05/30/2010 ~ Trinity Sunday ~ Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15 ~ Memorial Day Weekend ~ Hymn Sing In Place of Prelude ~ i.e.: 5th Sunday.

God Is Still Speaking

“When the Spirit of truth comes, that Spirit will guide you into all the truth; for the Spirit will not speak independently, but will speak whatever the Spirit hears, and will announce to you the things that are yet to come.” — John 16:13

A few weeks ago, I was sharing some time with a colleague who asked if there was a specific incident to which I pointed as the initiation of a call to ordained ministry. As it happened, there is. So I shared it with him.

I have shared the story about that incident here before, but not in a long, long time. So, some of you may have heard it. Others have not. Hence, I’d like to share it again, especially for those who have not. (Slight pause.)

I have been a church member, involved in church work across several denominations since I was a teen. When I moved to Maine from New York City to marry Bonnie, I joined First Parish Church, United Church of Christ, in Brunswick.

Having done so, I became aware of Bangor Theological Seminary. Since the day it was established in 1814, the same year the Norwich Church was incorporated, Bangor has specialized in people like me, those who enter ordained ministry as a second career.

Frankly, I always did have some sense of a call to ordained ministry. And I always did my best to ignore it. Still, I decided to get on the Seminary mailing list.

Probably after the Admissions Office sent me too many flyers without a response, they sent me a letter asking if I wanted to remain on that list. I answered “yes.” They sent me a catalogue. For some reason, they had not done that before.

I set aside some time alone to sit and read through it. And, as I read boring course descriptions, I found myself crying. At that point I remembered an Episcopal priest friend who said when she realized she had a ‘call to ministry’ she cried for three hours. I knew something was up, so I went to see my pastor, Bill Imes.

Together, we formed a Discernment Committee made up of church members. After working with them, sorting out as many issues as possible, treating the possibility of a call to ordained ministry in a serious way, a year and a half later I entered Bangor Seminary. (Slight pause.)

The kind of story I just offered is often called ‘personal testimony.’ Such narratives are not meant to exclusively be about what happens in a call to ordained ministry. Many are also called to do the work of the church as members of the laity. Those kinds of stories— stories of being called by God to do all kinds of things from committee work to being a member of a choir to being an usher to spending time staffing the Food Pantry— those stories need to be shared.

Now, any kind of personal testimony raises a number of questions. Among them are: ‘is God still speaking to us?’ ‘Is it possible that sometimes God speaks and we fail to hear?’ ‘Is God only a personal God, a God who just speaks to an individual or does God speak to whole communities of faith?’ ‘Can this God, who we claim is a God of all people, be somehow described by all of us, collectively?’

Those questions address three kinds of calls: the call of God to the individual, the call of God to the local church and the call of God to the whole church. That poses another obvious question: ‘what is church?’ (Slight pause.)

I quoted a definition of church offered by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Newsletter published Friday. Many of you probably have that Newsletter already.

“Church,” said Williams, “is a distinctive social body given coherence by the action of God in Jesus.” As I said in my article, I find both the breadth and the precision of this definition appealing.

In its breadth, it encompasses each individual, the local church and the greater church. In its precision, it recognizes the unifying (quote): “action of God in Jesus.”

But what does this stuff about church, the collective, mean to us, as individuals? What does it mean to be church, together? And, indeed, don’t definitions, themselves, and even gathered groups like churches, make things less personal, more distant, obtuse? (Slight pause.)

The Rev. Dr. John Buchanan is a Presbyterian pastor at a large church in Chicago. In a recent edition of The Christian Century he reminisced about church when he was a teen. Confirmation class consisted of memorizing the questions and answers in The Westminister Shorter Catechism— 107 questions and answers.

The church elders (all, quite literally, elderly men) made sure the task had been accomplished by questioning the teens because they questioned the Confirmands. After all, one becomes a Christian on the basis of what one knows about salvation, God, Jesus, the Trinity— right? (Slight pause.)

Well, it’s more than that. Faith, Buchanan says, is also defined by following Jesus, thereby becoming a part of the people of God. Faith is certainly not defined by rote learning. That truth came home to him when, last Easter, he laid hands on each person in a current Confirmation class.

The class included his granddaughter Rachel. Rachel has Down Syndrome. During a year of Confirmation classes, that class learned together in the classroom, prayed together, served meals to the homeless together, experienced the church as a place of service and celebration of the God of the Trinity, this God, Buchanan knew only in rote answers as a teen. This God we call Trinity— Creator, Redeemer and Spirit— became personalized.

Yes, the class still reviewed the catechism questions about the God of Trinity. There is no doubt this is a necessary piece. But they also came to a place where they felt the definition. [1] (Slight pause.)

So, who is God? What is church? How are they intertwined? Is it possible God is personal and Church impersonal or is God is impersonal and church personal?

And what is this personal call and personal witness stuff about, anyway? How does the church witness? How do we, you and I, witness as individuals and how do we witness together?

Also, how do we integrate feeling and knowing? How can we come to both know about and feel— experience— God who is still speaking, this God defined as Trinity? (Slight pause.)

I believe God calls each of us to be a member of a community of faith. I believe God then calls each us to do specific work within that community of faith. And I also believe that God calls us to be together within the community of faith, calls us to a mission of mutual respect, love and commitment and, thereby, to witness to our individual faith and our collective faith.

After all, God has no hands but ours, no feet but ours, no mind but ours, no heart but ours, no voice but ours to act in this world God created. If we are not aware of these calls of God on our lives, nothing of God gets done. Therefore, God calls all of us, no matter what our gifts and talents, whatever they are.

