12/24/2017 ~ 12/25/2017 ~ Nativity of the Christ - Proper I ~ Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14, (15-20) ~ Proper II ~ Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20 ~ Proper III ~ Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12); John 1:1-14.
Life Changes
“Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart.” — Luke 2:19.
There was a banging on the door. “I’ll get it!” shouted Naomi, weaving her way among the group of travelers gathered at the inn. Of course, she always was the one to ‘get it’ here. There was no one else. Her husband had been dead for five years.
The town was commonly called the City of David. She wondered from where the term ‘city’ had come since it was clearly not a city.
Her children had moved— Nazareth, Caesarea, Jerusalem— bigger venues. Since it would have been hard for her to keep up the small farm she and her husband operated on this tiny patch of land by herself she decided to turn the house into an inn.
Only a generous soul would see this ramshackle house as a fit place to stay. But then a cadre of Roman soldiers— the occupying army— decided they needed a place when they came through this tiny village three or four times a year. They chose this house as being ideal since they thought it would not draw attention to their presence.
Naomi knew the ways of the world, knew what she was doing. She overcharged the Romans. That paid the upkeep on the place for the entire year.
Then because of this census thing people flocked to Bethlehem in droves. Right now, there was no room in the house for another soul. It would be a very good year.
The banging on the door persisted until Naomi opened it. Introductions were made. A man, his name was Joseph, and a very pregnant woman, her name was Mary, stood there. They were in town for the census.
Naomi thought she detected some fear in Mary’s eyes. He had kind eyes and spoke softly. “We have been on the road for days. We need someplace to stay.” Then he stated the obvious. “My wife is with child. The baby might be born anytime now.”
Naomi thought quickly. There was no room for them in the house. And if the woman’s time came she would need to be alone, not with a crowd. It was still early in the Spring. But the edge had come off winter. [1]
“I have no room inside. Follow me. I think I can put you up in the barn.”
She brushed past them not seeing if they agreed or disagreed but follow they did. What choice did they have? They had tried everywhere else in town.
There were some animals in the barn— a cow, a couple of chickens, several sheep— left over from the working farm. But many stalls were empty. There was plenty of hay, more than enough to put together a makeshift place to sleep— or to bear a child— in an empty stall.
“Look— make a place to lay down. I’ll be back,” said Naomi and scurried off.
“I can’t thank you enough,” the man called after the innkeeper as she disappeared.
Naomi guessed the child would be born shortly. She sprinted to the house, found a bucket, ran to the well, tied a rope on the handle and tossed it down the shaft.
She heard it splash, guided the rope back and forth until the heft said there was enough water to make retrieving the bucket practical. She tugged the load to the surface and headed back to the barn.
As she approached she was surprised to hear the cry of an infant. In her short time away Mary had given birth.
Joseph must have acted with resourcefulness and haste. Clean hay was neatly spread out in one of the stalls. Mary sat there, cradled in the arms of Joseph, a crying baby cradled in her arms.
Naomi approached. In her straightforward, matter of fact way she said, “O.K. Let’s do what we have to do.”
She dipped a towel into the bucket of water and began washing the child who was in Mary’s arms. Joseph looked on.
Naomi looked at him. “You do realize your whole life has now changed.”
Joseph nodded. His eyes now showed the same kind of fear Naomi had detected in the eyes of Mary.
The crying of the baby got still louder as the infant was washed. “Don’t worry,” said Naomi responding to what she saw, what she perceived, in Joseph. “From the amount of noise this baby is making I think we have a very healthy child here.”
“I understand that,” said Joseph nodding in affirmation. “I am not worried on that count. I am worried about the world this child has just entered. Our journey here took five days. The length of the trip was not the arduous part.”
“The roads are infested with brigands, thieves— that’s dangerous. The Roman Army of occupation— that’s dangerous. Our leaders seem incompetent— that’s dangerous. The child does not frighten me. The world we live in... that frightens me.”
Naomi simply nodded. “We may be a small town but we have a wise Rabbi. He once said to me life is a journey through changes. As life changes it is often dangerous, often frightening. But tomorrow it will be different. You will be different. And life will present you with other different, frightening, dangerous challenges.”
“Me, personally, my husband died five years ago. My children left. I could not maintain the farm alone. So I started the inn. Life changed; I changed.”
“Life changes. It’s a given. You need to change with it.”
“You now have this child. As I said, your life will change completely. Indeed, that same Rabbi also said we need to live life understanding the promise God makes. The promise God makes is to love us, to covenant with us, be with us, to walk with us, walk at our side.”
Reaching out to Mary Naomi said, “Give me the child.”
She held the baby up. The baby stopped crying. She looked deeply into the infant’s eyes. Then she handed the child to Joseph. “What do you see?”
“I see love.”
Naomi took the child and handed the child to Mary. “What do you see?”
“I see love.”
“That same Rabbi told me the covenant starts with love. When you look in the eyes of a baby you see nothing but love. This child shall see many changes in a lifetime. But God will love, covenant, be with and walk with this child through every change.”
Naomi took the child from Mary, held the child in her arms and again looked into the eyes of the infant. “The Rabbi told me God loves us so much a Messiah will be sent at some point. Now that... that will be a real change— the Messiah— loving, present, covenanting, walking with us.
Who knows? This child... this child... might even be the Messiah.” (Slight pause.) Amen.
12/24/2017 — Christmas Eve
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 Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “We live in a very secular world. Hence, I never wish people a ‘Merry Christmas.’ That’s a secular term. As an alternative I’ve often, therefore, suggested that we wish one another a ‘Happy Christmas.’ But I want to make a different suggestion. If somebody says to you ‘Merry Christmas,’ or ‘Happy Christmas’ say to them ‘Christ is with us.’ That is the real Christian sentiment expressed in the Feast of the Incarnation— Christ is with us.”
BENEDICTION: The sun shall no longer be / your light by day, / nor for brightness shall the moon / give you light by night; / for Yahweh, God, / will be your everlasting light, / and your glory. — Isaiah 60:19-20a.
[1] A the beginning of this Christmas Eve the pastor gave brief offered some background about the reality of the Christmas celebration. This included the fact that many scholars think Jesus was born in what we would call the year Four B.C.E., probably in the Spring and not the winter.
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Monday, December 25, 2017
SERMON ~ Note: Sunday Morning, Fourth Sunday of Advent ~ 12/24/2017 “Proclaiming God”
12/24/2017 ~ Fourth Sunday of Advent ~ The Sunday in Advent on Which We Commemorate Joy ~ 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 ~ NOTE: Morning Service.
