded parts of our lives are very young. That's why good parenting is key for the emotional and spiritual stability of our children. The opportunities that parents have are not to be taken for granted or wasted. Jesus took the opportunities God gave him to teach his disciples about God's constant love and protection even when they thought there was no more hope.
God really does seek to give us both roots and wings through healthy families and healthy congregations. (Merle Jordan, Reclaiming Your Story, pp 37-38) There is something greater than the human measure of what that means. Storms can test us and help us realize that God has given us the wonderful gift of faith to pass on from generation to generation to help us become strong and resilient in the midst of troubled waters. What a gift, this living faith!

As we read last week in 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10, the Apostle Paul was no stranger to difficulties and hardship. He offered an insight and key: "The love of Christ urges us on.... We walk by faith not by sight.... If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"

We walk by faith not always knowing "why" but knowing "how." We walk with lots of questions and, sometimes, few answers to those questions.

Frederick Buechner reminds us that Gertrude Stein (American writer and great catalyst for the development of modern art and literature) on her deathbed, being wheeled into the operating room for stomach surgery, is said to have asked, "What is the answer?" Then, after a long silence, "What is the question?" (Listening to Your Life, Frederick Buechner, 98)

It is our questions that probably matter most when we live in the middle of the storm. The questions matter because they lead us to remember that God does care. A living faith is knowing that God will see us through the storm and help us live creatively within whatever situation we are in. God's love, mercy, and compassion will be experienced when we turn to God to question and depend on God to save us.

Carol Hollinger learned to say in the Thai language, "mai pen rai" -- it will be okay. When the storm came and the world she knew was falling apart, she learned from experience what this phrase meant: flexibility, openness, and ability to ask questions and learn something new. She learned from the poorest of the poor, the stranger who resented her Western habits and her international friends who struggled with their deep seated superiority. She learned to listen, she learned to compromise, and she learned about herself.

Even though this book, Mai Pen Rai, was not about a Christian journey per se, it is about a journey of a woman who could ask the questions. There is something about listening to the experience of others that helps us to formulate our own questions. Carol Hollinger died suddenly and prematurely not long after her return from Thailand and the publication of this book Mai Pen Rai. How was Carol to know that she would be teaching us this morning about openness to God's Spirit in the middle of storm?

We don't know about what life will bring on a calm day or a stormy one. We don't know what impact our responses will have on others who see us go through the storm. But we do know that God, our heavenly Father, will bless our openness to listen, to trust, to step out, to be adaptable, and to be receptive to what God can teach us about God's Spirit moving in our chaos. How desperately God wants us to let the questions formed in the middle of a storm lead us to living faith and fuller trust in the One who can center us and bring us peace.

Jesus does not promise us smooth sailing. What he does promise is God's compassionate, merciful presence in the middle of the storm. We'll probably be like the disciples of our story and say, "Who can this be? Even the wind and sea obey him." (vs 41)

When your storms come, may the question and the answer invite you to greater faith and greater trust. When your storms come, may God be with you, save you and give you peace. Amen.

The Birthing of the Spirit

2009-05-31T20:36:00.000-05:00

May 31, 2009
Pentecost
Sermon: The Birthing of the Spirit
Text: Acts 2: 1-21

My daughter knows me well. I've always enjoyed travel and the experience of new places, new people, and new adventure. She gave me a book one Mother's day entitled, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. It is advertised as a Traveler's "Life" list. What I like best is the first page of the book.

On this first page there's an anonymous quote that reads, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away." (1,000 Places to See Before You Die, Patricia Schultz, 2003) What places and moments take your breath away?

At a recent meeting of the Clergy of the Northeast Association Meeting we were discussing this scripture lesson from Acts. What does it mean, the birthday of the church, and discussion pursued.

We decided Pentecost was that kind of day, it "took the breath away." It was a day when ears awoke and eyes were opened in a new way. You can almost describe it as a day God was reaching down, speaking to the people, and enabling them to reach up and speak to God.

The chief text for Pentecost comes from Acts 2. Reading the whole chapter helps us know why "Jews from every nation under heaven" were gathered to celebrate new life, first fruits. Something they did every year.

First, they remembered Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with God's new revelation. Second, they came to offer the early fruit of the harvest back to God. In the Feast of Firstfruits, Jews made a religious declaration that the harvest belonged to God. They came together to say, "our time, our possessions, our life belong to God."

This was expected in their gathering and their worship. What was not expected, we read in Acts, was that in some new way, God, Ruach, Spirit, moved creatively over their diversity. With their many languages and ways of seeing the world, the Spirit brought them a "new day." We interpret it as the birthday of the church, or the gift of the Spirit to the gathering of those who were to call themselves the new Jerusalem.

Whatever the nuances of the interpretation, Pentecost for us as Christians is about the birthing of the Spirit. It is about renewal of our vows to be faithful to our baptismal covenant to belong, totally, to Christ. It is about our willingness to be "born from above" again and again in God's spirit.

It is about the church being willing to become new as well.
That's why we remember that Peter quotes from the prophet Joel,
"I will show wonders in the heaven above,
and signs on the earth beneath,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:
the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood,
before the day of the Lord comes,
the great and manifest day."

Peter looks into the heart of the believers' experience on that day and sees something new being born among them. We interpret this new beginning as the early church movement to form Christian communities that would have a distinct meaning and purpose.

Yes, it was a time of uncertainty and fear and confusion. We could even use the words, terror, death, and death-dealing. Yet, it is confirmed that "The Spirit comes when the light is almost gone---the sun darkened and the moon like blood." (Christian Century, May 3, 2005, 21) It was not an easy time then for new movements as it is never an easy time in our "comfort" zones as established churches but the call is still present to pay attention to the "birthing" of the Spirit.

In our clergy group discussion we tried to talk about what this means for the life of the church, the birthday of the church. Our discussion turned, almost naturally, to occasions in our lives when this has happened on a personal level. We turned to the times we've experienced new birth among us.

Many people talked about the birth of their children and witnessing this new life coming into the world. We know that when a new life comes into a family, things change. Schedules are no longer as predictable.

