05/31/2015 ~ Trinity Sunday ~ Known in Some Traditions as the First Sunday after Pentecost ~ Known in Some Traditions as the 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17 ~ Also the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth ~ 1 Samuel 2:1-10 ~ Psalm 113 ~ Romans 12:9-16b ~ Luke 1:39-57 ~ Inter-generational Sunday/Graduate Sunday.
The Whole Earth [1]
“They {Seraphs, celestial beings with three pairs of wings} cried out to one another and said: / ‘Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh, God, the omnipotent; / the whole earth is full with the glory of God.’” — Isaiah 6:3.
Recently New York Times columnist David Brooks asked readers to send in essays describing their purpose in life and how they found it. Brooks expected most contributors would follow the commencement-speech clichés of our high-achieving culture: dream big; set ambitious goals; try to change the world. However and in fact, a surprising number of people found their purpose by going the other way: pursuing what Brooks labeled as the small, happy life.
One person responded this way. “Perhaps, the mission in life is not a mission at all.... Everywhere there are tiny, seemingly inconsequential circumstances that, if explored, provide meaning and chances to be generous and kind. Spiritual and emotional growth happens in microscopic increments.”
Another wrote purpose in life became instantly clearer once one recognizes the reality of the “decision trap.” This trap is the phenomena whereby so called ‘big decisions’ turn out to have much less impact on life as a whole than a myriad of small, seemingly insignificant decisions one needs to make on a daily basis.
Yet another wrote, “At age 85 the question of meaning in my life is urgent. But the question of the purpose of my life is another matter. World War II and life in general have taught me outcomes from our actions or inactions are often totally unpredictable and even random.”
The old soldier added, “I am thankful to be alive. I have a responsibility to myself and to those around me to give meaning to my life from day to day. I enjoy my family (not all of them) and a shrinking number of old friends.” [2] (Slight pause.)
We find these words in the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: “They {Seraphs, celestial beings with three pairs of wings} cried out to one another and said: / ‘Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh, God, the omnipotent; / the whole earth is full with the glory of God.’” (Slight pause.)
Something I have brought up time and time again is a question both simple and theological. “Do we happen to life or does life happen to us.” The answer is or should be obvious. Life— the big stuff: war, the death of a loved one, a recession— the big stuff happens to us.
That question, “Do we happen to life or does life happen to us,” is theological because the answer— that life happens to us, that we are not in control— understands the depth and the breath of random. And therefore, that question also challenges our understanding of God since it asks, in its own tacit way, is God an ogre Whose cudgel is the random?
That God is somehow some kind of disagreeable monster willing to inflict evil is, in fact, a position one often hears in our society. But time and time again Scripture insists the opposite. Scripture insists God is good. God is holy and (quote:) “the whole earth is full with the glory of God.”
Indeed, a segment of this passage not heard today says God blots out, removes any imperfections we might have. God is good. The community, this community is, hence, empowered to understand we are an avenue for the expression of the presence of the Holy One in the reality called life. And God is good.
Which leaves the obvious question: how can we be the avenue for the expression of the presence of God in human life? Perhaps one prime avenue we need to pursue is the aforementioned small, happy life.
Yes, larger quests, missions are out there. But they will come to us or they won’t. It’s not something we control. Dare I say it? The larger quests are more random than we are willing to admit. Further, the goodness of God is always with us. And the goodness of God will have us ready for those larger quests should they come our way.
Which is to say we need to see there are a myriad of opportunities to walk in God’s way and follow the will of God Who is good. Put another way, we need to trust God in nearly everything we do each and every day.
And God, Who is good, will prepare fertile ground on which we can walk and on which we will walk. God, Who is good, will prepare fertile ground in which we can plant and in which we will plant.
These opportunities for doing the will of God and doing the work of God range from— the small opportunities— range from visiting friends and neighbors, to folding a newsletter at a local non-profit, to helping out with church school, to dropping a card to someone you have not seen in a bit which simply says ‘thinking of you,’ to offering to do child care so a Mom and Dad can have a night out together, alone.
Is it possible these kinds of things are all we need to do to really change the world? Why yes, it is. These things can really change the world because they change how we interact.
And after all, doing these kinds of things affirm a basic and simple belief: God is good. And, if God is good, we can be and are the instruments through whom the goodness of God is seen and recognized. Amen.
05/31/2015
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 Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I ran across a prayer written by Jesuit James Martin this week called A New Serenity Prayer. ‘God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, which is pretty much everyone, since I’m clearly not you, God. At least not the last time I checked. And while you’re at it, God, please give me the courage to change what I need to change about myself, which is frankly a lot, since, once again, I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect. It’s better for me to focus on changing myself than to worry about changing other people, who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying, I can’t change anyway. Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter than everyone else in the room, that no one knows what they’re talking about except me, or that I alone have all the answers. Basically, God, grant me the wisdom to remember that I’m not you. Amen.’”
BENEDICTION — A UNISON PRAYER: O Jesus, please be the canoe that holds me up in the sea of life. Please be the rudder that keeps me on straight paths. Be the outrigger that supports me in times of stress. Let Your Spirit be the sail that carries me though each day. Keep me safe, so that I can paddle on steady in the voyage called life. God of all, bless us so we may have calm seas, a warm sun and clear nights filled with stars. Amen.
[1] Please note: these comments are shorter than is normal for a Meditation at the main service on a Sunday since this was Inter-generational which featured many of the church school participants (both adults and children). And indeed, if you listen to the sound file posted on the web there is some background noise at the beginning of the sermon. These are the church school children settling down after their participation in the service. The observation made by pastor these words was, “That’s a tough act to follow.”
[2] Some minor edits were made in the wording because of being placed in the context of the sermon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/david-brooks-the-small-happy-life.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
SERMON ~ 05/24/2015 ~ “What Does This Mean?”
05/24/2015 ~ Day of Pentecost ~ Known in Some Traditions as the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ *Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 ~ Memorial Day Weekend on the Secular Calendar.
What Does This Mean?
“Many were amazed and perplexed, and asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others mockingly said, ‘They have consumed too much new wine.’” — Acts 2:12-13.
The Pew Research Center in Washington D.C. works on a broad range of topics from religion to politics. Some would say these topics— religion and politics— are the same, but I won’t get too deeply into that today. Or I hope not.
In its interaction with these and other areas, the Pew Center tries to focus on and provide information about social issues as they interact with public opinion and demographic trends. Their operating thesis says once trends are identified, you can more accurately see and assess the current shape of the world around us.
In short, the Center tries to lay out just facts, not opinion. I, briefly and in passing, last week mentioned a new report from the Pew Research Center about statistics related to religion, related to denominations, the institutional church.
And as a whole, organized religion— denominations across the board, right, left and in between, it does not matter— organized religion is in decline says the report. Further, the share of Americans who do not identify with any organized religion is growing. These changes effect all regions of the country and all demographic groups. [1]
As church historian and theologian Diana Butler Bass has pointed out, given its breadth this shift is obviously not about faith. This is clearly a social movement. Of equal interest is in the 1950s the opposite social movement happened. But we don’t often refer to it that way, we don’t see it that way— a social movement— even though it was.
To reflect on that history: in the 1950s it felt like everyone was going to the institution called churches. But that movement into the institution was not necessarily about faith, just as the movement today in the opposite direction is not necessarily about faith.
In fact, with great surety there is one thing which can be said concerning the numbers who added to the institutions called churches during 1950s. In terms of American history, this phenomena was a total anomaly, completely abnormal.
Numbers like those had never been seen in the American churches before. If you think a greater percentage of the population were in the institutions called churches in America in the 1790s, for instance, as opposed to the 1950s, you would be wrong. In the 1820s? Nope. In the 1860s? Uah, uah. In the 1920s? Not even close.
The 1950s into the 1960s were just different. Never before or since has anything like that happened.
So in that sense, to think the 1950s numbers were normal, or to even think these numbers had to do with institutionalized religion, given the aforementioned evidence, one would have to suspend disbelief, ignore the facts. Here is a quick and simple way of thinking about this: institutions in no way make belief. Let me say that again: institutions in no way make belief. I would suggest the purpose of the institution is to help you and those around you reflect belief. But institutions do not make belief.