Proclaiming God
“And Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims / Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior, / for You have looked with favor / on Your lowly servant.’” — Luke 1:46-48.
You have probably more than once heard me say I was a member of an Episcopal Church— All Angels Church— on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. When I left New York to go to Maine the membership there numbered about 450 souls.
That’s a goodly sized number but once you consider the population of Manhattan, a limited number. Now, when a church is that size, there is a need to find methods to encourage people to be engaged in multiple ways beyond what might be loosely called the institutional church.
Hence, members of the laity at one point began to form small groups who met once a week outside the Sunday service. They called these small groups house churches. They called them house churches even though, this being Manhattan, they lived in apartments.
What did they do when then met? They met for prayer, for the study of Scripture, for discussion, for camaraderie and to talk about ways to engage in doing the work of God. Small groups of many stripes are, in fact, the secret of being an effective large church. You see, a Sunday service is where all the small groups come together as one.
But by its nature, a Sunday Service is a difficult place to have fully developed prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie and consider the work God calls us to do. Often a Sunday service is a place where not everyone knows everyone. Prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie and doing the work of God can more readily happen in that small, intimate context of each separate group once members get to know one another.
Here’s the paradox: what large churches really do to be effective is to copy what small churches do by the nature of their being small. You see, prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie and doing the work of God is best done in small group settings, with people you know well and who know you well. That work is not even remotely possible in the context of a Sunday worship.
This bottom line is simple: what do large churches do to maintain themselves? They act like small churches. They form small groups.
Now, when those small groups started to form at All Angels, a friend of mine invited me to a group. I was, frankly, a little hesitant since I had a limited amount of time in the course of my week. Thinking I didn’t know what that was like he said, “You should just try it to see what it’s like.”
“I know what it’s like,” said I. “My family of origin was a house church.” I continued, “My mother had been in a convent but dropped out, met my father and got married. My father taught at a Jesuit school.”
“Every Friday night after dinner the family gathered at the dinning room table, prayed, read Scripture, had discussion and talked about what we were doing. And, as the three children got old enough to deal with advanced topics, that discussion ranged from the writings of Augustine to the existentialism of Jesuit theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.” I probably sounded a little defensive when I then said, “So do not tell me I am unfamiliar with house church. I know it better than most.” (Slight pause.)
These words are in Luke: “And Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims / Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior, / for You have looked with favor / on Your lowly servant.’” (Slight pause.)
Earlier, at the start of the service, I explained there are three sets of lectionary readings assigned for the Feast of the Incarnation, Christmas. [1] These sets of three readings are for the three different services on Christmas and they do not change year to year. The same reading is always assigned year after year after year.
The Second Chapter of Luke— some might identify this as the Charlie Brown Christmas reading— is always the Christmas Eve reading. You know those words. “...there were shepherds in that region, living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night,” etc., etc., etc.
But this is a given: the two readings we heard from the First Chapter of Luke are not just a part of the story of the birth of the Messiah but are as pivotal— are as pivotal— as the shepherds and the angels. If you consider only the Charlie Brown reading, what Luke is trying to convey about the birth of the Messiah becomes quite limited.
In fact, the full story Luke tells about the birth starts at the Fifth Verse of the First Chapter. (Quote:) “In the days of the ruler Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah...” These words initiate the story of the birth of the Messiah and are about the birth of John, a relative of Jesus, later identified as the Baptizer.
Further, the story of the birth of the Messiah does not end until the Fortieth Verse of the Second Chapter with the circumcision of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. Why is that important?
Circumcision fulfills the ritual requirements set out in the Torah. And please note: this ritual is done not in Nazareth nor in Bethlehem. This is done at the Temple in Jerusalem.
The point I’m making is simple. The story about birth of the Messiah is not just the story about the shepherds, angels, a stable, a manger. I would also maintain the story of the birth of the Messiah cannot be well understood unless you know and unless read (to quote the late Paul Harvey) the rest of the story.
So, that leaves the obvious question: what is the story of the birth of the Jesus in Luke about? Yes, you do need to know and read the whole story but I also think the words we hear Mary say are a significant piece of it.
It is absolutely clear these words proclaim a certainty about the real presence of God. To use a more traditional term, these words proclaim the in-breaking of God.
And what Mary says reiterates and reenforces what Luke says elsewhere. To note just two points Luke makes— first, the birth of the Messiah is proclaimed and is to be proclaimed to those who are poor, powerless. Second, we are called on to do what Mary says she is doing. We are called on to proclaim God is real, God is present, God is with us, God walks with us.
Given everything in Luke’s rendition of the birth of the Messiah, that is exactly what is being addressed through the story— throughout the story of the birth— especially when the story is taken as a whole. God is real, God is present, God is with us, God walks with us. (Slight pause.)
That brings me back to the aforementioned small groups. Worship is worship. Worship is a significant, necessary, important, wonderful way to support our faith. Worship is something we are called to do by God. But there are other needs.
Anselm of Canterbury, philosopher, theologian of the 11th Century agreed. This Benedictine monk said yes, we need to have faith but our faith must seek understanding. I think too often we make the understanding aspect of faith unimportant.
And that is where small groups come into play. As I said earlier— prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie and doing the work God calls us to do— can more readily happen in the smaller, intimate context of each individual group once members get to know one another. (Slight pause.)
Last week at the Children’s Time by using a mirror and a flashlight Linda and Jen demonstrated that we are called on to reflect who God is in our lives, the goodness of God. And reflecting the goodness of God is something we learn from others.
Any good teacher will tell you the real way people learn deeply is not from a book. The real way people learn is through interaction with one another. (Slight pause.)
As these things go we are a small church in a rural area with a small population. And yes, we gather for worship on a Sunday and our small groups get together also.
And we do have small groups who gather for all kinds of reasons. To name a few, these range from the Prayer Shawl Group to the Adult Study groups to the Christian Education group to the Choir to our standing committees. And, in a very short time, we shall add a Transition Committee to that roster.
And yes, in these groups we learn from each other. Further, I think if these groups did not exist or people stopped attending them we would cease to be a church. But they do exist and we are a church.
How? Why? I think in these groups what we really learn is our work, the work to which God call us, is to proclaim, to reflect the goodness of God, as Mary did. And we deeply learn to reflect the goodness of God from each other. Amen.
12/24/2017 — Note: the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
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: “A reminder: we do not celebrate the birthday of Christ. That would simply be remembering something that happened long ago. We celebrate the amazing reality of the incarnation, God entering our world, this in-breaking of God into the world. The Christian belief is because of this in-breaking nothing has been the same since. Put differently, what happened is not as important as why it matters. It matters because Christ is with us.”