Rev. Art Wille, our leader, talked about a time when one of his parishioners, a shepherd, invited him to observe the birth of a new baby lamb. Art said he grew up in the city so being present for a birth was new experience. He said the birth of the lamb was not what he expected. First it was a breach birth and the process was not easy, in fact, it was very messy, in his words. Everyone around the table, especially the women, agreed that pain, messiness, risk, anxiety, difficulty was part of the birth experience as well as the joy and anticipation.

The birthing of the early church certainly had its parallel. The birthing of the local churches where we belong have their history of "messiness." We all know that working in and through the church has its joys and struggles. It has its days of knowing what to expect and days of encountering the unexpected. It has its days of loving the old and protecting the familiar and its days when we know the "old, comfortable" traditions no longer speak to the present generations of Christians. It has its days of messiness and disorder; that is clear in scripture.
We ask ourselves what we do with this? How do we
come expecting "new life," "new birth," in our church today? Do we really have energy to go there? An article written on "Praying Your Church to Life" in one of our UCC journals for church renewal speaks of 10 strategies for bringing church back to life.

I'll share one that certainly fits with our message. It suggests: Pray in concert with the call and mission of your church. Go back and read the history. Why was your church called into existence? What scriptures are on the pulpit, on windows, on quilts, in display cases, on the doorposts? What was its original mission? What is its founding statement of faith? Renewal always involves restoration and completion of what God began.

If that is our starting place, we ask, "What did God begin here at Immanuel and what will our mission be?"

Pentecost Sunday is a day when we can expect the birthing of the Spirit again in our lives. We experience God's grace poured out upon Claire reminding us of God's call and promise to belong to Christ in baptism. We will celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper because, we again, want to be renewed in our promise to belong, totally, to God.

And, my friends, if that is the meaning of the sacrament for you this morning and the story of Pentecost moves you, there will be new birth and a new resolve in you.

Let hope come again. Let commitment to faith be renewed. Let a new spark be ignited within your soul for God. Let a new language be articulated by your soul. Allow God's Spirit birth a new experience in you. Mark this place and moment and let God take your breath away. Amen.

Worship

2009-05-03T14:53:00.000-05:00

May 3, 2009
Fourth Sunday of Easter

Sermon: Worship
Texts: 1 John 3:16-24, John 10:11-18
Offered at Immanuel UCC by Pam Hodgson, Licensed Minister

Before I start to talk about what is worship, I want to thank Robert and Violet for choosing such wonderful hymns to help us praise and worship God. Our songs and our words, even our quiet time with God help us to be more aware of God's presence. Our call to worship is a call for us to be attentive. God is waiting for us. God is already present in this scared space, just as God in Christ is present in any place that we can go. In this time that we set aside to gather as a community, we are fortified as the Body of Christ to take God's Good News out into a world that badly needs hope and compassion.

This morning's call to worship reaches back to our Hebrew roots. It is based on the 95th Psalm. The Psalms are a collection of prayers and songs to and about God. There are 150 Psalms and within them every human emotion is captured. People crying out to God in great distress and in great joy. Pleas for help, mercy, and forgiveness. Offerings of praise and expressions of thanksgiving to their Creator, Deliverer, Redeemer and Friend. Confessions of fear. Accounts of remembrance of God's deliverance in the past. Words of hope for the future. Although the Psalms are 1000s of years old, they still speak to us today. While the context of our human existence has changed, it has not changed what it means to be human and our God, the hope of ancient Israel and our hope, has not changed. The Psalms point us in the right direction as we think about worship. There is nothing that we can not take to God. No messes in our lives are too big. Whatever heartache or disappointment we might experience, God in Christ has gone before.

For our edification, I offer some classic definitions of worship:

Martin Luther - "That nothing else be done in [worship] than our dear Lord Himself talk to us through his holy word and we, in turn, talk to him in prayer and song of praise." In other words, worship has two elements, revelation and response, both empowered by the Holy Spirit.

John Calvin wrote "What is the design of the preaching of the Word, the sacraments, the holy assemblies and the whole external government of the church, but that we may be united to God?" Calvin suggests that purpose of worship is union with God.

For Archbishop Thomas Cranmer the purpose of worship is the "setting forth of God's honor or glory, and to the reducing of the people to a most perfect and godly living." In today's language - the purpose of worship is to glorify God and set human life in order.

From Pope Pius X - Worship is for "the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful." The message here is that the primary focus of worship is on God and the one result is the up building of the community.

For a quote that is close to home, I share from Immanuel's constitution: "It shall be the purpose of this church to worship God, to rightly preach the Word of God, to celebrate the Holy Sacraments; to render loving service towards humanity; and strive for righteousness, justice and peace."
We can think of worship in two levels. On one level we gather for communal worship. That is what we are doing right now. In the larger picture, we worship by how we live our lives. Our actions show our allegiance. In communal worship we are nourished and build up for the larger purpose of being sent out to serve. Our lesson from 1 John reminds us that we are to serve and love in truth and action. We read that, "we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us."
We are commanded to love one another. From our reading from the gospel of John we see Jesus' servant leadership example. Christ is the good shepherd who risks all and sacrifices all for the flock. Christ is love in action. Christ loves the flock and constantly invites others into the flock to experience grace. What can we offer or give to our God who gives it all? Through empowerment by the Holy Spirit, we worship by following Christ's example.
Our worship service is a dialog. The litany or the words that we use in our worship have a call and response nature. God comes to us in grace and the people say "thanks". God comes to us in revelation and the people say "Amen - let it be so". The root meaning of litany is the work of the people performed for the service of others. The Reformation recaptured the people's role in the litany. The congregation is not a passive spectator during our worship service. Rather, in a reflection of the priesthood of believers, the congregation participates actively. Our worship isn't confined to what we do within these doors. Worship in the larger sense is how we live our lives; what we choose as priorities and how we act on them. Worship in a more narrow sense is a community gathering at a specific time to be open to God's revelation and to respond in praise and service.

Marva Dawn in Reaching Out without Dumbing Down writes that "liturgy [should] be thought provoking and edifying. It should stir up new thoughts about God - new insights into God's character, which will result in a transformation of our character." (P. 249) Worship should change us, transform us. That is a big job. This is one of the reasons that we return to communal worship week after week.

We also return each week to practice getting it right. The world that we live in does not get it right. Anyone who opens a newspaper can read about how the world gets it wrong. The first question from the Westminster Catechism which is the Presbyterian Catechism is "what is the chief end of man?" The answer is "to glorify God and enjoy God forever." God is not gloried by assaults on God's good creation.