There is one more point I need to state. I am not, nor is anyone else especially the researchers I mentioned who collect this data, questioning the faith of those inside the institutions called churches or the faith of those outside the institutions called churches. What is being noted is the location of people of faith— inside, outside— doesn’t mean any of them lacked faith or had faith. (Slight pause.)
These words are from Luke/Acts in the section commonly called Acts: “Many were amazed and perplexed, and asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others mockingly said, ‘They have consumed too much new wine.’” (Slight pause.)
Another fairly well known statistic is that, on average, the percentage of people who attend church in America on a fairly regular basis runs in the mid-thirty percentage range. On the other hand, in Europe the percentage of attendance is less than ten percent of the population.
Well, given that lack of attendance across the pond, there is a fascinating thing happening in jolly old England. Recently, the Catholic Church there said the number of women becoming nuns has reached a 25-year high. Many are aged 30 or under. To paraphrase Acts, ‘What does this mean?’
One reason may be a concerted effort in England by the Catholic Church to demystify what nuns do and to explain life in the orders. Christopher Jamison, the Catholic Church’s national vocations director in England says this: “Increasingly, young people find Christian faith filling a meaning gap,... because it leads them to the heart of human life today: to the heart of working for the poor; this helps them lead a balanced life with a great conviction that there is more to life.” [2] (Slight pause.)
In a recent article the Rev. Erik Parker, a Lutheran cleric whom I have quoted before and who blogs under the name Millennial Pastor, cautions that we are wrong about church decline. With an interesting take he says the real decline we are seeing is the end of the state church. He insists that’s not what people who are serious about practicing faith want, and insofar as the church remains a voice for the state, it drives people away.
Christendom, he says, is no longer and can no longer be the church of the empire it was and has often been since Roman times. That’s the church, claims Parker, that’s the institution which is dying.
The state, he says, always supports the status quo, a staid, static way of doing things. That’s not church. In the same writing Parker also admonishes the reader to remember the church did O.K. in its first 300 years, those years before it became so entangled with Rome and its descendants. [3] (Slight pause.)
So, what is going on in Acts 2, the earliest point in those 300 years before the church became a part of the state? Or as the writing, itself, poses the question: “What does it mean?” (Slight pause.)
That question— “What does it mean?”— that question may be the most important question asked in all Scripture. It is the basic question Scripture, itself, asks. Scripture, itself, never asks, what does this say or what are the details of a story? Scripture always asks, “What does this mean?”
Hence, for all the happenings in the reading we heard, and there are plenty of happenings— from tongues of fire to speaking in tongues. For all the happenings in this reading the question one should never ask is: ‘what happened?’ So, what does it mean? (Slight pause.)
As I said earlier, Pentecost— the feast we celebrate today— is arguably the second most important feast on the Christian calendar, the first being Easter. [4] Indeed, most theologians would say Trinity Sunday and the Epiphany would rank as third and fourth.
But what makes Pentecost important? Pentecost is sometimes referred to as the birthday of the church. And I am just enough of a defender of institutions and institutional life to say the institution has some important.
And [the pastor starts pointing to people] when you and you and you and you and you come together as a community, form community, belief happens. Sometimes belief happens even when we are unaware it’s happening. And, coming back to the reading and all those details, from tongues of fire to speaking in tongues, the meaning of what happens in that reading has to do with belief. It is a belief in the presence. It is a belief in the reality of God.
Now when it come to second meaning in this passage, in a real sense I gave away my hand earlier: the purpose of the institution known as church is to help you and those around you reflect belief. The purpose of the institution known as church is not to make belief. It is you— and you and you and you who make belief happen. (Slight pause.)
I have proof of that we, as individuals, make belief and the proof is in yesterday’s news. I mean that literally— yesterday. Pope Francis announced the beatification of murdered Salvadoran archbishop Óscar Romero. This leaves the late cleric one step from sainthood. And what does that mean?
It means the first Pope from the developing world, Francis, has placed the poor at the center of this papacy. In doing so, the Pope is directly engaging a theological movement that was distrusted by this Pope’s predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
As a young Jesuit leader in Argentina, even Francis had qualms with the movement. But now, in a very personal move, Francis speaks of creating a poor church for the poor and is seeking to position Catholicism closer to the masses. It is the personal belief of this Pontiff that the church needs to be a church for the poor, a church devoted to outreach and helping others. [5]
So to reiterate, the purpose of the institution known as church is not to make belief. It’s much more personal than that. And no, I’d be the first to admit it: I am not the Pope, you are not the Pope, we are not the Pope. But we are Congregationalists, are we not. So it is you— [the pastor starts pointing to people again] and you and you and you and you who make belief.
So, here’s the question: can we Congregationalists be as forthright as the Pope about the mission of the church? I think so. And if we do, I’ve got good news. The church will not go away or be in decline. I’ve got even better news. The Spirit will be alive among us for we will show the fruits of the Spirit. Amen.
05/24/2015, Pentecost Sunday
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I suggested Pentecost is important because it’s about each of us. I say Pentecost is about each of us because I believe the Spirit of God is with each of us. The Spirit of God blesses each of us. I believe the Spirit of God showers many gifts on each of us. Further, I believe the Spirit of God lives with each of us and all of us now, right now. I believe the Spirit of God lives with us throughout eternity.”
BENEDICTION: Let us acknowledge our many gifts. Let us seek to use them for the common good. Let us commit ourselves as people of action. God, the creator, is at work in our midst. The Holy Spirit is present to us. Jesus, the Christ, lives among us. Let us go from this worship to continue our worship with work and witness. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses our understanding keep our hearts, minds and spirits centered on God, this day and forevermore. Amen.
[1] http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/
[2] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-32777639
[3] http://millennialpastor.net/author/revcowboy/
[4] This was stated at the start of the service.
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/world/europe/popes-focus-on-poor-revives-scorned-theology.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150523&nlid=11820119&tntemail0=y
What Does This Mean?
“Many were amazed and perplexed, and asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others mockingly said, ‘They have consumed too much new wine.’” — Acts 2:12-13.
The Pew Research Center in Washington D.C. works on a broad range of topics from religion to politics. Some would say these topics— religion and politics— are the same, but I won’t get too deeply into that today. Or I hope not.
In its interaction with these and other areas, the Pew Center tries to focus on and provide information about social issues as they interact with public opinion and demographic trends. Their operating thesis says once trends are identified, you can more accurately see and assess the current shape of the world around us.
In short, the Center tries to lay out just facts, not opinion. I, briefly and in passing, last week mentioned a new report from the Pew Research Center about statistics related to religion, related to denominations, the institutional church.
And as a whole, organized religion— denominations across the board, right, left and in between, it does not matter— organized religion is in decline says the report. Further, the share of Americans who do not identify with any organized religion is growing. These changes effect all regions of the country and all demographic groups. [1]
As church historian and theologian Diana Butler Bass has pointed out, given its breadth this shift is obviously not about faith. This is clearly a social movement. Of equal interest is in the 1950s the opposite social movement happened. But we don’t often refer to it that way, we don’t see it that way— a social movement— even though it was.
To reflect on that history: in the 1950s it felt like everyone was going to the institution called churches. But that movement into the institution was not necessarily about faith, just as the movement today in the opposite direction is not necessarily about faith.
In fact, with great surety there is one thing which can be said concerning the numbers who added to the institutions called churches during 1950s. In terms of American history, this phenomena was a total anomaly, completely abnormal.
Numbers like those had never been seen in the American churches before. If you think a greater percentage of the population were in the institutions called churches in America in the 1790s, for instance, as opposed to the 1950s, you would be wrong. In the 1820s? Nope. In the 1860s? Uah, uah. In the 1920s? Not even close.
The 1950s into the 1960s were just different. Never before or since has anything like that happened.
So in that sense, to think the 1950s numbers were normal, or to even think these numbers had to do with institutionalized religion, given the aforementioned evidence, one would have to suspend disbelief, ignore the facts. Here is a quick and simple way of thinking about this: institutions in no way make belief. Let me say that again: institutions in no way make belief. I would suggest the purpose of the institution is to help you and those around you reflect belief. But institutions do not make belief.