And we Christians do give voice to what we feel in naming God Trinity— Creator, Redeemer and Spirit. That is historically true. Indeed, in a couple of minutes we will recite The Nicene Creed, a document which has spoken to Christians for some 1,700 years— this description of God as Trinity. On the other hand, wasn’t that document, literally, written by elderly men way back in the 4th Century?

So, how can that be personal? Why would and why should we recite it? Did those elders in ancient times know what they were saying? (Slight pause.)

Actually, they did know what they were saying. The words they proposed merely describe their experience of God. It is, therefore, our responsibility to examine it with enough depth to attempt to see what they are trying to say to us. After all, if it has lasted this long, perhaps we need to honor it enough to strive to see if it is as personal as they believed it to be.

And that, that may be the deepest of truths: personal relationship of any kind is not just about or only about feeling. A personal relationship of any kind does not happen and does not develop without work. Any relationship does not become truly personal unless we do the work which nurtures that relationship.

Therefore, The Nicene Creed or any creed or any church cannot be personal unless we strive to do the work which nurtures relationship. Doing the relational work helps and, indeed, ensures that this God who is defined as Trinity will also be felt, experienced. (Slight pause.)

So, is God still speaking? Yes. But we need to do the work which will ensure that we are listening to God. John Buchanan’s granddaughter, Rachel, did that work. Each of us can do that work. And, as it happens, the work of relationship which needs to be done is the kind of work which places God at the center of our lives. Can we do the work which places God at the center of our lives? (Slight pause.)

So, perhaps the vital point is very simple: are we willing to do that work, work which will allow us to listen for the movement of the Spirit. After all, Scripture tells us the Spirit is moving and does move. Scripture tells us God is still speaking.

How do I know God is still speaking? Indeed, is what it says in the Gospel we have come to know as John (quote): “When the Spirit of truth comes, that Spirit will guide you into all the truth; for the Spirit will not speak independently, but will speak whatever the Spirit hears, and will announce to you the things that are yet to come.” God is still speaking. Amen.

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
05/30/2010

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: [Before speaking the Pastor placed a small device on a pedestal at the head of the center isle, a device which had been used in the Children’s Time. It was a perpetual motion like machine (powered by a battery) which moved back and forth. The visual effect matched what the pastor said. The Pastor started the device and stopped the device upon getting to the word ‘silent’ in this brief statement.] “Personal testimony is when we talk about our relationship with God. I want to suggest, if we do not talk to one another about our experience of God, God becomes silent and impersonal.”

[1] The Rev. Dr. John M. Buchanan; The Christian Century, June 1, 2010; Volume 127, Number 11; From the Editor’s Desk, Page 3.

JUNE NEWSLETTER - LETTER TO THE CHURCH

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is a perennial question: ‘What is church?’ We, in the United Church of Christ tend to insist the basic unit of the church is the local church gathering. On the other hand, we also insist all Christians are called to be one in Christ.

Indeed, that is what produced our denomination, this call to be one in Christ. We, in the denomination, are a union of four distinct strands— Evangelical, Reformed, Christian and Congregational.

One of the central beliefs among us is that we are “called to be a united and uniting church.” Indeed, because of these sentiments our denomination, the United Church of Christ is involved in Churches Uniting in Christ, an organization seeking to establish full communion among nine Protestant denominations in America. The denominational motto found emblazoned on the logo of the United Church of Christ “That they all may be one” is taken from John 17:21. If you are unfamiliar with that logo go to the United Church of Christ Wikipedia page and it is on the right side of that page:

Another thing is often said in our denomination: “In essentials— unity, in non-essentials— diversity, in all things— charity.” Again, this presents a willingness to be one.

These United Church of Christ mottos are a part of our core values, a belief that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. These affirm a belief that we are all one in Christ, that at the Communion table we recognize each other’s reality and each other’s humanity. These affirmations recognize that we are willing to listen to the call of God on our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It has been said our overarching creed is love. United Church of Christ pastors and teachers are known for their commitment to excellence in theological preparation, interpretation of the scripture and advocacy for justice. Even so, love and unity in the midst of our diversity are our greatest assets.

Coming back to the initial question: ‘What is church?’ I recently came across a definition offered by one Rowan Williams, (A.K.A. the Archbishop of Canterbury) which I think is sound. “Church,” says Williams, is “a distinctive social body given coherence by the action of God in Jesus.” I find both the breadth and the precision of this definition appealing. It is broad because it encompasses the local church and the greater church. It is narrow because it recognizes our unity in “the action of God in Jesus.”

All that brings me to what we will be doing with our brothers and sisters in Christ at the Methodist Church on Sunday June the 20th. As a community of faith, we shall join with another community of faith. We will gather at the Broad Street United Methodist Church at 10:30 a.m. to celebrate the fact that Nancy Jill Hale has been ordained.

The special guests at this service will include a combined choir and handbell choir (with members of both the Broad Street Church the United Church of Christ choir and bell choir) offering some wonderful music. The Rev. Dr. Karen Westerfield Tucker, professor of liturgy at Boston University School of Theology and Nancy’s doctoral advisor, will bring the message. The Rev. Beth Spaulding, one of Nancy’s fellow doctoral students, will share her wonderful vocal gifts. Steph Budwey, another doctoral student at Boston University and an outstanding organist, will play several pieces. Bill Ellis, Nancy’s CART (captioning) reporter, will provide live captions for the service.

Last, at this service, Pastor Nancy will consecrate Holy Communion for the first time as an “Ordained Elder” of the United Methodists. After the service, members of the United Methodist Women will provide refreshments in the fellowship hall. This will be a special and very joyous celebration!