BENEDICTION: Let us go in hope and in joy and in peace, for we find love in the One who has made covenant with us. And, indeed, God reigns. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.
[1]
This is what was said at the start of the service.
Once a celebration of the Incarnation made its way on to the church calendar, which was not until well into the Fourth Century of the Common Era, and throughout most of church history thereafter right until the 1970s, services observing the Feast known as Christmas were not celebrated until midnight. Even today the lectionary still lists three readings for Christmas. The first set of those readings was and is intended for use at the so called Christmas Eve service, a service which used to be held at Midnight of the 25th. The second set was and is intended for use at the service celebrated with a service held at dawn on the 25th. The third set was and is intended for use at the service celebrated around mid-day on the 25th. Unlike what we see in modern times, this mid-day Christmas Day service was the most solemn of all the services, therefore, the most important one. Interestingly, the assigned Gospel reading for that mid-day solemn service is the beginning of the First Chapter of John— “In the Beginning was the Word.” This is a reading not about the birth of Jesus but about the reality of the eternal God Who is present to us. And, rumor to the contrary, an eternal God Who is present to us addresses the real meaning of Christmas.
Proclaiming God
“And Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims / Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior, / for You have looked with favor / on Your lowly servant.’” — Luke 1:46-48.
You have probably more than once heard me say I was a member of an Episcopal Church— All Angels Church— on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. When I left New York to go to Maine the membership there numbered about 450 souls.
That’s a goodly sized number but once you consider the population of Manhattan, a limited number. Now, when a church is that size, there is a need to find methods to encourage people to be engaged in multiple ways beyond what might be loosely called the institutional church.
Hence, members of the laity at one point began to form small groups who met once a week outside the Sunday service. They called these small groups house churches. They called them house churches even though, this being Manhattan, they lived in apartments.
What did they do when then met? They met for prayer, for the study of Scripture, for discussion, for camaraderie and to talk about ways to engage in doing the work of God. Small groups of many stripes are, in fact, the secret of being an effective large church. You see, a Sunday service is where all the small groups come together as one.
But by its nature, a Sunday Service is a difficult place to have fully developed prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie and consider the work God calls us to do. Often a Sunday service is a place where not everyone knows everyone. Prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie and doing the work of God can more readily happen in that small, intimate context of each separate group once members get to know one another.
Here’s the paradox: what large churches really do to be effective is to copy what small churches do by the nature of their being small. You see, prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie and doing the work of God is best done in small group settings, with people you know well and who know you well. That work is not even remotely possible in the context of a Sunday worship.
This bottom line is simple: what do large churches do to maintain themselves? They act like small churches. They form small groups.
Now, when those small groups started to form at All Angels, a friend of mine invited me to a group. I was, frankly, a little hesitant since I had a limited amount of time in the course of my week. Thinking I didn’t know what that was like he said, “You should just try it to see what it’s like.”
“I know what it’s like,” said I. “My family of origin was a house church.” I continued, “My mother had been in a convent but dropped out, met my father and got married. My father taught at a Jesuit school.”
“Every Friday night after dinner the family gathered at the dinning room table, prayed, read Scripture, had discussion and talked about what we were doing. And, as the three children got old enough to deal with advanced topics, that discussion ranged from the writings of Augustine to the existentialism of Jesuit theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.” I probably sounded a little defensive when I then said, “So do not tell me I am unfamiliar with house church. I know it better than most.” (Slight pause.)
These words are in Luke: “And Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims / Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior, / for You have looked with favor / on Your lowly servant.’” (Slight pause.)
Earlier, at the start of the service, I explained there are three sets of lectionary readings assigned for the Feast of the Incarnation, Christmas. [1] These sets of three readings are for the three different services on Christmas and they do not change year to year. The same reading is always assigned year after year after year.
The Second Chapter of Luke— some might identify this as the Charlie Brown Christmas reading— is always the Christmas Eve reading. You know those words. “...there were shepherds in that region, living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night,” etc., etc., etc.
But this is a given: the two readings we heard from the First Chapter of Luke are not just a part of the story of the birth of the Messiah but are as pivotal— are as pivotal— as the shepherds and the angels. If you consider only the Charlie Brown reading, what Luke is trying to convey about the birth of the Messiah becomes quite limited.
In fact, the full story Luke tells about the birth starts at the Fifth Verse of the First Chapter. (Quote:) “In the days of the ruler Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah...” These words initiate the story of the birth of the Messiah and are about the birth of John, a relative of Jesus, later identified as the Baptizer.
Further, the story of the birth of the Messiah does not end until the Fortieth Verse of the Second Chapter with the circumcision of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. Why is that important?
Circumcision fulfills the ritual requirements set out in the Torah. And please note: this ritual is done not in Nazareth nor in Bethlehem. This is done at the Temple in Jerusalem.
The point I’m making is simple. The story about birth of the Messiah is not just the story about the shepherds, angels, a stable, a manger. I would also maintain the story of the birth of the Messiah cannot be well understood unless you know and unless read (to quote the late Paul Harvey) the rest of the story.
So, that leaves the obvious question: what is the story of the birth of the Jesus in Luke about? Yes, you do need to know and read the whole story but I also think the words we hear Mary say are a significant piece of it.
It is absolutely clear these words proclaim a certainty about the real presence of God. To use a more traditional term, these words proclaim the in-breaking of God.
And what Mary says reiterates and reenforces what Luke says elsewhere. To note just two points Luke makes— first, the birth of the Messiah is proclaimed and is to be proclaimed to those who are poor, powerless. Second, we are called on to do what Mary says she is doing. We are called on to proclaim God is real, God is present, God is with us, God walks with us.
Given everything in Luke’s rendition of the birth of the Messiah, that is exactly what is being addressed through the story— throughout the story of the birth— especially when the story is taken as a whole. God is real, God is present, God is with us, God walks with us. (Slight pause.)
That brings me back to the aforementioned small groups. Worship is worship. Worship is a significant, necessary, important, wonderful way to support our faith. Worship is something we are called to do by God. But there are other needs.
Anselm of Canterbury, philosopher, theologian of the 11th Century agreed. This Benedictine monk said yes, we need to have faith but our faith must seek understanding. I think too often we make the understanding aspect of faith unimportant.
And that is where small groups come into play. As I said earlier— prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie and doing the work God calls us to do— can more readily happen in the smaller, intimate context of each individual group once members get to know one another. (Slight pause.)