There is one more point I need to state. I am not, nor is anyone else especially the researchers I mentioned who collect this data, questioning the faith of those inside the institutions called churches or the faith of those outside the institutions called churches. What is being noted is the location of people of faith— inside, outside— doesn’t mean any of them lacked faith or had faith. (Slight pause.)
These words are from Luke/Acts in the section commonly called Acts: “Many were amazed and perplexed, and asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others mockingly said, ‘They have consumed too much new wine.’” (Slight pause.)
Another fairly well known statistic is that, on average, the percentage of people who attend church in America on a fairly regular basis runs in the mid-thirty percentage range. On the other hand, in Europe the percentage of attendance is less than ten percent of the population.
Well, given that lack of attendance across the pond, there is a fascinating thing happening in jolly old England. Recently, the Catholic Church there said the number of women becoming nuns has reached a 25-year high. Many are aged 30 or under. To paraphrase Acts, ‘What does this mean?’
One reason may be a concerted effort in England by the Catholic Church to demystify what nuns do and to explain life in the orders. Christopher Jamison, the Catholic Church’s national vocations director in England says this: “Increasingly, young people find Christian faith filling a meaning gap,... because it leads them to the heart of human life today: to the heart of working for the poor; this helps them lead a balanced life with a great conviction that there is more to life.” [2] (Slight pause.)
In a recent article the Rev. Erik Parker, a Lutheran cleric whom I have quoted before and who blogs under the name Millennial Pastor, cautions that we are wrong about church decline. With an interesting take he says the real decline we are seeing is the end of the state church. He insists that’s not what people who are serious about practicing faith want, and insofar as the church remains a voice for the state, it drives people away.
Christendom, he says, is no longer and can no longer be the church of the empire it was and has often been since Roman times. That’s the church, claims Parker, that’s the institution which is dying.
The state, he says, always supports the status quo, a staid, static way of doing things. That’s not church. In the same writing Parker also admonishes the reader to remember the church did O.K. in its first 300 years, those years before it became so entangled with Rome and its descendants. [3] (Slight pause.)
So, what is going on in Acts 2, the earliest point in those 300 years before the church became a part of the state? Or as the writing, itself, poses the question: “What does it mean?” (Slight pause.)
That question— “What does it mean?”— that question may be the most important question asked in all Scripture. It is the basic question Scripture, itself, asks. Scripture, itself, never asks, what does this say or what are the details of a story? Scripture always asks, “What does this mean?”
Hence, for all the happenings in the reading we heard, and there are plenty of happenings— from tongues of fire to speaking in tongues. For all the happenings in this reading the question one should never ask is: ‘what happened?’ So, what does it mean? (Slight pause.)
As I said earlier, Pentecost— the feast we celebrate today— is arguably the second most important feast on the Christian calendar, the first being Easter. [4] Indeed, most theologians would say Trinity Sunday and the Epiphany would rank as third and fourth.
But what makes Pentecost important? Pentecost is sometimes referred to as the birthday of the church. And I am just enough of a defender of institutions and institutional life to say the institution has some important.
And [the pastor starts pointing to people] when you and you and you and you and you come together as a community, form community, belief happens. Sometimes belief happens even when we are unaware it’s happening. And, coming back to the reading and all those details, from tongues of fire to speaking in tongues, the meaning of what happens in that reading has to do with belief. It is a belief in the presence. It is a belief in the reality of God.
Now when it come to second meaning in this passage, in a real sense I gave away my hand earlier: the purpose of the institution known as church is to help you and those around you reflect belief. The purpose of the institution known as church is not to make belief. It is you— and you and you and you who make belief happen. (Slight pause.)
I have proof of that we, as individuals, make belief and the proof is in yesterday’s news. I mean that literally— yesterday. Pope Francis announced the beatification of murdered Salvadoran archbishop Óscar Romero. This leaves the late cleric one step from sainthood. And what does that mean?
It means the first Pope from the developing world, Francis, has placed the poor at the center of this papacy. In doing so, the Pope is directly engaging a theological movement that was distrusted by this Pope’s predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
As a young Jesuit leader in Argentina, even Francis had qualms with the movement. But now, in a very personal move, Francis speaks of creating a poor church for the poor and is seeking to position Catholicism closer to the masses. It is the personal belief of this Pontiff that the church needs to be a church for the poor, a church devoted to outreach and helping others. [5]
So to reiterate, the purpose of the institution known as church is not to make belief. It’s much more personal than that. And no, I’d be the first to admit it: I am not the Pope, you are not the Pope, we are not the Pope. But we are Congregationalists, are we not. So it is you— [the pastor starts pointing to people again] and you and you and you and you who make belief.
So, here’s the question: can we Congregationalists be as forthright as the Pope about the mission of the church? I think so. And if we do, I’ve got good news. The church will not go away or be in decline. I’ve got even better news. The Spirit will be alive among us for we will show the fruits of the Spirit. Amen.
05/24/2015, Pentecost Sunday
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I suggested Pentecost is important because it’s about each of us. I say Pentecost is about each of us because I believe the Spirit of God is with each of us. The Spirit of God blesses each of us. I believe the Spirit of God showers many gifts on each of us. Further, I believe the Spirit of God lives with each of us and all of us now, right now. I believe the Spirit of God lives with us throughout eternity.”
BENEDICTION: Let us acknowledge our many gifts. Let us seek to use them for the common good. Let us commit ourselves as people of action. God, the creator, is at work in our midst. The Holy Spirit is present to us. Jesus, the Christ, lives among us. Let us go from this worship to continue our worship with work and witness. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses our understanding keep our hearts, minds and spirits centered on God, this day and forevermore. Amen.
[1] http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/
[2] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-32777639
[3] http://millennialpastor.net/author/revcowboy/
[4] This was stated at the start of the service.
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/world/europe/popes-focus-on-poor-revives-scorned-theology.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150523&nlid=11820119&tntemail0=y
Sunday, May 17, 2015
SERMON ~ 05/17/2015 ~ “The Only Begotten of God”
05/17/2015 ~ Seventh Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19 ~ Ascension of the Christ ~ 05/14/2015 ~*Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 or Psalm 93; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53 ~ Used 1 John and Luke.
The Only Begotten of God
“If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater;....” — 1 John 5:9a
It was an era of great change and transition. People were thinking in ways they had never thought before, doing things in ways they had never tried before. Scientists, engineers were creating and building projects on a scale never dreamed of before.
One country was presided over by an individual nearly everyone referred to as the most powerful person on the face of the earth. That person was the leader of the one world power dominant among nation states.
The foreign policy of that singular world power, the dominant force on the planet, was simple: protect the homeland. That policy worked itself out in a number of ways.
For starters a large, powerful Army was maintained. Its very existence was influential well beyond the homeland borders. The real purpose of that armed presence was to make manifest the reality of its power so the trading interests, the commercial ventures of the country were protected.
Protecting that commercial potential happened in several ways. First, by creating trade routes. Second, by protecting them. This was done by maintaining bases, arsenals abroad in an effort to keep order, keep the peace, or at least to keep as much peace as was reasonable, in as many far flung lands as reasonable.
Commercial interests were also protected by making sure the Navy controlled the seas, especially the historic routes out of the East. Valuable cargo moved from the East across the seas toward the West.
That all these routes needed protection was a given. That’s because there were differences in those regions— East and West. There were differences in approach, in philosophy, in religion.
Sometimes those differences led to conflicts. Sometimes people died simply because they believed the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place.
But, if truth be told, people dying because of belief was more about statecraft than about any belief system or theology. After all, in order to thrive in the aforementioned environment, believing what the citizens who reigned in that dominant world power believed was only wise. In that way this was simply an era of go along, get along.
Sometimes peace was not consistent. Local squabbles were quite common. Often the peoples of the East— some thought of them as tribes— often the peoples of the East fought against one another. Sometimes they engaged in proxy wars.
They sometimes actually tried to fight the dominant state, but never directly. Subversiveness was their prime tool. Indeed, why pick a fight with those stronger than yourself when being subversive is an easier, more effective strategy?