All of which is to say we will join with the Methodists in celebrating these outward signs of our unity in Christ. Joining with them means not just that we do this because it is within our tradition of reaching out. It means celebrating with our brothers and sisters in Christ, celebrating the work of the church as that work is acted out in ordained ministry.

So, as I often say, “see you in church.”


In Faith,

Joe Connolly

P.S. June is filled with special Sunday events. See the schedule on the cover of this newsletter. Also note: we will put out a newsletter toward the end of June with the Summer Schedule.

05/23/2010 ~ Day of Pentecost ~ Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; Romans 8:14-17 or Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, (25-27).

Adopted

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” — Romans 8:14.

What’s in a name? (Slight pause.) Here’s why I ask this question, ‘what’s in a name’: it happened again last week. And it happens over and over and over again. I’m getting tired of it.

What is this “it” I’m taking about? For some public function or in a personal correspondence, someone will misspell my last name.

It happens at least once a month, if truth be told. Last week, I offered the invocation at the Boy Scout Dinner which honored Darrel Forsythe. Nothing against Darrel or the Boy Scouts, but the program for the evening had my name wrong, misspelled.

Now, I suppose that’s my fault. After all, it is my name. And, after all, there are about two dozen ways to spell Connolly. CONNOLLY is how I do it. Or as I like to say [at this point the pastor sings the tune by George Cohan Harrigan, which fits the name “Connolly” perfectly] C-O DOUBLE NN O L-L-Y SPELLS CONNOLLY— for those of you who remember George Cohan.

As you probably realize, here are all kinds of variations on that spelling. You can spell it with an ‘E’ or with one ‘N’ or one ‘L’— sky’s the limit— all kinds of ways to do it.

So, since it’s my name, why don’t I just have the common sense to change that name to something else, something easy. Jones? Smith? Or, perhaps, Scott.

Scott, you see, is Bonnie’s maiden name. How often do you see Scott misspelled? There are only two ways to spell it: one ‘T’ or two. So, it probably would have saved a lot of trouble if, instead of Bonnie changing her name to ‘Connolly,’ I had just changed my name to ‘Scott.’

Indeed, when I go into a restaurant and they ask for a name to call out when a table is ready, I never say “Connolly.” I always use Bonnie’s name. I say “Scott.” I tell them my name is ‘Scott’ even when Bonnie isn’t there.

And no maitre d' ever asks how to spell ‘Scott.’ They know. And no one mispronounces it when a table is ready. The name ‘Scott,’ is easy to pronounce, easy to understand, easy to hear over the din in a crowded restaurant. Life would be so much easier. (Slight pause.)

Just as an aside about names, I’ve also never really wanted to do too much ancestral research about my name. Why? Well, this much I know for sure: the presence of the Connolly clan— that is, the specific brand of Irish immigrants who are my ancestors, whose DNA I carry and spell the name CONNOLLY— can be traced in the environs of New York City back around the time just before the Civil War, the 1850s.

And, as I am sure you know, the most notorious set of scandals ever in New York City, a place well known for scandals, was when the so called “Boss Tweed” administration was in control. They had the power when it came to the politics of the city in the 1860s and the 1870s.

Well, the Comptroller of the City of New York at that time, during the Boss Tweed Administration, was one Richard “Slippery Dick” Connolly— CONNOLLY. Am I related? I don’t know and I don’t want to know. But considering the number of ways there are to spell “Connolly” the odds are pretty good some kind of relationship is present. (Slight pause.)

Well, that having been said... what is in a name? Certainly not scandals or spellings or mispronunciations. (Slight pause.)

And these words are found in the work known as the Letter to the Church in Rome: “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” (Slight pause.)

What’s in a name? What do names tell us? Notice, I did not ask ‘what do names say about us?’ but ‘what do names tell us?’ I want to suggest names, quite specifically, tell us about the people to whom we are related, related by DNA or related by marriage. (Slight pause.)

Bonnie’s brother, Jack, married a woman who already had a daughter, Heather. Heather was only three when Jack and Susan got married. Jack raised Heather. But that did not make Jack a blood relationship. There was no DNA involved— in fact, even no adoptions. Jack simply raised Heather.

Still, Heather, now at age 39, knows what the real relationship is and what the real relationship is about. She regularly calls her birth father, the one to whom she is connected only by DNA, by his first name. On the other hand, she calls Jack ‘Dad.’ Jack is the one to whom she is really related, not by DNA but by choice and by the closeness of how she relates to him.

So, I think this is clear: names say something about blood relationships. Names say something about to whom we are related by DNA or by marriage. But names say absolutely nothing about to whom we relate. (Slight pause.)

When this work known as Romans says (quote:) “...God has adopted you as children...” this is not about blood relationship. It is about how God relates to us. God relates to us by choice. This addresses the claim God has made about the closeness of the relationship. (Slight pause.)

So, shifting gears just a hair, what is Pentecost about? Pentecost is about a choice God makes. The choice God makes is that we are all children of God. The question that brings up for me, however, is this: do we believe it? Given the promise of Pentecost, do we believe we are all children of God? (Slight pause.)

As pastor friend of mine recently pointed me to a video on the internet about Pentecost. And I’d like to share that video with you.

And, no, I don’t have a screen on which to show it. But don’t worry. The video contained words— only words, and I can share those. The video tells not just the story of Pentecost but also tells the story of our legacy because of Pentecost. And this is what the video said. (Slight pause.)