Last week at the Children’s Time by using a mirror and a flashlight Linda and Jen demonstrated that we are called on to reflect who God is in our lives, the goodness of God. And reflecting the goodness of God is something we learn from others.
Any good teacher will tell you the real way people learn deeply is not from a book. The real way people learn is through interaction with one another. (Slight pause.)
As these things go we are a small church in a rural area with a small population. And yes, we gather for worship on a Sunday and our small groups get together also.
And we do have small groups who gather for all kinds of reasons. To name a few, these range from the Prayer Shawl Group to the Adult Study groups to the Christian Education group to the Choir to our standing committees. And, in a very short time, we shall add a Transition Committee to that roster.
And yes, in these groups we learn from each other. Further, I think if these groups did not exist or people stopped attending them we would cease to be a church. But they do exist and we are a church.
How? Why? I think in these groups what we really learn is our work, the work to which God call us, is to proclaim, to reflect the goodness of God, as Mary did. And we deeply learn to reflect the goodness of God from each other. Amen.
12/24/2017 — Note: the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
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: “A reminder: we do not celebrate the birthday of Christ. That would simply be remembering something that happened long ago. We celebrate the amazing reality of the incarnation, God entering our world, this in-breaking of God into the world. The Christian belief is because of this in-breaking nothing has been the same since. Put differently, what happened is not as important as why it matters. It matters because Christ is with us.”
BENEDICTION: Let us go in hope and in joy and in peace, for we find love in the One who has made covenant with us. And, indeed, God reigns. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.
[1]
This is what was said at the start of the service.
Once a celebration of the Incarnation made its way on to the church calendar, which was not until well into the Fourth Century of the Common Era, and throughout most of church history thereafter right until the 1970s, services observing the Feast known as Christmas were not celebrated until midnight. Even today the lectionary still lists three readings for Christmas. The first set of those readings was and is intended for use at the so called Christmas Eve service, a service which used to be held at Midnight of the 25th. The second set was and is intended for use at the service celebrated with a service held at dawn on the 25th. The third set was and is intended for use at the service celebrated around mid-day on the 25th. Unlike what we see in modern times, this mid-day Christmas Day service was the most solemn of all the services, therefore, the most important one. Interestingly, the assigned Gospel reading for that mid-day solemn service is the beginning of the First Chapter of John— “In the Beginning was the Word.” This is a reading not about the birth of Jesus but about the reality of the eternal God Who is present to us. And, rumor to the contrary, an eternal God Who is present to us addresses the real meaning of Christmas.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
SERMON ~ 12/10/2017 ~ “Our Calling”
12/10/2017 ~ Second Sunday of Advent ~ The Sunday in Advent on Which We Commemorate Peace ~ Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8.
Our Calling
“As it was written in the prophet, Isaiah, / ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, / who will prepare your way’; / a herald’s voice in the desert crying out: / ‘Prepare, make ready the way of our God. / Clear a straight path.’” — Mark 1:2-3.
A couple of weeks ago I was tapped on, pressured into— I suppose recruited would be a nicer way to say it— I was recruited by members of our Susquehanna Association to offer the Sermon at the installation of the Rev. Mr. Allen Armstrong, the new pastor at the Sherburne United Church of Christ. My first reaction was OMG... two sermons in one day.
But then again, I preach two sermons a Sunday at least twelve times a year since once a month I preach at a Sunday afternoon service at Chenango Valley Home. In fact, I shall be doing that this very afternoon. I always offer a different sermon over there, so if would you like to hear me again— or to be more blunt, if you want to torture yourself one more time— you can come and listen to what I have to say there.
In any case, at every installation there are actually two sermons for the price of one. One is the so called ‘charge to the church.’ The second is the charge to the pastor. I was assigned to talk to the church. And, as is the tradition in this neck of the woods, a representative from the Conference, in this case the Rev. Dr. Marsha Williams, was to follow me with the charge to the pastor.
Hence, the first thing I spoke about on taking the pulpit was I had been placed in the unenviable position of preceding Marsha’s comments. Since she has already addressed this congregational those of you who heard her realize Marsha knows a thing or two about preaching.
Next, having noted Marsha and I were preaching, I said this very fact should inform us about covenant commitment among our churches And that covenant commitment is about people. These were my exact words (quote:) “We all have our roots in the local church. But church— and the word church does not mean a building— this building is a meeting house— the word church means people. The real definition of the very word ‘church’ is much more expansive than common usage would have it.”
Then I said even though I have been in this Association 22 years, it was unlikely many people knew my background, my story. After all, pulpit exchange among pastors is fairly rare these days. So whereas most of you know my background, outside of this place, this pulpit, it’s not something that often comes up. So I told them I was going to use my story, my personal history, as I wanted to address what is often referred to as a call, or as clergy often and inappropriately refer to it: “my call.”
And so I spoke about growing up Roman Catholic. As I often say, with a name like Joseph Francis Connolly, Jr. that is really hard to hide. I said I shifted to the Episcopal Church in my 20s and when I was 40 I saw the light and became a Congregationalist. I joined First Parish Church, United Church of Christ, Brunswick, Maine.
Next I noted at least since I was 20 people had been telling me I should be a pastor. I paid no heed. I, in fact, once asked an Episcopal Priest friend what the call felt like. This Priest said, “Oh, it felt terrible. I cried for hours.” I said, “Great! I don’t have one.”
Now, in the coffee hour space at the Brunswick Church a Bangor Seminary poster was stapled to the wall. It had postcards attached. Send us a card and we’ll send you information. So I did.
After being on their mailing list a while the Seminary sent me a letter. ‘Do you I want to stay on the list?’ I wrote back saying ‘yes.’ What did the seminary do? They sent me a catalogue. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
A couple of days later, a Saturday, Bonnie needed to be away. I was bored out of my skull. I decided to bore myself some more and read the catalogue.
As I sat reading I started to cry. Have you ever read a Seminary catalogue? Course descriptions— beyond boring— and I was crying. Then I remembered what my Episcopal Priest friend said about what the call felt like. “It felt terrible. I cried for hours.”
Now, when a pastor writes an ordination paper there is an expectation that the story of the call will be told and that story will go on for pages and pages and pages. So what you just heard, my friends, is the short version of my call and I shared some of it at the installation in Sherburne since the Association members there assembled and the members of the Sherburne Church had not heard it. Of course, many of you have heard pieces of this story before. Only some of you, I think, have not.