But in the long term subversiveness was not effective. In the short term did it cause temporary trouble and consternation? Yes. But subversiveness was soon crushed.
Therefore it was, in fact, a time of incredible stability, in part because that one world power dominated the landscape. Sometimes things felt unstable because of subversiveness. But that was always short lived on the larger scale. And indeed, if one looked at the larger picture one would have seen the real cause of said instability— instability which often felt real— the obvious threat to stability was the world had entered an era of great change, remarkable transition.
And it was, indeed, a time of change. People were thinking in ways they had never thought before, doing things in ways they had never tried before. (Slight pause.)
Of course, what I have just described is what was happening about the year 100 of the Common Era, when 1st John was written. And the dominant world power I just described was the Roman Empire. Did that sound like the modern world? Well, yes. The more things change, the more they stay the same. (Slight pause.)
These words are from 1st John: “If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater;....” (Slight pause.)
It will probably not surprise you that I follow a couple of writers whose central topic is the church today or that the work of these writers appears mostly online or that they are in the age group referred to as millennials. The birth years of millennials range from the early 1980s to the early 2000s and they have come of age in the year 2000 or later.
Now, unless your head has been in the sand there are several basic things you’ve heard about millennials. Many don’t attend churches of any kind. But also, they think in ways people have never thought before. They do things in ways people have never tried before.
One millennial writer I follow identifies online with only a first name: Jonathan. Jonathan attends church and expresses worry that the institutional church does not understand what’s happening with millennials.
These are among the things Jonathan says about the church. “I love the theology, hate expectations of pseudo piety. Love the Gospel, hate patriotic moralism. Love the Bible, hate the way it’s used. Love Jesus, hate what we’ve done with the Rabbi. Love worship, hate Jesus-y entertainment.”
Among Jonathan’s suggestions to the church are these. “Week after week, season after season, let’s participate in the drama of the Gospel. It’s not supposed to be fun, not supposed to produce intense emotional response. It is a microcosmic, disciplined, anticipatory remembrance of who we were, who we are and who we are to be.”
“Be inclusive. Save us from ourselves. We don’t need more youth group lock-ins,” he says, “more senior adult outings on beekeeping or genealogy.”
“We need more of each other, need to look into the faces of old, young, rich, poor— faces of different colors, races, backgrounds— so we can learn to see Jesus in faces that don’t look like us. We need community not based on age, economic status, skin color.”
“We need to welcome the toughest, deepest, grittiest, desperate, shocking questions. We millennials have a lot of questions. And what we see in the world doesn’t jibe with what we grew up hearing.”
“You, the church, have done damage by requiring politeness, refusing to engage, rebuking honesty and vulnerability. You’re better than that, church. At least you should be. You should be a safe place for struggling, grappling, doubting.” (Slight pause.)
One thing we don’t seem to get about the writer of 1st John is this person might as well be living today and be a millennial. The world situation is not that different. The thinking presented by John is like that of a millennial: filled with challenging questions.
And religion, or at least the organized, institutional versions of it in the 1st Century of the Common Era in Rome and in the East, was being challenged by people who were thinking in ways in which they had never thought before and challenged by people doing things in ways which they had never tried before. Put another way, there was a great spiritual awakening among the people at that time and in that place.
What existed then in terms of institutional religion was two visions about God. One was a Western, Roman institutional vision: there are many gods who take care of their own individual responsibilities. When you prayed to a god of fertility, for instance— biological or agricultural fertility— fertility became a possibility.
The other institutional vision was Eastern: one God ruled. But for many this one God had become as domesticated as Roman gods. If we worship at the right temple, say the right prayers, do the right deeds, everything will turn out just fine.
But the Jesus we find in the New Testament insists that we free God from domestication. Jesus insists a domesticated God is not found in the Torah, not found in the Prophets.
Jesus insists God wants us to participate in forming a new world. Jesus insists that we think about God in ways we have never thought before, do things in ways we have never tried before. And Jesus says we need both think and do now— right now. This is, hence, not a domesticated God about Whom Jesus speaks.
And the writer of 1st John is trying to explain this radical person commonly referred to by the name Jesus. And, if that is what Jesus said about God, the author of 1st John feels compelled to explain who this radical, undomesticated Jesus is.
What the writer offers is revolutionary, precise and convoluted. Let me try to unpack the convoluted part. I think this is what the writer says: Jesus is related to God in a way no one has ever been related to God before or since— the Only Begotten.
Hence, John says what people already know but often do not want to hear: the resurrection is the testimony of God about Who Jesus is and testimony about the radical covenant of God proclaimed by Jesus. And we are, thereby, called by God to participate in the radical idea of Jesus: the Dominion of God is now, right now. (Slight pause.)
In fact, this message repeats what Jesus said. God’s presence is real and with us— us, the church— now. God wants us— us, the church— to do the work and the will of God, now. God wants us— the church— to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, clothe those in tatters, now— right now.
I want to suggest in order to do that, we, the church, need to start thinking in ways we rarely have before. We, the church, need to start doing things in ways we rarely have tried before. And if we do that, do the work and the will of God, now— right now— then our times, like ancient times, will also see a great awakening— people thinking in new ways. People doing in new ways. Amen.
05/17/2015
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 Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Many of you probably have heard the report on religion this week concerning the growth of the segment of the population called ‘unaffiliated with churches.’ Historian and theologian Diana Butler Bass insists what is really happening is people are thinking in new ways doing this in different ways and it is a Great Awakening. Bass says this: ‘An awakening is cultural change. It transforms the ways in which people gather, form community, make meaning— a historical social transformation. Awakening does not result in larger churches; it results in transformed religious understanding and practice. It is not a revival. Revival is individual experience that results in greater church membership. This is a transformation, an awakening.’”
BENEDICTION: The work and the will of God is placed before us. Further, we are called to be faithful and seek to do God’s will and work. In so doing, may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.
The Only Begotten of God
“If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater;....” — 1 John 5:9a
It was an era of great change and transition. People were thinking in ways they had never thought before, doing things in ways they had never tried before. Scientists, engineers were creating and building projects on a scale never dreamed of before.
One country was presided over by an individual nearly everyone referred to as the most powerful person on the face of the earth. That person was the leader of the one world power dominant among nation states.
The foreign policy of that singular world power, the dominant force on the planet, was simple: protect the homeland. That policy worked itself out in a number of ways.
For starters a large, powerful Army was maintained. Its very existence was influential well beyond the homeland borders. The real purpose of that armed presence was to make manifest the reality of its power so the trading interests, the commercial ventures of the country were protected.
Protecting that commercial potential happened in several ways. First, by creating trade routes. Second, by protecting them. This was done by maintaining bases, arsenals abroad in an effort to keep order, keep the peace, or at least to keep as much peace as was reasonable, in as many far flung lands as reasonable.
Commercial interests were also protected by making sure the Navy controlled the seas, especially the historic routes out of the East. Valuable cargo moved from the East across the seas toward the West.
That all these routes needed protection was a given. That’s because there were differences in those regions— East and West. There were differences in approach, in philosophy, in religion.
Sometimes those differences led to conflicts. Sometimes people died simply because they believed the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place.
But, if truth be told, people dying because of belief was more about statecraft than about any belief system or theology. After all, in order to thrive in the aforementioned environment, believing what the citizens who reigned in that dominant world power believed was only wise. In that way this was simply an era of go along, get along.
Sometimes peace was not consistent. Local squabbles were quite common. Often the peoples of the East— some thought of them as tribes— often the peoples of the East fought against one another. Sometimes they engaged in proxy wars.
They sometimes actually tried to fight the dominant state, but never directly. Subversiveness was their prime tool. Indeed, why pick a fight with those stronger than yourself when being subversive is an easier, more effective strategy?
But in the long term subversiveness was not effective. In the short term did it cause temporary trouble and consternation? Yes. But subversiveness was soon crushed.
Therefore it was, in fact, a time of incredible stability, in part because that one world power dominated the landscape. Sometimes things felt unstable because of subversiveness. But that was always short lived on the larger scale. And indeed, if one looked at the larger picture one would have seen the real cause of said instability— instability which often felt real— the obvious threat to stability was the world had entered an era of great change, remarkable transition.