Go ahead. Admit it. You are all wondering about the future. Everyone is. And you are maybe even wondering: do we have a future? Will the church survive? Will our children have faith? Will our faith have children?

There are so many challenges. Money. Divisions. Arguments. We are getting older. How are we going to pay the bills?

We don’t know the people next door anymore. Why would they want to come to this church? People pass by. We don’t know them. No one comes in. They are outside. We are inside.

And so we wait, inside. And we watch, the outside. And we worry. We don’t know what to do. Won’t someone come and help us? (Slight pause.)

These are big questions. But we are not the first to ask them. Did you know there’s a story in the Bible that is exactly like this? Do you remember?

There were only a few left. People passed by... outside. They were waiting, watching... inside. They did not know what to do. And then it happened— wind, fire, noise... then silence. (Pause.) But what happened... really? What did they do... really?

After all, no one came and took away their problems. Divisions, arguments, all their problems still existed. Instead, the Spirit came and created a new problem. That’s right— the Holy Spirit showed up and created a problem.

They could not stay inside. They had to go outside and tell and share and preach and serve and care and hold and listen and feed and teach and witness and pray... and love.

They just could not help it. And that was Pentecost. So, I’ve got some bad news and I’ve got some good news. The bad news is: there is no one coming to fix the problems. The good news is: the solutions you seek are all around you. The Spirit is present. You have the strength and courage and compassion to do that. And you have a story to tell.

Indeed, the good news can get even better. Here’s how: let’s just imagine one person reaching out to another and then another and then another to tell and to share and to preach and to serve and to care and to hold and to listen and to feed and to teach and to witness and to pray... and to love.

Why? Because we can’t help it. It’s Pentecost. (Slight pause.) End of video (Slight pause.)

So, what does it mean to be children of God? It means God chooses us. It means the Spirit of God is with us.

And it also means reaching out to another and then another and then another to tell and share and preach and serve and care and hold and listen and feed and teach and witness and pray... and love. (Pause.)

Why? How? (Quote:) “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Amen.

05/23/2010
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “The Pentecost event also, of course, asks a difficult question: ‘do we care about the presence of the Spirit.’ If we do, then we will reach out to one another and tell and share and preach and serve and care and hold and listen and feed and teach and witness and pray and love.” [1]

[1] I did alter the text in the video slightly, but not drastically. There is a soundtrack on the video, but the words are not spoken. The following is the URL and it is a product of the folks behind the web site known as : .

5/16/2010: Ascension of the Lord ~ 05/13/2010 ~ Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 or Psalm 93; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53.

05/16/2010 ~ Seventh Sunday of Easter and the Last Sunday in Eastertide ~ (If Ascension not observed here) ~ Acts 16:16-34; Psalm 97; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26.

05/16/2010 ~ Seventh and the Last Sunday in Eastertide, Sometimes Celebrated as the Sunday Closest to the Ascension ~ Note: Ascension Thursday Readings Were the Readings Used on 5/16/2010 ~ Used Ephesians 1:15-23, Psalm 47 as a Responsive Reading and Luke 24:44-53.

Opening the Mind

“Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written: the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. And, in the Name of the Messiah, repentance for the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses to all this.’” — Luke 24:45-48.


I think it’s likely most of us have had this experience: you are on a long, long car ride, going across the state or across several states, driving down an interstate three, four, five hours, maybe more. You are bored and you are hungry. One rest stop goes by. And another. And another.

Finally, you can’t take it anymore. You need to stop. Surely, among other necessities, you at least need to get out of the car and stretch, right.

But there is something else. You need to eat. Energy levels, especially when driving on a boring highway, need replenishing. And, even though you knew it would have been a good idea to pack a cooler and bring your own food and drink... you didn’t.

So, you look to pull into one of those ubiquitous rest stops. Food of some kind is to be had there and you need to give in.

Perhaps the very sign promising food and hovering over the highway, pushing into the sky, made you stop. The sign seemed to be, somehow, reaching out and beckoning you, pointing an invisible finger right at you.

Yes! Now, that’s a perfect alibi, isn’t it? It’s not your fault. Blame it on the sign. The sign lured you in. Besides, the place to which the sign summoned you is so... is so... familiar. It’s downright comforting, a known quantity.

And you are tired. The idea of making a serious decision or giving serious thought to what you should eat, is the about last thing you want to do.

And here’s the clincher: you know and I know, you don’t even have make a choice. What’s there at the rest stop is what’s there— Arbys, Burger King, McDonald’s— the familiar, the comfortable, the known and the limited.

Besides, if the kids are with you, you know they will eat this stuff. Bottom line? You don’t care and you don’t know and you don’t really want to know.

So, you park the car and do what you know you shouldn’t do what you then do. You have a burger... and fries... and a Coke— not the diet version— Coke, the real thing— sugar and caffeine. And, even if you try to be a little cautious and order some kind of chicken sandwich or a salad, who knows how long this stuff has been sitting there, just waiting for its unsuspecting prey— maybe a decade or two. (Slight pause.)

Now, that’s a slice of life here in the early Twenty-first Century, right? Even when you’re not on the road— not enough time, too much to do— that sounds normal, right? So, you choose the familiar, the comfortable, the known. Limiting choices seems wise.

But, in reality, most of the choices are already made for us, aren’t they? We’ve been told a hundred times over, in commercial after commercial, these familiar, comfortable, known, limited choices are all right, safe. We don’t have to think. What’s that tag line? Oh, I know. Just do it. (Slight pause.)

And these words around found in the work known as Luke/Acts in the section commonly called Luke. “Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written: the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. And, in the Name of the Messiah, repentance for the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses to all this.’” (Slight pause.)