So, having entertained (question mark) them with this story, the next thing I shared in Sherburne was that when I hold Confirmation sessions here I present three short videos by Michael Himes, a Jesuit, a Professor of Theology at Boston College on discernment. These do not address a call to ministry since Himes gives these talks to incoming Freshmen at BC.
The presentation is called “Three Key Questions.” These are the questions: ‘Is whatever it is you are considering to be a call on your life, for your life, a source of joy?’ ‘Is this something that taps into your talents, gifts in the fullest way?’ ‘Last, will those around you affirm the call and do you have the courage to respond?’ (Slight pause.)
We find this said in the work commonly called Mark: “A voice cries out: / ‘Clear a path through the wilderness / prepare the way for Yahweh, God. / Make straight in the desert a highway, / a road for God!” (Slight pause.)
Earlier I said we clergy often inappropriately refer to the what we do as “my call.” “My call” is inappropriate because it is not “my call.”
You see, that last question Himes tackles is key and it applies not just to church, not just to clergy, but to bankers, car mechanics, doctors, plumbers, etc., etc., etc. “Will those around you affirm the call and do you have the courage to respond?” Any call is, at least in part, the call of those around us to us, the call on us to us of the community around us. (Slight pause.)
All that leads me back to this opening passage from Mark. You see— and I have said this here before— we need to listen to Scripture with First Century ears, not Twenty-first Century ears. Our Twenty-first Century ears pay too much attention to the story of the Baptizer, John.
I think we Twenty-first Century types like stories. On the other hand, I think we Twenty-first Century types do not seem particularly interested in understanding the message behind the story. Hence, we dwell on the content of the story without asking what the story means.
We need to understand the reason nearly any story is recorded in Scripture is not because of the story, itself. The story may be interesting— the story about the Baptizer, it’s details what John looks like, what John eats, what John says, all that is interesting. But that is not why the story gets recorded. A story is told to illustrate meaning— illustrate meaning.
Equally, the meaning here can be found when Mark quotes Isaiah. The point of the story is to reenforce the quote. And, therefore, I want to suggest the point of the story is not the Baptizer, not John.
The point of the story is John listened to what Isaiah had to say. The point of the story is John listened to the call of God. And, indeed, John acted on the call of God.
Further, when Mark quotes the prophet Isaiah, the meaning of the passage is laid out. And I think the meaning is straightforward.
Our call— our call— is to clear a path, prepare the way, make straight a highway— and as the fuller quote from Isaiah says— lift up, fill or lay low the mountains and valleys, make rough places, the ground level— like a plain. Do all that for Whom? Note ourselves. It’s not about us. Do it for God.
I also want to suggest when the passage turns toward the story of the Baptizer, when the story tries to illustrate the meaning, by telling us the story of John, the writer explores what the result of listening and answering the call of God might be like. (Quote:) “And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to John and were baptized...” (Slight pause.)
You see, sharing the call is vital to the community. And sharing the call also builds community when the community listens.
And that beings us back to the third key question of life posed by the Rev. Himes. “Will those around you affirm the call and do you have the courage to respond?” (Slight pause.)
So, what does should the story of John say to us? What does it mean? I think its meaning is simple.
Do we in the United Church of Christ— it’s not just pastors who hear a call— do we in the United Church of Christ of Norwich, this church— all of us— have the courage to respond to the call of God together as we discern the call of God on the life of the community?’ Amen.
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
12/10/2017
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 came across a quote from Pope Francis, who is becoming a wonderful source of quotes. The Pontiff said we humans need to be more concerned with encountering one another than with confronting one another. I am not suggesting that confrontation fails to be appropriate sometimes. I am suggesting— and I think this is what Francis may have been suggesting— that encountering now means confronting will never be necessary. Or, as the Apostle Paul says we need to speak the truth in love. And that, I think, is a call of God on our lives.”
BENEDICTION: Let us be present to one another as we go from this place. Let us share our gifts, our hopes, our memories, our pain and our joy. Go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that God is steadfast. Go in peace for God is with us. And may the peace of God which surpasses understanding be with us this day and forevermore. Amen.
Our Calling
“As it was written in the prophet, Isaiah, / ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, / who will prepare your way’; / a herald’s voice in the desert crying out: / ‘Prepare, make ready the way of our God. / Clear a straight path.’” — Mark 1:2-3.
A couple of weeks ago I was tapped on, pressured into— I suppose recruited would be a nicer way to say it— I was recruited by members of our Susquehanna Association to offer the Sermon at the installation of the Rev. Mr. Allen Armstrong, the new pastor at the Sherburne United Church of Christ. My first reaction was OMG... two sermons in one day.
But then again, I preach two sermons a Sunday at least twelve times a year since once a month I preach at a Sunday afternoon service at Chenango Valley Home. In fact, I shall be doing that this very afternoon. I always offer a different sermon over there, so if would you like to hear me again— or to be more blunt, if you want to torture yourself one more time— you can come and listen to what I have to say there.
In any case, at every installation there are actually two sermons for the price of one. One is the so called ‘charge to the church.’ The second is the charge to the pastor. I was assigned to talk to the church. And, as is the tradition in this neck of the woods, a representative from the Conference, in this case the Rev. Dr. Marsha Williams, was to follow me with the charge to the pastor.
Hence, the first thing I spoke about on taking the pulpit was I had been placed in the unenviable position of preceding Marsha’s comments. Since she has already addressed this congregational those of you who heard her realize Marsha knows a thing or two about preaching.
Next, having noted Marsha and I were preaching, I said this very fact should inform us about covenant commitment among our churches And that covenant commitment is about people. These were my exact words (quote:) “We all have our roots in the local church. But church— and the word church does not mean a building— this building is a meeting house— the word church means people. The real definition of the very word ‘church’ is much more expansive than common usage would have it.”
Then I said even though I have been in this Association 22 years, it was unlikely many people knew my background, my story. After all, pulpit exchange among pastors is fairly rare these days. So whereas most of you know my background, outside of this place, this pulpit, it’s not something that often comes up. So I told them I was going to use my story, my personal history, as I wanted to address what is often referred to as a call, or as clergy often and inappropriately refer to it: “my call.”
And so I spoke about growing up Roman Catholic. As I often say, with a name like Joseph Francis Connolly, Jr. that is really hard to hide. I said I shifted to the Episcopal Church in my 20s and when I was 40 I saw the light and became a Congregationalist. I joined First Parish Church, United Church of Christ, Brunswick, Maine.