And it was, indeed, a time of change. People were thinking in ways they had never thought before, doing things in ways they had never tried before. (Slight pause.)
Of course, what I have just described is what was happening about the year 100 of the Common Era, when 1st John was written. And the dominant world power I just described was the Roman Empire. Did that sound like the modern world? Well, yes. The more things change, the more they stay the same. (Slight pause.)
These words are from 1st John: “If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater;....” (Slight pause.)
It will probably not surprise you that I follow a couple of writers whose central topic is the church today or that the work of these writers appears mostly online or that they are in the age group referred to as millennials. The birth years of millennials range from the early 1980s to the early 2000s and they have come of age in the year 2000 or later.
Now, unless your head has been in the sand there are several basic things you’ve heard about millennials. Many don’t attend churches of any kind. But also, they think in ways people have never thought before. They do things in ways people have never tried before.
One millennial writer I follow identifies online with only a first name: Jonathan. Jonathan attends church and expresses worry that the institutional church does not understand what’s happening with millennials.
These are among the things Jonathan says about the church. “I love the theology, hate expectations of pseudo piety. Love the Gospel, hate patriotic moralism. Love the Bible, hate the way it’s used. Love Jesus, hate what we’ve done with the Rabbi. Love worship, hate Jesus-y entertainment.”
Among Jonathan’s suggestions to the church are these. “Week after week, season after season, let’s participate in the drama of the Gospel. It’s not supposed to be fun, not supposed to produce intense emotional response. It is a microcosmic, disciplined, anticipatory remembrance of who we were, who we are and who we are to be.”
“Be inclusive. Save us from ourselves. We don’t need more youth group lock-ins,” he says, “more senior adult outings on beekeeping or genealogy.”
“We need more of each other, need to look into the faces of old, young, rich, poor— faces of different colors, races, backgrounds— so we can learn to see Jesus in faces that don’t look like us. We need community not based on age, economic status, skin color.”
“We need to welcome the toughest, deepest, grittiest, desperate, shocking questions. We millennials have a lot of questions. And what we see in the world doesn’t jibe with what we grew up hearing.”
“You, the church, have done damage by requiring politeness, refusing to engage, rebuking honesty and vulnerability. You’re better than that, church. At least you should be. You should be a safe place for struggling, grappling, doubting.” (Slight pause.)
One thing we don’t seem to get about the writer of 1st John is this person might as well be living today and be a millennial. The world situation is not that different. The thinking presented by John is like that of a millennial: filled with challenging questions.
And religion, or at least the organized, institutional versions of it in the 1st Century of the Common Era in Rome and in the East, was being challenged by people who were thinking in ways in which they had never thought before and challenged by people doing things in ways which they had never tried before. Put another way, there was a great spiritual awakening among the people at that time and in that place.
What existed then in terms of institutional religion was two visions about God. One was a Western, Roman institutional vision: there are many gods who take care of their own individual responsibilities. When you prayed to a god of fertility, for instance— biological or agricultural fertility— fertility became a possibility.
The other institutional vision was Eastern: one God ruled. But for many this one God had become as domesticated as Roman gods. If we worship at the right temple, say the right prayers, do the right deeds, everything will turn out just fine.
But the Jesus we find in the New Testament insists that we free God from domestication. Jesus insists a domesticated God is not found in the Torah, not found in the Prophets.
Jesus insists God wants us to participate in forming a new world. Jesus insists that we think about God in ways we have never thought before, do things in ways we have never tried before. And Jesus says we need both think and do now— right now. This is, hence, not a domesticated God about Whom Jesus speaks.
And the writer of 1st John is trying to explain this radical person commonly referred to by the name Jesus. And, if that is what Jesus said about God, the author of 1st John feels compelled to explain who this radical, undomesticated Jesus is.
What the writer offers is revolutionary, precise and convoluted. Let me try to unpack the convoluted part. I think this is what the writer says: Jesus is related to God in a way no one has ever been related to God before or since— the Only Begotten.
Hence, John says what people already know but often do not want to hear: the resurrection is the testimony of God about Who Jesus is and testimony about the radical covenant of God proclaimed by Jesus. And we are, thereby, called by God to participate in the radical idea of Jesus: the Dominion of God is now, right now. (Slight pause.)
In fact, this message repeats what Jesus said. God’s presence is real and with us— us, the church— now. God wants us— us, the church— to do the work and the will of God, now. God wants us— the church— to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, clothe those in tatters, now— right now.
I want to suggest in order to do that, we, the church, need to start thinking in ways we rarely have before. We, the church, need to start doing things in ways we rarely have tried before. And if we do that, do the work and the will of God, now— right now— then our times, like ancient times, will also see a great awakening— people thinking in new ways. People doing in new ways. Amen.
05/17/2015
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 Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Many of you probably have heard the report on religion this week concerning the growth of the segment of the population called ‘unaffiliated with churches.’ Historian and theologian Diana Butler Bass insists what is really happening is people are thinking in new ways doing this in different ways and it is a Great Awakening. Bass says this: ‘An awakening is cultural change. It transforms the ways in which people gather, form community, make meaning— a historical social transformation. Awakening does not result in larger churches; it results in transformed religious understanding and practice. It is not a revival. Revival is individual experience that results in greater church membership. This is a transformation, an awakening.’”
BENEDICTION: The work and the will of God is placed before us. Further, we are called to be faithful and seek to do God’s will and work. In so doing, may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
SERMON ~ 05/10/2015 ~ “Trusting in the Spirit”
05/10/2015 ~ Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17 ~ on the Christian Calendar the Feast Known as the Festival of the Christian Home ~ On the Secular Calendar the Commemoration Known as Mother’s Day; on the Christian Calendar the Feast Known as the Festival of the Christian Home.
Trusting in the Spirit
“While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.” — Acts 10:44.
As was mentioned earlier, yesterday we, this church, this community of faith, held the memorial service for Virginia Breed here in this space. Some of you knew Virginia, some of you did not.
She was a member here for 67 years, but health issues kept her from attending on Sunday mornings for at least the last 10 years. Virginia died just short of her 103rd birthday. She was born in 1912.
By any standard, that’s a long life. And that fact led me to give some thought to the length of our lives, our finite existence.
It also led me to thinking about what things were like 102 years ago, in 1912. So, before I get to how finite we are let me try to put that date, 1912, into some perspective since the length from that year to today spanned the life of one of our own parishioners. I think that exercise might help us understand the finite and how things do change.
In 1912 William Howard Taft was the President. The Titanic went to the bottom. Fenway Park opened. Both the Girl Scouts and the Sea Scouts were founded.
After being land simply owned by America, Alaska finally became a territory, a step on its eventual road to statehood. Large swaths of this country still did not have electric power. From the perspective of the law, women were mere property. Women could not yet vote.
This next fact not only sounds funny, the humor in it might help us put some history in perspective. It’s something I recently saw on line, on the web. The actress Betty White, now 93 years old, is literally older than sliced bread.
Betty White Was born in 1922. In 1928 Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the machine used to slice commercially sold bread. Betty White may be older than sliced bread but anyone who is 88 or older is also older than sliced bread.
Well, let me step back a little and place things in perspective on an even bigger time scale. Are some things in American pretty old? Why, yes. Harvard University was founded before Isaac Newton worked on devising calculus.
While it was not published immediately, Method of Fluxions, Newton’s book on calculus, was written in 1671. Harvard was founded in 1636. Harvard is 35 years older than calculus.
Stepping back yet again, here’s another fact which places dates in perspective. Cleopatra lived closer to our era today than the building of the Great Pyramid. The Great Pyramid of Giza was completed around 2540 Before the Common Era.
Cleopatra was alive in the year 30 before the Common Era. You can do that math; it’s simple. Cleopatra lived about 2,040 years ago. The Great Pyramid of Giza was completed about 2,500 years before Cleopatra.
That’s not even close— Cleopatra lived nearly 500 years nearer to our time then to the completion of that pyramid. And by the way, historians believe the Great Pyramid was the tallest structure on the face of the earth for over 3,800 years— history, perspective. (Slight pause.)
We find these words in Luke/Acts in the section known as Acts: “While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.” (Slight pause.)
