SERMON ~ 04/28/2013 ~ “Changes”

04/28/2013 ~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35.

Changes

“I had hardly started to speak when the Holy Spirit fell upon them in the same way she had upon us at the beginning.” — Acts 11:15.

Many of you know our parishioner Gary Gray.  (Gary wave so we can see...  O.K.  That’s Gary.)  When we were quite young— meaning he and I— when we were quite young, probably more years ago than either Gary or I care to mention, the job we both had was called “computer operator.”

We worked at very different places, however.  I was working for Bloomingdale’s in New York City.  Gary was working in Norwich for NBT. [1]  But we both were working with the same style of main frame computer.

The amount of memory that computer had was 12K, that’s 12 thousand positions in memory.  The amount of physical space that computer took up was an area at least the size of the Founder’s Room, where we have coffee hour.

[The pastor holds up a small electronic device, an iPod Touch.]  This is an iPod Touch.  It has 32 billion positions in memory and it’s not even the biggest one they make.  I’ll do the math for you.  That means this little thing is 2,666,666,666 times the memory, it’s that many times more powerful than something which was, not that long ago, the size of the Founder’s Room.  (Slight pause.)  Things do change.  (Slight pause.)

So, let’s look at a little history.  To do this, to look at history, I ask you to do me favor.  Imagine yourself right here in Norwich but it’s 1833.  Close your eyes, if you think it will help you conjure up those days of yesteryear.

Imagine what it might have been like in 1833, horses and wagons, no electricity, no gas and the river is down there [the pastor waves to the right] way a piece.  Indeed, that’s why the east-west street the church is on is known as Main Street.  Main Street was, in fact, the main street, the important street, leading to the River.

And one of the major things which was going on back in 1833 was the building of the Chenango Canal, which ran north and south.  The canal opened in1834, the same year the Village of Binghamton was incorporated— the village of Binghamton. [2]

Now, in a similar way, imagine yourself right here in Norwich but it’s 1879.  By 1879, this is a very different town than it was in 1833.  The old wood church which stood on the land where we are sitting today had burned down in 1860.  The so called Brick Church had been built in 1862 and today we still meet for worship in that shell of that Brick Church.

Again, I’ll do the math for you.  1833 to 1879— that’s 46 years between the two.  But the canal?— the canal is now closed.  Why?  It was called the railroad, that’s why.  The canal was open for just 44 years only to be replaced by the railroad. [3]  (Slight pause.)  Things do change.

Well, let’s fast forward a little.  It is now 1928 and you’re still here in Norwich.  Your family gets a new car.  It’s not a Model-T, since Ford stopped making those in 1927, the year before.  It’s 1928 and the family just bought Model-A Ford.

But it is 1928 and things are very different than they are today.  What makes it a different era?  Try this: women had only achieved the right to vote nine years earlier.

The first Presidential election in which women could vote was 1920, when Republican Warren Harding faced off against Democrat James Cox.  Harding, the Republican, won the election taking every last state in the north and the west.  Cox, the Democrat, took all the southern states, except Tennessee— pretty much the opposite of the political landscape today.  (Slight pause.)  Things do change.

So, here’s the issue to consider: you are here, in Norwich.  It is 1928.  The family has a new car.  Does “Mom” (pardon the expression) learn how to drive that Model-A or is driving (pardon the expression) “the man’s job,” something only Dad does.

Please, don’t misunderstand me.  I know in some families, even then, that was not an issue.  I’m making an inquiry about the culture and its perceptions.

In fact, not that long ago most families got along with just one car.  I know a woman, now in her early seventies, who raised four boys on West Hill in Oxford.  Every day her husband went off to work with the only car.  She could go nowhere— stuck on West Hill.  (Slight pause.)  Things do change.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from Luke/Acts in the section known as Acts: “I had hardly started to speak when the Holy Spirit fell upon them in the same way she had upon us at the beginning.”  (Slight pause.)

If you think the word prophecy means foretelling the future, then it needs to be said we Christians have an abysmal record at being prophets.  In the true letters of Paul, in the early ones, the disciple express a clear opinion that the second coming of Christ is around the corner.  That opinion is so clear it is stunning how much Paul pulls back from the position in the later letters.

And while some Christians have wrestled with the Apocalypse, the so called ‘end times’ from the get go, it is amazing how many in just the last 150 years have made calculations which offer precise dates as to when the world might end.  Some even took actions based on those calculations.  And they have always been wrong.