Next I noted at least since I was 20 people had been telling me I should be a pastor. I paid no heed. I, in fact, once asked an Episcopal Priest friend what the call felt like. This Priest said, “Oh, it felt terrible. I cried for hours.” I said, “Great! I don’t have one.”
Now, in the coffee hour space at the Brunswick Church a Bangor Seminary poster was stapled to the wall. It had postcards attached. Send us a card and we’ll send you information. So I did.
After being on their mailing list a while the Seminary sent me a letter. ‘Do you I want to stay on the list?’ I wrote back saying ‘yes.’ What did the seminary do? They sent me a catalogue. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
A couple of days later, a Saturday, Bonnie needed to be away. I was bored out of my skull. I decided to bore myself some more and read the catalogue.
As I sat reading I started to cry. Have you ever read a Seminary catalogue? Course descriptions— beyond boring— and I was crying. Then I remembered what my Episcopal Priest friend said about what the call felt like. “It felt terrible. I cried for hours.”
Now, when a pastor writes an ordination paper there is an expectation that the story of the call will be told and that story will go on for pages and pages and pages. So what you just heard, my friends, is the short version of my call and I shared some of it at the installation in Sherburne since the Association members there assembled and the members of the Sherburne Church had not heard it. Of course, many of you have heard pieces of this story before. Only some of you, I think, have not.
So, having entertained (question mark) them with this story, the next thing I shared in Sherburne was that when I hold Confirmation sessions here I present three short videos by Michael Himes, a Jesuit, a Professor of Theology at Boston College on discernment. These do not address a call to ministry since Himes gives these talks to incoming Freshmen at BC.
The presentation is called “Three Key Questions.” These are the questions: ‘Is whatever it is you are considering to be a call on your life, for your life, a source of joy?’ ‘Is this something that taps into your talents, gifts in the fullest way?’ ‘Last, will those around you affirm the call and do you have the courage to respond?’ (Slight pause.)
We find this said in the work commonly called Mark: “A voice cries out: / ‘Clear a path through the wilderness / prepare the way for Yahweh, God. / Make straight in the desert a highway, / a road for God!” (Slight pause.)
Earlier I said we clergy often inappropriately refer to the what we do as “my call.” “My call” is inappropriate because it is not “my call.”
You see, that last question Himes tackles is key and it applies not just to church, not just to clergy, but to bankers, car mechanics, doctors, plumbers, etc., etc., etc. “Will those around you affirm the call and do you have the courage to respond?” Any call is, at least in part, the call of those around us to us, the call on us to us of the community around us. (Slight pause.)
All that leads me back to this opening passage from Mark. You see— and I have said this here before— we need to listen to Scripture with First Century ears, not Twenty-first Century ears. Our Twenty-first Century ears pay too much attention to the story of the Baptizer, John.
I think we Twenty-first Century types like stories. On the other hand, I think we Twenty-first Century types do not seem particularly interested in understanding the message behind the story. Hence, we dwell on the content of the story without asking what the story means.
We need to understand the reason nearly any story is recorded in Scripture is not because of the story, itself. The story may be interesting— the story about the Baptizer, it’s details what John looks like, what John eats, what John says, all that is interesting. But that is not why the story gets recorded. A story is told to illustrate meaning— illustrate meaning.
Equally, the meaning here can be found when Mark quotes Isaiah. The point of the story is to reenforce the quote. And, therefore, I want to suggest the point of the story is not the Baptizer, not John.
The point of the story is John listened to what Isaiah had to say. The point of the story is John listened to the call of God. And, indeed, John acted on the call of God.
Further, when Mark quotes the prophet Isaiah, the meaning of the passage is laid out. And I think the meaning is straightforward.
Our call— our call— is to clear a path, prepare the way, make straight a highway— and as the fuller quote from Isaiah says— lift up, fill or lay low the mountains and valleys, make rough places, the ground level— like a plain. Do all that for Whom? Note ourselves. It’s not about us. Do it for God.
I also want to suggest when the passage turns toward the story of the Baptizer, when the story tries to illustrate the meaning, by telling us the story of John, the writer explores what the result of listening and answering the call of God might be like. (Quote:) “And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to John and were baptized...” (Slight pause.)
You see, sharing the call is vital to the community. And sharing the call also builds community when the community listens.
And that beings us back to the third key question of life posed by the Rev. Himes. “Will those around you affirm the call and do you have the courage to respond?” (Slight pause.)
So, what does should the story of John say to us? What does it mean? I think its meaning is simple.
Do we in the United Church of Christ— it’s not just pastors who hear a call— do we in the United Church of Christ of Norwich, this church— all of us— have the courage to respond to the call of God together as we discern the call of God on the life of the community?’ Amen.
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
12/10/2017
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 came across a quote from Pope Francis, who is becoming a wonderful source of quotes. The Pontiff said we humans need to be more concerned with encountering one another than with confronting one another. I am not suggesting that confrontation fails to be appropriate sometimes. I am suggesting— and I think this is what Francis may have been suggesting— that encountering now means confronting will never be necessary. Or, as the Apostle Paul says we need to speak the truth in love. And that, I think, is a call of God on our lives.”
BENEDICTION: Let us be present to one another as we go from this place. Let us share our gifts, our hopes, our memories, our pain and our joy. Go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that God is steadfast. Go in peace for God is with us. And may the peace of God which surpasses understanding be with us this day and forevermore. Amen.
Sunday, December 3, 2017
SERMON ~ 12/03/2017 ~ “The Present Tense”
12/03/2017 ~ First Sunday of Advent ~ Beginning of Year ‘B’ ~ First Sunday of Year ‘B’ in the Three Year Cycle of Lectionary Readings ~ The Sunday in Advent on Which We Commemorate Hope ~ Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37 ~ Communion Sunday.
The Present Tense
“Grace to you and peace from our loving God and from our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.” — 1 Corinthians 1:3.
In my comments today I want to address the educational background, the certification if you would, to hold the office of Pastor and Teacher in our denomination. Indeed, while most churches in America do not require any kind of academic certification, the vast majority of pastors in Main Line Churches have a Master of Divinity degree, a graduate degree, from a State accredited institution of higher learning. Hence, a prerequisite is a Bachelor’s Degree.
Generally at least, Master’s Degrees are two years of full time graduate work. They can range from a low of around 43 graduate level credits to a high of around 60 graduate level credits. But a Master of Divinity Degree is a 90 graduate credit level degree, about the same as a law degree, three years of full time work.
Given that context, I want to focus in on just one area of study, commonly a part of the Master of Divinity Degree. The specific piece I want to address— and these days no one is ordained in Main Line denominations without the this— is a piece called Clinical Pastoral Education.