I look at all those as fun facts and even facts which might help us sort things out put history, or at least known history, in perspective. And these facts lead me to yet another place. When I do wedding counseling this is a question I often ask: do you happen to the world or does the world happen to you?
Given the known history of the world, in all its length, given our own personal history, and the changes seen in just one lifetime, the answer should be obvious. Not only is our time, the present, quite finite. Seeing things on a larger scale places how finite things really are into a new perspective for us. And the lesson is or should be the world does happen to us.
I need to note, American theology— please notice how I said that— American theology— claims we happen to the world. But saying we happen to the world is akin to saying we are in control of everything. And we are not.
Both Christian theology and classical philosophy recognizes the obvious: the world happens to us. Further, we have a choice. We can either welcome the reality that the world happens to us and work with it. Or we can ignore that reality as if it did not exist— by the way, good luck with that: ignoring reality. More power to you.
All this brings me to today’s reading. Peter has an agenda. There’s no question about that. Peter’s agenda is to proclaim the Word.
Perhaps Peter thinks he is going to happen to the world. Or at least he thinks his preaching is about to happen to the gentiles to whom he preaches. He thinks he is in control.
But who, effectively, interrupts that proclamation? The Spirit of God. The Spirit of God breaks into history.
Please note: I am not saying the Spirit of God changes history. I am saying the Spirit of God breaks into history. (Slight pause.)
Week after week in the Season of Easter a reading from Acts is assigned. Why? Among many themes, one of the main ones is the Spirit of God gives new life: Easter— new life.
Indeed, in this story even the closest associates of Peter are astounded at the audacity and freshness of the work of the Spirit. You see, the mission to the Gentiles is outside their understanding, since they are all Jewish.
But the mission to the Gentiles is clearly a focus in the proclamation Peter offers. On top of that, the Spirit of God suddenly becomes manifest to and for these gentiles.
And this is clear: Peter is not happening to the world, which is probably what his friends believed at the start. The action of the Spirit is not Peter’s doing.
It’s also clear the associates of Peter and Peter see the message as their personal burden to spread. But this is not their personal burden. They may be participating in the message but the message spreads because of the Spirit.
Additionally, what has become really urgent is the message the Spirit wants all to hear, all including us. That message says the universal love of God is for everyone.
Put another way, the universal love of God does not include just those who Peter and friends thought should be included. And one more thing: Peter and the others also need to be aware, be sensitive to the fact that the Spirit does act, is acting. The Spirit of God is alive and real. Therefore, there is a requirement mace of them. That they trust the Spirit.
And here is yet one more way of looking at this. There’s a purpose behind God’s Spirit interrupting Peter. God’s Spirit interrupts Peter to empower the Apostle. And the Apostle, just by being there, becomes a witness through the Spirit to the salvation history God offers. There is one more thing I need you to notice there. There is a difference between mere history and salvation history. And it’s a difference we often fail to understand.
History, by definition, is confined to what has already happened, the past. The message of salvation is meant to be spread. Hence, it is not just about what has already happened. Salvation is an ongoing process. Salvation is about what God offers us, what God is doing with us, about what will happen.
And, indeed, this is where Christian theology speaks about us engaging the world, us happening to the world. This is where Christian theology starts to be about what we can do to affect our world, even when all around us the world feels like it’s happening to us and is, in fact, happening to us. (Slight pause.)
Theologian John Dominic Crossan says this: we are invited by the Spirit to participate in the Dominion of God. We are invited to do the work of God, now and in the days to come.
We are invited to do the work of justice in the world. This includes economic justice and social justice. We are invited to do the work of freedom in the world. This work opposes all kinds oppression from class oppression to oppression based on race or faith. We are invited to do God’s work.
In fact, all of this says, the message of salvation is not only about history or only about what has happened. However, the thing we need to be careful about is, if we don’t know what has happened, if we don’t know about God taking the Hebrews through the Sea of Reeds, if we don’t know about God bringing the Hebrews back from Babylon to Jerusalem, if we don’t know about the life, murder and resurrection of Jesus, it is in fact much harder to know what to do as we go forward because all of that will help us to be open to the Spirit. (Slight pause.)
Well, if there is a message for us in this reading it seems to me it’s a simple one. Just as Peter eventually did, we do need to trust that the Spirit will act and will act with us as we move through history. (Slight pause.)
Coming back to were I started: yes, we are finite. But that also means we need to assess the slice of history that is ours and strive to collaborate with the Spirit of God, trust that Spirit of God will lead us to do the work and the will of God.
And, perhaps occasionally, if we do that, what happened to Peter will happen to us. The Spirit will break into history, the Spirit will break into our history, as we strive to do the work and the will of God. And perhaps, occasionally, because of the work of the Spirit, we will be empowered to do things greater than we can imagine. Why? How? Well, yes— we are finite. But the Spirit of God— the Spirit of God is infinite. Amen.
05/10/2015
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 Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “The known universe as I have said here before is 13.7 light billion light years across. That’s big. You know what? We don’t have to worry about that. We just have to be concerned with the current reality, what God calls us to do here, right now. The work of God’s justice, here, right now. Not our justice— God’s justice.”
BENEDICTION: May the Holy Spirit inspire our words, and God’s love in Christ empower our deeds, as, in Christ, we are no longer servants, but friends, learning to love as we have been loved. And may the peace of God which surpasses our understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge of God, the love of Jesus, the Christ, and the companionship of the Holy Spirit, this day and forevermore. Amen.
Trusting in the Spirit
“While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.” — Acts 10:44.
As was mentioned earlier, yesterday we, this church, this community of faith, held the memorial service for Virginia Breed here in this space. Some of you knew Virginia, some of you did not.
She was a member here for 67 years, but health issues kept her from attending on Sunday mornings for at least the last 10 years. Virginia died just short of her 103rd birthday. She was born in 1912.
By any standard, that’s a long life. And that fact led me to give some thought to the length of our lives, our finite existence.
It also led me to thinking about what things were like 102 years ago, in 1912. So, before I get to how finite we are let me try to put that date, 1912, into some perspective since the length from that year to today spanned the life of one of our own parishioners. I think that exercise might help us understand the finite and how things do change.
In 1912 William Howard Taft was the President. The Titanic went to the bottom. Fenway Park opened. Both the Girl Scouts and the Sea Scouts were founded.
After being land simply owned by America, Alaska finally became a territory, a step on its eventual road to statehood. Large swaths of this country still did not have electric power. From the perspective of the law, women were mere property. Women could not yet vote.
This next fact not only sounds funny, the humor in it might help us put some history in perspective. It’s something I recently saw on line, on the web. The actress Betty White, now 93 years old, is literally older than sliced bread.
Betty White Was born in 1922. In 1928 Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the machine used to slice commercially sold bread. Betty White may be older than sliced bread but anyone who is 88 or older is also older than sliced bread.
Well, let me step back a little and place things in perspective on an even bigger time scale. Are some things in American pretty old? Why, yes. Harvard University was founded before Isaac Newton worked on devising calculus.
While it was not published immediately, Method of Fluxions, Newton’s book on calculus, was written in 1671. Harvard was founded in 1636. Harvard is 35 years older than calculus.
Stepping back yet again, here’s another fact which places dates in perspective. Cleopatra lived closer to our era today than the building of the Great Pyramid. The Great Pyramid of Giza was completed around 2540 Before the Common Era.
Cleopatra was alive in the year 30 before the Common Era. You can do that math; it’s simple. Cleopatra lived about 2,040 years ago. The Great Pyramid of Giza was completed about 2,500 years before Cleopatra.
That’s not even close— Cleopatra lived nearly 500 years nearer to our time then to the completion of that pyramid. And by the way, historians believe the Great Pyramid was the tallest structure on the face of the earth for over 3,800 years— history, perspective. (Slight pause.)
We find these words in Luke/Acts in the section known as Acts: “While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.” (Slight pause.)
I look at all those as fun facts and even facts which might help us sort things out put history, or at least known history, in perspective. And these facts lead me to yet another place. When I do wedding counseling this is a question I often ask: do you happen to the world or does the world happen to you?