This last week we read of people taking lives both of others and their own. And we wonder how can we allow people to become so unwhole that they make these choices. I suspect that the majority of us here were touched in some way by one of the recent suicides. I know that culturally, we aren't very good about showing emotion which creates a huge barrier for talking about how we feel or asking for help when situations become to big to handle.

At Immanuel, we are blessed to have a pastor who has a doctorate in counseling and is a certified pastoral counselor. I don't know that we are taking advantage of this good gift that God has provided for us. I hope that we do. I hope that we can support and encourage each other. And I hope that we can take our compassion to others outside of Immanuel. Sometimes, being a non-judgmental listener can go a long way. Gentle encouragement can go further than a bunch of "you shoulds". Many times the thought of calling a professional for help is beyond what the broken can do. An offer to be with someone in the posture of support while they call a professional to set up a consultation can be a bridge to the road of healing and wholeness. We can be attentive to the needs of others and we can make a difference in their lives.

After reading about the suicide at North, I worry about our kids - both the youth of Immanuel and of the community. I see Immanuel as a congregation that treasurers and loves its children and youth. Yet we can't seem to get much momentum going with our youth program. Immanuel could be a soft place to land for our youth when life gets turbulent, but I am not sure that our youth are connected enough to recognize this. A strong youth program, could reach into the community - Immanuel could be a haven for other youth - we have enough love here to adopt more of God's children. I am not sure how we can get this done. Earlier in this last week, a number of us met to talk about Immanuel's youth ministry. And we don't have it figured out, yet. However, I would rather try to figure out how to do this than try to figure out why a 17 year old would shot himself in a school parking lot. I ask for your prayers and ideas and involvement as we try to minister to youth.

We come to worship for many reasons. To honor and praise God. To say thank you. To teach and learn and be open to revelation. To talk & listen to God in prayer. To lay our burdens down before God. To ask for forgiveness and experience grace. To show support for others in the community and to be supported. Some times our participation in our worship service will comfort us and some times it will shake us up. But our worship doesn't end when we leave this property. What we do here should form and transform us to live lives of service, gratitude and praise. May it be so. Amen. Amen.

Spiritual Disciplines and the Stewardship of our Lives

2009-04-02T09:54:00.000-05:00

April 1, 2009---Mid Week Lenten Worship
Joint Worship of St John's United Church of Christ and
Immanuel United Church of Christ
Theme: Spiritual Disciplines and the Stewardship of our Lives
Focus: Shaping Communities
Text: Matthew 5:38-45

Our previous themes during the mid-week services have focused on these subject areas:
Forgiveness, Stewardship-Money, Hospitality, Witness-Personal Testimony, and, tonight, Shaping Communities. The skit "The History of Hatred Through Time" turns our attention toward how we address hatred. History shows us that hatred does not solve our problems; it only creates problems. Why do we still turn to forms of hatred for solving our problems. Are we aware of the dangers today? Let's look at some of our words, attitudes and actions and what they have done to who we are today.

What about words?
Recently Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, following the Obama administration policy, announced that we have abandoned the use of the phrase "global war on terror." Why? It is felt that at the highest levels of our government and relationships to the world that our language matters. We are still combating terrorism; no doubt, but we are careful with our language. Does this matter? Does language matter?

What about attitudes?
I remember when I was a delegate to a synod meeting with the Massachusetts Conference delegation back in 2001, Synod 23. We were in Kansas City, Missouri, for this meeting. It was a wonderful meeting to attend because we had UCC delegates and Disciples of Christ delegates meeting together. As you remember the Christian Church or Disciples of Christ is the closest partner we have in ministry as we share our Global Ministries Board and other common interests. So, we had lots of people at this meeting.

Near the Convention center where we met there was a park with benches and free space. Who dominated this space? A group led by a man named Fred Phelps. They shouted obscenities at UCC and Disciples convention delegates telling us about the evils of homosexuality and where we were all going after death because of our positions on how we accept and treat one another.

My daughter, Martha, then age 13, went with me to this meeting. She attended the youth portion of the meeting while I was in the UCC/Disciples general meeting. She was most disturbed by the rantings of this group, the expressions on their faces, the banners they flew; we passed them to enter the convention building and you could see them face to face. They were unrelenting in their shouting to passers by and criticism of the openness and extravagant welcome of our denominations to people of all walks of life, especially those of varying sexual orientations. What was stressed by our leadership of our UCC was how to respond to the Phelps delegation. Our attitudes mattered!

We did not engage them; we walked quietly by them in a spirit of prayer. Those were our instructions and it was certainly a "discipline" not to engage and shout back. We did not return hate for hate, or accusation for accusation. We tried approach them with a Christian attitude. Do attitudes matter?

What about actions?
In recent months we have seen some extreme violence perpetrated upon the church at worship. Fred Winters, age 45, was preaching on March 8 at the First Baptist Church of Maryville, Illinois. A 27 year old man shot him in the chest and Fred died from the gun shot wound. The 27 year old stabbed himself.

In February, a man stunned a group of tourists at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Ca, when he fatally shot himself at the foot of a cross in the Cathedral.

Last July, a man, with an apparent grudge against liberals, opened fire inside a Knoxville, Tennessee, Unitarian Universalist church, killing two and wounding six.

Last November at a church in Clifton, New Jersey, a man allegedly shot and killed his estranged wife, as well as a worshiper who rushed to her aid.

Congregations strive to be welcoming to strangers. With this round of violence, the big question is how they can be welcoming and have a safe, secure environment for worshippers. Church security is becoming more and more of an issue.
(Christian Century, 4-7-09, p 14)

What actions shall we, in our churches, take toward those who would perpetrate violence in our most vulnerable places, our worship spaces? Ushers with firearms? Local police guarding the doors? What do we do?
Do our actions matter?

If we look at life through the eyes of history, as the skit, "The History of Hatred Through Time" suggests, we may learn something about the patterns and structures of hate and prejudice that have brought us to our modern day situations. Hatred, bigotry, jealousy, the quest for power, for economic superiority, solving conflict with violence, simple differences of opinion must be addressed. How are they addressed by us as Christians wanting to follow the teachings of Jesus?