Clinical Pastoral Education, commonly referred to as CPE, is over 400 hours of work. CPE is a three credit course but the 400 hours of work required is about three times the normal workload of a 3 credit course.
This course combines classroom and clinical work about evenly split between those two areas. Classroom work is always done in small groups of four or five students. And aside from tons of assigned reading, the main purpose of the classroom exercises is the small group examines what each individual student does in the clinical work.
The clinical section can be thought of as on the job training for chaplains. For practical reasons a CPE program often serves one setting— a nursing home, a hospital, a prison. The setting does not much matter since the learnings concern base line areas.
My CPE program was at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. I remember the day the assignments were handed out to my group. The professor turned to me and said, “Well, we’re giving you the hard one Joe: the pulmonary ward.”
So, what did I learn and experience in CPE, this on the job training as a chaplain, the real duties of a chaplain, the base line learnings? There are two things I think you learn in a chaplaincy program.
First, a chaplain listens. That alone is a hard thing to learn. Second, a chaplain tries to simply be present to the person or persons you serve. You walk with them.
The real issue with being present to another person is you need to interact but not be intrusive. This too is hard on a number of counts.
So, here is how or at least one way how that learning works. Before you visit someone, you try, as well as you are able, to clear your mind of your own baggage, your own clutter. The person being visited does not need to hear about your issues.
On top of that, once you have visited someone, you need, as much as humanly possible, to clear your thoughts, your mind again. Therefore, after you logged the visit in the patients hospital record— all hospitals that have chaplains should have a section in the patient’s permanent medical record where visits can be logged, notes made— after you logged the visit you try to clear your thoughts, your mind yet again.
So, you go to the end of the hall, stare out a window, climb a staircase to go to another floor, go to the cafeteria— get some coffee, lots of it— do anything you need to do to refresh your self. The ‘Why?’ of that should be obvious.
If you’re a chaplain, after visiting someone the next thing you do is make another visit. So the worst thing you can do is to bring some mental residual from the last visit into the next visit.
Do note, the caveat I offered about this technique is I said when you do this clearing of your thoughts, clearing your mind, you complete that task as much as is humanly possible. Can this be done perfectly? No. It cannot. We are all human and by definition imperfect. But you do your best.
And, what you are striving to do in those visits as well as you can, is to simply walk with that person. What you are striving to do as well as you can is to simply to be present to that person.
All that brings me back to what Paul says. (Quote:) “Grace to you and peace from our loving God and from our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.” (Slight pause.)
Needless to say, these are among the opening words of 1 Corinthians. These words are, thereby, a greeting. And in this greeting Paul is simply using a standard practice of letter writing in ancient Rome.
Now, I have probably read these words dozens, hundreds of times and, when I read them in preparation for this service, I discovered something I never noticed before. It is something quite basic and amazingly simple about the Christian faith.
Let me offer the words again: “Grace to you and peace from our loving God and from our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.” Did you notice Paul here speaks of presence in the present tense?
Paul did not say, ‘Grace to you and peace from our loving God who sits in the clouds and from the one who died and is no longer here.’ In these words a simple reality is clear: God is here. God lives. Jesus, Who is the Christ, is here. Jesus lives. (Slight pause.)
So, how are we to take that? This is how I take it. It is often said the legacy of the Hebrews to humanity is an understanding that God is One and that there is One God.
No. The legacy of the Hebrews is not that simple. Certainly one gift of the Hebrews to humanity is the proclamation that God lives. God is with us.
God is present to us. God walks with us. God is in relationship with us. Not only that, but because God lives and is in relationship with us, God does not in any way control us or want to control us. God has no baggage.
Rather, by definition because God lives, God is in perfect relationship with us, with humanity. And this perfect relationship, this no baggage relationship is what theology labels as... covenant.
Also note the other thing Paul says by using the present tense. If Jesus is the Messiah, the One sent by God, the One Whose covenant relationship with God is perfect, the One Whose covenant relationship with God says Jesus is resurrected, then, just as God lives, Jesus lives.
And so, what does Paul do here, nearly unnoticed, in following this standard form of letter writing? In line with the Hebrew understanding of God, Paul writes in the present tense of God’s presence. Paul writes that God lives. Then Paul writes in the present tense of the presence of Jesus. Paul writes that Jesus lives.
What Paul does not do is let the predominant Roman culture which had no time for gods of relationship, so it worshiped practical gods— gods of fertility, of crops— Paul does not let gods of the predominant culture overwhelm the Hebrew understanding of God. And this understanding says God lives, is present to us, walks with us. And then Paul says Jesus lives, is present to us, walks with us. (Slight pause.)
We have just entered the Season of Advent. And Advent is, of course, followed by Christmas.
Many see Advent and Christmas as simply celebrating the birth of the Messiah. I say that is a cultural understanding of what God has done. You see, with Advent and Christmas we Christians celebrate that Jesus lives, is present to us, walks among us.
Why do I say that? Well, Paul says (quote:) “Grace to you and peace from our loving God and from our Savior, Jesus, the Christ”— the present tense. (Slight pause.)
Tell me, do you know how hard it is to be present to someone? For we imperfect beings it is hard.
And, as amazing as this might sound, Paul testifies that Jesus is present to us in a perfect way, now, here, today. And that, my friends, is certainly what we need to consider when it comes to this season we call Advent: God lives; Jesus lives. Amen.
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: “As has been true for quite a while, there are arguments in the secular press about whether or not you should wish someone a ‘Merry Christmas.’ Perhaps I am just too conservative on this count. But to my way of thinking, if we want to offer a seasonal greeting what we should say is, ‘Have a blessed Advent.’ I tried that yesterday in J. C. Penny— totally flabbergasted someone. Why might we do that? Advent is the time when we are blessed because what we recognize and what we celebrate is that Jesus is present to us.”
BENEDICTION: God’s time is infinite. Let us look around us for the presence of God’s work. Let us participate in the work of God’s dominion. Let us share our gifts, our memories, our pain, our joy and our hopes. Go in peace for God is with us. Go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that God is steadfast. Go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Amen.
The Present Tense
“Grace to you and peace from our loving God and from our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.” — 1 Corinthians 1:3.
In my comments today I want to address the educational background, the certification if you would, to hold the office of Pastor and Teacher in our denomination. Indeed, while most churches in America do not require any kind of academic certification, the vast majority of pastors in Main Line Churches have a Master of Divinity degree, a graduate degree, from a State accredited institution of higher learning. Hence, a prerequisite is a Bachelor’s Degree.