Given the known history of the world, in all its length, given our own personal history, and the changes seen in just one lifetime, the answer should be obvious. Not only is our time, the present, quite finite. Seeing things on a larger scale places how finite things really are into a new perspective for us. And the lesson is or should be the world does happen to us.
I need to note, American theology— please notice how I said that— American theology— claims we happen to the world. But saying we happen to the world is akin to saying we are in control of everything. And we are not.
Both Christian theology and classical philosophy recognizes the obvious: the world happens to us. Further, we have a choice. We can either welcome the reality that the world happens to us and work with it. Or we can ignore that reality as if it did not exist— by the way, good luck with that: ignoring reality. More power to you.
All this brings me to today’s reading. Peter has an agenda. There’s no question about that. Peter’s agenda is to proclaim the Word.
Perhaps Peter thinks he is going to happen to the world. Or at least he thinks his preaching is about to happen to the gentiles to whom he preaches. He thinks he is in control.
But who, effectively, interrupts that proclamation? The Spirit of God. The Spirit of God breaks into history.
Please note: I am not saying the Spirit of God changes history. I am saying the Spirit of God breaks into history. (Slight pause.)
Week after week in the Season of Easter a reading from Acts is assigned. Why? Among many themes, one of the main ones is the Spirit of God gives new life: Easter— new life.
Indeed, in this story even the closest associates of Peter are astounded at the audacity and freshness of the work of the Spirit. You see, the mission to the Gentiles is outside their understanding, since they are all Jewish.
But the mission to the Gentiles is clearly a focus in the proclamation Peter offers. On top of that, the Spirit of God suddenly becomes manifest to and for these gentiles.
And this is clear: Peter is not happening to the world, which is probably what his friends believed at the start. The action of the Spirit is not Peter’s doing.
It’s also clear the associates of Peter and Peter see the message as their personal burden to spread. But this is not their personal burden. They may be participating in the message but the message spreads because of the Spirit.
Additionally, what has become really urgent is the message the Spirit wants all to hear, all including us. That message says the universal love of God is for everyone.
Put another way, the universal love of God does not include just those who Peter and friends thought should be included. And one more thing: Peter and the others also need to be aware, be sensitive to the fact that the Spirit does act, is acting. The Spirit of God is alive and real. Therefore, there is a requirement mace of them. That they trust the Spirit.
And here is yet one more way of looking at this. There’s a purpose behind God’s Spirit interrupting Peter. God’s Spirit interrupts Peter to empower the Apostle. And the Apostle, just by being there, becomes a witness through the Spirit to the salvation history God offers. There is one more thing I need you to notice there. There is a difference between mere history and salvation history. And it’s a difference we often fail to understand.
History, by definition, is confined to what has already happened, the past. The message of salvation is meant to be spread. Hence, it is not just about what has already happened. Salvation is an ongoing process. Salvation is about what God offers us, what God is doing with us, about what will happen.
And, indeed, this is where Christian theology speaks about us engaging the world, us happening to the world. This is where Christian theology starts to be about what we can do to affect our world, even when all around us the world feels like it’s happening to us and is, in fact, happening to us. (Slight pause.)
Theologian John Dominic Crossan says this: we are invited by the Spirit to participate in the Dominion of God. We are invited to do the work of God, now and in the days to come.
We are invited to do the work of justice in the world. This includes economic justice and social justice. We are invited to do the work of freedom in the world. This work opposes all kinds oppression from class oppression to oppression based on race or faith. We are invited to do God’s work.
In fact, all of this says, the message of salvation is not only about history or only about what has happened. However, the thing we need to be careful about is, if we don’t know what has happened, if we don’t know about God taking the Hebrews through the Sea of Reeds, if we don’t know about God bringing the Hebrews back from Babylon to Jerusalem, if we don’t know about the life, murder and resurrection of Jesus, it is in fact much harder to know what to do as we go forward because all of that will help us to be open to the Spirit. (Slight pause.)
Well, if there is a message for us in this reading it seems to me it’s a simple one. Just as Peter eventually did, we do need to trust that the Spirit will act and will act with us as we move through history. (Slight pause.)
Coming back to were I started: yes, we are finite. But that also means we need to assess the slice of history that is ours and strive to collaborate with the Spirit of God, trust that Spirit of God will lead us to do the work and the will of God.
And, perhaps occasionally, if we do that, what happened to Peter will happen to us. The Spirit will break into history, the Spirit will break into our history, as we strive to do the work and the will of God. And perhaps, occasionally, because of the work of the Spirit, we will be empowered to do things greater than we can imagine. Why? How? Well, yes— we are finite. But the Spirit of God— the Spirit of God is infinite. Amen.
05/10/2015
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 Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “The known universe as I have said here before is 13.7 light billion light years across. That’s big. You know what? We don’t have to worry about that. We just have to be concerned with the current reality, what God calls us to do here, right now. The work of God’s justice, here, right now. Not our justice— God’s justice.”
BENEDICTION: May the Holy Spirit inspire our words, and God’s love in Christ empower our deeds, as, in Christ, we are no longer servants, but friends, learning to love as we have been loved. And may the peace of God which surpasses our understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge of God, the love of Jesus, the Christ, and the companionship of the Holy Spirit, this day and forevermore. Amen.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
SERMON ~ 05/03/2015 ~ “Guidance”
05/03/2015 ~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:25-31; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8 ~ Communion Sunday.
Guidance
“The Ethiopian replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ and invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.” — Acts 8:31.
Part of the process when one seeks ordination in a Mainline Church is for a candidate to have psychological testing done. Sometimes skills testing is also done. Psychological testing takes a day. Skills testing adds another two days, for a total of three.
Which is also to say skill testing takes one’s psychological state into account. Seven years before I even considered attending seminary I decided I needed to find out more about my own skill set. So on my own I went through the three day version of this process, a process which included both psychological and skills testing.
At the time I was making my living as a writer. A friend of mine, another writer, had been tested and was told to go to Law School.
I went for the tests sincerely hoping I would be told the same— go to Law School— become a lawyer. But they told me I was a writer. They did tell me I had the skills for ministry. But I paid no attention. It took me another seven years to shift gears.
The testing center also told me I was— pardon the sexist, old fashioned language— the center also told me I was a “self-made man.” What they meant is I had very few role models. A key part of that (and this had to do with the psychological end of the testing) was when I was very young my father had a nervous breakdown which left him quite debilitated. In short, in my early years I had no father figure in my life.
On the other hand, I think I did have some very significant mentors both early in life and later. I want to single out two early ones.
One was my music teacher, Mrs. Margaretta Wolf, a Juilliard graduate. I went to her for voice lessons because I sang in school and church choirs.
But all art requires learned structure, discipline and technique. And the reality is these lessons evolved from voice lessons into music theory lessons— lessons in the structure, the discipline and the technique of music. I learned how deeply effecting, moving, music can be when, as an artist, you understand what you are doing and how to do it.
Another mentor was my Junior year High School English teacher, Mr. David Marsh. Once a week— the day of the week seemed to be chosen at random, so you never knew when this would happen— once a week when you arrived at the class Mr. Marsh taught, there would be five topics on the board.
This was the assignment: you had twenty minutes to choose a topic and write an essay. What you wrote needed to fill up one side of a lined loose leaf sheet [the Pastor hold up a lined loose leaf sheet]. And you had to fill up the sheet right to the last line.
If you wrote too much and went to the other side of the page, points off. If you wrote too little and did not reach the last line on the page, points off.
What did that teach? It taught composition did not initially happen on the page. It happens first in your brain, before you put pen to paper. It taught the primary principles in the art of composition are structure, discipline, technique.
It is little wonder I combined what I learned from these two mentors and became a professional writer of lyrics. They were, in the end, two of my most important mentors both encountered in my teen years.
There is no question they empowered me. And it’s unlikely what I learned from them I could have acquired on my own.
Further, they not only challenged me. They helped me see what the challenges really were. They offered guidance which served me well on the journey. (Slight pause.)
These words are from the work known as Acts in the book Luke/Acts: “The Ethiopian replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ and invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.” (Slight pause.)
There are several things we moderns believe about Scripture which can readily be labeled as heresies. To be clear, the definition of heresy is not limited to religion.