What did Jesus say about all of this? An eye for eye and a tooth for tooth...revenge?
No, he said it used to be that people said, 'an eye for eye and tooth for a tooth, but I tell you, don't resist evil. (KJV -- "resist not evil")

Clarence Jordan translated it this way in the Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John ( pg 25) "I'm telling you, never respond with evil. Instead, if somebody slaps you on your right cheek, offer him the other one. And if anybody wants to drag you into court and take away your shirt, let him have your undershirt. If somebody makes you go a mile for him, go two miles.....Another thing you've always heard is, 'Love your own group and hate the hostile outsider.' But I'm telling you, love the outsiders and pray for those who try to do you in, so that you might be sons (children) of your spiritual Father."

So, this seems pretty clear doesn't it? Jesus taught his disciples and teaches us that there are constructive ways to deal with our anger, our prejudice, our jealousy, our big and little conflicts in life. I hear him say, "Don't turn away from them but do something constructive with them." What do you hear? What is our response when we've been wronged or we know another has been wronged?

We've seen some good responses illustrated in numerous ways through the eyes of history. I like to turn to the responses that tell me something about the way Christ would respond.

I continue to turn to the example of those who led the Civil Rights movement in the 60's to find my inspiration. As many of you know, I grew up in the South and I was in the middle of the controversies that layered daily life in that tumultuous time. I was young, pretty much told my opinions didn't matter because I did not understand, but I knew deep within myself that my opinions did matter. And, I did understand what the gospels said, very clearly. And, I happened to agree with the movement, the other side, not the side of many of the adults who were supposed to my Christian role models.

How could one not agree with the movement that had a pledge one would sign saying,
1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
2. Remember always that the nonviolent movement in Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation--not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all may free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all might be free.
6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
8. Refrain from violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement and of the captain of the demonstration.

This pledge was to be signed, with address and sent to the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. (Martin Luther King, Why We Can't Wait, p 65)

This pledge, is still to me, one way we can deal constructively with the terror, the violence, the hatred, the prejudice, the conflicts that will always be part of our lives. It is the way Jesus taught us to respond.

It is not easy and sometimes we must ask, what is the first step?

I suggest tonight in this service that listening may be a first step. Listening leads to openness and a desire to know more. It leads to shaping a community where people care that others are suffering. It leads to the virtue of Christian compassion that we want to mark our lives. It always leads to action of some kind.

Tonight, we share a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the book Life Together that will help us in our time of reflection. "The first service one owes to others in the community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God's Word, the beginning of love for other Christians is learning to listen to them. God's love for us is shown by the fact that God no only gives us God's Word, but also lends us God's ear. We do God's work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them."

What are you hearing from your congregation? What are you hearing from your communities? What are you hearing from your own "inner voice" about shaping a world
where hatred is addressed with the love of Christ, the promise of God's way?

Let us listen and let us care and let us decide with our words, attitudes and actions that we are disciples of Christ and shall live in the light and truth of God's revelation. "Happy are those who make peace, for they will be known as children of God. Happy are those who have suffered persecution for the cause of goodness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs."

Amen.

Courage to Step with Jesus

2009-03-08T21:02:00.004-05:00

March 8, 2009
The Second Sunday in Lent

Sermon:
Courage to Step with Jesus

Texts:
Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16; Romans 4: 13-25; Mark 8: 31-38

Katie and Jim spent months preparing for their
wedding. During the ceremony, they
planned to recite their vows---without any prompting from the pastor.

When the day arrived, they stood face to face in the
garden, and Jim was so nervous that he accidentally omitted some of this
lines. Nevertheless, Katie
responded with her vows and they were pronounced husband and wife.

When the pastor greeted them in the receiving line, Katie
jokingly asked him if their union was legal. "After all,"
she said laughing, "Jim flubbed his lines."style="mso-spacerun: yes"> "You're
fine," their pastor replied
reassuringly. But as he walked away,
he called back, "Just don't get sick!"

The humor in this story underscores the seriousness, in a
light way, about the meaning of covenant.
Our lessons today ask us to think about the meaning of covenant.

To covenant is to pledge one's trust and faithfulness to
another. To covenant is tostyle="mso-spacerun: yes"> promise to be in a committed, caring
relationship. Covenants are promises made between people; the intention is for
the covenant to be taken very seriously and to be owned by both in an equal
way. And, so, the marriage
covenant goes like this, "I promise to love and sustain you in the
covenant of marriage, from this day forward, in sickness and in health, in
plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, as long as we both shall
live."

The covenant is a serious commitment. We understand what
it means to be in covenant with each other but what about with God?

The covenant we read about in the book Genesis prompts us
to ask, "What about a covenant with God?" The story of Abraham and Sarah is about God choosing
to be in a close, committed relationship to the Hebrew people.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> God chooses Abraham and Sarah, Semites
of about 8th century BCE, who at God's command, have abandoned their home in
Mesopotamia and journeyed to the land of Canann.

From that aged couple, God will bring forth a son named Isaac. From an unlikely birth, God will set out to make a people, a
new community, that knows how to live faithfully under God's rule of justice,
righteousness and peace.
From some intimate encounter with the Divine, Abraham will hear from God
this message "I make this covenant and I make it with you."style="mso-spacerun: yes"> (17:4)

There has always been a desire by human beings to know
their God or gods as it was common the ancient world. There was a desire to be in communication with a God who
cared about us personally. So, we
always have in tension this wonderful transcendent God, beyond us and one we'll
never know fully, and our God who is as close to us as our breathing.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> For Abraham, there was this moment of
knowing the relationship of God and the promise to be near and close.style="mso-spacerun: yes">

The Genesis story sets the tone for the lessons we hear
in the rest of the scriptures. Truly, the promise of love and intimacy
from our Creator was not just the promise to past generations but is the
promise that moves us to be here this morning as people of faith.

The Hebrew
hymn of praise we sang in the beginning of our worship conveys that message
doesn't it? "The God of
Abraham praise, all praises to God's name, who was and is and is to be, forever
the same! The one eternal God,
before what now appears, the First, the Last: beyond all thought through timeless years!" (New
Century Hymnal, p 24)

Yes, so, first we begin with covenant or a promise to
belong to God. "God is beyond
all thought through timeless years" as the hymn goes, yet, I believe it is
possible to hear God say to us personally as God said to old Abraham, "I
make this covenant and I make it with you." This promise is real, it is mutual and it should be
very serious just as any other covenant we make with another person is very
serious and binding.