Generally at least, Master’s Degrees are two years of full time graduate work. They can range from a low of around 43 graduate level credits to a high of around 60 graduate level credits. But a Master of Divinity Degree is a 90 graduate credit level degree, about the same as a law degree, three years of full time work.
Given that context, I want to focus in on just one area of study, commonly a part of the Master of Divinity Degree. The specific piece I want to address— and these days no one is ordained in Main Line denominations without the this— is a piece called Clinical Pastoral Education.
Clinical Pastoral Education, commonly referred to as CPE, is over 400 hours of work. CPE is a three credit course but the 400 hours of work required is about three times the normal workload of a 3 credit course.
This course combines classroom and clinical work about evenly split between those two areas. Classroom work is always done in small groups of four or five students. And aside from tons of assigned reading, the main purpose of the classroom exercises is the small group examines what each individual student does in the clinical work.
The clinical section can be thought of as on the job training for chaplains. For practical reasons a CPE program often serves one setting— a nursing home, a hospital, a prison. The setting does not much matter since the learnings concern base line areas.
My CPE program was at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. I remember the day the assignments were handed out to my group. The professor turned to me and said, “Well, we’re giving you the hard one Joe: the pulmonary ward.”
So, what did I learn and experience in CPE, this on the job training as a chaplain, the real duties of a chaplain, the base line learnings? There are two things I think you learn in a chaplaincy program.
First, a chaplain listens. That alone is a hard thing to learn. Second, a chaplain tries to simply be present to the person or persons you serve. You walk with them.
The real issue with being present to another person is you need to interact but not be intrusive. This too is hard on a number of counts.
So, here is how or at least one way how that learning works. Before you visit someone, you try, as well as you are able, to clear your mind of your own baggage, your own clutter. The person being visited does not need to hear about your issues.
On top of that, once you have visited someone, you need, as much as humanly possible, to clear your thoughts, your mind again. Therefore, after you logged the visit in the patients hospital record— all hospitals that have chaplains should have a section in the patient’s permanent medical record where visits can be logged, notes made— after you logged the visit you try to clear your thoughts, your mind yet again.
So, you go to the end of the hall, stare out a window, climb a staircase to go to another floor, go to the cafeteria— get some coffee, lots of it— do anything you need to do to refresh your self. The ‘Why?’ of that should be obvious.
If you’re a chaplain, after visiting someone the next thing you do is make another visit. So the worst thing you can do is to bring some mental residual from the last visit into the next visit.
Do note, the caveat I offered about this technique is I said when you do this clearing of your thoughts, clearing your mind, you complete that task as much as is humanly possible. Can this be done perfectly? No. It cannot. We are all human and by definition imperfect. But you do your best.
And, what you are striving to do in those visits as well as you can, is to simply walk with that person. What you are striving to do as well as you can is to simply to be present to that person.
All that brings me back to what Paul says. (Quote:) “Grace to you and peace from our loving God and from our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.” (Slight pause.)
Needless to say, these are among the opening words of 1 Corinthians. These words are, thereby, a greeting. And in this greeting Paul is simply using a standard practice of letter writing in ancient Rome.
Now, I have probably read these words dozens, hundreds of times and, when I read them in preparation for this service, I discovered something I never noticed before. It is something quite basic and amazingly simple about the Christian faith.
Let me offer the words again: “Grace to you and peace from our loving God and from our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.” Did you notice Paul here speaks of presence in the present tense?
Paul did not say, ‘Grace to you and peace from our loving God who sits in the clouds and from the one who died and is no longer here.’ In these words a simple reality is clear: God is here. God lives. Jesus, Who is the Christ, is here. Jesus lives. (Slight pause.)
So, how are we to take that? This is how I take it. It is often said the legacy of the Hebrews to humanity is an understanding that God is One and that there is One God.
No. The legacy of the Hebrews is not that simple. Certainly one gift of the Hebrews to humanity is the proclamation that God lives. God is with us.
God is present to us. God walks with us. God is in relationship with us. Not only that, but because God lives and is in relationship with us, God does not in any way control us or want to control us. God has no baggage.
Rather, by definition because God lives, God is in perfect relationship with us, with humanity. And this perfect relationship, this no baggage relationship is what theology labels as... covenant.
Also note the other thing Paul says by using the present tense. If Jesus is the Messiah, the One sent by God, the One Whose covenant relationship with God is perfect, the One Whose covenant relationship with God says Jesus is resurrected, then, just as God lives, Jesus lives.
And so, what does Paul do here, nearly unnoticed, in following this standard form of letter writing? In line with the Hebrew understanding of God, Paul writes in the present tense of God’s presence. Paul writes that God lives. Then Paul writes in the present tense of the presence of Jesus. Paul writes that Jesus lives.
What Paul does not do is let the predominant Roman culture which had no time for gods of relationship, so it worshiped practical gods— gods of fertility, of crops— Paul does not let gods of the predominant culture overwhelm the Hebrew understanding of God. And this understanding says God lives, is present to us, walks with us. And then Paul says Jesus lives, is present to us, walks with us. (Slight pause.)
We have just entered the Season of Advent. And Advent is, of course, followed by Christmas.
Many see Advent and Christmas as simply celebrating the birth of the Messiah. I say that is a cultural understanding of what God has done. You see, with Advent and Christmas we Christians celebrate that Jesus lives, is present to us, walks among us.
Why do I say that? Well, Paul says (quote:) “Grace to you and peace from our loving God and from our Savior, Jesus, the Christ”— the present tense. (Slight pause.)
Tell me, do you know how hard it is to be present to someone? For we imperfect beings it is hard.
And, as amazing as this might sound, Paul testifies that Jesus is present to us in a perfect way, now, here, today. And that, my friends, is certainly what we need to consider when it comes to this season we call Advent: God lives; Jesus lives. Amen.
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: “As has been true for quite a while, there are arguments in the secular press about whether or not you should wish someone a ‘Merry Christmas.’ Perhaps I am just too conservative on this count. But to my way of thinking, if we want to offer a seasonal greeting what we should say is, ‘Have a blessed Advent.’ I tried that yesterday in J. C. Penny— totally flabbergasted someone. Why might we do that? Advent is the time when we are blessed because what we recognize and what we celebrate is that Jesus is present to us.”
BENEDICTION: God’s time is infinite. Let us look around us for the presence of God’s work. Let us participate in the work of God’s dominion. Let us share our gifts, our memories, our pain, our joy and our hopes. Go in peace for God is with us. Go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that God is steadfast. Go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Amen.
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