I believe today many people find the study of Scripture challenging. And I believe one of the reasons people find that study challenging is society has sent us a plain but misleading message about Scripture: studying Scripture is simple. Read it. You’ll get it. You’ll understand it right away.

But for may of us, when we try to simply read it, if we bring even an ounce of reason to the project— meaning if we refuse to take Scripture literally which is, in fact, the message society really sends us about Scripture, take it literally— if we bring an ounce of reason to the project, we find studying Scripture is harder than we anticipated.

How hard? Well, let’s look at the Gospel story we heard today. Let me invite you to put yourselves in the shoes of the disciples for a moment. They have spent years with Jesus. They have studied with Jesus. After all, they call him Rabbi— teacher.

Then they see Jesus executed. Then they see Jesus raised from the dead. Yet, they don’t seem to understand Scripture. They can’t seem to connect the dots. So, the resurrected Jesus needs to open (quote): “...their minds to understand the Scriptures...”

Open their minds about what? Be open to the narrative found in what the disciples call Scripture, what we, today, call the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament.

What does Jesus help them understand in these works? (Quote): “...the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.” And because of that— because the Messiah suffered and was raised from the dead— they are commissioned to proclaim repentance to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Slight pause.)

Now, I do need to be clear about something you just heard: repentance does not mean being sorry or sad. Repentance means giving one’s heart to God. (Slight pause.)

So, why did Jesus need to open their minds to understand the Scriptures? Well, maybe the disciples had a long trip on the highway. Maybe they had seen too many commercials for fast food chains.

Maybe they were too overwrought with their busy everyday existence. Or maybe, just maybe, connecting all the dots, understand who God is and understanding who Jesus is and understanding what God has done in Jesus, even with the Scriptures as a resource, even with the resurrected Jesus standing there, is not easy. (Slight pause.)

An example of exactly how hard Scripture might be to understand is found at the end of this reading. (Quote): “While blessing them, the Savior withdrew from them and was carried to heaven.” O.K. Jesus leaves. Got that?

But then (quote): “...the disciples worshiped the risen Christ....” Jesus left. But the disciples are worshiping the risen Christ. Does that, therefore, also mean Jesus, having left, is still there, among them, with them? (Slight pause.)

Guess what? As confusing as that sounds and as hard as it is for us to make any sense of that paradox, this is exactly what we Christians have believed for two millennia. Christ died. Christ was raised. Christ is alive, among us, in our midst. (Slight pause.)

So, how do we, how can we get to a place of belief about the risen Christ, alive in our midst? (Slight pause.) I want to suggest the answer is twofold. First, we do need to study Scripture. We do need to take Scripture seriously. After all, Jesus took Scripture seriously.

The second part may seem counterintuitive to most people. Most people will tell you seek the place your heart lies and your mind will follow.

Do you know what the problem with that is? The problem with that is fast food. If we thought for a moment about what fast food is— no matter how bored or tired or busy we were— if we would only think, we would not eat fast food. But the heart... is easily swayed.

So, paradoxically and therefore, the second step in taking Scripture seriously is, having studied it enough to take it seriously, we then to let go of the intellect. We need to give our hearts to Scripture. We need to give our hearts to God.

Why? What is the Easter proclamation? “Christ is risen!” While Scripture must first be studied, no part of the intellect, no part of the brain can understand those words— “Christ is risen!” Any understanding of those words must come from the heart.

On the other hand, if we say “Christ is risen” in an unthinking way, if we simply mouth them, repeat them, say them by rote, the words “Christ is risen” become fast food. The words are rendered... meaningless. (Slight pause.)

I invite you to remember this: Scripture is not fast food. Scripture is much more like a home cooked meal. You do have to work at it— put both your mind and your heart there.

So, let us allow our minds to be open to Scripture. Let us allow our hearts to be open to Scripture. Let us repent. Let us turn our whole being, heart and mind, toward God. Amen.

05/16/2010
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Perhaps the most challenging words for anyone in this reading from Luke are these (quote): ‘You are witnesses to all this.’ We are commissioned as witnesses to the reality of the resurrection, commissioned as witnesses to the reality of bringing both our hearts and minds to God. Needless to say, some folks think only the heart will do. Apologizing for sounding judgmental, but they are wrong. Some folks think only the mind will suffice. Apologizing for sounding judgmental, but they are wrong. I would suggest we cannot be witnesses unless we bring both our mind and our heart, our whole being, to God— the meaning of the word repent.”

05/09/2010 ~ Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9 ~ Note: Celebrated as Mother’s Day on the Secular Calendar; Celebrated as the Festival of the Christian Home on the Church Calendar.

Scripture and Society

“As [Lydia] eagerly listened, Christ opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying.” — Acts 16:14

Over the course of my adult life, I have had the privilege of being a member of different churches across three denominations: Catholic, Episcopal and the United Church of Christ— Congregational. But an individual belongs to a local church and, as it happens, each of the individual, local churches to which I belonged have had outstanding music programs.

I was reminded of my early involvement with church music last week when I was driving around and I heard a piece of music on National Public Radio. The work was quite familiar to me— Credo III, a Gregorian Chant version, sung in Latin, of the Nicene Creed.

You see, by the time I was a High School Sophomore I was a member of the adult choir at my local Catholic church. The notes of the chant floating in the air transported me back to the poorly lit choir loft at Saint Thomas Church.

In the Mass, a priest would intone these words [the pastor chants]: “Credo in unum Deum.” The choir responded: “Patrem omni potentem, factorem caeli et terrare, visibilum omnium, et in visibilium.” I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible— the Nicene Creed. (Slight pause.)