A heresy is any belief or theory strongly at variance with established beliefs, customs. One heresy we moderns have is you can read Scripture and right off understand both what it says and what it means. This is also an insistence meanings in Scripture are very self-evident and likely to remain static.
Ipso facto, another modern claim— a heresy— says Scripture does not need interpretation. This passage is one among many in Scripture which say otherwise. Scripture needs interpretation. How do I know that? The Bible tells us so!
Indeed, this way of looking at Scripture, that its meanings are evident and there is no need for interpretation, is a very modern development. So yes, this way of seeing Scripture is strongly at variance with history, with long established beliefs, customs— therefore it is a heresy.
Further, for me this passage illustrates our need to rely on others for guidance. Indeed, another modern heresy is that we are all self-made, that we have no need for any reliance on others nor any need for guidance from others.
Now, let’s get really basic about this. A human infant needs to rely on others. Not a one of us would survive infancy without relying on others. But the need for reliance on others is also a broad human truth.
How? First, none of us of us knows everything. Second, we all see the world in different ways. We all have a different take on the world around us.
I think part of our job as humans is to maintain enough humility to engage in grappling with the reality of others. Having that sense of humility means we need to take the time to stop talking at other people and to start talking with other people. It means we need to take the time to start listening to others.
All that brings me back to what happened in the chariot. In a way the most significant thing that happened is this (quote:) “...the Spirit of God snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw Philip no more;...”
You see, having been given the necessary guidance and framework, the structure, the discipline, the technique by another, this eunuch must now use that grounding and strive toward growth. Indeed, the final modern heresy I want to mention is that we treat life as a destination, as a goal.
Life is not a destination, a goal. Life is a journey. And it is hard to go anywhere on the journey without some guidance, without the guidance of mentors, without the guidance of teachers and, of course, without the guidance of Scripture— interpreted Scripture. Amen.
05/03/2015
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Here is another modern heresy: instead of treating Scripture as the Word of God, we turn the Bible into a god. We turn the Bible into a god by forgetting Scripture is the book of the community and community, by its nature, invites us to a spectrum of reality. To see that spectrum we need to work within structure, within discipline, within technique.”
BENEDICTION: I stumbled across this blessing on the web this week and felt compelled to use it. It was labeled as a Benedictine Fourfold Blessing but further research says it’s a Franciscan Blessing. A FOUR FOLD FRANCISCAN BLESSING: May God bless us with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that we may seek truth boldly and love deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with holy anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so we may tirelessly work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless us with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation or the loss of all that they cherish, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them.
May God bless us with enough foolishness to believe we really can make a difference in this world, that we are able, with the grace God offers to us, to do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
Guidance
“The Ethiopian replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ and invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.” — Acts 8:31.
Part of the process when one seeks ordination in a Mainline Church is for a candidate to have psychological testing done. Sometimes skills testing is also done. Psychological testing takes a day. Skills testing adds another two days, for a total of three.
Which is also to say skill testing takes one’s psychological state into account. Seven years before I even considered attending seminary I decided I needed to find out more about my own skill set. So on my own I went through the three day version of this process, a process which included both psychological and skills testing.
At the time I was making my living as a writer. A friend of mine, another writer, had been tested and was told to go to Law School.
I went for the tests sincerely hoping I would be told the same— go to Law School— become a lawyer. But they told me I was a writer. They did tell me I had the skills for ministry. But I paid no attention. It took me another seven years to shift gears.
The testing center also told me I was— pardon the sexist, old fashioned language— the center also told me I was a “self-made man.” What they meant is I had very few role models. A key part of that (and this had to do with the psychological end of the testing) was when I was very young my father had a nervous breakdown which left him quite debilitated. In short, in my early years I had no father figure in my life.
On the other hand, I think I did have some very significant mentors both early in life and later. I want to single out two early ones.
One was my music teacher, Mrs. Margaretta Wolf, a Juilliard graduate. I went to her for voice lessons because I sang in school and church choirs.
But all art requires learned structure, discipline and technique. And the reality is these lessons evolved from voice lessons into music theory lessons— lessons in the structure, the discipline and the technique of music. I learned how deeply effecting, moving, music can be when, as an artist, you understand what you are doing and how to do it.
Another mentor was my Junior year High School English teacher, Mr. David Marsh. Once a week— the day of the week seemed to be chosen at random, so you never knew when this would happen— once a week when you arrived at the class Mr. Marsh taught, there would be five topics on the board.
This was the assignment: you had twenty minutes to choose a topic and write an essay. What you wrote needed to fill up one side of a lined loose leaf sheet [the Pastor hold up a lined loose leaf sheet]. And you had to fill up the sheet right to the last line.
If you wrote too much and went to the other side of the page, points off. If you wrote too little and did not reach the last line on the page, points off.
What did that teach? It taught composition did not initially happen on the page. It happens first in your brain, before you put pen to paper. It taught the primary principles in the art of composition are structure, discipline, technique.
It is little wonder I combined what I learned from these two mentors and became a professional writer of lyrics. They were, in the end, two of my most important mentors both encountered in my teen years.
There is no question they empowered me. And it’s unlikely what I learned from them I could have acquired on my own.
Further, they not only challenged me. They helped me see what the challenges really were. They offered guidance which served me well on the journey. (Slight pause.)
These words are from the work known as Acts in the book Luke/Acts: “The Ethiopian replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ and invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.” (Slight pause.)
There are several things we moderns believe about Scripture which can readily be labeled as heresies. To be clear, the definition of heresy is not limited to religion.
A heresy is any belief or theory strongly at variance with established beliefs, customs. One heresy we moderns have is you can read Scripture and right off understand both what it says and what it means. This is also an insistence meanings in Scripture are very self-evident and likely to remain static.
Ipso facto, another modern claim— a heresy— says Scripture does not need interpretation. This passage is one among many in Scripture which say otherwise. Scripture needs interpretation. How do I know that? The Bible tells us so!
Indeed, this way of looking at Scripture, that its meanings are evident and there is no need for interpretation, is a very modern development. So yes, this way of seeing Scripture is strongly at variance with history, with long established beliefs, customs— therefore it is a heresy.
Further, for me this passage illustrates our need to rely on others for guidance. Indeed, another modern heresy is that we are all self-made, that we have no need for any reliance on others nor any need for guidance from others.
Now, let’s get really basic about this. A human infant needs to rely on others. Not a one of us would survive infancy without relying on others. But the need for reliance on others is also a broad human truth.
How? First, none of us of us knows everything. Second, we all see the world in different ways. We all have a different take on the world around us.
I think part of our job as humans is to maintain enough humility to engage in grappling with the reality of others. Having that sense of humility means we need to take the time to stop talking at other people and to start talking with other people. It means we need to take the time to start listening to others.
All that brings me back to what happened in the chariot. In a way the most significant thing that happened is this (quote:) “...the Spirit of God snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw Philip no more;...”
You see, having been given the necessary guidance and framework, the structure, the discipline, the technique by another, this eunuch must now use that grounding and strive toward growth. Indeed, the final modern heresy I want to mention is that we treat life as a destination, as a goal.
Life is not a destination, a goal. Life is a journey. And it is hard to go anywhere on the journey without some guidance, without the guidance of mentors, without the guidance of teachers and, of course, without the guidance of Scripture— interpreted Scripture. Amen.
05/03/2015
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Here is another modern heresy: instead of treating Scripture as the Word of God, we turn the Bible into a god. We turn the Bible into a god by forgetting Scripture is the book of the community and community, by its nature, invites us to a spectrum of reality. To see that spectrum we need to work within structure, within discipline, within technique.”
BENEDICTION: I stumbled across this blessing on the web this week and felt compelled to use it. It was labeled as a Benedictine Fourfold Blessing but further research says it’s a Franciscan Blessing. A FOUR FOLD FRANCISCAN BLESSING: May God bless us with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that we may seek truth boldly and love deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with holy anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so we may tirelessly work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless us with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation or the loss of all that they cherish, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them.
May God bless us with enough foolishness to believe we really can make a difference in this world, that we are able, with the grace God offers to us, to do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
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