The second question I want to ask is "What happens
in our covenant relationship? In any covenant made there is the relative
uncertainty of entering an
uncharted course. We may be like
the little boy overheard praying one evening, "Lord, if you can't make me
a better boy, don't worry about it.
I'm having a real good time like I am."

There is the uncharted course. To set out on any journey
requires faith, doesn't it? We don't know what is ahead but we do need to
believe that we can make the journey and arrive at our destinationstyle="mso-spacerun: yes"> I would think that there is always the
hope that God will make us better than we are. As Paul puts it in
Romans 4: 13-25, the Christian faith amounts to "hoping against hope."

Perhaps that is why Frederick Buechner said that Lent is
a time to ask what it means to be oneself. The promise of belonging to God and being in relationship
may mean a freedom this Lenten season to listen for an understanding of
oneself. Maybe God can help us
with self-definition. God can help
us ask, "Who am I and who can I be made in God's image?"style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Or, we may ask, "What
is my potential for being the best person I can be?"

During Lent, these are some of the questions we ask.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> When people "give something up for
Lent" it is suppose to help them to ask these questions about self-growth
and development in God's spirit and way.

The questions help us pay attention to how we order our
lives. We may need to curb a habit that endangers our health and the health of
those we live with. We may need to
cultivate a more rhythmic pattern of prayer or bring the scriptures into
clearer focus in our every day lives.
We may need to take some time we hoard so tight for our leisure or work
and lavish it on our families or friends.
We may need to respond to needs in our community of those who are in
need for food, housing or clothing.
All of these questions can help us to ask what it means to be oneself
and be in relationship to a loving God.

Writer Reynolds Price, struck down by a crippling disease
at mid-life, advises similarly afflicted persons to get out of themselves and
into the needs of others. In
losing ourselves in service to others, we rise above our smothering
self-concern and self-pity, says Price.
In reflecting upon his own experience of illness, Price says he wishes
that he had opened himself up to service to others sooner during his illness:

Surely I should have forced myself to move outward from
the menacing house far sooner than I did.
Though I couldn't drive.......I might at least have ridden with my
friend to her regular stints at a
homeless shelter in the town or I could have made peanut butter
sandwiches...(Reynolds Price, A Whole New Life, 188-189)

For Price, listening and understanding himself meant
admitting a change he needed to make for his life with God to have more meaning
and purpose.

My closing question becomes, in terms of relationship to
God in Christ, "What teaching of Jesus offers us a meaning of covenant and
intimate relationship with God?"

The answer is in our text from Mark 8, "And Jesus
said, 'If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up
their cross and follow me. For
those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life
for my sake, will save it.'"

In other words, find courage to step with Jesus, to step
into the way of the cross.
The "cross" is not some personal problem you have, some
difficulty in your life. Rather,
the "cross" is something you bear because you follow Jesus.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> The cross is thrust on your back
because you are walking with Jesus, the suffering servant,style="mso-spacerun: yes"> the crucified one.

Maybe you have heard it preached, "If you follow
Jesus things will go better in your marriage." Or, "If you come to church, your worries will be
lifted."

Those things may happen, but today's gospel, implies that
we are to follow Jesus, not because things will go better for us, but because
Jesus is the way to God.

With Jesus we learn to look upon ourselves and value our
lives, not in terms of what we can possess or control, but in terms of what we
can embody. We embody our values,
our honesty, our ability to admit our mistakes, our desire to ask for
forgiveness, and to look out for the welfare and well-being of another.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> We value people and thestyle="mso-spacerun: yes"> relationships that enrich life.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> We cling to relationships that nurture
our growth into full personhood. Beware
when you find yourself in relationship for what you can get out of another and gain for selfish
reasons.

Christ gives us the resources to be compassionate, honest
and free to love. What a different
world this would be if we, as followers of the way of Christ, would look upon
each person we meet remembering the covenant that we have made to be Christ's
disciples.

What a different world this would be if we prayed the
prayer in the litany of Holy Communion of our United Presbyterian friends:

"Forgive us God for turning our churches into
private clubs; for
loving familiar hymns and religious feelings more than we love You; for pasting
stained glass on our eyes and our ears to shut out the cry of the hungry and
hurt of the world."

Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "Most Christians are
thermometers that record or register the temperature of majority opinion, not
thermostats that transform and regulate the temperature of society."

Oh, how we long to be those thermostats!style="mso-spacerun: yes"> How we long in our relationship to God
to hope against all hope! How we
long to step out of a disfigured God-forsaken world and step into God's power
to transform and transfigure the world
so it looks like what God intended it to be.

We have difficulty like the Apostle Peter, for thinking
in terms of "human things" rather than "divine
things." But Jesus comes to
rearrange our thinking about God.
We think of God as exalted, high, lifted up, hermetically sealed off
from the tug an pull of human pain and human evil. Jesus says that is "human thinking."

It is human to want to win. Jesus speak of loss.
It is human to want to gain the whole world. Yet, Jesus demonstrates another way.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> It is human to be satisfied to register
the temperature of the majority opinion.
Jesus implores us to be like thermostats, transforming and regulating the
temperature of society.

We learn from the story of Abraham of faith there is for
us a "courage-in-spite-of."
This courage called Abraham to risk his future and walk by faith.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Most people try to hide from
anxiety by conforming to the world.
The courageous individual risks either despair or faith by facing the
truth of existence and defying the world. (Dictionary of Pastoral Care,
241) Can we, too, have Abraham's
courage to let our faith lead us to face the truth of our existence and defy
the world? Is this the way of the
cross for Christians?

My friends, may our covenant to belong to Christ be our
call to continue our Lenten journey.
Lent is a time to take the time to let the power of our faith story take
hold of us. A time to let the events
get up and walk around us, a time to intensify our living unto Christ.

In closing, let us take with us the words of John Moffitt
as we continue to cherish and nurture the gift of covenant to be in
relationship to a loving God and follow Christ, each moment, each day.

To look at anything

If you would know that thing,

You must look at it long:

To look at this green and say

'I have seen spring in these

woods,' will not do---you must

be the thing you see:

You must be the dark snakes of stems and ferny plumes of
leaves.