I got to my destination before the Credo ended. I sat there, car running, radio on, waiting for the final notes. I had not thought about that music in years. But, as you can see or perhaps hear, I was culturally attuned to it. I say that because its essence was clearly seared into my soul, never to be forgotten.

Most of us on the ‘Reformed Church’ side of the Protestant ledger where Congregationalists sit, are probably unfamiliar with Credo III. Folks in the so called ‘high church tradition,’ Catholics, Anglicans, who rely more heavily on elaborate liturgy, are likely to be on the side of the spectrum where these things are heard, felt.

But here’s the real truth: all church is local. Each local church has its own culture, especially when it comes to music.

I have an example of that. At the Episcopal Church I attended in Manhattan, when the first bar of a hymn was played, the congregation stood. Standing when the music started was the habit of that local culture. When Bonnie and I were (pardon the expression) courting, the first time I went to a service at First Parish Church, United Church of Christ in Brunswick, Maine, being used to what happened at my church in New York City, when the initial notes of the opening hymn played, I jumped to my feet.

I looked around and realized everyone else was planted firmly in their seats. Some folks stared at me. Perhaps a little embarrassed she had not schooled me in the local culture, Bonnie tugged mightily on my sleeve, trying to pull me back to the seat.

But I figured I’d be waiting there for them when they stood. So I didn’t move. And I was there for them when they stood.

I learned my lesson, though. The two church cultures treated this differently and at the Brunswick Church one stood only toward the end of the introduction. (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as Luke/Acts in the section called as Acts: “As [Lydia] eagerly listened, Christ opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying.” (Slight pause.)

When reading Scripture some vital questions need to be asked. First, ‘What do we, because of understandings based only in our own culture, the culture in which we live today, read into the words?’

Second: ‘Which details in Scripture are details simply about that culture, that time, so long ago when Scripture was written?’ After all, the details which are merely part of ancient times are simply a part of ancient times. They have no bearing on the message God might have for us.

Last, ‘what details can we find which might tell us something not about the culture of ages past and not about our current culture. What details might reveal something about the culture of the Dominion of God?’ (Slight pause.)

Now, if that sounds like a tall order, it is. But make no mistake about it. Unless we ask those questions, we are not taking Scripture seriously— and, of course, I’m making the assumption that everyone here takes Scripture seriously— unless we ask those questions, we are not taking Scripture seriously. We are simply using it like a rabbits foot. Rub it and get some answer— any answer will do.

Further, when we fail to ask those questions, the answers we do get will probably be both comforting and self serving. Why? The answers we get will likely be ones which support our own culture, not the culture of the Dominion of God.

You see, as mentioned earlier, one’s own culture gets seared into the soul. There is no way around that. The current culture is so pervasive it is both hard to recognize and hard to ignore.

How hard are cultural influences to recognize? Before the American Civil War, based simply on what could be found in Scripture, pastors in both the South and the North vigorously defended the practice of slavery.

And, indeed, there are many passages in Scripture which can be seen as defending slavery. There are many passages which can be seen as defending polygamy, passages which can be read as defending apartheid. These passages were written when those practices were, culturally, normal. But those practices are not theologically normal. They are culturally normal— or were culturally normal.

That’s why, if we happen to find a specific practice in Scripture which feels comfortable in today’s culture, without thinking, we buy into that cultural detail. Slavery is the obvious example.

Why did people think slavery was acceptable? The pre-Civil War culture said slavery is normal. And that culture was, as is all culture, seared into the soul. (Slight pause.)

It has been said the Bible is the most counter-cultural document ever written. Why? Scripture tries to convey the culture of the Dominion of God. Scripture tries to convey the culture of the love of God. Take my word for it— the culture of the Dominion of God and the culture of the love of God is very counter-cultural. (Slight pause.)

So, what can we see in this story of Lydia which might suggest the culture of the Dominion, the culture of love is present? Can we look at the culture today and the culture in New Testament times, sort out those influences and, perhaps, see what message about the Dominion of God and the love of God is present in the text? (Slight pause.)

Lydia is a gentile. Her name tells us that. Still, a group of Jewish men, Paul and the companions, engage in conversation. That would be abnormal on at least two counts.

Paul would not speak to someone who was a gentile. Paul would not speak to someone who was a woman. Either would have been a violation of the cultural standards in that era.

Additionally, it was not normal in that era for women, even a gentile woman, to have rights. Women were thought of as property. So, we know Lydia is really unusual because the story tells us she is both independently wealthy and the head of a household.

We know she was wealthy because she was (quote): “a dealer in purple cloth.” In this era wealthy people are the only ones allowed to wear or buy purple cloth and it is very expensive. A merchant dealing in purple cloth— Lydia would access to wealth and more— station and mobility.

And the fact that Lydia is the head of a household and no male is mentioned also says she is wealthy. Last, it needs to be noted that, in this era, ‘head of household’ meant all the people living in the house and all the relatives and all the slaves— yes, there was slavery.

As for the culture today, women are not property but every statistic you can find shows do earn less then men even when working the same job and you know and I know are often made into objects by our culture— objectified. So, the interaction we see between men and women in this story does not exactly jibe with how the culture today sees women and certainly does not jibe with how the culture in New Testament times saw women.

All this leaves us asking, once we examine the cultural aspects of the story and the culture today, what’s left? What’s left is men and women interacting as equals, acting as disciples of Christ. They seek the will of God, the love of God, the Dominion of God as the story of Christ reflects that Dominion. They listen for the voice of the Spirit of God. (Slight pause.)