I maintain to think the world will end in our time is nothing more than ego-centric.  If it has not ended over the last 2,000 years, what makes someone think they are so special that they will enjoy the privilege of seeing the Apocalypse?

Now, when we listen to the reading from Acts, there are several things to note as that reading relates to change.  First, the passage was written a long time after both Paul and Peter were not on the scene.  Which is to say the writer full well knows the end times were not around the corner.

Next, as was said when this reading was introduced, the short version of what this passage offers is this: what God has blessed we cannot deny.  And the odds are God blesses what we do not expect because of our own cultural blinders.

After all, in 1833 who could foresee the possibility of rail travel or that the Chenango Canal would last only 44 years?  Who could foresee the rapid growth of Binghamton, so fast, that in 1867, very soon after it’s 1834 founding, it would incorporate as city?

 Who could foresee in that in 1879, the year after the canal closed, even though the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment to the Constitution which freed the slaves, defined citizenship and prohibited the denial of suffrage based on race, color or previous condition of servitude— who could foresee that women would be denied the right to vote until 1920.  1920— that was 42 years after the Chenango Canal closed, 55 years after the slaves were freed. [4]  Indeed, things do change.  But sometimes they change oh, so slowly.  (Sight pause.)

So, if we Christians or even we humans are not good at predicting the future, what is prophecy about?  As you have heard me say many times before, from the Biblical perspective prophecy is about seeking the Word of God, the Truth of God.  But how does that happen?  How is the Word of God, the Truth of God discerned?  (Slight pause.)

I think we can take a cue about discerning the Word of God from Peter and we can take that cue on several counts.  First, Peter has a vision while praying.

Second, Peter does not have a clue as to what the vision means until it works out in real life and in real time.  Hence, there are two things necessary when trying to grasp change, when trying to discern change, when trying understanding change, when trying to discern the Word of God the Truth of God.

The first is prayer.  The second is work.  Since prayer seems so obviously necessary, I won’t even elaborate on that.  But work is a different issue.

By way of explaining work, let me say four things.  First, change is difficult.  Not changing is fatal— bad for your health.

Second, I have a pastor friend who always ends a service of worship with a Benediction that starts with these words: “Our worship has ended, so now our service begins!” [5]  Our worship has ended, so now our service begins!  (Slight pause.)

Next, from the history I recited earlier, I hope you picked something up.  Change may feel rapid.  But it is often painfully slow.  And change takes work.  It takes work to cope with change.  It takes work to help change happen.  It takes work just to be aware that change is the place to which God calls us.

Third [6] — third point here— a pastor friend in Florida said on Facebook that he had seen a plane with a banner which said: “Jesus is coming.  Be prepared.”  Then someone else posted the old joke line: “Jesus is coming.  Look busy.”  So, I posted: “Jesus is coming.  Love your neighbor.”

Love your neighbor.  I want to suggest that when change happens— and change will happen— loving neighbor is the way we need to address that change.  And, if there is anything I am convinced about, it is that God calls us to change.

Why am I convinced God calls us to change?  Have you not heard?  God is still speaking.  After all, it says this in Acts: “I had hardly started to speak when the Holy Spirit fell upon them in the same way she had upon us at the beginning.”  Amen.

04/28/2013
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 Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “Back when I was still working in theater as a writer, many years ago, I was writing a club act for a friend.  We went to see another club act so she could hear a piano player she was interested in having play for her act.  He was actually well enough known as a jazz musician so he had cut a couple of records in the 1960s.  She said to him, ‘Now look, You are fairly well known.  Why are you playing club acts?’  He stared at her a moment and then said: ‘I’m just working in the vineyard.’  And maybe that is what God really calls us to do: work in the vineyard.”

BENEDICTION: Our worship has ended, so now our service begins!  God is with us, always.  When we love one another, God is pleased.  And may the steadfast love of God and the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more.  Amen.

[1]  NBT - National Bank and Trust of Norwich.

[2]  It should be noted that Binghamton, just 50 mines south of Norwich, became a large town compared to Norwich.  Norwich has less than 7,000 people.  Binghamton ash over 50,000 people and nearly 200,000 people when once the suburbs close to Binghamton are tallied in the calculation.

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenango_Canal

[4]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution

[5]  A blessing by the Rev. Mr. Michael S. Piazza.

[6]   Oops!  Lost count!  That was number four.