You must enter in

to the small silences between the leaves.

You must take your time and touch the very peace

they issue from
(Courage to Dare, 51)

You must step out ---risk---have courage---and step into
the new covenant. Jesus has
offered us the way of the cross that leads to life. We know that is where we belong, in step with Jesus, not
fully understanding, and only gradually comprehending.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> "You must enter in to the small
silences between the leaves. You
must take your time and touch the very peace they issue from."

We treasure this time to take about our covenant to
belong to God. Let us close with
the prayer that has helped all of us in some way to have courage to step with
Jesus.

The Serenity Prayer

"God, give us grace to accept with serenity the
things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be
changed, and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."style="mso-spacerun:
yes">

Reinhold Niebuhr

Source of Strength

2009-02-08T19:28:00.002-06:00

February 8, 2009, Year B, 5th Sunday after Epiphany
Sermon: Source of Strength
Texts: Isaiah 40: 21-31, Mark 1: 29-39

Isaiah 40:31 "But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

I just returned from a meeting in Orlando, Florida, designed for those who are engaged in professional pastoral and spiritual care - it was called Summit '09 a Spiritual Care Collaborative. I appreciate the opportunity to be away for this time of study and renewal.

I was in this conference with people of different Christian traditions and different faith traditions who value and promote the common goal of human wholeness in our communities. Being with others from different ministry settings, reminded me of our commonalities and our differences. Gratefully, our differences enhance our life together of service; they do not contradict.

The theme for this conference matches well with our scripture lessons. The theme of the meeting was "Health and Hope: The Hard Reality of Living Intentionally in a Village of Care."
From my point of view, the theme matches what we try to do every week here at Immanuel.

We all care deeply for our health and we have come to know and believe that health is more than physical well being and the absence of disease. Health is having all aspects of ourselves --physical, mental, spiritual--cared for. That is where the hard reality sets in. It takes intentionality for us to care for all aspects of self; it doesn't usually happen by accident.

That's why this beautiful passage from Isaiah is a treasure with encouragement to never give up our hope in the Source of Strength, the Eternal God, always there for us. It is encouragement to pursue the gifts of God for our needs. This lesson may seem to address the "spiritual" side of our well-being but I believe it also addresses the physical and psychological states of our wellness.
These words written by an author we call "Second Isaiah," is the prophet who addresses this need for the lives of the people with whom he shares a faith journey. What can his words mean for us? Remember the first verses of Isaiah 40? "Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that she has served her term, that the penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." The people of Israel have had very hard lives of exile and oppression; they wonder if God has forgotten them. We, too, who have had hard lives and trying circumstances need to know that God has not forgotten us.

Today's lesson beginning with Isaiah 40:21 calls the people to remember that God has always been with them, even in the most painful, difficult moments. These are words of hope but they are not new words. They are reminders of what they already know. God is their Source of Strength. God is a faithful God.

It seems that we, living in our time, also need this reminder of what we already know. When we are in situations of grief, loss, despair, physical pain and we, too, need to know that God intends to bring us healing just as God brought healing through the work of Christ in the stories of the New Testament.
We see in Mark that Jesus cared for the well-being of those he encountered. Whatever the need, spiritual, physical or psychological, Jesus touched people in some way that we call "healing."

I believe he turned them toward what they already knew but needed to experience again...like a reminder...so they'd be focused and intentional in doing their part for their healing. Maybe, we need reminders. Maybe, we need to be called into relationship our Source of Strength for reassurance and hope for the future.

Ours is a God who invites us into conversation, who welcomes our questions, who holds us accountable and even expects us to hold God accountable. Ours is a God who asks us not to follow blindly, but to engage our faith, and that means engaging both our confidence and our lack of confidence. Ours is a God who offers us strength for whatever we face, for we are to be a people of health and hope. (Biblical Preaching Journal, Winter 2006, p16)

Isn't this the hard reality of living intentionally in a village of care? I think it is. We need reminders to do our part in our relationship to God, our Source of Strength. That means turning to our scripture and taking its wisdom, comfort and projection of hope with intentionality. I try to do this on a daily basis but I will not do it unless I have a desire to do it. I'm grateful that God helps me do what I can even when I'm at my weakest point.

We can help ourselves when we remember what God has in mind for God's beloved children. This truth always comes home to me as I read this passage from Isaiah and remember a sermon preached long ago on the efficacy of these words.

When Bill and I were students at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, we were inspired by many wonderful sermons but particularly, the preaching of Rev. John Claypool at Crescent Hill Baptist Church. Rev. Claypool and his wife had a most difficult journey with the death of their 8 year old daughter, Laura Lue. During this period, John let the congregation know his inner struggles with his own faith and need for God to be present with him in his deepest pain. For John, preaching faithfully meant the struggle and the resolve (hard work of intentionality) to let God be with him in the "stretch of darkness."

In a book of his sermons, Rev. Claypool tells us about his daughter, Laura Lue, "She was a bright, exuberant child, full of life and joy that sprang up as she finished the second grade, and participated in two recitals in one day-a Suzuki violin performance on Saturday morning, and a ballet recital that evening. The next day, she seemed tired, and we attributed it to hyperactivity. But she stayed tired, and then her ankle began to swell." They took her to the hospital and did lots of tests. The words "acute leukemia" was the diagnosis and her nine month treatment began.

John preached many sermons through those months of her illness but the one that stood out for me was the one he preached on this passage from Isaiah. The reality of the terminal illness for Laura Lue and her death was the exile for John and his wife. It was a "stretch of darkness" when the bottom dropped out and John could not go on as he had in getting a job done or solving a problem.

He says, there was no room "to run and not be weary." It was even hard for him "to walk and not faint." He felt like the exiles who had fallen on hard times and were separated from their hopes and dreams. He kept coming back to the picture of God painted by Isaiah as one who was present in every moment of suffering and pain; God, the Shepherd who cared tenderly for all the flock.

John says that by God's grace he felt he received most needful gifts of all. God gave him patience, endurance and the strength to "walk and not faint." As most of you in the congregation know, this is been my prayer for my journey in these last months of my husband's (Bill's) illness and death. I have been blessed by your patience, encouragement, compassion and strength. I have known the truth of God's abiding presence in finding the energy to walk and not faint.