Culture, when you think about it, comes in small pieces— when do the people of the church stand for a hymn? Culture, when you think about it, comes in large pieces— are women property? Are women treated as objects? And we really do need to pay attention to both the small pieces and the large pieces.

The culture of the Dominion comes in only one piece. All people are equal before God and one another. All people are equal before God and one another. Hence, all people are loved by God. All people are invited, by God, to love one another. That... is what culture of the Dominion of God looks like.

So, what is our job, now, here today, as the culture called church, this local church? We need to be on a journey of self discovery as we try to seek the culture of God, try to follow the culture of love.

How? Scripture is actually primary but Scripture should not be treated like a rabbits foot. Be wary of conclusions which are simply or only cultural— meaning our culture.

Indeed, let us remember that the culture of the Dominion, the culture in which God wants us to live, has only two precepts: love God; love each other. And let us seek a culture of discipleship, seek to be a congregation which shares the culture of God, this culture of love.

And let us allow the culture of love to supersede all other cultures. Let us allow the culture of God to be seared into our soul. Amen.

05/09/2010
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “There is no question about this: the culture gets seared into us— ‘cross on the green, not in between.’ [1] But there are times the culture of God, the culture of love must supercede the culture which surrounds us. And, therefore, the biggest challenge we will ever face is twofold. Discerning what the culture of God really is and allowing for that culture to be seared into our soul.”

[1] At the Children’s Time the pastor talked about traffic lights. They are not actually red and green. But we can’t see that because everyone tells us they are red and green so we believe they are red and green, even though they are not. So called ‘green’ lights actually have some blue in them. So called ‘red’ light actually have some orange in them.

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, FIRST CONGREGATIONAL, NORWICH, NY ~ PASTOR’S LETTER

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, FIRST CONGREGATIONAL, NORWICH, NY ~ PASTOR’S LETTER

Dear Friends in Christ,

Tom Peters is a consultant and a famous writer who specializes in the topic of business. I am sure many have heard about or read his most famous book: In Search of Excellence, first published in 1982.

Peters is still active and has a significant number of business clients. Given the recession (which seems to be easing up), last year he was asked by clients to publish a list of recession strategies. I recently came across that list.

If truth be told, these are not recession strategies. My suspicion is Peters recycled some old, sound strategies, because these are strategies to which one needs to pay attention all the time.

In any case, when I read them I realized most of them applied to what the membership of a church, the laity of a church, should be doing both in times of slump and in times of plenty. I have cut out those that clearly or only apply to business and edited them a little, but here they are: Strategies by Tom Peters.

***

Work harder. Adapt to untoward circumstances with a smile— even if it hurts. Volunteer to do more. Dig deep; always bring a good attitude. Fake it when attitude flags.

Give new meaning to the idea and the intensive practice of “visible management.” Take better than usual care of self and encourage other people to do the same— physical well-being determines mental well-being in response to stress to a significant degree.

Try to forget about the “good old days”— nostalgia is self-destructive. Buck up with the thought: “this too shall pass” — and then remember it might not pass anytime soon and so become rededicated to making the absolute best of what is happening now. Work the phones and then work the phones and then work the phones some more, i.e.: be in touch with absolutely everybody.

Frequently invent breaks from routine, including “strange” breaks— “change-ups” of one sort or another prevent wallowing in the old and to help bring a fresh perspective.

Sweat the details as never before.

Sweat the details as never before.

Sweat the details as never before.

Raise to the sky and maintain at all costs the Standards of Excellence by which what happens is unfailingly evaluated. Be maniacal when it comes to responding to even the slightest of problems.

Find ways to be around young people and to keep young people around— they are far less likely to be members of the “sky is falling” school. Be reminded that any difficult situation is not just something to be “gotten through;” it is the Final Exam of Character.

Network like a demon. Network inside and get to know more people. Network outside and get to know more people. Thank others by the truckload if good things happen and take the heat when stuff goes wrong.

Behave kindly but don’t sugar coat and don’t hide the truth— human beings are amazingly resilient and rumors are the real killers. Treat small successes as if they were Super Bowl victories— and celebrate and commend accordingly. Shrug off the losses (while ignoring what’s going on in one’s stomach) and get back to work. And immediately try again and then try again and then try again.

Avoid negative people to any extent able— pollution kills. Eventually read the gloom and doom set the “Riot Act.”

Give new meaning to the word “thoughtful.” Don’t put limits on the flowers budget— “bright and colorful” works marvels. Be mindful of manners, one’s personal behavior, while graciously accepting a lack of manners, less than admirable behavior, in others.

Be kind to all humankind. Leave the blame game at the door. Call out the congenital politicians in absolutely no uncertain terms. Become a paragon of personal accountability.

And then pray.

***

And, no, I did not make up that last one. Tom Peters, business consultant, world famous author of business books in a list of sound business practices said: “And then pray.”

And, as a colleague of mine often says in his newsletter: “See you in church.”

In Faith,
Joe Connolly

Fifth Sunday of Easter

05/02/2010 ~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35 ~ Communion Sunday.

Repentance

“‘I realized then that God was giving them the same gift that had been given to us when we believed that Jesus is the Christ. And who am I to stand in the way of God?’ When they heard this, the account satisfied them. And they gave glory to God, saying, ‘Then God has granted, even to the Gentiles, the repentance that leads to life.’” — Acts 11:17-18.

Someone recently asked me if technology has changed how church works. Well, locally at least, one obvious place is that it’s speeded up our production time on things like newsletters. We do our newsletter in about 60% less time than twenty years ago.

And my ability to be in contact with other pastors has grown. I talk not just to local pastors. I regularly exchange ideas with colleagues in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and California. How? Facebook.

Perhaps, the real answer about technology is it has changed not just church but everything. We can now do things in ways faster, more efficiently and with more connectedness. Just look at all the devices— cell phones, G.P.S. systems, computers, the internet— these do seem to have changed the world in which we live.

When I did my Master’s Thesis, my advisor, trying to helpful, described how she compiled data as she worked on her Doctoral Dissertation in the late 1970s. She painstakingly explained that, as she found data she thought might be useful, she took notes on 3x5 cards, making sure to include all the reference information for footnotes.

She then filed these 3x5 cards in shoe boxes, topic by topic. If she thought the information crossed topic boundaries, she even made copies of the card so she could put the same information in more than one place. Then, as she wrote her Dissertation, she went to a topic, found what she needed and recopied the information all over again.

Some twelve years after she wrote her Dissertation, I wrote my Master’s thesis. But things had changed. When I wrote that thesis, fifteen years ago, I already had a laptop computer. As I found useful information, I put all of it in one continuous word processing file. The program allowed me to footnote the information right in the file.

I did not need to arrange anything by topic because I could search for any word. As I wrote my thesis, when I came to a place I thought a bit of information I had found might make sense to use, it was just a matter of finding the pertinent quote, copying it from the research file and pasting it into the thesis file. The footnote even copied right where it belonged.

About half way through the process of writing of my thesis, I explained to my advisor the intricacies of my electronic shoe box. Now, when she did her Doctoral Dissertation, personal computers did not even exist. But she knew computers. When I was doing my Master’s Thesis, she already had several machines. But utilizing the machine the way I was had just never occurred to her.

The moral of the story I think is obvious: change happens. Sometimes we see it. Sometimes we don’t. Further, we might not recognize change, even when we think we know what’s happening, even when we think we are up to speed with where the world is going. Change can and will sneak up on us. (Slight pause.)

Now, here’s a common conceit: the idea that the kind of change the passage of time inexorably brings always means progress. Whenever I hear people insist change and progress are synonymous, I am reminded of a passage in Letter From a Birmingham Jail by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

That attitude, wrote King, stems from (quote): “the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually,” he said, “time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively”— destructively or constructively— our call, no? (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as Luke/Acts in the section commonly labeled as Acts: “‘I realized then that God was giving them the same gift that had been given to us when we believed that Jesus is the Christ. And who am I to stand in the way of God?’ When they heard this, the account satisfied them. And they gave glory to God, saying, ‘Then God has granted, even to the Gentiles, the repentance that leads to life.’” (Slight pause.)

Our culture teaches that to be repentant means to be sorry. That not is what the word means in the Bible. From the Biblical perspective, repentance means to turn one’s life over to God totally and wholly. To be repentant means to turn one’s heart over to God totally and wholly. (Slight pause.)

In her book Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, the Episcopal Priest and well known author Barbara Brown Taylor says (quote): “If I had to name my disability, I would call it an unwillingness to fall.... This reluctance signals the mistrust of the central truth of the gospel: life springs from death, not only at the last but also in the many little deaths along the way.”

“When everything you count on for protection has fled, the Divine Presence is with you. The hands of God are still there— not promising to rescue, not promising to intervene— promising only to hold you no matter how far you fall.” (Slight pause.)

Taken together, the two quotes I’ve offered, the one from Dr. King and the one from Barbara Brown Taylor, would seem to indicate we need to do two things. We need to trust God in the midst of constant change and we need to do the constructive work— the constructive work of change God calls us to do.

When we add the story from Acts into the mix, I think we get a fairly clear picture of what that work might look like. Indeed, the witness of New Testament affirms the radically new era ushered in with the advent— the life, death and the resurrection of Jesus— who is the Christ.

Peter explains to those assembled that the sense of exclusiveness with which they had lived in their community was no longer operative. Why? Because of Jesus, the Dominion of God was at hand. With the advent of the Dominion, God insisted everyone was valued and invited to participate in the Dominion. (Slight pause.)

So, the community of Christ, both then and now, finds itself in an old, familiar ballpark playing a new game, a different game. The new game constantly demands not just change but a fresh start, daily— each and every day.

Why? This change game, this game of change is constant. We are constantly and daily invited by God to repent, to be renewed, to turn our lives over to God. Thereby, we are constantly and daily invited by God to create a welcoming community.

Perhaps because of that, this is a time when apprehension, excitement and expectation are all real. And this very apprehension, excitement and expectation— this time of change— is what makes this a time to fully trust God.

Indeed, the place to which we are called looks like the description I offered moments ago: old park, new game, real tensions. And that— old park, new game, real tensions— that is a definition of change. But that is also definition of repentance. It is a definition of repentance because it requires us to turn our lives over to God.

So, what is true repentance? Repentance means not just to turn our lives over to God but to fully trust in God. Why? You know and I know— things are changing. Amen.

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Because it is significant too, I’d like to share a word about the Gospel reading today and how it recognizes change in and of itself. (By the way, of you want to hear more, I’m preaching on it at Chenango Valley Home at 3:00 o’clock. So, you can come on down!) The commandment to love is not new. The commandment to love lies at the heart of the Torah, after all. What is new, therefore, is not the commandment to love. Rather, what is new is that the commandment to love derives from the incarnation, the advent of Jesus, the Messiah, and the ways in which the Spirit can be present to the believer. And these are fully revealed in Jesus and in the resurrection. Indeed certainly one meaning of resurrection is that change is now a given.”