You have had the same experience in your own personal lives as you have had your losses, pain and suffering. How we pray God will continue to be our Source of Strength for whatever our need for healing and health. How we thank God for reminders that God is with us through every "stretch of darkness."

John ends his sermon on Isaiah 40, saying "And who knows, if I am willing to accept these gifts, and just hang in there, and not cop out, maybe the day will come that Laura Lue and I can run again and not be weary, and that we may soar some day, and rise up with wings as eagles! But until then, to walk and not faint, that is enough. O God, that is enough! (Claypool, John, Tracks of a Fellow Struggler; How to Handle Grief, pp 57-58)

And, for us, O God, Source of Strength, may that be enough, may that be enough. May God be with you to give blessing, health, hope and strength. Amen.

Note: My husband, Bill Brigham, died on November 23, 2008. My children and I continue to be grateful for your prayers for us as we adjust to life without his presence. I am grateful for your support during a most difficult time.

The Baptism of Christ

2009-01-11T20:45:00.001-06:00

January 11, 2009 The Baptism of Christ

Sermon: Called to be God's Beloved

Texts: Genesis 1: 1-5 and Mark 1: 4-11

Here we are in the beginning of a new year, celebrating the inauguration of new President of our United States, and feeling high hopes we will have better news about the movement of our economy toward recovery.     The story of the beginning of all creation, God hovering over the waters bringing forth life, is the story of a new beginning. What can our text help us to say about these beginnings?

"In the beginning.....God" Doesn't this message give you goose bumps all over. The Bible is filled with many beautiful images of God as our Creator but passage is more elegantly constructed and no story more compelling to believe as we look toward what "new" things God can do among us. What about this story, our creation story?

What do you believe about it? The question reminds me of the story of the little boy who came home from church with his family and was asked what he learned in Sunday School that day. He said, "The teacher told us about the children of Israel escaping from Egypt, and when they came to the Red Sea they pumped up their inflatable boats so they could get away from Pharaoh's soldiers."

"Now wait a minute," said his Dad. "Is that the way it really happened?"

The little boy replied: "If I told it the way the teacher did, you would never believe it." (from Alex A. Sternberger, "Laughlines" Presbyterians Today, 9/97, 5)

He's right, we have hard time with these ancient texts and the images of God's creative power at work. We want to read them literally, and that, potentially, loses all the punch.

We are aware that people still interpret this "beginning" very literally and use this passage as a proof text for explaining exactly how our world came to be. Believing the story fully as it is described becomes a testing ground for orthodox belief and an elimination of any other challenge to explain how the world began.

When the Kansas State Board of Education a few years ago to remove "evolution" from the state science standards for public school students,

we became more aware of the growing belief that the creation story in Genesis is, for some people, about facts---scientific facts.

But, more of us lean toward the words of Karl Barth. He said, writing to his grandniece, "Has no one explained to you in your seminar, that one can as little compare the biblical creation story and a scientific theory like that of evolution as one can compare, shall we say, an organ to a vacuum cleaner?"   (Geoffrey Bromiley, Karl Bath Letters 1961-68, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1981, 184)

The creation stories are not about facts but they are statements of faith. * The Genesis creation is to be received as a faith statement. It asserts that there is more to life than facts alone. This text is not to be read and believed literally but to evoke in us a response.

I believe that is what the earliest writers were looking for. Many scholars believe, the biblical Creation account was written during the Babylonian captivity of the Jews (that would have been around 458 B.C.E.)   It was written as a response to the Babylonian creation account.

For the Babylonians, the god Anu was also the sky. The goddess Ki was the earth. Shamash was the sun. Sin was the moon. All of nature was composed of various gods to be worshipped.   The creation of the universe that the Israelite's produced had this one message, "Yes the universe was created, but by ONE God, Our God, the only true and living God. All these other things you worship are just inanimate objects in nature which our God created."

In the Babylonian account of creation, there were multiple gods in control for a chaotic universe. But in Genesis there is one God, named Elohim, the God of Israel. In the Babylonian creation there is a cosmic sea goddess who must be vanquished in order to create the world. But, in our Genesis reading, there is only God's Spirit hovering like a restless wind made by beating wings over the deep abyss of swirling water.

In a creative way, with the raw material of "the deep," clearly, God rules. God is not crazed by confusion, nor disturbed by material that seems disordered or disjointed. God moves confidently from chaos to creativity, making something radically good out of the raw material of the primordial deep.

In the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters and brought forth life. One of my favorite things to do is to walk on the beach; it could be by the ocean, by an inland sea, by a lake, or by a pond. It doesn't matter. It's the power of the waters, the deep waters, waters full of life and possibility that stir my thought and responses to the Creator. I'm sure I'm not alone, as I hear many of you talk about being drawn to live in places where you can experience the beauty and power of the water close at hand. Even where I grew up in South Mississippi, a walk down to the fish pond meant time alone with God, a time to be quiet and awed by the movement of nature.    It was a place for me to sort things out and get perspective.   It is still a place to pray, to ponder, to grieve and to be thankful.

Our enjoyment, our appreciation, our respect, our fear for any part of nature, God's good creation, is part of this story of on-going creation. From these experiences come our statements of faith. We read again from Genesis, "In the beginning.....God." It says that there is more to our life than facts alone. The poet's question in exile was not "How was it created?" but "Who creates?" It was not "What was the process?" but "What was the purpose?"

When we walk on that beach and enjoy the closeness we feel to God through the beauty of nature, we know that we are remembering the God who creates and gives our lives purpose and new meaning, age to age. We are celebrating the closeness we feel to the awesome, living presence of a loving God when we allow ourselves to be held and called "Beloved." Our Good News each Sunday is that there is more to life than facts alone.

The Spirit of God hovers over humanity and brings forth the church.    In baptism, we ask "who am I" and the answer comes as it did to Jesus, the Christ, you are God's beloved child. Next week, we will baptize Harry Schroeder in worship. It will be an opportunity to remember that baptism says, not only, that we are called and named but that we are royalty, daughters and sons of the Most High God. In times of doubt, inner turmoil, hopelessness, or confusion, the message of baptism "you belong to God" will sustain and bring some new creation out of chaos.

At baptism we are given the name "Christian." That name, at whatever age received, is a gift. It is unearned, unmerited. The name calls us to live the in the way of Christ. The Confirmation youth sang many times at our retreat back in November, "They'll know we are Christians by our love." Will they take this message with them as they embrace what it means to carry that name? Will they know, that wherever they are or whatever they do or whatever they become, God will embrace them as God's beloved? I hope if they get the message that this fact will never change!

Baptism says that we are called to be God's beloved-to belong to God.

Whatever chaos that is part of our lives, with God's help and presence, we can confront it. From the beginning, our God confronts death and changes it into life. In the deep waters of life, God is with us. In the fires of life, God is with us.

In times of great doubt, when struggling through his dark nights of the soul, Martin Luther would sometimes touch his forehead and say to himself, "Martin, be calm, you are baptized."

For us as individuals and as a community, we would do well to touch our foreheads where the sign and seal of baptism was made and remember our baptism.    Baptism reminds us that we are embraced by our God who is not crazed by confusion, nor disturbed by material that seems disordered or disjointed. God moves confidently from chaos to creativity, making something radically good out of the raw material of the "deep waters."

We can do many things with scientific knowledge including proving the existence of prehistoric humans. We can do much with our technology, our petri dishes, our advanced mathematics and biological systems.

But, it is people of faith who are capable of loving their enemies. It is people of faith who believe a peace can be brokered in the most vicious circumstances. People of faith cannot prove that God created the universe but they can live a statement of faith that confirms the creative existence of a loving, compassionate God.

Truly, baptism is our gift and the Christian message for all of us this new year is that the church does not rest as long as even ONE of God's children is in misery, hungry, naked, oppressed, persecuted or lost.   We do not rest as long as any institution, government, or person seeks to warp or distort God's royal image in any of God's children.

Friends, may we all remember that our identity has been given in a name----the name from the beginning of all creation is "You are my beloved children with whom I am well pleased. You are baptized."   And, be thankful, for this is who you are and you are not alone. Amen.

*Note:

There are two creation stories found in the book of Genesis. The first account is in Genesis one, our lesson for this sermon. It focuses on the entire universe and the created order which takes six days to accomplish.

The second story begins in Chapter 2, verse 4 and it includes the story of heaven and earth, the Garden of Eden, and the genealogies that follow. Most of us know these two stories and blend them together just as we would blend the birth narratives of the baby Jesus to get our Christmas story. From these stories, we formulate our faith statements.

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T20:05:00.002-06:00

10 a.m. Worship at Immanuel United Church of Christ
Christmas Day Meditation
December 25, 2008
Texts: Psalm 98, Luke 2:4-14, John 1: 1-14

This year as I was getting out some Christmas decorations, it was more difficult than other years. The decorations brought back memories of past Christmases, places we've lived and people we've known. I felt a mixture of joy and sadness and a gratitude for memories.

One particular decoration stands out for me with meaning. It was given to our family way back in our pastorate in Walpole, MA. I think about it every year because it has a story. This gift was a "welcome" gift from a couple at the Union Congregational church in East Walpole, Mass., back in 1993.

We were at the church when the gift was given. It was a busy time at church so I laid it on a table and was going to take it into my office later. I didn't realize until it was too late that I had set it down near the large collection of gifts for the City Mission Society in Boston. You guessed it; my little gift was loaded with the entire collection of gifts for the City Mission Society and delivered to Lincoln, a town where the big warehouse stored all the gifts of the churches in the large metro Boston area.

My heart was broken because I really wanted this lovely "creche." I had already started to have meaning for me because it was a welcome gift and represented the friendship and love of my new parishioners. I decided that I would go search for that gift in Lincoln, Mass., where the collection center was located.

Of course, when I went to this collection center, they called "the barn," I discovered the chance of finding this one small gift was not very good. Eleanor, who had given me the gift, searched "the barn" with me for about 45 minutes. We were about ready to give up and there it was in the little corner of this great barn with thousands of gifts.

Needless to say, this little "crèche" has become part of our family. Martha was about four years old when we moved to Walpole, so I don't think she remembers a Christmas without it as the center of our home decorations. Of course, when I see it, I think of all the wonderful people I met in that church and other churches were we've been members and shared our family life.

And, now, this morning, I ask that we think about our own treasured decorations, lost and found or shared with others, the gifts, wanted or unwanted we've received and the joys and sadness we've endured. For all these memories and days on this earth, we give thanks for the gift of life and the ties that bind us together as friends in Christ.. We gave thanks that Christmas is a time to remember our stories, the people who have shaped us, the faith that sustains us through whatever we face in our lives.

All of our Advent preparations have helped us to come to this day, Christmas, to say "yes" to continued living of the Light of Christ. in our daily lives. The metaphors of feasting, greetings, greens, lights, and gift -giving, are ways to express an awakened commitment to live the good news of Christ's transforming love throughout the year.

May our own memories as well as the words of scripture and words of other Christians keep us centered in the meaning of the day.....
The Venerable Bede of the 8th century expressed it this way, "Christ is the Morning Star, who, when the night of this world is past, gives to his saints the promise of the light of life, and opens everlasting day."

I John 1:5-5b,7 read, "God is light; in him there is no darkness. If we walk in light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

And for further meditation, let us hear a prayer written by the well-known Swiss Reformed theologian, Karl Barth:
O Lord, our God, thou didst desire to dwell not only in heaven but also with us on earth, to be not only exalted and great, but like us lowly and small, not only to rule, but to serve us, not only to be God for eternity, but to be born, to live and to die for us.

In thy dear Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, Thou hast given us no less than thine own self so that we might belong wholly to thee. This concerns us all, although no one of us has earned it. What remains then for us but to be amazed, to rejoice, to be thankful, to hold fast to that which thou has done for us?

We beseech thee, grant that this may become reality among us and in all at this hour. Grant that in honorable, open and willing prayer and in song, speaking, and hearing we may become a true Christmas congregation, and in great hunger may experience the true communion of the Lord's Supper. Amen.

And finally, receive this closing Benediction from Rev. John Hammond....
Child of Bethlehem-house of bread; Man of Jerusalem-city of peace; you have loved us without limit or condition; in our greatness and in our misery, in our folly and in our virtue; may your had be always upon us and may your heart be within us so that we too may be come bread and peace for one another. (John Hammond, OSB) Amen.
(Resource used: A Christmas Sourcebbook, c1984)